Environmental Engineers At Work

I apologize for my tardy blog post this week. I have been without the comforts of electricity and internet since the storm last week. Christmas lights have never looked so lovely since yesterday when it was all restored!

We had a busy week as our engineers were busy with their water filtration task. First they asked questions about the criteria that we would use to determine if our water filters were successful. We decided as a team that we would be testing to see how well the filter was able to remove color and particles all while working in a short amount of time. We tested three different materials (paper filters, sand/gravel, and screens) and then the engineers worked to imagine different design possibilities for their filters. They met with their team to plan and design a final design to test. After "buying" their materials and giving themselves a score for their budget, they created their filter and put it to the test. We kept our water a constant and all of the groups had the same "mystery water" that had the same level of contamination. The results that we got were quite varied and students took the opportunity to get back together and learn from their mistakes and from each other designs as they worked to improve and test again. Take a look at their hard work in this slide show.

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This week is quite busy with events leading up to the holiday break. Wednesday we will head to the 7th and 8th grade concert which is always a crowd pleasing event, especially for the third graders who are new to the amazing arts program at WCS.

Thursday we will have our RAD Day. The students are encouraged to bring in books that they would be willing to exchange during our annual book swap. So far we've only had a few come in, so if you could help your kiddos to remember that would be great. The more books we have the more books students get to take home with them at the end of the day. We will also have opportunities for independent reading, buddy reading, mystery readers, teacher read alouds, and online reading. All while being cozied up in our jammies with stuffed animals! Sounds great, right?!

 Friday will start off with our Craft Morning from 10:20-11:20 in the morning. Thanks to all of the parents who have volunteered to come and help and to those that will be providing us with healthy snacks to enjoy as we create and socialize as a team of Marvelous Mosaics.

At the end of the day we will have an awesome Cell-a-bration that we have earned by filling up our brain with SMART cells. We will turn WCS into a movie theater for Cinema Day. Each student will get a ticket to a different movie in a "theater" around the school (Swift Kiva, gym, auditorium, etc.)They will get to enjoy a film of their choosing. We have a room set up with arts and crafts here in Mosaic for any student who chooses not to watch films.

We hope that you enjoy a peaceful holiday season and wish you and your children a New Year in 2015!

 Jess and Liz