Bakers, Builders, and Boiling Water Makers: Kindergarten students are working hard on their STEM challenges for snow day #2!
They are using a variety of materials and processes for building structures and improving their designs. They are also concocting delicious recipes for cinnamon and caramel rolls! Finally, they are experimenting with boiling water and the reaction that takes place when it hits the artic-like air. What will snow day #3 look like?
Due to the extreme cold, Floodwood School is cancelled for Thursday, January 31st. All evening activities are also cancelled. Stay warm!
The Home Lab in Action: A STEM Challenge Update... K students have been busy conducting their own experiments at home today. Our youngest STEM scientists are formulating hypotheses, testing ideas, evaluating results, and modifying variables to increase effectiveness of their designs. These kinder scientists are busy discovering BIG ideas, specifically tailored to individual interests and wrapped around the vehicle of play. This is learning in action!
Exciting News from the Floodwood LMC! The LMC added 51 ebooks to their collection. Students can access them online anywhere. Also, a great big thank you to volunteers and people that shopped at our book fair. We have purchased a book binding repair machine with the proceeds.
Floodwood Graduates: Please take the time to e-mail slindstrom@isd698.org or dtollefson@isd698.org about how Floodwood School helped you get where you are today. These will be included in the program for the School of Excellence celebration on Monday, February 4. Please respond ASAP. Thanks
The "Snow Days STEM Challenge" is on! Yesterday, kindergarten students created the following challenge for our two snow days: Stay warm indoors and read, write, build, and play! These activities selected exclusively by the group sharpen their skills as creative, inquisitive, engaged learners who are intrinsically motivated to work.
Evidence of students' creative projects will be uploaded to our classroom blog and photographs with descriptions are already pouring in!
One student immediately decided to construct a ramp out of a wrapping paper tube and then used a magnet structure to raise the end! What a powerful reflection of the learning taking place in our classroom and in the home each day. When students are provided opportunities to explore unique interests and questions within the context of rigorous projects, they naturally transfer this intrinsic motivation to learn beyond the classroom and in their own time.
This STEM challenge is open to anyone with an interest, question, and desire to learn. Share your pictures and ideas with us and perhaps your work will fuel our own rigorous, student-centered discoveries at school and home!
SCHOOL IS CANCELLED FOR TUESDAY (JAN 29TH) AND WEDNESDAY (JAN 30TH) DUE TO THE COLD WEATHER. STAY WARM! (Tonight's games are still on.)
The May All Sports Banquet has been rescheduled to Thursday, May 9th, 2019.
Tomorrow's (Jan 29th) Boys and Girls Basketball Games have been Cancelled!
Mat Pilates offered. Learn more about it.....
Come learn about the use of essential oils in your home. See the flyer for details!
Attention Floodwood Graduates! As part of our School of Excellence celebration on February 4, we are asking you to send us a 2-3 sentence quote about where you work (or your accomplishments) and how Floodwood School helped you get there. Please e-mail responses to slindstrom@isd698.org and dtollefson@isd698.org by January 29. Thank you in advance for taking the time to help us celebrate Floodwood’s successes. Please forward to others that may not be on social media.
School is cancelled for students on Tuesday, Jan. 22nd due to repair of water line in the City of Floodwood. Basketball practice and the boys' home game will take place as regularly scheduled.
Last week, kindergarten students continued their explorations into physics--push/pull forces, inclined planes, and the grade/steepness of a plane and how this impacts the movement of an object in motion. I intentionally let students struggle, problem-solve, and lead by their own hypotheses and discoveries. Very little direct instruction was involved beyond setting up rules for our work.
As a result, our children are developing a growth mindset! They embrace their mistakes as opportunities to learn. They base their predictions on clues and former trials. They persevere and encourage one another. They celebrate the work of others and are not driven by competition between peers. Rather, they compete against their own best work and collaborate within a team environment.
Overall, it is the PROCESS of learning and not the PRODUCT that fuels our rigorous, student-led work each day. This mindset will continue to expand their tenacity and have a direct impact on lifelong success.
Here's a sneak peek into what we're planning this week:
* We will continue our physics work with deeper studies of inclined planes.
* We will also explore engineering with our brand new magnetic tiles that were ordered with some of our STEM grant money!
* We will construct a marble tube track on our hallway wall. The paper tubes we've collected will be used in our construction.
* We will learn about our new take-home resource this week. With STEM grant money, I have been able to create "STEM to Go" project tubs for take-home explorations! The students and I will explore this resource and practice expectations for proper care.
Finally, our classroom kitchen is newly reorganized and expanded to make room for several new tools, thanks to a large STEM grant I recently received. Come visit us to see the changes!
Thanks again to everyone who contributed toward the 5th and 6th grade Laurentian trip. Everyone had a great time.
No School for students on Friday or Monday! Enjoy the long weekend!
What a beautiful sunrise on the way to school this morning! Today is going to be a great day for learning & making memories!
Don't forget - anyone born after Dec 31, 1976 MUST have their snowmobile safety certificate to ride state trails. See the brochure to join the class with the Savanna Drifters
Come learn about essential oils with Total Home Upgrade - Jan 31. Check out the flyer for more information!
Spotlight Teacher and Students - Mrs. Holmes, Deacon Laine and Lillian Manner
