Twice a year the adolescents monitor the water quality of the Bonhomme Creek located on the Land Campus. On October 19th, we did the first of these monitors. There, we examined such things as the acidity of the creek, the clearness of the water, and the wide variety of (tiny) wildlife in this underwater habitat.  We are happy to report that our creek has received an excellent water quality rating. Levels are low but life is plentiful!

Thanks Bob, our local Missouri Stream Team expert, and MAP for joining us. We had a great day!

Mathematics: Proportional reasoning, ratios and percents, quadratics, exponential functions

Language: Introduction to Gothic Literature, A Rose for Emily by William Faulkner, The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson, identifying literary elements, creative writing

Occupations: STREAM TEAM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Humanities: Model UN, The Romani seminar

Expressions, Visual Arts projects, Intro. to bike maintenance (how to change a tire and fix a chain)

Micro-economy: Pumpkin Hunt planning and prep

• On Monday, students participated in an investigation of linear functions by documenting how quickly a birthday candle burns. They collected and graphed their data to show candle height as a function of time. In grammar, we focused on our academic writing and the use of the word “that”.
• On Tuesday, students studied exponential growth and decay with M&Ms.  Following this delicious investigation, the students discussed the function of verbals in writing and communicating ideas.
• On Thursday, students analyzed data by comparing their estimates of celebrities’ ages with the actual ages as an introduction to lines of best fit and regression analysis.
• Tomorrow, students will have the opportunity to explore and learn on the Land Campus. The adolescents have planned a nature-focused scavenger hunt, the group will participate in a lesson on how erosion and weathering have shaped our property, and the students will have a chance to catch some of the native fish and invertebrates in our creek.
• The group also spent time preparing and planning for the CMS Annual Pumpkin Hunt and worked on setting up a web store for their micro-economy.

Mathematics: Data exploration (box and whiskers, stem plots, histograms, and matrices), factoring & using square roots to solve quadratics, & the Function Machine!

Language: Grammar quiz, writing effective introductions, creative writing (Should I stay or should I go?)

Humanities: Model UN, project meetings and topic discussions, current events

Science: The Birth of our Solar System

CE/PE: Visual Arts project, Big Muddy Performance, community lunch

Micro-economy: Bamboo wind chimes, Million Dollar Project