Mindfulness of Scent

Today during MindUp we practiced being mindful of our sense of smell and learned how this sense is connected to emotions and memories. We had 8 mystery smell canisters that students silently sniffed and then wrote reflections about. They tried to figure out the source of each smell, and also noted what feelings or memories a smell brought up. As you might imagine, there were some crowd-favorite smells (pine, citrus peel, coffee grinds, mint toothpaste) and some that almost cleared the room (raw garlic, wasabi). It was a scent-sational experience!

“I learned that smell brings back memories. If you smell something like, for example your grandma’s perfume, it reminds you of your grandma.” 
—Gianna

Electricity 6!

special flashlight edition!!!

by Josh, Declan and Arin

Electrician of the week is JOSH!!

We haven’t written in soooo long! Did Queen Scarlet melt us or something??? I thought she was dead… okay, getting off topic here, time for electricity…

Last week, Ms. Scott gave us some exciting news, we were making our own flashlights! We made the switches using instructions from Ms. Scott and a book! This week, we expanded. We actually made the flashlights. There were a variety of materials that people used for their flashlight outside, including legos, UNICEF boxes, cardboard and construction paper.

For this, we’ll focus on two flashlights, the I.C.LIGHT and the ReadingPro. The I.C.LIGHT was made by Declan and Arin, the ReadingPro was made by Josh and Levi! The I.C.LIGHT model is one UNICEF box and tinfoil and clear plastic covering the front. It uses two D batteries and one bulb.

The ReadingPro model uses two UNICEF boxes with clear plastic reflecting off the front. This model uses two D batteries and one bulb. Both the I.C.LIGHT and the ReadingPro can be used to read in a dark area.

Putting together all of our studies to make this amazing thing was an exciting thing to do!!!

Another model we will share is the QuadrupleAA.PLUS. This model was made by Taikoda, and is a very strong and unique one. It uses 4 Double-A batteries and one bulb. The bulb is covered in tinfoil. Tai’s case was made of LEGOS and had the strongest (and craziest) glare of all.

And now… the quote…

“Electricity’s always fun, but it’s not always simple!!!”

-Josh

ReadingPro

I.C.LIGHT (in action)

Mind Up!

by Annabel

In 4th grade every friday we do an activity called MindUP. Mind Up is a time that we calm our amygdalas down with mindfulness. The amygdala is part of your brain. Its job is to protect you from danger and from doing not right things. It's like your security guard. But it also stresses you out. For example, if you are walking on a trail and you see a rattle snake that you weren't expecting, your amygdala would have a freak out. 

It's just like a snow globe. When you shake a snow globe you can't see anything clearly. But when you put the snow globe down you can see inside. The snow globe is like your amygdala. When you see a rattle snake, it's like the snow globe got shaken up. When that happens, your job is to calm it down until you can see the picture inside.

Punctuation Humor 1

Electricity 5!

by Arin, Declan and Josh

Electrician of the week is ARIN!!

“So on Monday, we built a filament out of silver nichrome wire!” says Declan, remembering this cool day. “We awesome cause we make filament,” says Josh (geez, stop being funny!) In case you don’t know what a filament is, it’s that little wire inside of an incandescent bulb! And in case you don’t know what an incandescent bulb is, it’s: 

Below, there is a diagram of the circuit we made to use the filament with. Red clay held the wires together to stand up as we wound silver nichrome wire around the two standing-up-like wires. Then, we connected the last bit. The silver nichrome wire glowed! We all felt like we were actually creating a lightbulb!

And then, today, we looked at two different kinds of circuits. Series and parallel. Two batteries and one bulb. We predicted which one would be brighter, and why? Turns out, against most of our guesses, the series circuit was the brightest!

Now, after months of talking talking nonstop talking, it’s time for… MORE TALKING! No, the quote…

“In a parallel circuit, electricity has two paths, one from each battery. Therefore, it will have the brightness of one battery, and a longer life span”

-Arin

Next week, we’re starting to make switches and flashlights. Stay tuned…

SAVING RHINOS

By Alex and Declan and Joshua

Rhinos are in danger from poachers in South Africa because some people want their horns. They think it’s a good medicine but you can still help save them by making signs or posters and educate people about how to protect rhinos. There is also a group of women who are trying to save Rhinos by patrolling the national wildlife reserves. Poaching is horrible and it’s against the law. It needs to be stopped otherwise there won’t be any rhinos left on earth. One species, the Northern White Rhino has only 4 of them left in the world. People want their horns because they think it’s a good medicine but scientists have no proof that it does anything and here is a list of ways you can help save rhinos.                                                            

1. By making posters and signs and putting them around your neighborhood.

2. Send emails or letters to alert friends and family members about what poachers are doing to rhinos.

3. Give money to organizations that help save rhinos like savetherhino.org .

For more rhino info look at these websites

https://www.savetherhino.org/rhino_info/thorny_issues/poaching_crisis_in_south_africa

https://www.savetherhino.org/rhino_info/rhino_population_figure

https://www.savetherhino.org/rhino_info/poaching_statistics

Thank you for reading this and we hope you can help. 

Images from savetherhino.org