A smattering of photos from the last two (phenomenal!) field trips of our year, plus Sea Lion Bridge Awards and the ELC Fun Run. More photos to be added later. Check back soon!
After weeks of study and hands-on exploration about the design and structural components of beam, arch, truss and suspension bridges, the Sea Lions began work on their own bridges, and the results were truly exceptional! Throughout the process, students practiced the steps in engineering design: imagining their bridge, planning the design, creating a model based on their design and improving their design as they went along.
On Thursday night, during the ELC’s annual Celebration of Learning the Sea Lions had the chance to share their work with family and friends. It was a joyous celebration of the incredible work they have done this year, and their bridges took center stage!
The Sea Lions continued their exploration of different styles of bridges this week, looking more closely at the design, engineering and history of arch, truss and suspension styles. Through some hands-on experiments, we discovered the elements that make each types of bridge unique and strong.
We researched different styles of trusses, finding out what makes the relationship between compression and tension so important to the strength of a truss bridge design. In preparation for our independent bridge-building project next week, we tried out creating some small versions of the truss of our choice, paying special attention to relationships of scale. When we researched arch bridges, we first put our own bodies to the test, finding that our arms and hands could become fairly strong voussoirs and keystones!
On Friday, we began our research of suspension bridges. We are working in small groups to build our own suspension bridge out of two chairs, four large blocks, cardboard and string. We’re still working on our designs, keeping in mind the elements of tower, cable, roadway and abutments. We’re excited to finish our designs on Monday!
The Sea Lions have been hard at work over the past two weeks, exploring bridges together! We started by talking about the concept (both metaphorical and physical) of bridges. What are they? How do they help us? How does the concept of bridges fit into all the things we’ve learned this year? The Sea Lions spent time coming up with answers to these questions during a rousing community discussion that included a discussion of the things they wondered about bridges. See a photo of their thoughts below!
After that, the Sea Lions began engineering their first bridge, concentrating on Beam Bridge designs. Their explorations included a design using an accordion fold (hey, that makes triangles!) as well as Box Girder folds. They tested their designs, paying special attention to how the bridge held forces of compression and tension. After discussion of the superstructure of the bridge, we began to look at the design of piers, exploring and testing what shape makes the best pier? The Sea lions discovered that a cylindrical shape was the sturdiest design for a substructure because of the way it held compression and tension loads more evenly.
On Friday, we began to explore trusses. After some testing of different shapes, we discovered that the strongest truss shape is the triangle because of the way it uses compression and tension together to create strength and stability using less material than a normal Beam Bridge. Next week we’ll be creating our own trusses as well as exploring both Arch and Suspension Bridges!
The Sea Lions wrapped up their Physics Unit this week by experimenting with electromagnetics and simple circuitry (see photos below), then headed to Oregon Museum of Science and Industry for a day of physics fun! The Sea Lions took part in an OMSI lab where they worked as partners to design and engineer their own roller coasters. They put their knowledge of gravitational potential energy, kinetic energy, mass, resistance, speed and more to good use as they created corkscrews and loops in their roller coaster tracks. Along with the lab, the Sea Lions visited other exhibits in the museum and showed off their physics knowledge as they experimented with static electricity, wind energy, thermal energy, sound energy, light energy and simple circuits. As one of the Sea Lions said, “OMSI is even cooler now that I know so much about physics!”
The Sea Lions have continued to explore physics concepts this week, looking specifically at light, static electricity and magnetism. We discovered that light energy covers a wide spectrum of energy known as electromagnetic radiation. During our investigation, the Sea Lions explored visible light, using prisms to separate the colors contained in white light. Then we participated in a game called Walk Like a Rainbow which gave us a chance to explore the wavelength and frequencies of each color contained within the visible light spectrum.
Our investigation of electric energy began with a wildly fun exploration of static electricity! Using balloons, we investigated the Triboelectric Effect, seeing first-hand how electrons moved from one object to another through an electric charge transfer. Our investigations made real the notion of “opposites attract” and “likes repel” as we watched our charged balloons jump away from one another and then attract those items holding an opposite charge.
Our exploration of static electricity paved the way for our investigation of magnetism as we played with the pull of the electrons as they moved within the magnetic field. The Sea Lions are joyful and curious physicists!
The Sea Lions have been exploring sound energy this week. Through some really fun experiments and some dedicated work in our Science Journals, we have discovered that every sound is produced by vibration. We learned that the change in those vibrations is what creates a difference in amplitude and in pitch. We discovered that the size of the vibration affects the amplitude of the sound, while a change in the frequency of vibration affects the pitch of the sound.
Then we began to explore how those sound vibrations make their way to our eardrums. We learned that sound energy needs a medium in which to travel, so we did some experiments that tested how well sound travels through cotton string, concrete, metal and wood. We found that nearly all other mediums are better at conducting sound waves than air!
The Sea Lions had a fantastic, math-filled Friday as we explored the concept of Pi together! We started by thinking about how we could describe a circle. using only words - it was trickier than we thought it would be! In the end, we discovered that the most accurate definition included mention of a center point, with points equidistant from it - the radius lines! We got to work with our Pi Partner, choosing a place on the floor to begin creating our circles, using radius measurements and tape to define the outside edge. Then we used yarn to define the circumference of our circles. It was very precise (and a bit tricky!) but super fun work! Once we had created our circle, we talked about the term diameter and went to work in our math journals to figure out the diameter of our circle, using r x 2 = d.
Finally, we talked about this crazy term Pi and learned that Pi (π) is a special number that represents the relationship between a circle's circumference (the distance around it) and its diameter (the distance across it through the center). We learned that the reason mathematicians use a symbol to represent Pi is that Pi is an irrational number, meaning its decimal representation goes on forever without repeating - how cool is that?
In order to complete the final step in our Pi investigations, we measured a piece of yarn equal to our circle’s diameter and found that on every one of our circles (no matter how big or small!) our diameter string went around the circumference of our circles three times…plus a little bit!
We ended our day sharing pie with our friends and family. Math is cool, tasty and FUN!
The Sea Lions became physicists this week as they began a new unit of study all about energy. Using their science journals to record ideas, they asked: “What is energy, and what has energy?” The classroom was a buzz of energy as the Sea Lions performed some pretty exciting and fun experiments. To explore the big questions about energy, Sea Lions conducted experiments and puzzled over their results with their science partner - in the end, discovering everything has energy!
Sea Lions learned scientists divide nearly all types of energy into just two basic groups: potential energy and kinetic energy. We talked about definitions for each type of energy and went back to the experiment results to identify what types of energy we had observed. These findings were then recorded in Sea Lions’ science journals.
Later in the week, we performed additional experiments which helped us understand how scientists calculate Gravitational Potential Energy as well as Kinetic Energy. Sea Lion physicists explored mass, gravity and height as they conducted experiments using a stack of books, a ruler, ½ a paper cup and marbles. We discovered the Potential Gravitational Energy of an object is related to the mass, gravity and height of an object from the earth (or relative height between two surfaces).
We pushed even further, measuring the kinetic energy of objects. We used rulers and marbles of different masses to measure the speed (velocity) of an object in relation to its kinetic energy. We discovered the kinetic energy of an object is directly related to its mass and velocity.
The Sea Lions spent a good portion of the week discussing examples of potential and kinetic energy they experienced around them every day. What fun!
The Sea Lions had an all-art day today, and boy was it fun! We started by dying our tie dyed pieces of clothing, planning the color and placing it just so. We worked earlier in the week to twist, pleat and tie our pieces, being intentional about the tying to create the pattern we wanted. We’re so excited to see how they turn out!
Then we worked on our newest art project…Bobblehead Figures! We worked earlier in the week to plan and draw our figures, making note of all elements included in our design. We finished the heads today, and they are so imaginative and super fun! The Sea Lions loved creating unexpected animals, monsters, humans and more. We’ll work on the cone bases next week.
We finished our day by walking to the UCC Church for our weekly music lesson with Ms. Geneva. It’s such a joy to raise our voices and sing together as we learn the basics of musicology and performance art!
The Sea Lions celebrated in joyous and glowing style, the strong bonds of friendship they have grown this year! The photos tell the story - enjoy!
The Sea Lions have had a busy two weeks, leading others, learning new things and working together to grow and strengthen our classroom and school community.
Last Friday, the Sea Lions once again led our Family Summit, this time taking the reins on all aspects of the gathering. They led the Gathering Meditation (one Sea Lion is in charge of gathering all students in the school with a meditation breath and bell), then the Summit Meditation (a call and response, with hand movements choreographed by the Sea Lions), the Morning Song (a Sea Lion assists a younger student in leading the song) and our Land Acknowledgement (a Sea Lion leads the dedication of our land to the Atfalati-Kalapuya people). In addition to all that, last week the Sea Lions led our newly formed Buddy Families in a fun activity called “Drumroll, Please!”. Our Buddy Families have been set up as a way for us to connect all the students at the ELC, forging mentoring relationships that encourage trust and community between our older and younger students. The Sea Lions did an expert job of gathering, organizing and running the entire Buddy Family experience! We’ll be working on new Buddy Family games and art activities throughout the remainder of the school year.
Hallo! Guten Tag! The Sea Lions are having so much fun learning German with our amazing student teacher, Frau Sylvana! The students have been focusing on greetings, how they are feeling, how old they are - and more. Students have made good friends with Frau Sylvana’s pet, named Cappy. Cappy only speaks German and is very patient!
The Sea Lion’s meditations this week have been focused on how to deal with big feelings. We’ve been thinking of our emotions as tunnels which we work our way through, instead of caves we crawl inside and can’t find our way out of. We normalize those big feelings, knowing that we are strong enough to get through them and make our way to the other side. We also talked about the importance of recognizing that (when you are in your amygdala) your brain will often send you messages that simply aren’t true. We talked about the importance of our 3-Breath Pause, giving our brain a chance to put those crazy thoughts through the “Truthometer”…and throwing them in the garbage if they just aren’t true!
We have been completing some really interesting partner research papers about the history and impact of mass communication on our society and the way that communication builds a bridge between people and communities. We look forward to presenting our research papers through oral presentations next week!
In connection to our Changemakers unit of study, the Sea Lions have spent the past two weeks interviewing local young people in our community that are doing good things for the world. The Sea Lions have worked to develop the questions for each interviewee and then worked to refine their communication skills, developing conversational techniques like careful articulation, active listening and verbal feedback.
We worked together to come up for the name for our podcast, thinking carefully about what the objective (purpose) of our podcast was and agreed that Leaders Of Change was a fitting title. Sea Lions worked together to create the opening and closing script, and performed a beautiful musical rendition of the poem Change Sings by Amanda Gorman to use as the intro and outro music for the production.
As we ponder the work of Changemakers and their ability to “bring people along” in their fight to make change, we have begun some pretty fascinating research on the history and significance of mass communication in our society. Sea lions are starting some partner research work on the following topics: ancient communication, cuneiform, the printing press, posters, radio, television, internet, podcasts, social media and artificial intelligence. Students will be sharing the results of their research through speeches in the coming weeks.
As we get ready for Valentine’s Day, the Sea Lions studied the punchy and colorful art of American artist Jim Dine and his famous “heart art”. The Sea Lions worked on their own renditions, practicing simple printing techniques and exploring the use of warm and cool colors to create contrast in their paintings.
And finally, the Sea Lions explored outside, playing together in the clear and cold sunshine of winter days!
The Sea Lions have been thinking and talking a lot about focus, reaction time, and stamina. We completed some experiments that helped us see how the position of our bodies plays a direct role in the ability of our brain to do its best work. During a recent morning meditation, we chose a focus word and practiced saying that word while moving our body to an alert, open and upright stance. We saw how that position had a direct affect on how well we were able to attend to the task at hand. We practiced our 3 Breath Pause which helped us move into a place of control, even when things around us felt hectic.
During our next unit of study, we are looking at the lives and work of Youth Changemakers from around the world. We are working to complete research papers based on the lives and activism of young people working to make our world better. We have made good use of our Focus Word and Focus Body during the challenging work of research reading and writing!
We are learning a new song with Ms. McKenzie (one of our Sea Lion parents) based on the poem by Youth Changemaker, poet and activist Amanda Gorman. The song is entitled Change Sings. Stay tuned for more information on how the song will be used in our Sea Lion Podcast episodes being developed soon!
To begin our week, the students took a field trip to Salem to view the grounds of our State Capitol and tour the Oregon Supreme Court. Inside the Court, we were guided by a staff attorney who shared information about the building, the role of the judicial system and the hearing process. The Sea Lions asked endless questions and were wowed by the magnificence of the building and courtroom. Following our tour of the Justice Building, we visited the Capitol grounds and viewed a handful of statues and monuments. We recalled earlier discussions we’d had about the role that community art plays in sending messages to the people about what is valued and what is not as we talked about the symbolism and messages we saw. To end our visit, we ate lunch in the State Library of Oregon, and made quick sketches of the Capitol Building’s exterior.
The following day, we took a virtual tour of the interior of the Capitol Building from our classroom. The Sea Lions were thrilled to see the murals, artwork, symbols and grandeur of the rotunda and the House and Senate chambers.
On Wednesday, the citizens of BRC participated in a one final vote. Our bond measure groups presented their posters and shared details about why passing their bond was important for the health and well-being of Blue River City. Bond measure proponents spoke passionately about the value of Public Transportation, a new Blue River Bridge, a Homeless Shelter and Affordable Housing. BRC voters understood each bond must receive at least 60% of the vote in order to pass. Family groups had to carefully consider the limited funds available in each of their budgets when deciding which measure to support, making for lively family debate. In the end, the majority of BRC citizens voted in favor of helping community members in need of extra support and passed the Homeless Shelter and Affordable Housing bonds.
The Sea Lions ended their week by celebrating their hard work and tremendous accomplishments over the last two months. Blue River City held a celebration in the classroom for family and friends. The Sea Lion classroom was packed as families made their way around various stations where students talked about subjects such as inclusive community, diverse citizenry, the importance of natural resources, the democratic process, the role of municipal government, a citizen’s democratic responsibilities, the three branches of government, taxation, living expenses, bond measures, how a bill becomes law and more. It was inspiring to see our students speak so confidently about such weighty and sophisticated topics. The Sea Lions are voracious learners, budding voters/citizens and good friends!
The Sea Lions had plenty of opportunities to flex their leadership skills this week. On Thursday, our students gave a tour of Blue River City to the President, Vice Presidents and Provost of Pacific University, along with the Director of the Higher Education Coordinating Committee and the President of the Oregon Alliance of Independent Colleges and Universities - wow! The Sea Lions exuded confidence as they shared details about the creation of our city and conveyed the big concepts of government and civics underlying it.
Later that same day, we walked over to the UCC church and helped make a few dozen peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for their Blessing Box. The Blessing Box is a community-supported project that helps feed members of our community experiencing homelessness. It felt good to be giving our time to help our community, and it gave us a chance to reflect on the gratitude we feel for our own warm homes and supportive families.
On Friday, we celebrated Stone Soup! The Sea Lions showed true leadership and a sense of calm as they helped the preschool classrooms prepare for the event. They supervised chopping of vegetables for the soup and spent time reading to the youngest students in our school. For many Sea Lions, it was a chance to go back to their roots at the ELC. After helping prepare the soup, all classes at the ELC gathered in Creative Play for our Friday Summit, where our Sea Lions led both the Summit Meditation and Land Acknowledgement. Following tradition, Mr. Mark read us Stone Soup and we sang our way into the atelier to eat a hearty meal of soup, bread, cheese and fruit together. It was a beautiful gathering!
The Sea Lions also completed a gorgeous art project. We studied form, light and shadow by creating a still life painting using three different media. We used oil pastels, watercolor and tempera paint and practiced many different brush techniques. The finished art is rich and infused with a depth that is truly breathtaking!
The Sea Lions held their second City Council meeting this week. Citizens arrived, ready to share their thoughts and ideas regarding the proposed building of a Data Center on land owned by the city and zoned as open space. The speeches were extremely well-organized and helped persuade the City Council not to move forward with the building of the Data Center.
On Friday, we held a Town Hall meeting where our tax collectors handed out statements that included each citizen’s occupation, yearly salary and percentage of tax owed. Our tax collectors did an amazing job of presenting their math work to the citizens of Blue River City. Then, our City Manager spoke, introducing the various departments that citizen’s taxes support. She shared that our city had an excess of a few thousand dollars. The citizens brainstormed ideas for big projects they felt that the city needed. We knew we didn’t have enough funds to complete a big project, and so we did some non-fiction reading all about city bonds and how they work. We came up with 4 projects we decided we’d like to put on the ballot next week. Showing our Sea Lions’ love of the community and environment, they decided to put the following bond proposals to a vote next week: affordable housing, homeless shelter, a new bridge over Blue River and environmentally-friendly public transportation. We will have volunteers helping canvas the Blue River Community in support of their preferred bond next week!
On top of all the other amazing work we’ve been doing, we’ve also made time to work on some big math ideas together, looking at showing area through tiles, and connecting that work to multiplication. It’s challenging and fun!
And as if that wasn’t enough, the Sea Lions have been busy reading and talking about their Literacy Circle novels. Our groups are sharing wonderful conversations that increase comprehension and elevate our love of story!
What an exciting week it’s been for our Sea Lions, and all citizens of Blue River City! We spent the first part of the week finishing community identity projects, putting the final touches on city sculptures, timeline, event banners and city seal. All of this work to define our history and who we are as a community has made us love Blue River City even more!
On Wednesday afternoon, we held our first Blue River City Council Meeting to discuss proposed zoning changes required to build a large mall on the outskirts of the city. The meeting (headed by Mayor Cordelia Docos and City Manager Margaret Peterson) began with a presentation of the development site by our Planning Commission members. The council listened to public comment - with 19 citizens sharing impassioned speeches on the impacts of the new development. In the end, the City Council deliberated and decided to move forward with a smaller shopping center, located outside the originally proposed environmentally sensitive area.
To wrap up our week, the members of Blue River City were fortunate enough to be given a tour of Forest Grove’s City Hall by Mayor Wenzl herself! Our VIP tour included a wonderfully inspiring community discussion with the Mayor, a chance to use the gavel and speak at the podium, shake hands with the Mayor, and go “behind the scenes” at City Hall to see what working in local government is like. What a thrill!
Along with all these amazing projects and field trips, the Sea Lions continue working on inspiring math together, read novels together, and help lead at the school with wisdom and grace.
This week the Sea Lions continued building Blue River City. We considered what makes a city a good place to live, and how our governmental leaders (and citizens) are responsible for creating a place which makes everyone feel welcome. To inspire thought about how our city could communicate ideas and inspire citizens, we did a walking tour of Forest Grove, looking at the community art - just blocks from the ELC. As we viewed each community art piece, the Sea Lions talked about the details they saw, the messages they believed the art was trying to convey, and if the art piece inspired them to action. Then we came back into the classroom and got to work on our own community identity projects. Working in small groups we discussed creation of a historical timeline for Blue River City, two community art pieces, an official seal for Blue River City and banners advertising two community events. The Sea Lions are creating a city full of love and compassion for its citizens and the natural world!
On Halloween, the Sea Lion’s classroom became a spooky witch’s house. Students had to work together to solve puzzles and escape Witch Ellie and Witch Julie’s evil grasp. It was challenging, and great fun! We ended the day with the ELC’s traditional costume parade around the perimeter of Berglund Hall.
We started Literacy Circles this week, and Sea Lions are excited about reading their new novels! Students will read each day and, as they read, they will practice a specific comprehension strategy. Students will share ideas with their Literacy Circle group during weekly book discussions. In addition to our novels, we are also reading non-fiction text that relates to our current unit of study. This week, the Sea Lions pulled out the main idea and key details of two different non-fiction articles about how local government works and the three branches of government found in our democracy. The Sea Lions are taking all of that knowledge and making it real as they continue to build their own city in the classroom.
On Friday, we braved the wet and cold and completed another environmental stewardship field trip to Chehalem Ridge Nature Park. We worked with our Metro guides and planted well over 100 native species along the trails at the park. The Sea Lions are practicing what it feels like to be involved and productive members of a community!
The Sea Lions have been busy over the past two weeks, working together to envision, name, populate and select leaders for their very own city! Blue River City is a beautiful town full of natural resources including clean water, wetlands and forests. Students worked together to create a mural of their town in the classroom. The mural depicts natural resources, along with a main street dotted with homes and local businesses that help support the local economy. Each Sea Lion has created a character in Blue River City and those characters are assembled into family groups. Each character in the family group holds a special job and contributes to the city in various ways.
As we work to explore the weighty topics of government and civics, the Sea Lions will have a chance in the coming weeks to engage in civic responsibilities including voting, staying informed about issues affecting their community, respecting the rights, beliefs, and opinions of others, participating in their local community, paying taxes, helping to decide how those taxes will be spent, and working with their newly-elected City Council members and Mayor to make decisions regarding the future of their city. Stay tuned for more Blue River City updates as our unit of study unfolds!
To help us think about the importance of history and how the past informs the future of cities, the Sea Lions were lucky enough to take a field trip to the Friends of Historic Forest Grove museum. Our visit gave us a glimpse of the past that helped shape the city that Forest Grove is today. This information will help inform the historical timeline we’ll create for Blue River City next week.
And finally, on Thursday evening the Sea Lions acted as tour guides for their parents (and grandparents!) as they led them through the classroom, sharing the amazing work they’ve already completed over the course of just a few weeks. It was wonderful to see so many smiling parents and proud Sea Lions. What a fabulous community we’ve already created together!
