Explorer Team Classes

Here is a little update on what has been going on in the Explorer classrooms lately:

Language Arts

In language arts, we just finished research projects to help build background knowledge before starting Where the Red Fern Grows. Next week we will start reading.

My advanced language arts classes started the SpringBoard preAP unit using the novel Tangerine by Edward Bloor. The back of the book reads:

          Welcome to Tangerine. This place is weirder than it looks.     Paul Fisher sees the world from behind glasses so thick he looks like a bug-eyed alien. But he's not so blind that he can't see there are some very unusual about his family's new home in Tangerine County, Florida. Where else does a sinkhole swallow the local school, fire burn underground for years, and lightening strike at the same time every day?

     With all this chaos compounded by the constant harassment from his football-star brother, adjusting to life in Tangerine isn't easy for Paul - until he joins the soccer team at his middle school. With the help of his new teammates, Paul discovers what lies beneath the surface of his strange new hometown. And he also gains courage to face up to some secrets his family has been keeping from him for far too long.

     In Tangerine, it seems, anything is possible.

Science

We are doing cell biology and in about a week probably some dissections.  The advanced science class has some good looking solar cookers (including noted ones by Dylan Rinehart and Allison Gresham).

Social Studies

In social studies we have been studying the ancient civilizations of the fertile crescent, including those that lived "between the rivers" in MESOPOTAMIA. The Sumerians and Babylonians will be compared to many other ancient groups we study this year, including the Egyptians, Chinese, and people of the Indus River Valley.

We have also been keeping up to date on current events going on in the world as students continue to do bi-weekly write-ups on articles they choose to read. A few of the popular events this past week included the ongoing conflict in Syria, the 'wall of trees' in Kenya, the attempted Trans-Atlantic balloon flight, and the righting of the Costa Concordia off the coast of Italy.