Upper Elementary News - 3/16, Student Submissions

Air Play

By Ella

Last week, students attended Air Play at the Tennessee Performing Arts Center. Air Play is about how things move in the air. There were two people who had huge pieces of fabric and balloons of all sizes. In one of the balloons, there were packing peanuts and glitter. There was also confetti. Everything would fly in a circle of fans. There were also beautiful umbrellas that would dance all through the air. There were suitcases that had all the props for the performance in them. For an example of what was in the suitcase: there were balloons that the performers would go inside of, but do not try that at home!

Images courtesy of airplayshow.com

News From the Stock Market

By Max and Ben

Note: In a previous newsletter, it was reported that UE Guide Garrett closed down banks with $10,000 worth of Abint Coins (cyber currency) in them. A group of students decided to sue Garrett, but discovered that they did not have a case. They have formed a new plan to solve this issue.

Garrett is controlling the stock market while participating in it, so he has the power to manipulate it to his advantage. In the real stock market, there are people who police it who can’t participate in the stock market. Max and Ben thought that Garrett wasn’t being fair, so they started a campaign to sue him. However, even though in real life what Garrett did would be illegal, nothing in the Abintra Stock market rules says it is wrong. Sherry gave them the idea of forming their own government so that they could pass a law that would make what Garrett is doing illegal. They wrote a petition and went around asking everyone who is in the stock market to sign it. They have collected 20 signatures out of the 27 people in the market. They will have an election for “President of the Stock Market” and then they hope to pass laws to FINALLY make what Garrett is doing illegal.

Guides are Innocent

By Lexa and Garrett

Note: The following is an opinion piece in response to the actions of the previous authors.

Guides are innocent. People think guides are not and hang up wanted posters, but, they are innocent. If they do crazy stuff, you should forgive them. Guides are usually nice (and if you annoy a guide, they might annoy you!). If someone puts up wanted posters, take them down if you have no evidence they are guilty. Guides are very innocent.

Pi Day at the Farm

By Addie and Josephine, with help from Jonell and Alice

We were on our way to the farm when David announced that we were going to Sherry’s house for pancakes. We were so surprised! We had pancakes to celebrate Pi Day, and also because it was our first sunny day at the farm. (For the first three weeks at the farm, the Tuesday group had sunny warm weather, while the Wednesday farm crew, also known as the Wet Wednesday Warriors, worked in cloudy, rainy, windy, and cold weather.) To learn about pi, Sherry had us measure the circumference and diameter of different sizes of circular objects. Then, we worked together to divide the circumference by the diameter. Everyone was finding that the answer was close to 3.14, which is pi!

It was a wonderful day at the farm. After pancakes, we moved a lot of wood. It was hard, and some people even thought it was fun! David was amazed at the amount of wood that we were able to move and organize.

We took a short lunch break, then Andy Lantz, Davidson County 4-H Extension Agent, came to the farm to teach us about bird watching. 

Here are some comments about the day from students:

"The pancakes were amazing!" - Louis

"I got a stomach ache." - Arlo

"It was nice that Sherry and Samuel made us pancakes." - Anabel

"It was really fun. The pancakes were amazing, and the bird watching was really fun!" - Roxy

Pi Day on Campus

By Evan and Ansel

Jennifer came to our classroom to teach us about pi. We measured the circumference and diameter of some circular things that we found, like buckets, bowls, and tubes. Then we had to multiply, subtract, add, and divide the circumference with the diameter (c x d, c - d, c + d, and c ÷ d) to see which one would give us the answer of 3.14.  We found out that if you divide the circumference by the diameter, the answer is 3.14, which is pi. At the end, we got to eat a piece of pie, either apple or lime, or we could eat a popsicle.

Community Service

By Hayden

Laila, Noah, Alexandra, Ben, Alice, and I have been on community service all of this week. On Monday, we raked leaves on the archery range. It was lots of fun. Alexandra, Alice, and I even jumped into a leaf pile!

On Tuesday, we ripped and cut fabric for Maria Asuncion. She used it for a weaving project in LE. That was fun, too. On Wednesday, we took a break for Pi Day!!! It was very fun. I ate pie, and some people ate popsicles. Yum!! We also learned what pi (the math concept) is. On Thursday, we raked again.

 

Archaeology

By Lily L., Hazel, and Jonell

Last week on Friday, a group from the UE class went to the Bells Bend Outdoor Center and did some work with state archaeologist Sarah Levithol Eckhardt. Sarah talked to us about the science of archaeology, and she showed us some really old artifacts. She even showed us a jawbone and teeth from a mastodon, and explained the difference between an archaeologist and a paleontologist. After we dug up some buried artifacts, we worked on throwing spears with an atlatl. Here are some student comments:

“My favorite part was digging.” - Elek

“It was awesome!” - Ansel

“It was really cool.” -Ella

“I liked throwing the atlatl.” - Lillie

“It was fun. I liked throwing with the atlatl.” -Tula

“I really liked holding the pottery fragments, and the atlatl was cool.” - Maddie