New Camera

I finally bought a digital SLR! I am so excited to take it to the Grand Canyon next week. I was trying it out and got some cute pictures of my kiddos.

School Picture

I don't often order school pictures of the children because I think they always look goofy. This year I found out that teachers get a copy of their school picture for free. Here it is.

What We Do at Horizon

At Horizon, we are big believers in both cooperative and integrated learning. Together, we call it Project Group. The students are usually posed with some sort of problem that they need to solve. They use information they learn in science and social studies, as well as writing and publishing skills developed in language arts. The key is that they learn to make decisions together and that they learn to not compartmentalize their learning. That is, what is relevant in science is relevant in language art, project group, and any other number of place.

Last year the students were working on building a "green" cargo ship. Below they are testing the efficiency of their sail designs. We built "Lake Horizon" in the courtyard outside my classroom.

They also tested to measure how straight their boat went and if moving the sails would impact the course of the boat.

This year we are working on the "8th Continent." They have learned all about how different landforms are made and how natural disaster effect all areas of the world. Their challenge, then, was to create an island based on a particular movement of the earth's plates; for example, a volcanic hotspot or a divergeent boundary. They are building these out of layers of styrofoam and it makes a horrible mess that will linger in the classroom for a couple of weeks.

Working in groups is not as common in language, but the students love it every time we do it.

First Day of School

OK, so this picture is a couple of months old, but it is the latest picture of the whole gang. This was the morning of the first day of school. It's hard to believe how big they are all getting. We will no longer have a child in kindergarten. Next year our oldest will be in junior high. How did it all happen so fast?

We Finally Have a Blog!

Well, after much prodding, we finally have a family blog. I will do my best to update it frequently with the latest news and pictures.