Seedlings & Saplings CORE Mar 24-26

This week we finally finished boiling down the sap we collected during March break. Filtering the sap proved to be the most time consuming event, and we have made plans for alternative collection practice next year to eliminate the particulate in the collected sap.

We explored some new to us technology this week related to our maple syrup production. Students learned about BRIX (the sugar measurement system) that is used for maple syrup production and they also learned how to use a hydrometer to determine if maple syrup is finished as well. We were able to pour our finished syrup into little sample jars for each student so they can have a decent helping when we have our pancake lunch, and there are some going home with students that chose that as well.

Business immersion officially began this week, with students identifying changes in their businesses with new logos, names, and products. Special congratulations goes to Stella who was the first to complete their food handler safety course, including the video exam!! Way to lead Stella!

We spent our mornings this week exploring business math and language by playing Jeopardy. All teams received a "buzz in" button that they programmed with their team name. Students earn and keep track of the value of money they earn as a team this time and will have the opportunity to decide as a team what they prefer to do with their earnings. Everyone is learning about the terms that come along with business, how to work through word problems and calculate tax from every direction possible. It has been lots of fun with maximum engagement.

This week in our afternoon center students learned more about the practice of Traditional Chinese Medicine. They each completed a checklist for themselves to determine what their constitutional element is and whether it is out of balance or not. All students have a second checklist they are bringing home to complete for someone at home this weekend. This is due back on Monday. Moving through the checklist included TONS of learning and many students came to understand the messages from their bodies and why they are occurring a little better.

Our TSOM Hostipal is up and running and students have been introduced to the process, resources, tools and they are doing a fantastic job playing!! It is vital that older students play to learn, as learning happens with 4x less repetition through play than it does any other way. Experiences and fun are the keys to deep learning. We have had many babies born in our Hostipal this week....and so far there have been no broken bones. Next week we will begin role playing with situation cards in the TSOM Hostipal, which should be a blast.

This week we welcomed Courtney Roddis on Monday back to share about the Sacral Chakra. We did not have space to do these meditations this week in the classroom, however I did get all of the chakra meditations loaded into our webpage connected with the "forms" tab on the home page of our school app. Please feel free to click the button and scroll down to listen to the 10 minute meditations with your students over the weekend.