The winter trimester is peculiar in that we bite off seventeen days between vacations. It almost has the feel of a separate unit of time....not quite winter, yet technically winter. It might be different if we had two feet of snow on the slopes.
An Earth science class helped teach local fourth graders a couple of classes on geology and rock types. The little kids have an impressive understanding of igneous, metamorphic and sedimentary processes.
School assemblies have been chock full, as usual. Many announcements and performances have holiday themes.
Students have orchestrated bake sales to benefit the Andover Food Pantry, which is meeting the needs of more townspeople than in past years. After assembly, friends of specific seniors gather for that senior's yearbook page photo.
As you can see, these photos can have very different composition and feel!
Our beloved kitchen staff produced a sumptuous holiday dinner Tuesday evening, and dorms are gathering for post-study hall parties, but it's also business as usual during class hours.
Amina delivers a PowerPoint presentation on an endangered Corsican dialect:
In the boat shop, Zoli, who spends his summers working at a Vineyard Haven boatyard, has taken on the task of rebuilding an old dory.
Does it seem we're moving in a straight line, like variables in a linear equation? Algebra 1 students calculated the number of elastic bands to attach to Beanie Babies (using the straight line equation Y=mx+2b) for a contest in which each toy performs a kind of bungie jump in the atrium of the Learning Center. The winning Beanie Baby comes closest to the floor without touching it!
Following the exercise, the class talks through the variables in the equation, representing slope, slope intersect and the x/y axis.
Much more thorough (and complete!) explanation of this activity will appear soon both in Proctor In Focus and the
Academic Lens blog!
