An exciting week of learning culminated in a visit from the education department from the Slater Museum of Natural History at the University of Puget Sound. The presentation included preserved specimens of birds (note: none of the specimens had been harmed by the University; all were donations from local people who found the birds in various places).

We learned to think like scientists to record data, using careful measurements of  wing length and width. And we studied the wings in detail to produce accurate scientific illustrations.

What do Bernoulli's Law of Aerodynamics and Reindeers have in common? We tested some hypotheses to find out.

Our annual Snowflake Breakfast included a photo booth. 

For our literature studies, we've been reading "The Trumpet of the Swan" by E.B. White. We made clay models of Louis with his beloved trumpet.

It's a bird, it's a plane, it's......GALLON MAN

                          Gallon man is an interactive way to learn liquid volume equivalents.

We began our next unit on animals with some Stuffed Animal Classification (Taxonomy).

We enjoyed a special educational day at the Cougar Mountain Zoo in Issaquah, WA.

 In addition to housing endangered and protected species, the privately owned Zoo also contains the largest bronze statue collection in the U.S. Their motto is "Conservation through Education".

Halloween Fun & Field trips!

                                         Pumpkins decorated as a favorite character 

Our visit to the Tacoma Musical Playhouse's production of "How I Became a Pirate", based on the eponymous book.

Scenes from a busy week:

Starry night at the pumpkin patch, a project in art class with Miss Angela

A visit to the Nordic Museum in Ballard. It was fun to see replicas and real items from the Vikings! 

A math lesson involving Starburst candies, then a science lesson on making  our own Starburst "dough"

Here are some highlights from a very active two weeks:

Our class loves yoga time! We follow along with Cosmic KidsYoga.....

Minecraft and pirate themes make being healthy more fun!

On Grandparents and Special Friends Day, the adults were able to experience an example of  Seabury's inquiry-based learning process by experimenting with magnets.

We used a STEM approach for literacy. After reading the book "After the Fall" by Dan Santat, the students designed and built some contraptions that Humpty Dumpty might have used.

We were able to pre-view a box of Viking replicas from the Nordic Museum in Seattle, which we will be visiting in a few weeks. The students were surprised to see how heavy a helmet or chain mail head covering was!

We learned about caravans and planned an inventory of what we would take with us if we were explorers setting out on the Silk Road to China. We had some lively class discussion about how difficult it would have been to walk over 7,000 miles, not knowing what to expect. It's not easy for a 7 or 8 year old to imagine a world without GPS!



We collaborated with the first grade Navigators class for s study of the Spice Islands. We had to identify mystery spices.

We began  mapping the routes of the explorers as we study them.

One of the students' favorite activities was a science project making their own chalkboard slime. We learned about the chemical reaction that creates slime.