Letters to der Weihnachtsmann

German Teacher, Ava Wyatt, had her students write a letter to Santa.  But it was not the Santa Claus that most of us in the U.S. would consider.  In Germany, good old Santa is referred to as Father Christmas or in the German language: der Weihnachtsmann.  Wyatt learned of an address in Germany that accepts these letters and would send a reply, but she never thought that they would include individual letters to all her students in the U.S. 

“It was so exciting to open the envelope and see all the personalized letters with German postage,” said Wyatt.  Some other activities the students have enjoyed from Germany include a special Advent calendar and decorated cookies (Lebkuchenherzen) similar to ones that would be sold in Germany.

Water Sampling

Paige Finley, Joana Rosales, Yea Jee Bae and Tommy Tran get ready to enter Mill Creek to gather water samples.

They are participants in a collaborative project with IB Chemistry and IB Biology.

This is part of an ongoing water quality study to assess the amount of contaminants and pollution in our local water systems.

Simple Machines

Simple machines are everywhere, but to see how the simple machines work, Pat Hunt’s Advanced Physical Science class put the six types of machines together to move a metal ball from start to finish. 

The required machines included a lever, wheel and axle, pulley, screw, inclined plane, and a wedge. The project had to be produced a one foot square board.

The group project of Sarah Stinnett, Carson Sharp and Isaiah Ortiz
Nihal Khote. Taylor Sanders and Mary Arden Wright used many found objects to make their machines.