We recently started our new semester which means we will no longer be having Scientific Communication with Mr. Comstock (We will miss you!) and are looking forward to learning about and making art with Mrs. Norton.

So far, we have been learning about Mrs. Norton’s classroom rules, which are pretty strict.  We’ve also made folders for our work and we started drawing on manila paper.

Mrs. Norton has an assistant, Ms. Erickson, who will also be working with us. Mrs. Norton does not go by block, she goes by group. For example my group is called Graphite which is a gray color. We started making and painting notebook-like books with watercolors which we will be doing work in. Mrs. Norton had students some years ago name the two sinks in her room and the sinks had to have the word “sink” in it so, they named it Hellsinki which is the capital of Finland and Sink Hole which is a depression in the earth. Mrs. Norton said some sink holes get so big they swallow houses!

By Jean-Louis

As you all know our poor little earth is warming and since the sun melts ice the water goes in the ocean making the sea levels rise. York 7 did an expedition about sea levels rising and waters getting warmer. This expedition shall be known as Warming Waters. York 7 worked to the bone from September all to way to January! Geez, that’s 4 months! The students worked on their computers on a program called Comic Life and they finally had their culminating event yesterday. When they had the culminating event they made a scavenger hunt for people such as parents of the students, Windsor 7 and the scientists Tim and Amy. The York 7 students proudly showed off their final products. What their final products are are professional-style posters that explain phytoplankton, the Gulf of Maine, climate change, water quality testing and data analysis. Every 10 minutes our emcee, Max, announced who was going to say the “Didja know?” fact. The students spoke a little fun fact and then when they were finished they rang a bell!

by Jean-Louis 

York 7 is in the middle of an expedition called Warming Waters which partially consists of students testing and comparing results of water samples to see what effects, if any, global warming is having, will have, or has had, on the quality of the water. Students have been testing water at Mackworth Island, Maine Yacht Center, and East End Beach, for dissolved oxygen (DO), potential hydrogen (PH), and salinity. Kids can be seen writing results and observations, testing, and collecting samples of the water at the fieldwork sites in the pictures that are soon to come to the blog.

Submitted By Alison

Ms. Denise Blaha, a research associate at the University of New Hampshire Institute of Earth, Ocean and Space, is coming to King Middle School to talk with students about the concept of climate change and global warming.

Ms. Blaha set a great example for students, teachers, parents, and just about everyone by “reducing the carbon emissions of her family by about 17,000 pounds annually.” Part of the way she accomplished this was by replacing all of her incandescent light bulbs with fluorescent ones and by giving some fluorescent light bulbs to her friends. By doing this one thing she made up for the carbon emissions of her car, a Toyota Matrix. To make up for the emissions of her husband’s car, Ms. Blaha gave money to a “carbon offset” which takes money from donors and uses it to “undo the effects of global warming by investing projects like reforestation and wind farms.”

Ms.Blaha is sure to be a motivating and persuasive educator when she comes to speak to students tomorrow, Tuesday, October 23rd.

Submitted By Alison

Quotations from: http://unh.edu/news/campusjournal/2006/dec/06carbon.html

York and Windsor 7 had a spectacular time at the Camp Kieve Leadership school in Nobleboro, Maine. Students climbed to heights they had never reached before, literally and figuratively. Kids were seen climbing the High Fifty, a fifty foot climb up a tree with a wire to walk on looming at the top, as well as the Trapeze where kids would climb a 45 foot tall telephone pole and jump off the top to clutch a trapeze bar. Students also worked together in groups, learning things about classmates that they didn’t know before and working together in teams.Classes focused on good decision-making, teambuilding, skills, effective communication, and taking healthy and unhealthy risks. Students made stronger bonds, worked hard to reach goals as teams, and most of all learned lessons that they could take back home to practice with. Hopefully pictures from Camp Kieve will be available on the blog soon. Comments are welcome!

Submitted By Alison

The York and Windsor 7 students are preparing to leave on Wednesday, October 10, to go to Camp Kieve, a school away from school. Students will participate in educational activities, learning to be kind and respectful to each other and to their friends and family, as well as learning to take stronger leadership roles, while gaining confidence with every new day. More information (and hopefully more media) will be posted after the trip.

Submitted By Alison

We are pleased to announce that the York 7 Blog team is underway. Stay tuned for news and information about life in York 7.

Submitted by Mr. Grant

We will be using this blog to post homework, provide weekly teacher updates, and report on news from the house.  Use the links to the right to navigate.