February 26, 2013 Adventures in Polar Exploration with Børge Ousland

We went to see a modern day explorer, Børge Ousland, at the beautiful downtown Seattle Benaroya Hall. Trained as a deep-sea diver by the military in his native Norway, Børge Ousland is living proof that people can still achieve historic firsts in exploration. The first person to cross Antarctica solo and unsupported with resupply, Ousland more recently completed the first ever sea crossing of the Northwest and Northeast Passages in a single season. In 2011, he led an expedition to Antarctica to mark the anniversary of Amundsen's conquest of the South Pole. We journeyed with him to the Poles through his bigger-than-life images, video, stories, and adventures.

 

 Børge Ousland

 

The Navigators in front of Benaroya Hall

Top notch National Geographic LIVE!

 

We had first tier box seats.

 

And we sat very properly.

 

We were eager to get started along with 2000+ other students.

 

Some future explorers

The Octopi went with us.

 

We were inspired to go after our own dreams, dreams of becoming...

 

a teacher,

a pilot,

a veterinarian,

an inventor of great stuff,

an inventor of a car than runs by water,

a race car driver,

a famous singer,

an engineer,
a lego master,
an Olympic athlete,

a dentist,

a mother,

a father of seven children,

an actor and a director,

and who knows what else!

 

 

And I believe them!

 

 

February 14, 2013 Valentine's Day

Valentine's Day in the Navigators classroom was spent doing art in the Romero Britto style, doing Valentine Mad Libs, playing games, doing crafts, eating goodies, opening up our cards and enjoying each other's friendship. Oh, and we dissected a sheep's heart the day before. :)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

February 7, 2013 Science Day

Today was Science Day all day long in the Navigators Classroom. We entered into the human body taped on the floor and took oxygen rich blood to the various cells in the body and took back oxygen poor blood back to the lungs. We worked in groups and became inventors of a variety of stethoscopes. We discussed how the various designs worked and decided that the simplest design--a cut off sports drink bottle and a paper towel tube--worked best. This then evolved into an impromptu sales pitch in which each team tried to sell their stethoscope to the others. We then experimented with real stethoscopes, listening to each other's hearts before and after excercise. This then evolved into listening to other things in the classroom including the sheep heart we will be dissecting. We discovered that sure enough, the sheep is no longer alive. It was a very exciting, "upbeat" day in our classroom. Perhaps we have some future inventors and heart surgeons in our midst.

 

 

 

 

 

February 1, 2013 All School First Friday Enrichment

 

The first Friday of each month the Middle School and the Lower School all gather together for Gathering. We then split into 5 or 6 smaller groups and have enrichment classes. The classes this trimester include art, science, reading, Legos and board games. Here are some pictures taken during board games.