Community
Thank you Sarah Glaser
Sarah Glaser visited with our 2nd and 3rd graders in May to share her work with water as a fish scientist. She explained the importance of Lake Victoria in Africa and provided many opportunities for students to make connections and ask questions. Thank you for visiting and sharing your expertise!
Thank you to our Centennial Community and Trout Unlimited
Miss Michelle has been fundraising to start a Trout in the Classroom program with Trout Unlimited. This program will start during the 21-22 school year. Thank you to: Centennial PTA for your support and sharing program information; Morgan Limpic for organizing our Dine Out fundraising; Geoff E, John D and Jeff M from Trout Unlimited for providing endless support; Centennial families and community members for donating to the program. More to come in Fall 2021!
Thank you, Denver Water!
Ellen Olson and Melissa Botteicher from Denver Water presented two virtual lessons to our 2nd and 3rd graders. They reviewed how Denver Water cleans water using filter materials. Students voted on media to build a virtual filter, then compared our filter to the professional filters that Denver Water uses for our drinking water here in Denver. They taught students about where our water comes from and how it travels to Denver. Thank you!
Thank you, Mr. Carlos!
4th and 5th grade students are learning about energy sources (solar, wind, fossil fuels, etc) and how these sources are converted to electricity. Mr. Carlos showed the students the back-up generator we have at Centennial in case we lose electricity at school.
Thank you, Mr. Eric
Eric Punkay works in the DPS Department of Sustainability. He visited with each 4th and 5th grade crew to discuss energy usage at Centennial during our Energy Conversions expeditions in the (virtual) Science Lab.
Thank you Scientists!
During our Black Lives Matter @ School weeks, students learned about a diverse group of scientists doing incredible science work around the world. Students wrote questions to some of these scientists and we are starting to get responses. As responses are e-mailed back to Miss Michelle, she'll add them here. Enjoy!
(On a personal note: Miss Michelle met Jane when they were both living and teaching in Prague, Czech Republic from 2013-2015. Jane recently relocated to Denver, and she and Michelle spend a lot of time birdwatching and sharing science together!)
Thank you Miss Jane
Sending a big Thank You to biology teacher, Jane Maczuzak, for visiting with 3rd graders in Miss Nancy, Miss Haley and Miss Veronica's crews. The students are learning about traits and inheritance. Jane guided the students in being "genetic detectives" as a way to think about where they get their own unique traits.
Thank you, Miss Sheridan!
Sheridan Samano is a Wildlife Biologist and avid birder here in Colorado. She visited the 2nd and 3rd graders to share her experience as a biologist and how she does field work. She answered numerous questions!
Thank you Engineers!
A big thank you to our four visiting engineers. During the 4th and 5th grade remote expedition our visitors shared their journey into engineering and answered student questions about engineering. Thank you for sharing your stories and time with us!
Our Meet with JJ
(Mechanical Engineering)
Google Meet with Theresa
(Electrical & Architectural Engineering)
Google Meet with Kim
(Software & Electrical Engineering)
Our Meet with Sebastian
(BioMedical Engineering)
Thank you Mr. Andy!
A big thanks to our 4th and 5th grade Centennial Crew leader! Mr. Andy is an enthusiastic bird watcher. He joined in with five CREW meetings to share his love of birds and answer bird questions.
Thank you Miss Isabel!
Isabel Pen is a graduate student at the University of Kansas. She is focused on Evolutionary Biology with an interest in sharks and rays. She volunteered her time through the Skype a Scientist programs to share her learning with Miss Monica & Miss Robyn's crew. Her presentation included beautiful photos and videos of sharks and rays, and she answered the many questions our learners had for her. Thank you!
Thank you Miss Deb!
A big thanks to Deb Parker from the South Platte Renewal Partners. When our field work to the wastewater treatment plant was postponed and then cancelled, Miss Deb offered to meet us on Google Meets and share her work. Students were able to ask questions about treating water from our homes and business and making it clean enough to return to the South Platte River. They treat 23 million gallons EACH DAY. Wow!
Thank you Mr. Donny!
A big thanks to Donny Roush from Department of Transportation & Infrastructure: Public Works Division. Donny led "virtual" field work for the students studying water. He made two great videos to teach students how to test for water quality at Berkeley Lake. He also joined us for three Google Meet sessions so students could ask him their water testing questions. Thanks Mr. Donny!
And thanks to MacKenzie for recording and sharing these videos!
WaterQualityBerkeleyLake (1).mp4Water Quality Testing
Berkely Lake Ragtime.mp4Looking for Aquatic Macroinvertebrates
CentennialDrainMarking.mp4Marking Storm Drains
Thank you Denver Water!
A big thanks to Denver Water's Youth Education Program. Ellen Olsen taught our 2nd and 3rd graders fascinating lessons focused on water. In the first lesson our students pretended to be a drop of water and took a journey around the world. For the second lesson the students attempted to clean dirty water, then learned how Denver Water cleans water for our homes, schools, and community. Thanks Miss Ellen!
Thank You Mr. David!
A big thanks again to David Kaminer of Raleigh St. Bakery. David worked with the ECE-4 classrooms to combine science and bread-baking. Over two lessons students explored the process of baking sourdough bread from start to finish by mixing, measuring, shaping, baking and tasting!
David has been an incredible support to our Centennial Crew for many years, let's support him as well! Please check out his bakery.
