April 27 - The word of the day is tangible. Jesse was the book consultant. He shared the book The Strangers by Margaret Peterson Haddix. Our notes for the research project were due today. Many of us started working on our project plans and projects.
April 21 - The word of the day was manifest meaning obivious read by JJ. The book consultants were Lillian and Conner. Conner reviewd Schooled by Gordon Korman. Lillian presented Found by Margaret Peterson Haddix. We worked on taking notes for our PSA projects. We went out to take a new page photo. It was a great day.
April 14 - The word of the day was grotesque meaning distorted. We talked about grotesques on buildings. The book consultants were JJ and Ryan. JJ presented the first book in the Survivors series. Ryan presented Spy School, by Stuart Gibbs. We started researching our topics today. We just used sources from the library page, like online books, encyclopedias, and databases. We made new Last Man Standing Cards. Mrs. McElhinney let us have recess because of state testing today. It was a good day in QUEST.
St. Patrick's Day-Today people wore green. Jack was book presenter and presented Slugfest. There were also two other people who presented books. Ethan was the word presenter and he presented amiable. It meant to be friendly. We worked on choosing our project. Today we also did a Ted Ed. It was about cutting a obtuse triangle into acute triangles. We had lots of fun and confusing thinking.
March 10 - Today, Lilah presented the word, incredulous. It means hard to believe or skeptical. Jack was our book consultant, he told us about the book Restart. We learned about global problems. We did a huge amount of thinking about the global problems and how we would rate them according to the world and to Clifton Park. We also learned what a PSA is.
March 3 - Today we had lots of fun. First, We did some sudoku. Then Maceo presented the word abate and David presented the word prodigious. The book consultants were Jolene, Anna, and Lilah. Sersha, Abbey, and Jolene presented their Ferris Wheel. Then we got to take our think like an engineer packet home. After that, we worked on and presented our literary element slide or video. Then some of us got to play mancala while the others finished their literary element slides.
Sersha, Abbey, Jolene - Ferris Wheel Video
February 24 - Today's word was abate meaning to lessen. There wasn't a book consultant. We tested the Ferris Wheels! Below are the incredible videos of each groups Ferris Wheel. Today was a great QUEST Day!
Alicja, Caterina, Lilah part one Alicja, Caterina, Lilah part two
Feb 10
Today at quest we learned the word odious. Emma was the book consultant, she presented Millicent Quibb School of Etiquette for Young Ladies of Mad Science. Gilbert showed us the Book Seekers. Ryan showed us the book Last Gamer Standing. Jesse showed Old School, which was one of the five books in the district's Battle of the Books. On this snowy day, we gathered up the materials we collected from the days before and we were about to try our best to put them all together in one giant piece of awesome. Many Ferris wheels had successfully been completed to the max. Then we worked on Venn diagram and another diagram. You could either make these on paper or on Canva. Most people worked on Canva. Nothing went wrong to my knowledge. That's what happend at quest.
February 3- Today at Quest the word of the day was eccentric and the word presenter was Ralfie. The book consultants were Alicja and Anna. Alicja showed us the book " Where the Mountain Meets the Moon" And Anna presented the book "Wish". We started working on our poem projects where we can work with partners or alone. You got to chose a bunch of options to explain what you knew about poetry that we read. Then we worked on our Ferris Wheel projects. We have to build a Ferris wheel with and emergency brake that is powered by the wind. We did our planning and started building them. We all had a great fun day.
January 27- Today at QUEST the word of the day was Vex. The word presenter was Abbey. We had three book consultant. Ralphie presented the first Spy School book. Connor presented a Gordon Korman book, Everest. Jack presented another Gordon Korman book, Ungifted. All their books were recommended. Today we had a Socratic Seminar on the four poems we had been learning about. Jesse and Emma were the moderators. Ethan P and Ralfie taught us ultimate tic tac toe.
January 20 - Today in QUEST the word of the day was singular. It means unique. There were three book consultants today and they were Anna, Abbey, and Maceo. The habit of mind was taking responsible risks. We gathered materials for the Ferris wheel project. We did Question Sorts for the poems. We read the poems again and discussed about it. We had complete attendance. We had analogy words for morning work. - Ethan P.
January 13 - Today at QUEST, we had a very exquisite day. Our word of the day was "condescend" meaning to patronize. Our book consultant was Zach and he presented the book Warriors: The Darkest Hour. The habit of mind was responding with wonderment and awe. We talked about poems in a small group. Then, we learned about the materials we could use in our Ferris Wheel project. We had an amazing day at QUEST.
January 6 - The habit of mind was gathering data through all senses. The word of the day was countenance meaning facial expression. Today we had 2 book consultants. Alicja presented Escape from Mr. Lemoncello's Library. Caterina presented the cute puppy book Millie. The Today at Quest, we had a very interesting day. We learned about the history of the Ferris Wheel. The Ferris Wheel was invented by George Washington Gale Ferris Jr. We also talked about the poets Edgar Allen Poe, William Carlos William, Emily Bronte, and Robert Frost. We read the poems The Bells, Spellbound, Winter Trees, and Dust of Snow.
December 16 - Today we did not have book consultant or word of the day! That's because it was big build day. With our groups we made electrical circuits. We used our buildings from our last big build day. Then, we presented to the class and filled out reflection. This time we also had a reflection were students could talk about what they learned.
Lilah and Jack
December 9 - Today we started the day by doing morning work. There were two options to do. Then Lilah presented word of the day which was called Repose. Aarav was our book consulter. He presented a book called Aru Shah. Then with our groups, we made electrical circuits and fixed our towers if needed. After the project was over, we played around with our circuits, trying to build diverse collections of them and having a lot of fun. After we were cleaned up, we read books. -Lilah and David
November 25- We played with electrical circuits today. We learned series and parallel circuits. We tried to light up bulbs by connecting wires with batteries. Some tried to make the brightest lights by adding the most batteries or adding the least bulbs. At the end of the day we played a bit of last man standing.
November 18 - No QUEST last week. Today we the word presenter was Emma and the word was livid. The book consultant was Olivia and her book was Wings of Fire. The habit of mind was thinking and communicating with clarity and precision. We read the book Energy Island about innovative electrical engineering ideas. At QEUST we also did a chalk talk and we prepared for a seminar. Lilah and Caterina were taking photos for the yearbook. - Anna and Ralfie
November 4 - Today we played mancala and we did TED ed. Also we got to do Sudoku. The word presenter was Alex and the word was profound. The book consultant was Anuva and Jesse. We made animal memes and some kids got to rebuild their tower out of packing peanuts and toothpicks. In conclusion we had a great time!!
October 28 - We did not do word of the day, habits of mind, or book consultant because it is big build day!
Abbey, Gilbert, Sersha - Testing Structure Video
Jesse, Maceo, Ryan - Testing Structure Video
Alicja, Lillian, Vihaan - Testing Structure Video
Connor, Lilah, Olivia - Testing Structure Video
Anna, David, Jolene- Testing Structure Video
Anuva, Caterina, Zachary - Testing Structure Video
Aarav, Alex, Emma - Testing Structure Video
Jack, JJ - Testing Structure Video
Ethan, Ethan - Testing Structure Video
Today we talked about what we will be doing for our world problems project Seminar. Some of the options were life under water, life on land, zero hunger, clean and affordable energy, climate action, clean and sanitized water, quality education, and many more. Today was the big build day. We had 50 mins to build a tower out of packing peanuts and toothpicks we were building for strength and hight. The towers were tested and viedo taped. We had a fan blowing at 3 speeds at 3 spaces 100cm,75cm and 50cm. in conclusion we had a great filled day with lots of fun! Happy Halloween!!!
October 21 - The word of the day is visage, it means the look on a face. The habit of mind was thinking about your thinking. The book consultant was Ryan. He presented The Poison King, part of the Impossible Creatures series. Today we planned our ideas for how we could build the tallest, and sturdiest tower that could withstand a fan blowing at it. Also, the first five people of the year-Ethan, Ethan, Gilbert, David and Ralfie- figured out how to make a cube out of different shaped blocks - SOMA cubes. At the end of the day, we created and imagined Color-Symbol-Image were, you had to draw a color on the sheet and explain why you chose it and how it relates to a paragraph called A Sense of a Goose. Then, you had to create a symbol and write why you chose it. Last, you needed to sketch an image and explain why you chose that. Have a good day! - JJ Chithalen
October 14 - The word of the day was din. The habit of mind was thinking flexibly. The book consultant was Lillian . We had our first Socratic Seminar this year. We had our seminar on the essay The Sense of a Goose and What We Can Learn From Animals. Anna and Ryan were the moderators. Moderators are the leaders who ask the questions and direct the seminar.
October 7 - The word of the week was allude, meaning indirectly referring to. The habit of mind was listening with understanding and empathy. The book consultant for today was Ralfie today. We finished the sentence, word, phrase. We learned what we are going to do for the next two weeks for our STEM build.
September 30 - Today we started the day with looking at the habit of mind. It was striving for accuracy. The book consultant was Abby. She shared Warriors. Then we shared the word of the day, magnanimous, meaning generous spirit. Also we did an activity were we had 50 cards to make a tower and we had to make it as tall as we can. We also had to support a load (AKA an eraser box). it was fun. Finally we had to write about our project. We had a great day!
September 23 - The habit of mind for the day is Questioning and Posing Problems. The word of the day is wistful, meaning having sadness or a pensive mood centered on something good in the past. The book consultant was Jolene and she presented Right Back At You. We read a book about Lonnie Johnson and all of his many inventions, including the super soaker.
September 16 - The word of the week was melancholy meaning sad. The Habit Of Mind was managing impulsivity, think before you act. JJ was the book consultant. He presented I Survived the Japan Tsunami. We figured out what an engineer is and examples of engineers. We watched an awesome video of Strandbeesten, Beach Beasts. Strandbeests are the invention of Theo Jansen, they are super cool engineered beach beasts.
September 9 - Today is the first day of QUEST. The word of the week was exquisite meaning beautifully made. The book consult was Gilbert and he presented The Warriors: Darkest Night. The Habit of Mind was persist. We took a class picture, see above. We read the book Ten Birds. We had a tarp challenge. So we had to flip a tarp while everyone was standing on it. We learned about our classmates with QUEST version of four corners. We had a very long fire drill. We were perfectly quiet during the drill. QUEST was great, everyone will be back next week.
March 24- Today the word was trembulous, which means quivering. The presenter for the word was Emma Henry. We had three book consultants and starteed the day with a ted-ed. As the day moved on, we started to make questions for our PSI.