Exeriential Learning Week: Monkey See, Monkey Do!

 My first at Black Forest Academy, I learned about our Experiential Learning Week, ELW. Teachers are paired up and plan/create field trips and activities for a certain grade level for a week, usually the last week in May. 

I was paired with Anna Key (Facione) and Nick Reaburn. Anna and Nick navigated and planned the week while I listened, watched and observed. They planned out using the local public transpertation for taking a bus into Basel (which is in Switzerland), then purchasing tickets for the tram to get us closer to the zoo and walking the 7 minutes to the entrance. Then, timing our return to make sure we get back on the tram, and the bus to return to school. This was for Monday. 

They planned STEM activities for a day (Tuesday) at school. I think we did an egg drop? 

For Wednesday, they planned an hour and 47 minute drive to Winterthur, Switzerland where there is this amazing science museum, Technorama! Anna drove her car and Nick drove his. I think another parent also drove but don't remember. We had a small class that year. We made sure to leave at a good time to make it back for the 4 'o' clock Basel bus which takes our Basel students back to Basel. They even accounted for the traffic in Zurich and Basel as these two cities are on the way. 

Thursday is a holiday during this last week of May so we rested up and jumped back in for a full Friday! We visited a local castle, had lunch and did a ropes course which was a blast! 

They did all the phone calls (I believe they had Maria Walker, who is German, help with this), online registrations, budgetting, script a parent letter, timing, gathering materials for STEM activites, and more that I did not know about. 

Thanks to their example, I am now able to help lead in putting together a week of field trips and activities. Making reservations, scribing a parent letter, Basel parent letter (for our early morning departure for Technorama), permission forms, budgetting, and gathering materials for in-school activities. It is definitely a full week but so worth it when we see our students enjoying the activities! 

This year, we did field trips and activities that were similar to my first few years. On Monday, we took public transportation to the Basel Zoo. 

On Tuesday, we did a literacy circle where we sipped tea, ate scones and listened to a mystery online. We had a mystery dinner theater where the students acted out the roles of different fairy tale creatures and followed clues to figure out who stole a magic mirror. We finished the day with watching a Nancy Drew movie. 

On Wednesday, I and another parent each drove a van of students and my co-lead, Leigh to the Technorama Science Center. Below are several photos of our experience at Technorama so you can see how amazing this place is and why I work hard so we can go every year! 

On the first floor, (there are three floors!), there is a room with a blowing machine and a few material items that float up in the air. Some fun chairs, a tall rope with a pulley system, and a small room (first photo) where three boys sat while their image was projected on a screen outside the room. I think it was sound-proof?

Also on the first floor is a huge room with hands-on activities that feature mechanics, magnetism, static electricity, and more! There was a slide one could go down then touch a steel ball and give yourself a shock! Fun times! 

After exploring the first floor for about an hour, we headed up to the second floor for our 45-minute Chemistry class, titled, "Cold, colder, coldest; Ice Cream in 3 minutes." Students took the temperature of ice (control), then added salt, sugar, and baking soda separately to a little container of ice to see if it made a difference in temperature. They made a tiny amount of ice cream in a little container that they shook in ice and salt for 3 minutes. Then, they were asked what kind of chemical would make a larger batch of ice cream in 3 minutes? Did you say liquid nitrogen? You are correct!! 

Leigh is new this year and has been teaching English 6 and 7 and has been such a huge help in planning out this week! She planned our Tuesday with literacy activities! 

The second floor is full of hands-on activities with mirrors, 5 senses like smelling, optical illusions, coding and geomatric puzzles, sound, light, and so much more! I cannot remember right now what is on the 2nd floor and which are on the 3rd floor. It's interested to see what stands out to students. I remember one group really enjoying some of the mirrors one year. This year, our students really enjoyed the optical illusions. 

There is a whole outdoor area as well that has activities with wind, water (a mist tunnel!), a huge box that fills with water and dumps and if you stand in the right place, you might get soaked! Different kinds of swings and a pulley system that pulls a person up in the air. 

For the first time in three years that I have been helping to drive us there, we made it back before the 4 'o' clock bus! Yeah! 

For Friday, we planned on the ropes course but they called and had to cancel becuase we have been getting a lot of rain which can make a ropes course dangerous. So we did a Plan B at school where we played games, made homemade pizzas and watched an old Disney movie, the animated Robin Hood. I was so proud of our students and their amazing attitude over the cancellation and change of activies! It was a fun and full week!