Wednesday, December 19, 2018

Creating a Language

As part of their studies of ancient cultures, the Olympians learned that many ancient cultures developed sophisticated systems of communication and writing. After looking at a few examples, such as Egyptian hieroglyphics and Babylonian cuneiform, and making some comparisons, each student tried their own hand at creating a system of written language.

  Most were based on our modern English alphabet, but some were pretty out of this world...
 All were exceptionally creative:

 One was based completely on animals:

 After creating the symbology, the students wrote and "encrypted" a message, then passed around their messages for others to decipher.
 It was a lot of hard work, and also a lot of fun!
What do YOU think this says?

Monday, December 10, 2018

Giving Thanks

Thanksgiving at Seabury is always celebrated by the students with a "Charlie Brown-style" feast. Each class prepares some small snack or treat that is a riff on traditional Thanksgiving meal items, and we all come together at the end of the day to share our bounty. Turkey is not usually on our menu, but there is always a veggie platter in the shape of a turkey!
Everybody gets in on the chopping!

We then assemble out trays tp show off all the delicious color.
We form a big circle and everyone says what they are thankful for. Occasionally we hear funny things like "squirrels," and "the internet," but for the most part, it's the heartfelt things that matter most that students share. This year, family, friends, teachers, and "Seabury" came up over and over. There is a lot to be thankful for here, that is for sure!
Gobble Gobble!

Pendulum Investigation

An inquiry investigation to launch our study of physics: what are the properties of a pendulum? We thought about several questions: ...