This weeks reporter came to us with some very local news. You may have seen the most recent Red Lady slide on skiers left of the bowl.  Turns out a solo skier set the slide off early last Sunday.  Luckily, someone watching from the comfort of their couch witnessed the slide and called it into Mountain Rescue. The skier escaped, found one ski, and skied away! Lessons learned...don't go into the backcountry alone! Stick to the low angle pow when conditions are sketchy! We're so glad that everyone is OK!

Today our scientist showed us the magic powers of sugar and yeast and we had a quick chemistry lesson. When yeast is mixed with sugar in a liquid, the yeast (a living organism) becomes activated. It eats the sugar and essentially burps out carbon dioxide. It's a much slower reaction than we're used to with baking soda and vinegar, but it's neat to be able to watch it happen in slow motion. With the creation of carbon dioxide, the pressure in the bottle increases and the balloon fills. It's like watching bread rise!  Check out the video below for the details.

Today we learned how to safely search the internet (mainly Google) for information on our mining towns. We talked about finding quality sources, useful information, and how to search Google effectively. We also learned how to cite sources for websites and books. It's important to give credit for information and photographs that are not our own!

We are so lucky to have a dedicated technology specialist at the school. Ms. Gallagher came to show us how to use a new program called Read and Write. This Google Chrome extension is packed with tools to help us use the internet and technology efficiently. The cool thing is, you can use it at home with your school account. Check out the video below for some helpful hints.

The current events seem to be about natural disasters lately! Today, we learned about a volcano that erupted about 40 miles south of the Philippine capital of Manilla. About 82,000 people have been forced to evacuate their homes. Many people are now homeless, but many people still haven't evacuated for fear of leaving behind their farm and livestock. Unfortunately, the volcano, Taal, still shows a lot of activity and could erupt for weeks or months to come. The people are in need of food, water, shelter, and our good thoughts!

What happens if you mix cooking oil, water, food coloring, and Alka Seltzer? We know cooking oil and water have different densities; water sinks to the bottom and oil floats on top. The food coloring mixes with the water. The Alka Seltzer produces a chemical reaction releasing carbon dioxide. The gas makes bubbles of colored water dance up into the cooking oil like a lava lamp. Check it out!