This week we learned about a "spooktacular" Halloween parade from our Reporter of the Week.  Apparently, New York City hosts a dog Halloween parade every year in Tompkins Square.  This is the largest annual dog parade attracting over 300 dogs and their owners, often dressed in matching attire.  The costumes get pretty elaborate, including remote control helicopters, remote control cars, lots of wagons, skateboards, and fantastic designs.  The coveted Best in Show award gets a $500 gift card to Petco.  That's one way to reward good behavior!

Today we learned about centripetal force.  What do you think will happen if you shake a balloon with a metal nut inside?  We guessed it would pop, bounce up and down, or spin around the edge.  Turns out centripetal force (a force that makes an object follow a curved path) makes the nut hug the edge of the balloon. When you stop shaking, gravity takes over the nut falls to the bottom.

We can feel centripetal force in action!

The nut makes a cool humming sound!

Did you know that you can make raisins dance with just a few simple ingredients? When you drop raisins in soda, they sink to the bottom because they are heavier than the surrounding liquid.  However, the CO2 in the soda clings to the many wrinkles on the raisin skin.  When enough bubbles latch on, the raisins buoyancy increases and the raisins float to the top.  Once the air bubbles rise to the surface they pop, and the raisin sinks back to the bottom.  The process is repeated until the bubbles are gone!  So cool!

We are so lucky to have a family with Navajo heritage in our class. Yesterday, we learned about traditional Navajo sand paintings.  We explored Native American symbols and created our own messages and masterpieces with glue, sand, and a little bit of patience.  What a perfect fit to our study of Colorado Native American tribes and culture.

Check it out: High School to Tik Tok

Today we heard from our Reporter of the Week.  Many of you know of social media apps, such as Facebook and Instagram, but a newer craze, Tik Tok, has the younger generation addicted to 15 second lip syncing/dancing videos. Tik Tok is a fun way to interact with your friends, share funny videos, or even be discovered for hidden talents.  However, there's a darker side to Tik Tok and the social media craze.  Teens are now addicted to their phones, checking them obsessively.  People partake in inappropriate behavior and interactions online that would not typically occur in person.  And our attentions spans seem to be getting shorter and shorter.  It's an interesting time to be growing up and interacting with the internet!

We got all these articles on Newsela, which is a great resource for current events and nonfiction articles.  You have to create an account, but the basic version is free.  The articles come with quizzes to check your comprehension.  The best part is that each article can be accessed at different Lexiles.  This means that the same article can be read at different reading levels, so that students of different reading abilities can access the same content and have great conversations about it!