September 2011

            Our principal is the best! Ms. Call came and visited Mrs. Robbin's 4th grade classroom this week to read a story about The Human Race, by Jamie Lee Curtis.  She brought her chair with her to use as part of a visual demonstration on the mathematics concept of place value.  Her chair  represented the million's place in our chair place value order.    She is a million dollar principal!  In fact,  we would put her in the quindecillion place value if we could which  is the highest place value that these fourth graders learned about that day!

            On September 22, 2011 the Water Van workers from the Living Planet Aquarium came to Sage Creek Elementary.  The Water Van group visits different schools every day and fiinally it was Sage Creek’s turn. 
            The presenters brought a model to show how water is used for electricity and irrigation.  It also shows how water is purified.  They also brought another large model that showed the water cycle and how it works.  It was even able to rain! They talked to the fourth grade students about water usage.  The students learned that everyone needs to be careful not to waste water because Utah is the second driest state in the country.
            Next students got to see three wetland animals that they had brought for us to see. The first two animals were amphibians. The first one was the Red Spotted Toad.  They told us that amphibians breath through their skin!  The next animal was a Tiger Salamander.  It is the only salamander that lives in Utah..  The last animal was a reptile- a Garter Snake.  He let us touch it if we would do it correctly by petting it in only one direction so it would not hurt the snake. 
            The Water Van learning experience was fun for all Sage Creek students and teachers.  Thank you to the Water Van for coming, and also to Central Utah Water Conservancy District and the Division of Water Resources for helping to support this program.

Sage Creek Elementary 4th graders got to visit Diamond Fork Forest, and hike the Discovery Trail.   They saw a teepee, a beaver dam and some educational signs. Sage Creek Elementary students have created some of the signs that are on the trail. They also got to test the water quality of the river. It turned different colors depending on if the water was healthy or not. They found that they river water was very healthy.  Then BIG boots called waders were put on and the students were able to collect bugs and tiny fishes from the stream.  They were able to classify what they caught invertebrates and vertebrates The students got to learn about forest fires.  They learned that nature starts some forest fires, and that natural forest fires can be healthy for the forest.  They also got to learn more about the birds of the forest and use binoculars to help site some birds.  Mrs. Robbins’ class even got to see a Golden Eagle!   Thank you Sarah Flinders and The National Forest Service for helping them have such a fun day.

On Wednesday, September 21st, the second grade students from Sage Creek Elementary were treated to a tour of a local apple orchard! We saw pears, pumpkins, sunflowers, deer tracks, grapes, peaches, bee hives, and most important . . . APPLES! We learned that apples need water, soil and sunlight to grow and that it took 50 years for these apple trees to get as big as they are today.  The students will use the apples they picked in math, reading and writing activities aligned with the new Utah Core Standards.  Thank you to Mrs. Huffaker for inviting our Sage Creek students to tour her very own orchard.