McMains Crew

Lassen Volcanic National Park Fieldwork Wow, what a kick-off to our fall expedition! Our 4 fabulous days and 3 nights in Lassen Volcanic National Park were filled with wildlife, shooting stars, and intense geological encounters. (Crew photos are now on our blog as well as the link to your right....) Students presented the lessons they [...]

Grizzly Adventure Camp surely lived up to its title! Some of our highlights included climbing the vertical playground, celebrating Jackson’s birthday, walking the wires above a steep ravine, solving mental & physical challenges, seeing a double rainbow while an osprey flew through, surprising deer with their fawns, performing crazy campfire skits & chomping s’mores, and [...]

Worlds of Wonders Expedition Crew finished Ancient Rome by teaching each other through their Gallery Walk Displays and participating in a reflection and review before taking the final written assessment. They are now deep in the revision stages of honing their arguments and debate techniques for the Clash Of The Titans performance at our Celebration [...]

One Crew member recently asked, “ What is the best way to improve my grades between now and the end of the year?” GREAT question! The 4 best ways to improve your grades now (and always!): 1. Begin by DAILY practicing every good H.O.W.( Habits of Work!) and checking yourself on your H.O.W. rubric. 2. [...]

What A Month! We are preparing two major products, for Celebration of Learning and Passages, at the same time we are exploring our last ancient civilization and preparing to share our documentary with the community - it is an intense period of new learning and self-reflection! So the BIG EVENT: The McMains Crew (Blue Bear [...]

Worlds Of Wonders Expedition Essential Question of the Week: What are the wonders of Ancient Greece? Greek festival preparation is underway for Monday, May 7th. Members of each city-state, Athens and Sparta, will share their foods, music and games with our crew. Metalworking has begun and involves in cutting and nailing sheets of tin, copper [...]

Worlds Of Wonders Expedition Essential Question of the Week: What are the wonders of Ancient Greece? In our expedition art projects, students have completed and mounted a piece of weaving and are about to embark on a metalworking project. Both processes have connections to the ancient arts in India. Weaving for clothing, like traditional saris, [...]

Expedition Essential Question of The Week: How Did Geography Affect the Early Settlement of India? We start April with a wrap-up of the Wonders of Egyptian society. Our fieldwork day next week at the “King Tut ‘Wonderful Things’ from Pharaoh’s Tomb” exhibition will provide an opportunity to put context to the wonderful things we’ve been [...]

Expedition Essential Question of The Week: How did the social structure of Ancient Egypt affect daily life? Crew began the week by creating their own rubric for scoring their Interactive Student Notebooks (ISN). Now that we know about the accomplishments of 4 key Pharaohs of Ancient Egypt (Khufu, Senusret, Hatshepsut, and Ramses II), we are using [...]

Worlds Of Wonders Expedition Essential Question of the Week: What did the Pharaohs of Ancient Egypt accomplish and how did they do it? In a flurry of excited activity, crew began their long-term expedition projects related to Ancient Egypt – maps are being drawn, stage sets and costumes are being designed, and models are being [...]