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Tag: Activity Field Trip

Uinta’s May Outdoor Adventure

Early this month the Uinta class (Upper Elementary, 9-12 year olds) embarked on a great adventure to Fremont Indian State Park as part of their Great Outdoors Expedition.  The students have spent time in the classroom studying the Fremont Indians and on GO they have given attention to human interaction with nature and so this was a great way to culminate their studies as they walked the trails and read the stories of the Fremont Indians while eating and sleeping in the out of doors. Students, teachers and parent chaperones worked together to create a comfortable camp space and prepare delicious meals to be shared.

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On the first full day of our visit, we drove a short distance to Big Rock Candy Mountain Resort where we practiced making fire, zip lined, and struggled our way through the ropes course. According to BRCMR, “these activities are designed to encourage self confidence as participants work through the various challenges, and also promote working as a team to achieve goals.” Everyone had a really great time with the activities provided and definitely felt the stretch of working as a team on activities that were out of the every day comfort.

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Other time on the trip was spent hiking, exploring the petroglyphs and pictographs and playing nature and team building games. The students prepared pottery before the trip to be placed in the pit fire, which produced really amazing results.  On Wednesday evening Donda shared stories of Native Americans around the camp fire and Giuliana played a soothing piece on the flute. The students entertained with jokes, games and stories but it seemed that the most enjoyed part of the trip was exploring the land near the camp site during free time.

 

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Many thanks to the teachers and parents who worked tirelessly to make this trip possible.  The time students in our programs spend out in the greater community is of huge benefit to their experience and education.

GO Nature Card Sale!

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Based on our ecosystem outings this year, the GO (Great Outdoors) students have spent a lot of time researching different ecosystems of their choice. These nature cards are the result of their hard work, time, knowledge, and talents.

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Each card features a drawing of a particular ecosystem, and inside the cards are some interesting facts derived from their studies.

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This is a great opportunity to support the students’ studies, interests, and art. It is also a great way to share these talents throughout the year with your friends, family, and co-workers. You may purchase these beautiful cards for $3.00 each or you may purchase 5 cards for $12.00. Cards will go on sale in the MCS lobby this Friday, May 1st.

Winter Sports Video

There will not be any Winter Sports this Wednesday, February 25th. Instead, enjoy this video of the last 3 weeks of our Winter Sports Program.

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First Day of Winter Sports

The first day of Winter Sports was a success! We would love to thank all those who chaperoned and made it possible for our students to enjoy and learn such great activities and develop their skills and talents.

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MCS’ Ski and Snowboard lessons are taught at Brighton Resort. The first day of lessons can be a bit tricky as instructors adjust groups. Instructors will assess each student and figure out what level that student will enjoy and be able to continue to develop and enhance their skills.

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Our chaperones were great in helping to keep spirits high, students organized, and feeling secure. This year we have 24 Kindergartners participating in the Winter Sports Program. It was awesome to see them hauling their gear by themselves to and from the school and also to observe the older students reassuring and comforting them.

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Murray County Ice is providing ice-skating lessons to a portion of our students. Again, our parent chaperones were wonderful in providing support to our students and teachers.

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Spirits were high as students finished their lesson and moved into the free-skate period to practice what they learned.

 

Middle School Career Investigations Immersion, November 10-14

The MCS Middle School’s second cycle (6-week period) of the year focused on “Changes,” in literature, in the natural and physical world around us (fungi, protists, and matter), and how we can be catalysts for positive change in society. The immersion week offers students an opportunity to apply and integrate what they have learned throughout the previous five weeks. For Cycle 2 the immersion was a Career Investigations week. Leading up to the immersion, students utilized expository writing methods to research possible careers. During the immersion week, they investigated different professions through interviews, field trips and job shadowing.

The first professional to visit was a local paramedic and firefighter. He brought his fire gear along, which weighed about 30 pounds, not including an oxygen tank. Nearly everyone in the class took the opportunity to try it on. He also brought his medical supplies and allowed the students to experience the powerful smell of ammonia tablets that paramedics use to rouse unconscious people. He told the class the process for becoming a firefighter, which involves a written test and then a physical one. The physical test includes being able to hold 100 pounds and run a large number of stairs. Firefighters typically work 48-hour shifts (they’re able to sleep if there isn’t an emergency) and then they have four days off. Robert explained that the pay for a firefighter is about $42,000, and a fire captain makes about $82,000. A paramedic can make about $60,000. The pay goes up for all of these jobs the more relevant degrees one has.

A local documentary filmmaker showed the students trailers for four of her films. She was a social worker for about twenty years and then went to film school at the University of Utah because she felt that filmmaking would allow her to have a greater impact on society. She finds documentaries to be fascinating and a good way to learn. She explained that being an independent filmmaker allowed her to have a flexible (though busy) schedule. She has to do fundraising for her films on her own, which is typically very time-consuming. She said that her salary varies over time since she has her own business.

The students also heard from a Basic Life Skills (BLS) instructor and midwife’s assistant (she’s training to become a midwife). She teaches birth classes, and she assists with births at The Birth Center in Salt Lake City. She explained that midwives are trained to be able to do numerous medical procedures as needed, including monitoring a mother’s and baby’s vital signs, giving Pitocin if a mother is losing too much blood after a delivery, and giving stitches as needed. She showed the class a movie about unmedicated births and explained the differences between a doula and a midwife (a doula provides emotional support during labor but does not do medical procedures). Adrianna has assisted with more than 200 births.

On Thursday, November 13th, the class visited the music studio of John Hancock, MCS parent and a local songwriter. He showed the students his equipment and explained that he is hired by companies to create songs for commercials as well as to remix existing music. Companies usually pay songwriters between $300 and $1,000 in advance to create a demo song and then between $3,000 and $5,000 if they use the song. John explained that songwriters also receive royalties on songs they write that are subsequently used.

The next day, Dr. Mary Dickerson, MCS parent and a veterinarian, visited the students along with two of her coworkers. She works in Laboratory Animal Science in the Office of Comparative Medicine at the University of Utah. She takes care of the animals in the lab where she works. She explained that a veterinarian can make between $50,000 and $175,000. She brought scrubs for the students to keep and had them do a relay race to see how quickly they could put the scrubs on.

An anesthesiologist visited the same day. He explained that his job is basically to keep people from dying and to keep them comfortable. He uses morphine, local anesthetic, and sometimes laughing gas in his work. He gives epidurals as needed to mothers in labor. He typically works 65 hours a week but sets his own schedule, and he said that anesthesiologists makes between $250,000 and $700,000 depending on the year. He explained that he went to school in the United Kingdom and that the structure there involves going straight to medical school immediately after completion of high school.

The final professional to visit was MCS parent Chris Fischer, who has been a helicopter pilot since 2008. He said that helicopter pilots make an average of $40,000 per year. His most common assignment is giving tours of the Grand Canyon, and he works either seven days on then seven days off, or else 14 days on and 14 days off.

The Middle School class was excited to learn about so many different professions and was grateful to all of the professionals who shared their time and knowledge with the class.

By Carla Moquin, Middle School and Lower Elementary parent

 

Early Childhood Field Trip

Students learn about Blacksmithing while watching a presentation on a chain being made.
Students learn how to churn cream to butter, how cows are milked, and how to care for different farm animals. Students also got to enjoy each other during a wagon ride. Thank you to the wonderful parent volunteers!
The Early Childhood Aspens class posing for a picture after they picked their pumpkins.
                                                                     Picking Pumpkins!
                                                          Each student was able to pick
                                                                 and bring home their
                                                 own pumpkin. It is so fun to see the different
                                  shapes and sizes of the pumpkins each child chooses!

Early Childhood Field Trip to The Living Planet Aquarium

The students loved visiting the aquarium. It has been one of the most fun field trips of the summer. We spent a lot of time observing in the Shark Tunnel and the Touch Pools. Many students were quite taken with the octopus, turtles, and clown fish.
The Penguin exhibit was so much fun! We were able to see and hear a presentation on penguins and enjoyed watching their feeding time. We learned that penguins really love fish! We were also able to cross the netted bridge in the aquarium’s ‘Journey to South America’ exhibit.
Measuring up with Megalodon and the penguins from around the world was a wonderful experience. The students were so proud they were almost taller than the Emperor Penguins, the tallest penguin in the world.
There were many other school groups there that day, but our Montessori students were the best!
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