Some of what TNSM students are thankful for

Students at TNSM shared some of what they were thankful for in song, poetry, performance and through art displayed around the room. Families also brought canned goods and clothing to share with the Freestore Foodbank.   See some of the art on display in the Growing Room below.  

Students had a “light-bulb moment”

Nancy Buchman’s science class learned about dynamic electricity, and that electricity is the flow of electrons from one atom to another. Students built simple circuits that consisted of: the load (a light), a power source (battery) and a switch. Their eyes “lit up” with excitement as their light bulbs glowed, giving the undeniable proof that they had achieved their goal.

After-school Photography Club shared amazing work

TNSM parent and Photography Club leader, Tracy Casagrande Clancy said, “I am so proud of what the students have done. Seeing their photographs gives us a little glimpse into how they see the world. They teach me something every day.” Student photos will remain on display in the Growing Room for the next few weeks; here is a sample of what you’ll see, or click this link to see all the student work.

Celebrating Ancient Greece

(9-12) students celebrated their study of Ancient Greece with presentations and Greek food.  

Famous Americans visited TNSM with lots of information to share

Students in (6-9) have been studying North America for the past few weeks and have each chosen a famous American to learn about and present to their fellow classmates. Among other things, we learned that Albert Einstein hated to wear socks!

Mona Lisa with a twist

Elementary art students designed versions of  Leonardo Da Vinci’s Mona Lisa with their own twist on the classic painting. There was a cyclops Mona Lisa, a violinist Mona Lisa, a minion Mona Lisa, and even a Minnie Mouse Mona Lisa. As students let their creativity go wild, teacher Robin Hartmann filled their heads with information about Da Vinci and his famous masterpiece. Scholars disagree about why the Mona Lisa has no eyebrows or eyelashes. Some say Da Vinci just didn’t complete the painting, or the eyelashes wore off with repeated cleanings of the paining. Others say genteel women in the 1500’s removed all their facial hair …

The water-bending power of static electricity

Nancy Buchman’s science students have spent the last two weeks learning that static electricity is caused by the build up of negative or positive charges.  Students performed the “bending” water experiment that shows that static electricity can actually bend water.  The balloon was attracted to the water’s neutral charge which made the water bend when the balloon was near it.  They heard lots of “How cool!” as students observed the results.

A fast-paced way to play kickball that gets the whole outfield involved

TNSM’s gym teacher Karen Borgmann introduced a new version of kickball to her class. In Karen’s version, instead of one ball being rolled out by the pitcher, multiple balls were rolled out to the kicker to be kicked in rapid succession. Instead of running around a “diamond” of bases, players ran around a triangle. In normal kickball, a runner can only pass home plate one time to bring in a run. In multi-ball kickball, a player can run the bases until all the balls have been returned to home plate. The outfield was extra busy, as they brought each ball …