Four Mile House Museum

We had a great time at Four Mile House yesterday.  The students participated in 5 different activities around the park including a guided tour around the Four Mile House which was originally built in 1859 and is Denver's oldest standing structure.  Everyone enjoyed pretending to be students 150 years ago in the one-room school house.  Most of the children thought it was better being a student in 2017! We found that doing chores 150 years ago was a lot harder than it is today, although drawing water from a well and using a scrubbing board is definitely fun if there isn't much laundry to do!  Each student got to keep a couple of pieces of 'gold' that they found while perfecting their gold panning technique.  Finally, the students played some games from pioneer times.  Balancing on stilts proved tricky, but the students persisted and got quite adept with the stick and hoop.  Tug of war was definitely a fun activity too.  We hope you heard about your child's highlight.  Here are some photos to enjoy.

Math/Art Fair

On Friday, 1st - 4th graders enjoyed a special Math/Art Fair.  The two subjects combined and students used their artistic talents alongside their knowledge of math to solve problems and produce creative pieces.  Students had the opportunity to create colorful designs in the style of the artist Mondiran.  They used construction paper shapes to form animals inspired by the book Oodles of Animals by Lois Ehlert.  At another station the students worked collaboratively to position 3D pentominoes to make a 9x9 cube.  Many of our students enjoyed making a Code Bracelet.  Each letter of the alphabet was represented by colored beads and the students used the code to generate a message on a bracelet.  Fun was had by all!  

Denver Mint

Today we had visitors from the Denver Mint.  They taught the 2nd graders about the history of money and how coins are made at the mint.  We watched fascinating videos which showed clips of the 7 hour process that is required to make a coin.  The students learned lots of interesting facts and asked some thoughtful questions.  I wonder if they remember how much money the Denver Mint makes in one day!