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Upper El (2/15-19): Reflection & Absorption

Derek Henig

This week, our weekly stories were all about mysteries, and we continued learning about light and how it travels.

For stories, in the afternoon, we explored what makes a mystery... mysterious. We learned a bunch of different methods that authors can hide information in plain sight to keep the mystery solvable but challenging. Students spent the week trying to use these methods in their own stories.

For Science and Engineering, we explored how light travels through being absorbed, reflected, or passing through objects. First, we learned about reflection and how that looks and feels when light has a smooth surface versus a rough surface.

Our whiteboard, a smooth surface, was great at sending sunlight into everyone's eyes (no children were harmed during this experiment 😜). But, when we put a piece of white paper on the board, a rough surface, light reflects all over and is easy to look at.

Students got to imagine this further by bouncing a tennis ball (our example of light) on the gravel (the rough surface).

We learned how x-rays work by light passing through our skin and muscle but being absorbed or reflected by our bone.

The following day, we explored color. We learned how to make a rainbow from a glass of water, and then learned how reflection and absorption make a material a certain color. Then, of course, we took a color blind test for some fun! Everyone passed : )

It was a great week, and I know we're all looking forward to five days at DGS when we return!

Happy break, everyone!

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