Feeling grateful for our stunning 23-acres of beautiful campus these days :)
Nothing is typical about the day in the life at Mack: Middle School House meeting, 2nd grade Unit of Inquiry, 4th grade birthday circle, 5th grade math lesson, and Coach Mike leading yoga to Mack Without Walls students. #mackboulder #wedoitall #ibworldschool #giftededucation
The 8th-graders enjoyed a socially-distanced movie night tonight! The pandemic will not prevent this amazing class from making many more memories like this throughout the school year. 🙂 #mackboulder #middleschool #boulder
In Visual Arts, 5th graders created stunning Blackout Poetry Art. Blackout Poetry is a form of “found poetry” where words are pulled from an established text, like a newspaper or book, and then unwanted words are redacted, often with a black marker. The chosen words form a new message, giving the text entirely new meaning. Our poets/artists used drawings and linework to redact their unwanted words, which resulted in compelling, dynamic pieces of art.
Take a peek into our 2nd grade’s outdoor and indoor learning spaces. They are a 7 year old’s dream come true! Can you imagine?
https://youtu.be/V2qe1tqC8iw
Last week’s 7th/8th grade Data Carnival was an epic blend of experimental design, data collection, mathematics, design thinking, and a huge carnival party. Two days of experimentation will be followed by weeks of data analysis and statistics. Creating opportunities for students to truly engage in learning is what we do at Mack! #mackboulder #bouldercolorado #giftededucation #ibworldschool #datacarnival
"Do roly-polies like potatoes or dried apples?” Kindergarten scientists looked for answers using outdoor microscopes. We anxiously await their findings!
Mack’s been BOOed!! Some sneaky ghouls visited MACK over the long weekend and adorned campus with spiderwebs, bats and witches hats. And eyeballs…lots of eyeballs. Mackoween excitement is brewing!
Kids can change the world with shovels and drills! 6th graders put their brains and hands to work designing and creating ten raised beds to be adopted by grades at Mack. This work is all part of their focus on environmental sustainability and conservation. #mackboulder #boulder #outdooreducation #sustainability #IBWorldSchool
A felled tree near the 7th grade MOLO inspired imagination and engineering. Students worked together to design and build forts that inspired collaboration, problem solving, and entertainment.
Have you ever wondered how much potential agricultural land we have at Mack-Boulder? The curious minds of sixth graders did, so they measured the perimeter of Mack's outer fields and decomposed complex shapes into rectangles and triangles. They learned the formula for finding the area of a triangle and put their skills to work to determine we have approximately 223,013 square feet, or more than five acres!
For the summative of their Spanish rotation, 5th graders interviewed their families, and then orally presented stories in Spanish to the class. They celebrated by crafting sikulis, symbols that are part of the culture and tradition of the Huichol Indians of western Mexico. The Huichol call their God's Eyes Sikuli, which means "the power to see and understand things unknown.”
What do you do with all that leftover candy? Science of course! Kindergartners investigated how long it takes Skittles to dissolve in water. What were the results? Did students drink the Skittle water? Inquiring minds want to know!
What makes tiny things so cute? To top off their study of surface area and scale in math, sixth graders built scale models of common objects found in their house and school. This photo features a 1/3-size cereal box, a 1/2-size microwave, and a 1/10-size "council chair" from Rivendell, sixth grade's outdoor classroom.
Mackoween 2020. If you were there, you know. Dare we say it was as good or even better than our traditional celebration? We made a big pivot to provide a safe event and had nothing short of a village show up to execute the plan! A HUGE thanks to our coordinators, Adam Dembowitz and Karli Watson (K-2nd), Jen Deiley, Karli Gronholm and Zoe Lev (3rd-5th), and Michelle and Scott Barkley 6th-8th), as well as all of the parents and faculty, and even one alum!, who made this night one to remember!
Adam Dembowitz, Aileen Fontana, Alice Murphy, Amy Rice, Andy Angstrom, Boo Grulke, Bradley Pile, Brian Morris, Christine Talaga Morgan, Coach Megan, Colin Reynolds, Courtney Lamb, Daizy Ellis, Dan Porpora, Danielle Patrick, Dave Allen, David Summers, Diana Mercer, Donna Fayard, Elaine Chang, Elena Hernandez, Elise Breda, Elizabeth Janowski, Emily Lindner, Emily Pancoast, Heather Middleton, Jen Deiley, Jenny McGuire, Jenny Strode, Jessica Hargis, Jessica Lyon, Jessica Spruill, Jessie Harris, JJ Morrow, Joshua Martinsons, Julie Grayson, Julie Malmberg, Justin Grulke, Karli Carston, Karli Gronholm, Ken Tola, Kim Martinsons, Kirk Fronckiewicz, Kristi Pikiewicz, Kristin McLean, Larisa Wilder, Larissa Kusel, Laura Farrelly, Laura Fronckiewicz, Laura Lee, Laura Olson, Laura Porpora, Lauren Dembowitz, Lisa Effress, Lizbeth Mendoza, Lorna Kellogg, Maddy Gillum, Margot Angstrom, McKell Carston, Melissa Fisher, Melody Parker, Michelle Barkley, Michelle Pluzynski, Natalie Baumgartner, Natalie Henderson, Natalie Summers, Nicole Smith, Remy Camalier, Robbie Barkley (alum!), Sara Smith, Sara White, Sarah Rudeen, Sasha Forsyth, Scott Barkley, Scott Pluzynski, Shirly White, Sonia Coghlan, Stephanie Tonkin, Steve Tonkin, Tiffany Allen, Tonya Allen, Trisha Flynn, Will Morgan, Windy Cook, Zack Kilpatrick, Zoe Lev
Mackoween and our annual costume parade are two of Mack's most beloved traditions. This year's parade found everyone wearing a mask! With the slightest change to tradition, each grade strutted the catwalk costumed and grooving to their own song while safely distanced by grade. We even had a drone overhead and were able to capture our largest and most spread out annual all school costume photo ever!
Fourth grade students have spent the past several weeks learning all about the U.S. government. One of the highlights of this unit was being able to meet with THREE amazing politicians from the local, state, and federal level. Students had discussions with Boulder City Council member Junie Joseph, U.S. Congressperson Joe Neguse, and Governor Jared Polis. Students learned so much and had many great questions ranging from "Do you have cake in the break room?" to "Do you support proposition 114?"
“I found another one over here!” Arrays, arrays are everywhere! Third graders went on an array hunt and couldn’t believe how many arrays they found. They used multiplication to figure out the total number of objects, from bricks to Connect-Four circles!
Visit the Mack Rack to pre-order yours today! Early February delivery.
https://the-mack-rack.myshopify.com
On the 12th Day of Winter Break...
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Mackintosh Academy Boulder - Mack Boulder - K-8 IB World School
On the 11th Day of Winter Break…
On the 10th day of winter break my true love gave to me...
On the 9th day of winter break ...
On the 8th day of winter break ...
Update: No Second Graders were harmed entering the squeeze box. Their recent Unit of Inquiry on Exploration featured an opportunity for students to enter a squeeze box - a device used by cavers to practice and determine how small of a space they can get through. Classmates cheered each other on as they tested their comfort levels at various heights. Only three students were able to get through a 6” tight squeeze!
Classmates also teamed up to imagine products that would be useful to explorers today. Teams developed a company name, logo and prototype of their product. To market their products, they scripted commercials and recorded them in front of a green screen.
In Visual Arts the class created amazing Galaxy t-shirts with reverse tye-dye (using bleach on black shirts). Next, they learned about the Space Shuttle and made gorgeous mixed-media drawings using chalk pastel on black paper, watercolor and sharpie markers. You'll be over the moon when you see the alien sock stuffies they sewed!
Congratulations, middle school poets and authors who received awards in the 2021 Scholastic Art & Writing Awards! Winners of the West Writing Region-at-Large this year are:
Cessi, 8th grade, Silver Key in Poetry for “Burning” and Honorable Mention in Poetry for “The Beam”
Anna Sophie, 8th grade, Honorable Mention in Critical Essay for “How Can We Eradicate Poverty?”
Gabriel, 7th grade, Silver Key in Poetry for “The Last Half-pipe”
Dawson, 8th grade, Silver Key in Flash Fiction for “World War 3”
Sebastian, 8th grade, Honorable Mention in Short Story for “A Unified Field”
George, 8th grade, Silver Key in Poetry for “Storm”
Hatcher, 7th grade, Honorable Mention in Poetry for “Enchanted Stage”
Clara, 7th grade, Silver Key in Poetry for “Ocean Flavored Wind”
Did you do this in school? 3rd graders reviewed fire safety, science, and building techniques and then made their own fires to cook s’mores over.
Not a bad way to spend Friday afternoon at Mack Boulder!
El Mercado is a big event for 5th graders. Each year, linking to their Economy and Entrepreneurship Unit of Inquiry, Spanish students make crafts and sell them to other students and teachers. This year it was an open air market, where tie dye masks, stickers, wallets, flowers, candy pencils, jewelry and ornaments were sold. Then as a group, they choose a charity to donate their profits to. This year, students chose to donate the $547.43 raised to the Boulder Emergency Family Assistance Association (EFAA), whose mission is to help those in our community whose immediate needs for food, shelter and other basic necessities cannot be adequately met by other means, and support their efforts toward financial stability or self-sufficiency. Great job 5th Grade!
In Performing Arts Kindergartners have been listening to “The Carnival of the Animals,” a humorous musical suite of 14 movements, each dedicated to a specific animal, by French composer Camille Saint-Saëns. Students have been busy crafting animal props and creating and choreographing animal dances for an upcoming performance. Some of the different musical movements include: "The Royal March of the Lion,” “The Elephant,” “The Aquarium,” and "Hens and Roosters.”
