Authentic Tasks
Greetings, Philomath students and families! We’re now one month into the third quarter of the school year, and it’s time to check in on what we’ve been learning in our virtual school and tutoring programs!
The next three weeks our main virtual school program will be switching from Science to Social Studies. The fossilization and energy Science unit will be completed during our next Science rotation, at the end of February. Social Studies learning activities will center on African American history as part of Black History Month—your child may have questions or feelings that they need to process as a result of the content covered in class. These conversations may be uncomfortable or deal with difficult emotions, but discussing them can be immensely helpful for helping our students become compassionate, critically-thinking students of history.
During the week of February 6th our ELA class will be beginning a project that will require some parental assistance in conducting, recording, and transcribing a brief interview. As always, let Ms. Althoff know if you have any questions or concerns about our learning activity. More details are on our ELA Google Classroom.
As discussed in a previous email, our Q3 floating holiday will be observed on Thursday, February 2nd, meaning there will be no classes, tutoring sessions, or independent study check-ins held on that day. Classes will continue as scheduled the following day, though Prof. Althoff will be filling in for some of Prof. Smith’s classes for a brief time. Please direct any questions or concerns about schoolwork to Prof. Althoff at her email address.
Last but not least, we are thrilled to present the winner of our January Story Contest, “Xavier Ontario: The Fuel Crisis,” by 6th grader Andrew Butler. For this contest students were challenged to incorporate plenty of sensory details into their prose, and Andrew’s story was chosen from all our class’s submissions. Please join us in celebrating his latest literary accomplishment!
Xavier Ontario: The Fuel Crisis
By Andrew Butler
The morning in the hangar was cold and damp. Xavier was still tied up to the plane, he started to think where would he go if he was his sister, the first thing that came into his mind was mexico.
He started to rub the rope against the landing gear. He managed to get free and got a stair truck so he could get into the 747. He was in such a hurry to find his sister that he forgot to refuel.
After taking off from Calgary he was able to enjoy the dazzling sunrize while flying over the rockies. While flying over California a fuel alert pops up on the heads up display saying that he had 20% fuel left. He called on the radio to alert the nearest airport which was Las angeles. “Las angeles tower this is N55XH radar contact.” “We hear you loud and clear N55XH” “N55XH requesting to land.” “Denied landing clearance” Said the ATC tower. In search of an airport that's large enough to land, he sees universal studios (The actual one, not the theme park) and he spots a runway where they are filming an aviation movie. Since there was nowhere else to land but houses and buildings he had to start banking towards the set area. From the ground the actors and crew didn’t notice the giant 747 flying at about 230 Knots until the plane flew over the runway to lower its speed. Back in the cockpit Xavier puts down the landing gear so he can start his short final into the so-called “Airfield.” From the ground the actors and other people were running to the airport building to seek shelter from the giant plane. Xavier has barely enough fuel for a thrust reverser. “100 50 40 30 20 10” the GPWS callouts say. When he touches down he uses his auto brakes, foot brakes, and reverse thrust.
When the 747 comes to a complete stop Xavier runs downstairs to exit the plane and wave to the people to get a fuel truck, but all the fuel trucks and carts were fake.
He goes over to the airport building to see if someone could help him with his plane. There was one actor in there who had past experience with aviation who volunteered. Little did Xavier know that there was a real fuel truck in the hanger. The guy that was helping him out started up the truck and drove over to the plane. Connect the hose to the nozzle. A few hours later the plane was fueled up to go to mexico. He took a picture with the cast and the plane in the background. He turned the plane around and took off.
Stay tuned for the next Xavier Ontario Issue.
