Approved and Off Running

It's celebration time! All the of Teal Band project declarations were approved by the start of this week and they are all off running with their project work. To begin the celebration, here are all their wonderful "school photos" from this year.A few of them quickly found out how important it is to check on shipping times of products. When you want a product at a price that fits your budget, sometimes it's coming from the other side of the planet and won't arrive until the week of presentations. This realization was a great eye opener in regards to planning and being proactive in general. Huxley used this challenge as a way to re-evaluate his design in a way that pricier parts could be used, but fewer would be needed. Patrick and Jared continued to check in with their expert, Jack, to look for alternatives and find ways to save money in other places.Selina, Aurora, and Nora would be happy to work around the clock on their project if they were allowed to. While their project might be on ancient civilizations, they are certainly learning about a lot more than just that. They are learning to work successfully in a group with good friends, learning to hold one another accountable for her piece of the project, and how to write formulas in Google Sheets to track all their "resources."Piper experienced her first Expression Phase moment of "YESSSSS!" this past week while looking at a Google Maps driving route from Slide Ranch to her home. She figured out how she wants to present this portion of her project and it most certainly screams Piper. It's moments like this that make all the stresses of a project completely worth it.Just like naturalists working to track down the story of the urban coyote migration to San Francisco and it's surrounding areas, Freddie is working to track down her experts to get a piece of the story. We talked early on in the Expression Phase as a band about the importance of making initial contact with experts during declaration writing. Freddie did just that, but as is with many "experts," they are just so busy with their everyday job responsibilities that they take quite some time to respond to the questions of a student. She is learning to adjust her schedule to work with the schedules of others while still being productive. A skill that will benefit her for a lifetime to come.On top of their "By Land" projects, the Teal Band is still trying to complete their bridge project. This week they finished measuring and cutting the fabric and began the sewing portion. Huxley and Jared got lessons on sewing from Piper and Lindsay while the rest of the band worked to finish cutting the panels.[embed]https://gfycat.com/EarnestElementaryDutchshepherddog[/embed][embed]https://gfycat.com/HilariousRegalBordercollie[/embed][embed]https://gfycat.com/BlackandwhiteJampackedChinchilla[/embed]And on top of all their hard work, the Teal Band still knows how to make one another laugh and smile....and me as well....with a silly morning welcome :)[embed]https://gfycat.com/ImprobableEnergeticDutchshepherddog[/embed]