Tuesday, November 24, 2009

All About Avenida

From LJBTC

The children have been busy learning about their community. We have been so fortunate to have the support of our families, the businesses and all of the community members surrounding Avenida de la Playa. The students enjoyed golfing a morning of golf, tennis, gardening, touring and enjoying milk and cookies by the pool. Please click on the LJBTC album tab to see some photographs of our trip.
From Dentist & Hotel

During our trip to the dentist the children learned how to make a silver/gold tooth, what dentists do if they need have a cavity and what they use to make your gums numb. After our trip to the dentist we visited our neighbors at Hotel La Jolla. We learned that there are 108 rooms and that we can see our school from the top floor! The highlight of the trip was getting into the shower and raising and lowering the shower covering (see the Hotel/Dentist album).
From Surf and Kayak

This past Friday we visited all of our favorite ocean sport stores. At Surf Diva J.L counted all of the hats he could find and told us that there are 159 hats! At Rusty’s Boardhouse we learned that Rusty is the name of the man who shapes all of the boards. Corey at La Jolla Kayak taught us how to paddle a kayak and even let us put on life jackets and get in (thankfully we stayed on dry land!).

Thursday, November 5, 2009

Our Guest Scientist!

From Guest Scientist

On Wednesday, S.H and his mom were our guest scientists!
"The experiment was from my grandma. My mom was actually not the helper, actually my grandma was. My grandma told my mom and my mom forgot a little bit. We poured chemicals into the cabbage water and it turned different colors. One turned green, one turned pink and one turned blue. The water was purple when we started. We got to wear scientist goggles because if the chemicals went on your eyes it would burn. Some of the chemicals smelled kind of weird so we wafted the smells. To waft the smells we moved our hand toward our nose to move them smell to our nose. We wafted the smell because you don't want to get the chemicals inside your nose because it might go up the nostril and down and out the other nostril." ~S.H

Our Visit to Station #9

From Fire Station #9

On Tuesday we went on a field trip to the La Jolla Fire Station #9. This was the first of eight trips we will go on throughout our community study of Avenida de la Playa. The children were able to ride in the fire truck, find a hidden firefighter in the dark and wear "Firefighter Steve's" boots, pants, jacket and helmet. On the tour the children asked the firefighters questions about being a firefighter (see below). It was a great trip, thank you to all of the parent volunteers who made it happen.
• Is there a helicopter and pole? A.H
We have two helicopters at other stations, but we don’t have a pole.
• Do you have a pumper, a hook and ladder and a brush breaker truck? L.A.
Yes. There are all different kinds of rigs that attach to a truck. We have a pumper truck with 1,000 gallons of water and a 1,000 feet of hose and a pump. This is called a “fire engine”.
• What is it like to be a firefighter? J.L.
It is great and a lot of fun.
• What are your names? S.H.
Andy, Steve, Rich and Karen.
• How do you put out the fires? F.V.
Normally we use water.
• How do you put out brush fires? D.L.
We drive off road and use water and shovels.
• How do you use the brush breaker? D.R.
The brush breaker trucks drive off the road and have bigger wheels. They hold less water, because they are smaller, and we also use shovels.
• How do you breathe in the air mask and how does it connect to the tank? J.B.
The air mask is attached to the air tank with a tube.
• How do the helicopters dump out the water or chemicals? J.B.
Helicopters have a “door” with a bucket and they push a button to open the door. It’s like pouring out a glass of water.
• How do you put on your mask? A.H.
You have to attach the mask to the air tanks, because you need air when walk into a smokey fire.
• How do you put on your pants? A.A.
We put them on at the same time as our boots.
• How do you put on your boots? M.F.
They are attached to our pants, so we just step into them.
• How many fires have you put out? LM.W
There have been too many to count!
• Are there any girl fire fighters? Q.G
Yep!
• Do you take people to the hospital for surgery? P.B
Yes. We have an ambulance that will take them there if the need to have surgery.