Each week, Pacific Ridge School invites you to enjoy a spontaneous view of school life.

Performers from Flip Force San Diego help announce this year's Prom theme: "Cirque du Prom."

Visit Dr. Ogle's blog to read his latest post: "Underdogs and Orations."

9th Graders Explore America's Finest City

On March 24th, Pacific Ridge's 9th graders spent the school day in downtown San Diego. The purpose? To practice street-smart city exploration in advance of their global trip to China, which includes stays in Beijing and Shanghai. San Diego-based Where You Want To Be Tours worked with the 9th-grade faculty team to target the specific skills the students will need in China, and developed a fun and challenging scavenger hunt in response. Students and faculty navigated their way around the city without the benefit of maps or cell phones, crossing both serious and whimsical items off their lists. Following the hunt, students headed to Jasmine restaurant to practice the etiquette of chopsticks, Lazy Susans and ordering food in Mandarin. 

 

Asking directions from unlikely sources 

 

7th Graders Become Scientists in the Classroom

Students in 7th-grade Life Science have recently been experiencing the scientific method and academic research first-hand. Students were tasked with designing original experiments to investigate the factors affecting plant growth and planarian regeneration. After all ideas were presented, several were selected by the class, and research teams were formed to conduct the experiments. Students discovered that scientific inquiry sometimes ends with surprising results, and unexpected outcomes are often when we learn the most.

 

Thinking like a scientist in the lab

 

Upper School service learning group Alternative Energy Sources (AES) has been hard at work developing energy sources to assist communities that can benefit from them. Group members spent the first part of the year redesigning a wind turbine and recently completed a successful first prototype. Efforts this spring have turned to the creation of a biofuel reactor that will purify unprocessed waste products, such as restaurant cooking oil, to create biodiesel. Originally derived from plants and animals, biofuels are a clean and cost-effective source of energy. AES, working in conjunction with the 10th-grade integrated biodiesel project, hopes to provide power for some of the Spring Arts Festival's performances and activities.

Biodiesel reactor schematic

Reminder: Parents Association Seeking Volunteers for 2014-2015 Officer Positions

 

Parent Book Club on April 28th

Title: The Lowland, by Jhumpa Lahiri

Date: Monday, April 28th

Time: 7:00 p.m.

Location: Library Learning Commons

 

Sports on the Ridge

Coastline Case Studies for Juniors and Parents

Date: Wednesday, April 30th

Time: 6:30 - 8:00 p.m.

Place: San Diego Jewish Academy, 11860 Carmel Creek Road, San Diego

 

NO SCHOOL

Spring Break

E-Waste Recycling Event

8 - 3 p.m.

Parent Book Group

7 p.m.