TEA ADVENTURES
Update: Virtual Silent ART Auction Benefiting Keep Tahoe Blue Raises $1000!
13 TEA high school students and our art teacher Charlotte Semmes had been collecting and transforming waste materials found in their homes during this “shelter-in-place” into art. Our CommuniTEA then helped us continue this cycle of alchemy by turning our sculptures into gold (well cash) by bidding on the sculptures and raising almost $1000 for Keep Tahoe Blue.
The university down the hall
The Covid-19 pandemic is another experience that is changing us all. Now we have TEA@Home and in our house we have the university down the hall.
Class of 2020 College Acceptances
We are very proud to share these college acceptances! 100% of our graduates were accepted to 4-year colleges and universities with a scholarship offers totaling over $398,000! The students applied to academically rigorous and selective colleges. Their experiences at TEA were transformed into compelling narratives to highlight their character and academic achievements.
Outdoor Skills for the Great Indoors
Our 4th-grade Crew Leader Carolyn Highland recently wrote this story for our blog and we’re proud to share it. She compares/contrasts our current reality to those she’s faced (with her students at times) in the backcountry. Seems we do have the experience we need to navigate confined spaces, food rationing and uncertainty. Thanks Carolyn!
The Decline of Children’s Free Play
The Kindergarten class of Tahoe Expedition Academy is focusing on how children’s free play with other children has declined over the years and brainstorming ways to bring more free play into our TEA community.
The American Education System Desperately Needs Change
TEA Class of 2024 student Sebastian Law shares his opinion on why schools should change their current curriculum to be more “Hands-On.” This article originally appeared in the “TEA Today,” a student newspaper produced by our 8th-Grade Class.
7th-Grade Study on JEDI at TEA: How Can Our School Be A More Inclusive, Welcoming, and Open Environment?
Seventeen 7th grade TEA students sat on Sproul Hall’s concrete steps at the University of California at Berkeley. Beth Vallarino, Loren Trux, and Alex Pugenot were supporting students as they composed questions to ask university students about their experiences with Justice, Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (JEDI) at UC Berkeley. The goal was to use this data to help inform their pitch to our school’s leadership about how TEA can grow on its journey to be a more inclusive, welcoming, and open environment.
Learning Math, Science, Art, and Craftsmanship by Building a Gigantic Camera Obscura
Imagine seeing an image that has never been altered and it never can be, just a clear original piece of art that looks just as it did through the lens of the camera. That is what the camera obscura captures, an unaltered image. This year in our High School film intensive, we worked with Ian Ruther and his partner Will to capture a photo of our own in a creative and unique way that exemplifies craftsmanship. Thank you to Truckee Tahoe Lumber Company for supporting our project!
TEA 3rd-Graders Work to Keep Tahoe Blue
Examining real-world problems such as the declining water clarity in Lake Tahoe is instrumental to how we teach at TEA. Our 3rd-Graders built background knowledge on water clarity in our area through anchor texts, met with real life experts for a hand-on experience, and then proposed their own solutions to this challenge.
Pre-K Kiddos Learn About the Muscular System Through Cross Country Skiing and Yoga
With the return of winter weather to our area, this past week our Pre-K kiddos, aka the Castle Peak Crew, spent just about all of their time playing in the snow, cross country skiing and learning about our muscular system.
TEA at the People of Color Conference: The Constructive Adversity of Talking About Race
Matt Morrison, Beth Vallarino (Middle School Humanities), and Carolyn Highland attended the People of Color Conference (PoCC) as part of TEA’s commitment to JEDI (Justice, Equity, Diversity, Inclusion) work. We wanted to see how other independent schools were ensuring an equitable and inclusive environment for students, families, and faculty of diverse backgrounds, and how they were galvanizing white allies to work for a better future for everyone.