TEA ADVENTURES

High School STEAM Design Challenge

Our 9th and 10th graders recently did battle in our own version of Medieval Warfare, in the first ever “Siege of TEA — A Game of Thrones Story.”

They were given an open-ended challenge to launch a grapefruit as far as they could. Using a $200 budget they had to engage in a week-long engineering design process, inclusive of planning, budgeting, shopping, building, testing, iterating and finally…competing!

TEA Winter Celebration of the Arts

The Arts are alive and well at Tahoe Expedition Academy and, in typical TEA fashion, take on many forms. On Saturday, March 19th we had our first all-school in-person event in quite a while in order to celebrate the creativity our students encompass.

TEA 10th grade student places 2nd in nation-wide “Voices of Democracy” Essay Contest

We are so proud to announce that our very own 10th grade student, Cameron Tatara, has placed 2nd in this nation-wide contest with over 60,000 entrants. Please help us in congratulating Cameron on this well-deserved win!

The Maine Event: Letter from the Class of 2023

We write this to you as we wrap up 10 days of traipsing through rain-soaked boreal forests, following moose and lynx tracks up mountains, witnessing trees let go of their summer skin, plucking green crabs out of rocky intertidal zones, and learning each other’s stories on windy two-lane roads.

6th-Graders Study the History of the Owens Valley in the Eastern Sierras

TEA 6th graders began the year studying the history of Owens Valley in the Eastern Sierras, learning about the uprooting and relocations of numerous groups of people, including the construction of an internment camp where more than 100,000 men, women and children were imprisoned during World War II. Students tried to imagine what it must have felt like to be uprooted and torn from their homes.

Learning About Our Hearts, Bodies, and Minds Alongside Our Pre-K Kiddos

All TEA students learn about their hearts, bodies, and minds from different angles with larger overlapping concepts. Collectively we are all learning about self-love, self care, differing personalities, and how to identify and manage emotions.

Introducing the 21-22 Curveball Study

Curvd’s top priority is to help schools increase student agency through teaching strategies like mastery-based grading, creative problem solving and self-reflection. Curvd, alongside TEA, is advocating for a teaching approach that challenges students’ critical thinking through tools like “Curveballs” designed to lead them through healthy risk-taking, observe what didn’t work and adapt to change course.

The Maine Event: Letter from the Class of 2022

A whirlwind of parks, experts, and trails, broadening our perspectives and uncovering the details of climate change in Maine.

High School Students Dive Into Student Designed Art at Great Basin National Park, NV

Student Directed Art is a class in which students learn skills of observation, iteration, and creative problem solving. Most recently our high school students participating in this elective class traveled to Great Basin National Park, where they had a chance to explore the expansive and diverse landscapes of Nevada and spent time honing their drawing skills by learning to use blind contour, sensitive line, gesture drawings, and positive and negative space to enhance their depictions of nature.

6th Grade Fieldwork Brings Social Studies and English Language Arts Coursework to Life

Bringing academic coursework to life through interactions with real-world experts is one of the cornerstones of our approach at TEA. Over the past year, we’ve been connecting with experts over zoom meetings or similar to help keep our students engaged. Fortunately over the past few months, we’ve been able to return to in-person interactions with experts both far and near. Most recently, our 6th-Graders traveled to Reno to meet with four different experts. They met with experts at the Lilley Museum at UNR and with activists Bin Bin Erwin and Khalilah Cage at Francis Newlands park in Reno’s Old Southwest neighborhood.

TEA 3rd-Grade Students Learn About Social Emotional Well-Being Through Horse Assisted Education

Ms. Colleen and our 3rd-Grade students traveled to EQ Insight in Washoe Valley for an overnight experience. EQ Insight was founded by TEA Grandparent Melinda Blackwell in 2009 to train modern leaders and teach teamwork in a dynamic world driven by a culture of technology. EQ Insight’s mission is to use horse-led training to build authentic and effective leaders and team-members, so they can make a positive impact in their businesses, communities, and families.