We had a lot of fun last week learning about writing instructions, specifically the steps to blow a bubble using bubble gum.
According to the students, the best part of the lesson was they all got to chew a piece of gum while writing their final draft. Yes, you read that right - chewing gum in school! The students were quite shocked!
The results of this writing activity were excellent! We learned about using details, transition words and also sentence structure and conventions. The improvements between the first draft and the final draft were vast!
Part of my "YouTube Star Teacher" requirements are to film, produce and upload videos that other teachers could potentially use. I've started recording a few lessons here and there to add to my channel. This lesson was a fun one so I thought I would try to make a brief video about it. The results can be seen here!
Last week we learned all about lowering the freezing point of water. Using salt, we slightly melted chunks of ice and watched as the water refroze around a piece of string.
After sprinkling the salt on the ice we observed for about three minutes. We watched the ice change from one state of matter - a solid, into a different state of matter - a liquid. Then the liquid changed again, back into a solid as it froze around the string.
We had to be very careful picking up the string. Sharp or sudden movements caused the ice to fall. We also tried changing this experiment with the ice in a cup of water. Ask your student what happened!
This experiment was the first of many hands on science projects we will do this year. Coming up this week... we will learn about colloids as part of our states of matter unit.
Last week we had a blast attending The NED Show right in our very own Thunderbird Hall!
I was impressed that one woman (plus Ned of course) was able to keep a large group of students extremely entertained and engaged!
We were wowed with amazing yo-yo stunts, wild twisted balloon creations and lots of fun magic tricks. The overwhelming message of The NED Show was motivating, encouraging and inspirational. This event was a very welcome mid-week treat!
We are all striving to be bucket fillers (as opposed to bucket dippers) and have learned all about the invisible bucket everyone carries at all times and how to fill it!
Several books have been written about bucket fillers. Carol McCloud wrote a book called Have You Filled A Bucket Today? (A Guide to Daily Happiness For Kids), which we read together in class. The premise of the book is the idea that we all carry an invisible bucket that contains our feelings. When our bucket is full, we feel great. When our bucket is empty, we feel sad. A bucket filler is someone who says or does nice things for other people. By doing this, they are filling other people's buckets and filling their own bucket at the same time.
When someone fills a bucket, students have the option to write out a bucket drop. We did some writing activities regarding Bucket Filling and everyone wrote and received at least one drop. Ask your child about bucket filling! It is a concept all of Sonoran Sky embraces and I am sure you will hear more about it this year. Last summer every teacher read How Full is Your Bucket? by Donald Clifton and it is a philosophy we live by as well.
Wow, what a wonderful prize this morning when I had a package from Amazon.com waiting for me at school. Someone ordered lots of great items for the classroom from my Amazon Wishlist. This is the first year I have ever had a wishlist and this is the first order that has been placed, and unfortunately I cannot figure out who the generous donation is from!
We had an opportunity to use a few of these new games and puzzles while I was doing DIBELS testing students individually.
The class had a lot of fun rotating from one group to another this afternoon, exploring the new learning tools.
So a giant THANK YOU to whoever sent us this fabulous package! It is greatly appreciated. Feel free to identify yourself so I can send a proper thank you note. :)
The Problem: How can Sonoran Sky get students and their families to show up for the first Family Bingo Night this Friday?
A brainstorming session determined advertising was the answer! But what kind of advertising? My ambitious class had lofty goals - statewide billboards, television commercials and sign spinners scattered throughout the Valley directing potential customers to the school were the top choices. Based on our tight deadline, lack of funds and the fact that all 21 of us really need to be in the classroom all day, limited our options a bit. But we decided that writing and producing a commercial would be an effective strategy that we could handle.
Students worked in small groups writing commercial scripts based on copy points we received from our fabulous PTO President.
We spent some time learning how to write a script, what we needed to include and the best way to present our message. After rough drafts of scripts were written, we also spent some time editing and proofreading. However, due to our tight deadline, I aided this process more than I will in the future.
Once we had a finished script, the next step was to begin shooting footage! Many students mentioned they preferred a "behind the scenes role" rather than being on camera, and our film crew did an excellent job. All students participated in at least two facets of this project.
Everyone quickly learned that it is not as easy reading a short script on camera as it might seem! Our persistent actors did several takes due to a few common bloopers - mispronouncing words, forgetting a line, talking too quietly and excessive giggling!
They also re-recorded a few shots so we could edit in a couple different angles and close-ups. After plenty of footage had been recorded came probably the most difficult step of all - video editing!
We used iMovie on four different Macbooks for the majority of our video production...
...but one small group also edited using the iMac, which has a much newer (better!) version of iMovie.
Students also used Keynote to create our "closing credits" at the end. The Keynote presentation was then exported as a QuickTime movie, which was added to our iMovie.
Video production is not easy and it is extremely detail oriented! Since we were under such a tight deadline, we moved through this project very quickly. We will be doing many more iMovie projects this year where instruction will be slowed down and students will have an opportunity to play with special effects, insert text, add transitions and other fun iMovie features. Given the time we had, the class did an excellent job even though it will "only" be airing throughout Sonoran Sky Elementary School and not on national television, like many of them were hoping. :)
To see the version that airs at school, following the pledge of allegiance, please click here:
*Tomorrow is an early release day. Students will be dismissed at 12:30pm. No lunch will be served but we will still have our morning snack, so pack a hearty one.
*Tomorrow evening is the Make Your Day Parent Evening. This event begins at 6:00pm in the media center and is highly recommended for any parents new to the Make Your Day program.
*Thursday, August 25 is student picture day. These will be individual fall photos only. The class photo is taken in the spring.
*Friday, August 26 is Family Bingo Night at 6:30pm in Thunderbird Hall. One free game card will be offered to each person and if you bring a package of new socks to donate, you will receive a second free game card. Students are welcome to wear pajamas and snacks will be available for purchase. If you attend this event please bring pennies or dimes to use as markers. It's sure to be a fun event!
