How Did It Get to Be the Last Week of School?

We are keeping up the learning in M25 until the end! This week will conclude M25 small groups as well as Extra M25 for first and third grades. The other grade levels had their last Extra M25 time last Friday.

Extra M25 has been incredible this nine weeks because of Ozobots. Because of a generous grant through DKG Women Educators International, I was able to purchase ten Ozobots and develop lessons to aid students in honing critical and creative thinking skills. Ozobots are mini robots that provide a hands-on approach to learning coding. We began with observation about how Ozobot moves and what he likes, i.e., how he responds to various color codes. As students became familiar with Ozobot's habits, they launched into creative coding projects to make Ozobot complete a task. For example, one project that most of the elementary students completed was to make Ozobot travel around the first letter of their name--or for the older students--all three initials. Seventh and eighth graders worked on a checklist of Ozobot projects each week during small group time. They had to make Ozobot visit four presidents in chronological order; create a recycling path; make a project with spatial transformations; and, my favorite, create their own open ended project. This yielded a zoo visit for Ozobot as well as a trip to an amusement park, complete with a roller coaster. I will have the opportunity to share what my students I did with the Ozobots at the Fall Board Meeting of DKG International. I can't wait to use our Ozobots again next year!

6th grade ended the year by reading Across Five Aprils and broadening their knowledge about the Civil War. They successfully completed their Wordly Wise vocabulary series and did some poetry lessons and wrote original poems. The students have definitely grown in their writing skills and in their ability to analyze literature.

If you didn't hear about silkworms recently, then you are really "out of the 5th grade loop." 5th grade LAX students read a book, Project Mulberry, in which two friends do a project on silkworms. So, we just had to try our hand at raising silkworms, so I ordered the eggs. We watched, kept them warm and waited. Finally, after about two weeks, the silkworms hatched! We continued to keep them warm and well fed with silkworm chow. Special thanks to Ty, who silkworm sat over Easter Break. Last week, sensing they were ready to spin cocoons, we parceled them out to students who wanted to take one home and watch the development. I would say our project was pretty successful and beneficial!

4th graders opted to student flight during the last nine weeks, so they researched about the history of flight and engaged in some hands on activities to learn about flight principles such as lift and thrust. We have had a lot of learning fun with paper airplanes, balloon rockets, loop planes; and film canister rockets.

Probability was the subject at hand for third graders. We have rolled dice; kept data; made and played spinner games; read Jumanji; and played the game of Pig. All of these activities were designed to introduce students to how likely something is or not to occur. We discussed the term "equally likely" as well. They all ready to play board games this summer with their newfound knowledge!!

Second graders have been developing critical thinking skills by playing attribute games. The students are given blocks with attributes of shape, color and size. Given certain labels, they must place blocks correctly in a Venn diagram. Once they are comfortable doing this, I have them play without seeing the labels. So, they must really pay attention and deduce what the labels are as they place pieces in the diagram. This is SO complicated and SO fun. Eventually, students had the change to be the "Venn Master" and be in charge of the game. Finally, we played with three rings in our Venn, which is extremely higher level. They loved every minute of it!!

Pre-Algebra in first grade? Why, yes, first graders can learn basic algebraic concepts. We did a variety of hands on problem solving to lay a foundation for algebraic reasoning. This included unknown variables  with input and output (during this lesson, one student commented that this was the most fun M25 ever!) and solving problems starting at the known end and working backwards. We also played place value cards games and did a creative thinking activity in which they were challenged to look at ordinary objects in a unique way.

Time flies when you are having learning fun...

First Grade M25-The students conquered coordinate points on geoboards and did, indeed, make it safely back to earth from Geoland! To overcome our jet lag, we adjusted back to Earth with geocenters. These have been super fun, independent, centers with various geometry activities to apply and build on what we have learned. Next, first grade will explore algebra concepts through hands on and problem solving activities.

Second Grade M25-The best ending to our weather study was a very professional video forecast by our second grade meteorologists. We also loved have WSLS Meteorologist Jeff Haniewich visit for second and fourth grade Extra M25. The students are now studying geometry concepts through tangrams. The hands on activities allow many opportunities for problem solving, which, at times, is fairly complex. As part of the unit, we will also explore area and perimeter.

Third Grade M25-Students have tackled the complicated job of researching by gathering information about a selected insect and completing a concept web. They are currently choosing and completing three mini projects using the information they have found. I love these projects because they give students a creative opportunity. My favorite ending to this unit is still to come...polymer clay models of their insects!

Fourth Grade M25-Fourth grade M25 students are taking off with Bloxels! They created Bloxel characters and a setting from the constellation myths they composed. We enjoyed a visit from fifth grade M25 students, who gave fourth graders some of their best tips about Bloxels. Through a generous mini grant from the Virginia Professional Educators, I was able to purchase ten Bloxels boards for students to use as part of this project! Thank you, VPE! When our unit concludes, we will be sleuthing to solve The Lunchbox Mystery.

LAX 5-Fifth grade M25 students have proven themselves to be worthy detectives as they cracked the case of The Great Chocolate Caper. I love how excited they got and how hard they worked to get to the conclusion. They really enjoyed learning to solve matrix logic problems as well. The students selected and have been reading a choice novel this nine weeks and are in the process of completing an illustrated plot map about the book. They will also plan and write a persuasive paragraph about their novel. I look forward to reading Project Mulberry together during the last nine weeks as well as completing our vocabulary study in Wordly Wise!

LAX 6-The students have learned about debate and are working in teams to formulate their arguments for a formal oral debate. They are working so well together devising reasons and finding supporting evidence. Meanwhile, they are nearing the end of their choice novels and are creating plot maps in small groups. They will plan and compose a persuasive essay about their choice novels. We will read Across Five Aprils as a class and complete our Wordly Wise vocabulary study during the last nine weeks!

7th and 8th graders are in the midst of the memorable Barbie Bungee math lab. Students make predictions and did repeated trials to determine how many rubber bands would allow Barbie to safely bungee from a given point without hitting the floor. After a few "incidences" along the way, including the loss of one Barbie, students accomplished their trials and even tested the number of rubber bands needed to bungee Barbie from the seventeen plus feet high school building stairwell. Students will be plotting their information; learning about a line of best fit; and discussing the experiment. We look forward to taking a field trip to Poplar Forest with the entire 7th and 8th grades classes in April to focus on archaeology.

Accomplishments so far - and a look ahead!

As we soar into a new nine weeks and semester, I am pleased with all we have accomplished so far and look forward with anticipation to all that the remainder of the year will hold. 
Here is an update:

First Grade M25-The students have traveled to Geoland in their study of geometry, learning the "language," including much study of angles. Coming up, the students will meet and create "angle aliens" as well as learn coordinate points in order to travel safely back to earth.

Second Grade M25-Weather has been the topic of each Friday's lesson, as the students have kept weather data charts and have learned about "ingredients" and instruments to measure these. Students conducted a temperature experiment as well as made a cloud in a jar after learning about the three main types of clouds. We will soon conclude this study with a lesson on air pressure and then, do a final group project in which the students prepare and deliver their own weather forecast based on collected data.

Third Grade M25-We have praised God as we have learned about His amazing creation. The students have focused most of their study on human biology, learning systems, organs and cells. Experiments in regular and Extra M25 have helped to illustrate how systems and organ function.
Coming up, the students will conduct a bacteria experiment to find out where the most bacteria grows in our school and will end the unit with insect projects.

Fourth Grade M25-The marvel of constellations have captured our focus recently, as students have researched several constellations God names in the Bible. Students are in the process of creating original constellations and accompanying myths. We will end our unit learning Bloxels, a great coding app that will allow students to bring their myths to the video world!

LAX 5-We LOVED reading Across Five Aprils and are now embarking on reading choice novels this nine weeks. The students did wonderful projects to accompany the novel and studied much vocabulary and grammar over the last nine weeks. We will continue with writing practice; grammar and Wordly Wise vocabulary this nine weeks. The students are currently finding out who "dunnit" in The Great Chocolate Caper!

LAX 6-The students created stunning and thoughtful projects after reading A Long Way From Chicago. We laughed at the antics of Grandma as we read and found out, in the end, that she really does have a soft heart. We wrote persuasive research essays and will now use that research as students investigate oral debate. This is the perfect pursuit for this gregarious group! We will continue with writing, grammar and vocabulary as well this nine weeks.

7th and 8th graders have completed an "artifact box" of clues about our geographic location. This has been a critical thinking challenge, as the clues can only divulge a certain amount of information and should point someone to research in order to fully understand the clue. Our next endeavor is a math and science challenge, The Barbie Bungee Project.

Working and Learning As Unto the Lord...

Working and Learning As Unto the Lord...

What an exciting first nine weeks! I look back and marvel at all that God allowed us to learn and accomplish.

We all loved staring the year with "M and M writing," an activity in which students selected an M & M of a certain color from their M & M butterfly. Then, they wrote something about themselves that corresponded with the color. They thought it was fun, and I always enjoy learning some new things about the children.

7th and 8th graders made light work of creating their own design company and planning a roadway through the simulated Rainbow Bay community. They worked collaboratively to develop a company name, logo and motto. Their task was to create a proposal for a roadway system through the newly developed community, taking into consideration cost and environmental factors. The students did a superb job of working together and using each student's talents advantageously.

5th and 6th LAX has been such a blessing for me and is a class that I hope is challenging for the students. We have learned and put to use many new vocabulary words, and I sense that the students really enjoyed the choice novels they read. I loved reading their responses to the literature.
We read some challenging poetry; thought deep thoughts; and used cool graphic organizers to analyze literature and vocabulary. I LOVE it, and the curriculum, as well as the students, keep me on my toes. God is showing us spiritual lessons through the material as well.

4th graders have used very cool hands on materials to explore spatial relationships, including dimensions, symmetry, spatial transformations and using 2-D pictures to create 3-D models. At times, the activities have proved challenging and have required perseverance. I am happy to report that these 4th graders exhibit much patience and perseverance! I love that we are taking something they have a basic knowledge of to the next level.

3rd and 2nd grades solved a fun mystery, "Who Borrowed Mr. Bear?" It was serious business as we learned about what detectives and forensic scientists do as they "processed" a simulated crime scene and performed ten experiments on the evidence. We learned how to analyze and deduce information to figure out who the culprit was. The children wrote about their theories and used evidence to explain. After successfully sleuthing the case, the students wrote original mystery adventures for Mr. Bear. This was beneficial writing practice as well as creative fun!

1st graders have recently begun M25 and have written bio poems about themselves. I guided the students into writing words, phrases and sentences to tell about themselves. The results were precious. Check them out on my work line outside of my classroom.

I am praying expectantly for the new nine weeks and am eager to see what God will help us to do and learn next!

CSI - Cooking Science Investigation

Through a generous grant from the Virginia Association for the Gifted, M25 students in upper elementary are able to investigate the science of cooking through hands on experiments, data collection, and the expertise of guest speakers. Based on their research and data collection, students develop and prepare original healthy recipes for their peers!