First Grade Cupcake Creations

Here are some of the first grade cupcake creations from PAW University!  The kiddos had a blast!

P.A.W. University!

We are off to a great start with our School-Wide Enrichment Model - P.A.W. (Projects at Work) University! The students are so excited to work in groups once a week on something they are passionate about! Here are some pictures from our board game making group,  Lego group, sign language group, digital animation group, Kindergarten building group, and first grade STEM group!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mr. Crutcher's Class Mystery Skype with Alabama!

On Friday February 10^th, a 5^th grade class Mystery Skyped with a class in Tuscumbia, Alabama which is a small town near Florence, Alabama in the northwest part of the state. The Mystery Skype game is where two classes meet on Skype and ask each other questions to figure out where the other class is. You can only ask yes or no questions and students look on a map to narrow down where the other class is located. Once each class figures out where the other is, students can share facts about their state or city.

The third grade class that Skyped with us is part of a school that has only 350 students. They shared that their state bird is the Northern Flicker (also known as the Yellowhammer), that Helen Keller and Jesse Owens were each born close by and Michael Jordan played on the local baseball team.

We shared that our state is the 2^nd largest in the nation, our state bird is the mockingbird and we have three professional sports teams.

Our fifth graders really enjoy playing the game and making new friends from another state by using Skype.

 

Mrs. Bohac's First Graders Learning About Soil!

What we learned about soil:

Soil can be different sizes.

Some soil is better for plants.

Water goes through sand too fast so it isn’t good for plants.

Clay doesn’t let enough water through so it isn’t good for plants.

Potting soil is the best for plants.

Ms. Kaiser's class is learning about fractions!

This morning in math, we were learning about fractions. Ms. Kaiser brought Cheerios, Craisins, marshmallows, Chocolate Chips, and Peanuts. There was a paper that had a place where we could put a name for what we were making. We were making a trail mix. The paper also had a place where we could write down the ingredients and a place where we could write down the directions. When it was our turn, we would go and sit down in a chair at Ms. Kaiser’s back table. Then we got the paper and wrote down our ingredients and our math equation. When we were done writing, Ms. kaiser let us use a measuring cup to measure ⅛ . Then we would pick the ingredient we wanted to start with and we measured it in 8ths. If we picked ⅜ for cereal, then we would measure out ⅛ + ⅛ + ⅛ to make ⅜. We would dump it in our bag and go to the next ingredient. Once all our ingredients were in the bag, we had a total of 8/8ths or 1 whole cup of trail mix. When we got home, we could show our parents what we did and then eat it.

 

                                    -Kami

 

Kaiser HR

JRE Challenge Students Share the Love with Brookwood Community

Carrying on an annual tradition, Challenge students created Christmas cards and crafts to share with their "Brookwood Buddies."  Always ready to try something new, 1st-5th graders learned the basics of sewing and created 112 stuffed felt ornaments embellished with buttons and personal touches.  They also designed and wrote messages in 256 cards to ensure every person at Brookwood would have a little bit of happiness to open this season.  The director at Brookwood community shared, "Everyone looks forward to seeing what the students have created each year. The smiles are endless when the goodies arrive!"  Mrs. Sides agrees, "The kids are beaming and so excited as soon as we receive photos of our Brookwood Buddies getting their gifts. We have even started planning for next year already!  It is wonderfully heartwarming to see and hear how much this connection they have made with the community means to them."

 

5th Grade Students Collaborate with BHE Students!

Students in 5^th grade are working on a collaborative science project with 5^th graders from Holland Elementary. The project entails JRE students researching a famous landform such as the Grand Canyon or Mississippi River delta. Students then writing about their discoveries in a Google Slides presentation which was shared with a partner at Bonnie Holland Elementary. The BHE students are researching different examples of famous landforms and putting their information in the same Google Slides presentation. Once completed, students will present the whole project to their classes.

 

Google Slides also allows the students to communicate through the ‘comments’ feature which students say is like texting back and forth. This communication allows them to effectively collaborate on their projects and give feedback to each other as they are working in real time.

 

Emma R. says about the project, “I like that we get to communicate with our partners. We get to do our part, they get to do their part, and it comes together at the end.”

 

The students and teachers are both enjoying the collaboration between the schools. Every day the students are eager to see what progress their partner has made.