March 28, 2012- Blog Reporter Studio 214

Savannah is reporting on the highlights from Studio 214 from the past couple of weeks. Some of these including using the microscopes, learning about text structures with comparing and contrasting, fraction centers, and the Myth Busters live event we watched on the internet, discussing how science is everywhere!

Osprey Web Cam at Lake Barkley, KY

Fourth grade is watching the Osprey Web Cam located at Lake Barkley. This is a camera that is focused on a nest where some Osprey birds are getting ready to lay some eggs. We have created a KWL chart in our science and math journals about the bird and we are compelting an observation chart, watching for changes that occur at the nest. After spring break, we will be studying bird adaptations, so this goes right along with what we are already studying and tey are able to view an actual nest in the state of Kentucky.

If you would like to view the nest, you can visit the site below:

http://keepky.org/

Parking Lot

At a professional development last year, we had a "Parking Lot" hanging on the wall where people at the meeting could place questions if they did not want to ask them in front of the entire audience. I decided to use this in our classroom. We use it for a couple of different things. Every morning when students come in, they have a bell ringer posted on the Smart Board and it's usually a review math question because that is our first subject each day. It's a great formative assessment tool for me, because I can quickly see who has mastered yesterday's content and who needs some more guided instruction. The second way we use the parking lot is for students to ask questions they have about anything we've talked about during the day that they don't want to ask in front of the class. There have been a lot of great questions asked so far and it has sparked some great conversations!

Breakfast Book Club

These four students are participating in a breakfast book club at CCES. Fourth and fifth grade students who were interested in being in the book club, completed an application and explained why they wanted to participate. There were many applicants, but only eight slots were available. The breakfast club meets together on Friday of each week before school to discuss the pages they read and to get their next assignment for reading. They can also eat breakfast together during this time also. The first book they are reading is "Dolphin Tale" by Gabrielle Reyes and they get to keep all the books they read together!

Plant and Animal Cells

This morning we used our hand-held microscopes to look at plant and animal cells and it was so cool! We could actually see the ribosomes and the cell membranes on some of the cells on the disks! The microscopes can magnify an object by 30 so it's a great tool to use to look at small particles! To hear the discussions and their reactions of what they were seeing for the first time was amazing- I love my job!

CCES Courtyard Project is Almost Here!

BEFORE PICS...

Spring has begun and we are preparing this week to begin demolition for the courtyard area at our school that fourth grade will be planting along with the help of Mr. Willen's high school Ag classes at CCHS! Ms. Wanda Gilbert from the Conservation Office is also going to be providing some guest speakers for the project throughout the project. Ms. Sue Elise Flowers has also been helping with the project also by helping us write some grants!

We are working to create a courtyard area at our CCES where all students can have class or enjoy snack. The highschool class will be preparing the area over the next few days by removing unwanted weeds and we are going to be measuring the area as we begin our measurement unit in math next week. We will also be discussing proper planting, plant conservation, and plant life as we study about plants and animals in our current science unit. The landscaping class at the high school is going to design the garden and we are going to purchase as many plants as possible for our high school green house. We will also be purchasing some benches from Coach Price's woodworking class at CCHS. We would eventually like to add some art work and sculptures to the area as well. We are so excited to get this project started!

We would like to say a special thanks to our donars: Citizens Bank, Cumberland County Conservation District Office, the Clorox Company Foundation and FRYSC

Adding Fractions with Unlike Denominators

In math today, our learning target was adding fractions with unlike denominators. Check out a couple of students who explained to the class how to do this after they mastered the target this morning. This is a completely new standard to fourth grade this year with our Kentucky Core Standards replacing the KCCT Standards. I am so proud of them! Keep up the good work, Studio 214!