Welcome to Fourth Grade!

Welcome to Studio 214!  I am so excited you are going to be part of our cast this year!  Please watch the following video and if you have any questions tonight, write them on the back of your survey sheet or send me an email at:

andrea.parson@cumberland.kyschools.us

Also, be sure to sign the clipboard before you leave that provides your email address and your child's dismissal plan (which bus, pick up, etc.).  I know it is going to be a great school year and I look forward to meeting everyone next week!

 

 

Tuesdays with Karen

If you would like a plethora of educational technology resources, look no further than the link below!  It has everything you can think of!  The creator of this blog works for Discovery Education and with CEAI (Christian Educators Association International) and is such a wonderful lady and friend!

 

http://tuesdayswithkaren.blogspot.com/

 

 

National Beta Trip!

This summer we got to travel with the Cumberland County students to the National Beta Convention in Virginia!  While we were there, we got to visit many historical sites including the White House!

 

 

Hidden Caves

This summer during the science academy, Ms. Kacey and I got to visit the Hidden Caves in Bowling Green.  We took a boat ride through the cave!

 

 

TiPPS by Dr. Bill Ziegler

TiPPS is a site that provides helpful tips for CEAI members, educators, parents, and students.  It is a 60 second radio program whose goal is to equip, encourage, and empower parents and educators, according to Biblical principles, to guide children toward success in school and life.  TiPPS is committed to making sure that we help students thrive in school.  TiPPS is aired on over 700 radio stations nationwide and it serves as a media outreach of CEAI.  The site also has links to the "Teachers of Vision" magazine and helpful websites for learning.

You can visit by going to www.4tipps.com

 

3, 2, 1 Blastoff!

Launching rockets was one of my favorite things we did at the summer science academy this year!  We made the rockets out of regular paper and then launched them, but that wasn't all of the task.  Once we launched the first set, we had to then look at the data and decide what to do to our rocket to make it stay in the air longer.  There were many different designs and it was a lot of fun!  There is going to be a student competition in October in Bowling Green, KY.  I look forward to participating in this event!

 

 

YAPP APP

This is such a cool resource to use for groups of people to share ideas and pictures with each other.  On your device, you can go to the app store and download the free app called YAPP.  Then you can enter the code and begin sharing.  We used this at our CEAI leadership meeting this summer and ours was created by Ms. Karen, who works for Discovery Education and is a leader in CEAI.  Enjoy this awesome app and share away!

 

 

Almost 50,000!

I had taken a short break this summer from updating the blog, but am back at it this week since we are getting so close to school starting back for the 2014-2015 school year.  I was so excited to check the stats and our class blog is almost to the 50,000 mark for visits!  This makes me very happy to know it is being viewed and used- thank you and keep checking it out on a regular basis!

 

 

Christian Educators Association International

I just got home yesterday from attending a six-day CEAI leaders conference in Ohio with my husband.  What an amazing trip it was!  Kentucky had a team of seven and we joined others from across the United States to plan, pray, and worship together as Christian educators.  We made friendships that will last a lifetime!  (And I also now have pen-pals for my students in San Antonio, Texas! Ekk!!)

 

You can learn more about CEAI by visiting www.ceai.org or downloading the CEAI app on your device!  At the site, you can find out about the benefits of the organization, legal advice, devotions for educators, and so much more! 

CHECK IT OUT! 

TOGETHER, WE CAN MAKE A DIFFERENCE!

 

 

Teachers and ER

I'm very thankful to get to work with Ms. Kassie each day at school!  I am even more thankful I got to work with her to help our community with ER Ministries this summer.  ER Ministries is an organization that helps people in need in our community with their homes.  They have built ramps, porches, put on roofs, painted, and so much more.  It was truly a blessing to be a part of this organization!

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Just a Swinging...

We had another donation for the "Panther Pause" Sensory Room!  It's a swing used for occupational therapy that our students can use anytime they need it!  This swing helps build balance and core strength.

 

 

QR Codes and Science

This is an awesome resource I will be using this year in Studio 214- QR Codes!  There is a free app that can be downloaded and used to scan the codes and a free website to create your very own questions.  Students scan the code and the question pops up on their device and then they can use the graffiti walls or whatever other resource you want to use for them to record their answers.  It's just another way to incorporate technology, collaboration, and get them up and moving!  The website to create your own questions is www.classtools.com

 

 

Summarizing a Concensus

I attended a six-day national leadership conference in Ohio last week with CEAI and we used this graphic organizer to collaborate with our group members.  I loved it because it gave each person in the group time to collect their own thoughts and then we could share to come to a consensus.  It would be cool to use four different colored index cards and let students write their response on those and then put them together with a white piece of paper in the center!  There was some great conversations happening and everyone had a job with the task!

 

School Garden

This is hopefully a future project for fourth grade students at CCES!  We visited this garden this summer and it was so amazing!

 

 

Engineering and Literacy- Easy Connection?

We completed an engineering task at a summer Science Academy this summer and it was surprisingly easy to tie in literacy to the engineering practices!  We read a book about a young girl (yeah!) who was working to solve a problem of how to feed her animals on the farm her family owned in Australia.  She needed to figure out how to create a buzzer system to alert her of an empty water bucket.  We were then given the supplies to create a model to help her solve the problem and it was so much fun!  It was a challenge and tied in parallel and series circuits. 

 

Here was our team's engineering design and it worked!

 

Squishy Circuits

This summer, I had the opportunity to attend a week-long Science Academy where we focused on the implementation of the Next Generation Science Standards.  One of the cool hands-on experiments we conducted focused on the energy standards and we created squishy circuits!  Check out the links below to learn more!

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLKyvdF6lM49dJNTgXlv4WEYG7GmNnsT3W&feature=em-share_playlist_user