Chrome Books!

Our fourth graders are now one-to-one with Google Chrome books!  We are beyond excited and cannot wait to see the possibilities!

We're Super Leaders!

Our homeroom will be performing Monday morning during the morning assembly at 7:35 and we will be performing a short skit and singing this song!  Please join us if you can and they can wear anything that looks like a super hero!  Click on the link below to visit my teacher website and click on the song title to hear our song.

WE'RE SUPER LEADERS!

"Collab. Lab" Partnership

I'm excited to be a on a team called the "Collab. Lab" who will collaborate throughout this school year to share resources and ideas.  A curriculum coordinator in Warren County is heading up this project with teachers and administrators across the state and neighboring states and asked if I would be a part and I'm excited!  I love getting new ideas to use in Studio 214 and share what has worked for us!

My first share was about using plickers- which is like clickers, but uses QR codes instead and it's all free.  Teachers can enter questions on the fly or plan questions in advance and use as formative assessments.  Visit the link below to try it out!

www.plickers.com
 

Collecting Data from Observations

We observed three different substances today with lenses to predict which one would germinate and our next step is to design an experiment to test our predictions!

Recap with Mindmaps

We review what we have learned and accomplished throughout the week by using a Mind Map.  This is a great way for students to brainstorm ideas.  We use these ideas to write a letter to our family members in our Friday Journals.  The students take these journals home each week on Friday and the family member writes them a letter back and sends the journal back to school.  It is a great way to communicate with families about what we are doing at school!

Rice is Life

Today we began our unit on the internal and external structures of plants by learning about the Bali culture and how their live revolve around rice!  Students got to use chopsticks to eat white rice during the engagement portion of our lesson.  We read "Rice is Life" to learn more about their culture and how rice is an important staple for this region of the world!

Engineering Experts

Students worked in groups to learn about specific engineer careers in Studio 214 and presented to our class about what they had learned!  Students were able to teach each other the important tasks of several different engineering careers and decide if any of them interested them for future career choices!

Partner Reading in Science

We are really focusing on learning how to partner read in science as well as "thinking about our thinking".  We are learning to pause throughout what we read to make connections and discuss what we read so we can be better readers!  Students make notes in the margins of their papers as they make those connections.

Engineering- Assembly Lines

Students in Studio 214 were presented with a problem this week of figuring out how to put together mechanical pens, as quickly as possible and as many as possible at each group.  Students had to use the engineering design process and work together to design a solution, test it, reflect, and test it again to see if they could produce eight pens in the quickest time.  The very last step was to share what we learned through this process!

Engineering Book Selections

While searching on Pinterest recently, I found some awesome books that I will be incorporating into our engineering studies throughout the school year and wanted to share.  We have an amazing librarian at our school and she has ordered them for our school and they came in this past week!  I just wanted to share! 

CEAI Christian Educators Association International

If any of my fellow teachers are not a member of CEAI, I strongly encourage you to join!  You can visit their website to find out more information or send me a message and I will hook you up!  It is less expensive to join than the state association and you get twice the coverage ($2,000,000 liability coverage) and better yet, they are founded on Christian beliefs and helping teachers know their rights as Christian educators.

www.ceai.org

Super Leaders Fight Song

We have a new CCES theme song for the year and we have some student leaders in fifth grade who will be introducing it to our school Monday morning! #studio214

Here is the link to listen to the song.

http://www.cumberland.kyschools.us/olc/page.aspx?id=2178&s=69

Theater Seats in Use!

I am very excited to have these chairs in our classroom this year!  I know we will put them to good use in Studio 214! #studio214

Remind 101 Codes

Be sure and sign up for each fourth grade teacher's remind text!  We will use this to keep our families up to date on upcoming events, tests, and happening in fourth grade!

What are Engineers?

We began this week by learning about lab safety and then about what exactly engineers do each day.  We read this book and designed our dream car, using one of the steps of the engineering design process.  We will learn about assembly lines and use the design process to modify how our assembly lines work to increase production!  This lesson idea came from an amazing resource from NSTA called "Picture Perfect Science".  #studio214

And ACTION!

The first day of school has come and gone and we have made it through our entire first week of school!  I know it is going to be a great year in Studio 214!  #studio214

Here is a look at the Studio before our cast members arrived!