FIRST Robotics Team Phoenix

Students getting a close up look at the robot and asking about how it was engineered.

Our class headed to the gym this morning to meet up with First Robotics team Phoenix. Sienna Mayer and a few of her team members talked about their experience building their robot. They competed at the Verizon during February vacation against other FIRST teams.

Samantha, Summer, and Latrell, looking at the controls and computer
that runs the robot.

I am pleased that my students had an opportunity to talk to such excellent role models. Two of them were in fact Hallsville graduates! 

Write a Currently

Here's something fun to do on your Creative Writing Blog or in your Writer's Notebook.  Write about what you are liking and feeling right now. It's fun to write and then look back and read later. Follow the format below. It should say Listening, Loving, Thinking, Wanting, Needing, Love, Like, Hate (you can copy and paste this if you want). Here is my Currently, can't wait to see yours! 

The Most Interesting Part of My Vacation...

The Utimate Ascent First Robotics Competition at the Verizon. I wish I thought ahead of time about taking our class with me! So my goal will be to bring part of the competition to you! Let me start at the beginning though. I was catching up with an old friend who some of you may know, as Mrs. Mayer. She is a the parent of a three Hallsville graduates. She also is a former colleague and worked teaching special education students here at Hallsville. Mrs. Mayer's daughter Sienna and son Jansen, worked with their team to build and program the robot which they used to compete with. Below is an animation of how the competition works.

Sienna and her team won most creative design at the competition. They are coming...WITH their robot to visit us soon. The First Robotic League was found by Manchester's own Dean Kamen. I can't wait to hear more from Sienna and her team! Below are some pictures from her experience.

The Other Blog

Hello everybody, hope you are having a super-duper vacation! I noticed a lot of you have been posting on KidBlog... that's awesome! I'm glad you love to write and use computers as much as I do. I want to redirect some of our blog posts to a blog called, Our Other Blog. Everyone should be posting on Our Reading Blog, on Thursdays. If you want to write about your birthday party, a concert, a pet, or anything else, please post this on Our Other Blog. You may edit your profile yourself, the password is "sparkles" right now. Please remember to be kind to others! Learning to write for an audience is important, make sure you remember that anybody with the link to our class site may be reading what you write. Write creative stories, post pictures, tell about something new you learned, have fun!

WeDo Science, Tech, Engineering, Mathematics

Do They Look 100?

These were our best hundred's day outfits! Granny Sam is to the left, Grampa Latrell middle, and Meme' Hayley is on the right! Let me tell you these three have school spirit. If you don't believe me, you should check out Hayley's nails (blue and white and spell H-A-L-L-S-V-I-L-L-E)! Hundreds day was fun!

Also, congratulations to Brian who completed 100 Random Acts of Kindness! I am proud of all of the thoughtful acts and kindness that my students have done. This is a FABULOUS group! 

Lights, Camera, Action!

Here's our first iMovie on Natural Disasters! More movies coming your way! Stay tuned!

Valentine's Day Party

Here is a link to our classs list,  so that students can make Valentine's if they wish to for the party on Thursday! Any refreshments are welcome, but we will mainly focus on the fun games and activities!

♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥

Write a Valentine's Day Poem for someone special!

Valentine MadLIB (funny)

Now Write Another! (funny or seriously sweet)

LEGO Education

I am so excited to be starting the LEGO WeDo Education projects next week! I know the students are too! WeDo is a division of the LEGO company that is basically an introduction to robotics. Students will be able to build LEGO models featuring working motors and motion sensors. Then they will program their models using the WeDo software. These activities teach science, technology, engineering, mathematics, as well as language and literacy themes and skills. Students will work in pairs and collaborate with other groups in class to collect data for their trials. We will  build one model a week for the next twelve weeks. I am so thankful that our class has this opportunity! Check out the LEGO promotion video below to get an idea of how the program works!

100th Day- A Week Long Celebration!

Friday is the 100th day of school this year, assuming there are no cancelations this week. The 100th day is a big deal in elementary school in case you didn't know. We are celebrating it all week!

First tomorrow, we will start out with a giant brainstorm. I want our class to preform 100 random acts of kindness... EACH. Including me! I've never tried this project before, however, the results can only be positive! All week we will be working on a piece of writing, entitled 100 Things to Be Happy About. 

We will be making all kinds of lists, 100 Places We Would Like to Visit, 100 Ways to Make 100, 100 New Vocabulary Words, maybe a 100 lists! 

Finally, on Friday we will be having a 100th day Dress Up Day. Student can dress up AS IF they are 100 years old. Granny sweaters? Grampa shoes? Can't wait! And of course there's a writing prompt for that! Should be a fun week! 

Also this week, we will continue selling the gourmet lollipops at school. We are filling orders and will be delivering on Valentine's Day! 

The SCA (Student Conservation Association), is coming back to teach a lesson on Thursday. We are lucky to have them for the next ten weeks! 

Also, we are going to the water safety program at the YMCA. More info. on that tomorrow!