Super Science

Hi Room 203 families, I hope everyone is having a fabulous weekend! I wanted to share some photos from our Super Science Day on Friday. We started out our morning by exploring states of matter: solids, liquids, and gases. Students practiced using their science notebooks to record observations at each station. They loved it! 

In the afternoon, we took a trip to the Media Center to participate in our first STEAM lesson of the year! STEAM stands for Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, and Math. In this lesson students explored different careers in STEAM (including architecture, marine engineering, aerospace engineering, culinary arts, fashion design, video game design and car design). Then they discussed the importance of teamwork in all the careers, remembering that "you can't have STEAM without TEAM." 

Finally, the kids worked in teams of three to design and build "tall towers" using only toothpicks, spaghetti, and gumdrops. Their only rule was that it had to be free-standing. They worked completely as a team with no adult help. It was incredible to see what they came up with! 

This is a lesson we'd all love to do again! :)

Until next time,

I'm so hAPPy!

School's out for summer but at Claxton we never stop learning! This week several teachers participated in a super fun iPad training with our Instructional Technology Facilitator, Mrs. Eggett, and our Media Center Coordinator, Mrs. Allbach. 

We explored incredible apps that can be used in the classroom and had time to plan with our grade level team how we will integrate our newfound apps next year! Just when I thought I'd seen it all, Mrs. Eggett and Mrs. Allbach blew my mind with something new. I felt like an excited little kid again...especially when we played with an app called ColAR Mix that brings coloring pages to life! (See mind blowing pic below.)

One of the best parts about being a teacher is that I'm also a student, constantly learning how to improve my classroom instruction with the latest and greatest tech. Claxton has such awesome support system in place for technology in the classroom and it makes me so hAPPy ;) 

My self-portrait, drawn using an app called 53 Paper.

At first this may appear to be JUST a coloring page...but with the ColAR mix app it comes to life! Yep, my inner child is screaming with excitement, y'all! 

And how about some virtual (yet practically real) exploration of the NASA rover Curiosity? I can do that, too! 

Because with my iPad the world is literally at my finger tips and I can't wait to share these engaging activities with my new class of 2nd graders! 

Thanks for stopping by! 

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Through the Eyes of Olympic Athletes

Hi Room 203 families! 

In honor of Digital Learning Day today, we "hit the slopes" using an awesome iPad app called Visa 360 Cam which allows us to see what it's like to be a Winter Olympic athlete. Featured athletes had a camera attached to them, allowing app users to see through the eyes of the athletes. 

The kids LOVED it! We discussed what it means to be an athlete and how to be a good sport, relating back to one of our 7 Habits of Happy Kids--"Think Win-Win." Check out the video below for a peek, and make sure to download the Visa 360 Cam app and try it yourself. :) Thank you so much to our awesome Instructional Technology Facilitator, Kimberly Eggett, for leading this Digital Learning Day lesson! 

Through The Eyes of Olympic Athletes from Ms. Wertheim on Vimeo.

Hour of Code

Today our wonderful Instructional Technology Facilitator, Mrs. Eggett, led an amazing lesson about coding! 90% of schools do not teach Computer Science, although it is an essential skill for this Digital Native generation. Claxton has 250 students participating in the Hour of Code this week.

Students learned about how computer programming works and even had the chance to code on their own, via an incredible website: Lightbot! (Kids are welcome to play this game at home!)

This Hour of Code initiative aims to educate students about computer science and spark their interest in potential computer science careers. They loved it! Learn more about Hour of Code at http://csedweek.org :)

If your child just can't get enough of coding, here are a couple fun and educational sites to practice coding: Tynker and Code.org :)

Around the World and Back By Lunchtime

I don't know about you, but I think it's pretty awesome that this morning my 2nd graders and I managed to fly to the other side of the world, tour another country, and make it back in time for lunch ;) Of course, none of this was possible without a little a lot of help from Google Earth!

My classroom theme this year is Ms. Wertheim's World Travelers! Part of my classroom management plan is our Superstars Suitcase. When I see the class working hard or going above and beyond, our Travel Agent for the week gets to choose an item to pack in our suitcase. When the suitcase is full, the students get to pick anywhere in the world to take a field trip via Google Earth.

Since we are sponsoring a student at Kopila Valley School in Nepal, the kiddos voted to take a trip to Nepal. It was a blast! First, we made sure we had our passports all ready to go, complete with a passport photo, of course ;) Next, students had to "buy" their plane tickets and received their Boarding Pass and Trip Itinerary. Then we boarded the plane and got ready to take off from the Asheville Airport runway. As you can see, they were super excited! This photo means the world to me. This is what teaching is all about--making lessons so magical and watching these kiddos' imaginations soar. This is the look of pure joy when we were about to take off on the runway. So much for reminding them to stay in their seats with their seat belts fastened ;)

I wanted to make our trip feel as realistic as possible. I used street view in Google Earth to make it look like we were really on the runway, and when we took off I played a YouTube video of a plane ride so the kids could see what it really looks like from the window of a plane. Hanging out in the clouds is something everyone deserves to experience :) They pretended to sleep for the remainder of our 16 hour flight across the world.

When we arrived at the Tribhuvan International Airport in Kathmandu, Nepal, we talked about the time difference and jet lag. Most of them wrote in their journals how "tired" they felt from the long flight. They immediately noticed the difference in the terrain and the buildings in Nepal. This lead to great discussion about architecture, natural resources, and economics. 

After touring Kathmandu, it was time for us to take a long, bumpy, windy bus ride to Surkhet to visit Jarana and the other students at Kopila Valley School. We got to see pictures of the school, talk about similarities and differences, and even had the chance to "meet" a few students from Kopila.

What trip to Nepal is complete without a visit to Mt. Everest!? The kids couldn't wait to "hike" to the top. They especially loved looking at all the Google Earth pictures posted at the peak. And, in true imaginative fashion, I let them "sled" down Mt. Everest, which I must admit is pretty fun in Google Earth ;)



Throughout our trip, the kids wrote about their experience in their passports, which double as a journal. They even learned how to say a few words in Nepali, including my favorite--Namaste.

I know it's unrealistic for us to go on field trips all the time, but with Google Earth in the classroom the possibilities are truly endless. I can't wait to see where we go next! ;)

Thank you for stopping by, and Happy Thanksgiving!

Good Times with Google Earth

In Social Studies we have been learning about maps and globes. No map lesson is complete without Google Earth! I'm a HUGE fan of Google Earth (let's be honest...it's so much fun!) My kiddos will have the chance to explore Google Earth a whole lot this year. We began this unit by reading Me on the Map by Joan Sweeney. This interactive book puts maps into perspective for kids, by zooming in on a map of the girl's bedroom and zooming out all the way to a map of the planet, talking about a variety of maps in between. We were lucky enough to participate in an AWESOME Google Earth intro lesson led by Claxton's Instructional Technology Teacher, Mrs. Eggett and our Media Center Specialist, Mrs. Allbach. Not only were the kiddos excited to see Google Earth in action, but they were particularly excited to use iPads! Students worked together to find North America, then zoomed in on North Carolina, Asheville, and finally, Claxton. They really loved the "street view" which shows exactly what our school looks like from the road. Have you used Google Earth street view yet? If not, check it out. It's so neat! Here are some pics from our fun day:

Thank you so much for stopping by! Be sure to check back soon.