Week 2- Visitors, CPR, & Saving Fred

I can't believe it is only week 2 at we already have so many things going on at school this week. 

We started the week with a visit from Trevor Lacey and Levi Randolph. They came to talk to the 5th grade students about leadership and goal setting. They did a wonderful job and it was great to have them come share with our students.

You'll probably laugh but I had to have my picture made with them. When at school, all the kids comment about how tall I am. I love to wear heals but this was a flip flop day. However, I wanted a picture to show them I'm not really super tall in the real world, only in the elementary school. 

I've already pulled out some of my favorite science toys. One day this week the students noticed that I have a blow torch on top of my science cabinet and they were shocked (it is up there with the deer skull). So I had to pull out the energy transfer balls I ordered a few years back and burn a hole in everyone's math homework. Below is a picture of the hole. 

When you see the hole you think it was just torn but you can smell the paper burning in person. My students just couldn't figure out how I did that. You just hit the balls together with the paper in between and it burns a hole. 

The end the week we had a parent come talk to the students about CPR.

Everyone had a chance to practice on the dummy. After 30 seconds they were exhausted. 

We wrapped up Friday with a little team building for science. The students learned about Fred (the gummy worm). He loves to go out on his boat but always forgets to put on his life jacket. Fred can't swim and his boat tipped over. 

They had to work together to figure out how to get Fred's life jacket on without touching him with their hands. I gave each group 4 paper clips. 

They really got into this and many were successful!

I also had them take picture of the steps they were using as they worked and then I challenged them to use the Animoto app and create a video about saving Fred. This is the first time I've used the app and I told my kids to play around with it and see what they could do. I had to share this video with you! These girls did an amazing job with their video. 

Now we just need to play around with it and see if we can add voice with the video so next time they can explain what they did.

STUDENTS: What was your favorite part of the week this week? Answer this question to earn a ticket for the good job jar.

Week 2: Saving Fred

I have been doing morning meeting and closing circles with my students this year. I teach two different classes. I love doing this to build a sense of community. I found this post about organizing the materials needed for morning meeting so I decided to make my own. I used my Cricut to cut the letters for the front of the bucket.



Inside I have a sharing sign up sheet, my resource books, index cards, duct tape, and a few of my noise makers.



I have also been using the iPad app called Music Cues for morning meeting and closing circles. When students hear the song Walking on Sunshine (Morning Meeting) or Final Countdown (Closing Circles) they know it is time to begin greeting their classmates. When the music stops and the chime rings they form a circle for sharing and a group activity.

Both of my science classes saved Fred this week! Check out all the supplies my parents sent in! They rock!



Here is the story about Fred: Fred (gummy worm) loves to go out on his boat (cup). He is out on the water (desk) every day. But Fred can't swim so he must wear his life jacket (gummy Life Saver) every time he goes out. One day Fred went out on the boat on his own and forgot his life jacket. His boat flipped over and the life jacked was stuck under the boat. If Fred touches the water he will die because he can't swim. The students must find a way to get the life jacket out from under the boat and around Fred so he can swim to safety. Here is the catch... students can't use their hands to touch anything. Each student gets 2 paperclips.



It was great to see the students working together to problem solve. If Fred hit the desk they had to set everything back and start over.













This week our daily data question was about their favorite subject: science or math (the 2 subjects I teach them). Students used push pins to cast their vote. At the end of the week we recorded this venn diagram in our notebook and made a bar graph to display the results. Students then made 2 inferences about the graph we created and answered the question "Who cares?" One student said people who created apps might care because they would sell more science apps than math apps.



STUDENTS: What do you like the most about morning meeting or closing circles?