Roller Coasters in the Media Center!

How do you keep 6th graders engaged, collaborative, and problem solving?  Try a Kinex Roller Coaster kit!  What started out as hundreds of pieces and little sense of direction, has turned into a 3 foot tall working roller coaster built by a group of 6th graders during WOW.  Sue Kraus brought the Kinex in and the group of students got to work.  What do you do if you are missing a piece?  Problem solve and discuss where you can exchange another to make it work.  What happens when the car doesn't make it all the way around?  Look at the design as engineers and together come up with a plan to make it work!  Great extension activity in the Media Center at Oak Ridge!

 

You should try Mystery Skype!

Microsoft Education and Skype in the classroom provide some pretty amazing opportunities for you and your students! I was able to try out the Mystery Skype and it was a huge success!

Mrs. Glew and I worked together to set it up.  I coordinated with the Skype and she prepared her students by practicing using the atlas and how to ask yes or no questions to narrow down locations across the world. 

 

I was able to connect us with a park ranger in Yellowstone National Park! 

 

Once they guessed the correct location, he did an awesome short presentation on the geysers, the animals, etc.  I even learned some new things!  The kids were completely engaged!

 

He showed us antlers and horns too!  Then the students were able to ask him questions like "What would happen if the Super Volcano erupted?" "Is it dangerous for people to visit there"? I loved all the thinking and learning that happened and can't wait to do it again!

Are we in NYC?

Upon entering Oak Ridge Middle School, you may think that you have entered a subway station in New York City instead of a middle school building.  Mrs. Hale-Keuseman and Mr. Hynek have been working with a group of Oak Ridge students druing FLEX to create the foyer into art based on NYC street artist Keith Haring.  What a way to enter the building with so much color and creativity!

 
 

GoFormative in the Classroom!

Last week in Janelle Hurkett's room, I observed her student's using GoFormative for an assessment.  Each student was working their way through the assessment at their own pace. After completion, Mrs. Hurkett could decide to use the formative results instantly with the class, or look at it later. GoFormative scores multiple choice and short answer for you so can be a great time saver. Wanna check out GoFormative, come see it in action with Mrs. Hurkett, Mrs. Henricksen, or Mr. Koenen at Excelsior.

Oakridge Library

I had the opportunity to go meet Sue Kraus and visit the Oak Ridge library.  I loved to see that they are doing many of the same things we do here at Excelsior!  Thanks Sue for letting me come visit!

Mrs. Glew using Yournextread.com!

Mrs. Glew brought in her iExcel class to try out the website yournextread.com. It was fun to see kids try the mapping page and jot down titles they may be interested in.  Several found books we didn't have and filled out a recommendation form!

The Dash & Dot

Come to the library and check out the new Dash and Dot robot we checked out from GWAEA this month!