Join us in "DeFEETing" Cancer One Step at a Time!

All TARGET parents and students are invited to join my third grade students in "deFEETing" cancer one step at a time at Relay for Life on May 1st. This worthwhile annual community-wide event raises money for the American Cancer Society. Three students in my "Kids Making a Difference" exploratory class have taken on the problem of cancer as a project topic this spring, and they are the force behind our school's participation in the event this year. How YOU can help us make a difference:

• Join us at the event on May 1, 6:00 p.m. at Northridge High School's track! Walk laps with your family, eat hot dogs, participate in games, see Big Al and other local mascots, cheer on cancer survivors, and remember those who have lost to the disease at this fun, family oriented event!
• Purchase a "shoe" (paper cutout) in honor or memory of someone for $1, to contribute to the DeFEETing Cancer display in our school lobby. Send names and payment to TARGET with your child from now until the end of school. Please indicate in honor or memory.
  
• Make a donation to help our team meet our goal of raising $1,000. Please make checks payable to the American Cancer Society.

Thank you for joining us in the fight against cancer!

Paint a Greek pot!

Click on the link below, and follow directions to create your own pot in the style of the Greeks! Have fun, and be creative! Ask Mrs. Coleman for help with printing when you are done.

http://www.schoolsliaison.org.uk/kids/greecepot.htm

Modern Pandora's Box - 3rd Grade

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

I hope everyone had a wonderful, blessed Christmas!! I am very thankful for the true meaning of Christmas, God's gift of His only Son, Jesus. I am also extremely thankful for my precious, talented students, and for you, their parents, for your support and for allowing me to play a part in their lives.

I would like to wish all of my students and their families a Happy New Year! As 2009 approaches, I am beginning to make plans for the upcoming year in our classroom. I have lots of creative, exciting (and yes, also educational) ideas to try out at TARGET this spring with my third and fourth graders!

I will be sending home a survey about the usefulness of our class blog with all students the first and second weeks back in school. Parents, I greatly value your input in making your child's experience at TARGET as valuable as possible! Please feel free to contact me in any of the following ways - commenting on this blog, email, by phone, or in person.

Kids Making a Difference At Home and Around the World

Before Christmas, during our "Countries Fair," 3rd grade students learned about several ways they can make a difference at home and around the world. As promised (although a couple of weeks late), here are links to some of the websites I mentioned in class and on the flier students took home:

www.compassion.org - Sponsor a needy child in a foreign country for just $32 a month through this reputable Christian organization.

www.hannahssocks.org/ - An 8-year old girl started this organization (with help from her parents) to provide homeless people with warm socks.

www.pointhope.org - Radio host Delilah's nonprofit organization created to help starving children and adults in Buduburam, a community of Liberian refugees. Services include providing clean water, food, and education.

www.soles4souls.org/ - Donate used shoes to help kids around the world.

www.motherbearproject.org/ - Knit a bear for a child born with the HIV virus.

www.letssaythanks.com/ - Sponsored by Xerox, this site allows people to write and send a free card to a soldier.

If you know of additional ways my students might enjoy helping others, please post a comment! Thank you! :)

Family Volunteer Day

One of the classes I'm teaching this year at TARGET is called "Kids Making a Difference." Third graders have chosen a problem and are working on creating a project to solve their problem, and helping others in the process. Monday students are starting a recycling project and helping the Downtown Northport Historical Society with some projects, and Wednesday students are planning a health fair and Healthy Holiday Treats cookbook, to encourage people to live healthier lives. My fourth graders also have some neat ideas for helping others during the holiday season. I love watching my students' desire and enthusiasm for helping others! It is such an authentic, fun, meaningful way to learn.

In our society today, I think it is more important than ever before that we instill a sense of compassion and desire for service in our children. I would love to invite you and your children to participate in the nationwide Family Volunteer Day on Saturday, November 22! This is an annual event sponsored by Disney on the Saturday before Thanksgiving. You could take some food to the West AL Food Bank or another food pantry, choose a needy child to sponsor for Christmas from the Salvation Army's "angel tree," fill a shoebox with small gifts for a needy child in another country (Operation Christmas Child ministry - collection dates Nov. 17-24 at Northport Baptist Church), rake an elderly neighbor's leaves, or do another activity to help someone. Click here for more info: http://disney.go.com/disneyhand/familyvolunteers/
I would love to hear what your family does! Please post your comments on our class blog! (If you have tried to comment before but have been unsuccessful, please try again. I have edited the settings to allow comments; however, I must first approve them before they are posted, as an added safety feature.)

TARGET 4th Grade Photography Website

Visit our TARGET 4th grade photography blog to see some of the digital close-up photos we took during our first lesson on digital photography:

http://targetphotography.blogspot.com/

4th Grade Websites - Knights/Castles and Digital Photography

Visit this website to learn more about knights and castles in the Middle Ages:
http://webtech.kennesaw.edu/jcheek3/castles.htm
Click on any of the links to visit different pages with interesting information. Remember, you can always use the BACK arrow to go to the last page you visited. Write down any important or interesting facts you find. Be sure to also write down the address of the webpage (www...).

Visit this website to view artistic photos taken by a local professional photographer, Tommy Coleman:
www.tommycoleman.com

Check out some great historical photos at the American Museum of Photography's website:
http://www.photographymuseum.com/index.html

Try to figure out what these close-up photos actually are!
http://www.theimage.com/closeup/closeup.html

Visit these website to learn more about digital photography for kids:
http://www.adobe.com/education/digkids/lessons/

Enter this digital photography contest for kids! Deadline: October 17
http://www.techlearning.com/portraits/index.php

4th Graders Use the Laptop Lab

My 4th graders enjoyed using the laptop computer lab for the first time! They explored a very interesting art website, where they learned about color theory, explored the art of crime detection, and even created short videos! Check it out: http://www.alifetimeofcolor.com/ (Go to "Play") Students in 3rd and 4th grades will get an opportunity to use the laptop lab for an hour once every five weeks during morning work. We will also use it during other times of the day to create projects and explore educational websites and webquests. Learning with technology is so much fun!!!

Kids Making a Difference at TARGET

TARGET students are really making a difference in the world around them this year! Some third grade students have chosen to attend my exploratory class, "Kids Making a Difference," in which they have identified many problems in the world around them and are focusing on a few to creatively help solve through creation of projects this fall. My Monday exploratory students have chosen pollution as their "big" problem that they are working on together to do a whole class project, and Wednesday students have chosen the health of kids in Alabama as the focus of their big class project. Small groups are tackling projects on the following topics: kids with special needs, hungry/homeless people, veterans (recognition), publicity for the TARGET program, and history of downtown Northport (with some help from the historical society), writing books, and more! Stay tuned to find out how kids are working to make a difference by checking our website for updates each week!