Dec. Update & Merry Christmas!

I haven't been doing so well w/ updating the blog lately.... but I promise to get back in the swing of things in the new year! I am hoping to include some digital pictures (class projects, student work, etc.) in future posts.

My third graders took a recent trip to the Pompeii exhibit at the B'ham Art Museum, which was absolutely fabulous! My fourth graders are continuing their study of the Middle Ages and have just begun their third rotation: "Those Who Work," taught by Mrs. Belew. For Mini-Course, they are also w/ Mrs. Belew for Problem Solving for the next few weeks. After Christmas Break, we will finish up with our final rotation, "Those Who Fight," then announce rank and begin preparing for the Medieval Feast. We have a special field trip in the works for our 4th graders which will hopefully occur in May.... more details to come later!

I would like to wish all of my students and their families a wonderful, blessed Christmas!!

4th Grade

My fourth graders have just finished our study of "Those Who Pray" and have each selected an individual project to complete: Cathedral design, Illuminated name in calligraphy, or Journal entry from the perspective of a medieval monk or nun. They are doing an awesome job on the rough drafts of their projects and will continue to work towards completing them during homeroom each morning. Beginning last week, students have begun their rotation to Mrs. Wallace to learn all about "Those Who Entertain." In this course, they are learning about the music and entertainers of the Middle Ages, composing ballads, and even learning a medieval dance! For Mini-Course, they are also with Mrs. Wallace for Science, held in our well-equipped Science Lab, and they are getting to partake in many interesting experiments, as well as create some gross, goopy concoctions! They are loving every minute of it!

Greek Mythology Projects

This week, we concluded our Ancient Greece Values and Beliefs Unit by presenting our Pandora's Boxes and selecting/beginning individualized projects based on Greek mythology. Students chose between four projects: myth script/skit, mythology newspaper, mythology family tree, or fashion designer for the gods/goddesses. Students had great fun working on these projects this week, and we hope to finish next week! Next week, we will also begin our Daily Life in Ancient Greece Unit.

In my Art Exploratory, students learned about Leonardo da Vinci this week and are in the process of creating their own modern Mona Lisas. A group of students performing in Disney World (and luckily, their teachers!) are leaving for Orlando early Thursday morning. Best of luck to all of my "Disney stars"!!!

A Must-Read for Gifted Parents

I just read (skimmed) an excellent article tonight! It is called "A Nation Deceived: How Schools Hold Back our Nation's Brightest Students." Go to www.nationdeceived.org or google "A Nation Deceived" to download the pdf file. It was written in 2004 by three well-known researchers in the field of gifted education and addresses many current topics affecting gifted students in America today. It is long (83 pgs. total) but well worth your time - very easy to skim for the main points. If you read it, I would love to hear your opinion on some of the topics it addresses.

Mythology Ball

Third graders had a blast this week at TARGET as they participated in our 2nd Annual Mythology Ball! We began the event with a costume parade, during which each student introduced themselves on the stage, telling who they were dressed as and details about their costume. At the end of the costume parade, each teacher presented "Most Creative" and "Best Overall" awards to some students; all students received Participation Awards. Next, the students rotated to each teacher to partcipate in mythology activities, including creating their own mythological creatures, decorating (and eating!) a cupcake to look like their creatures, figuring out the morals myths teach us and creating a spider to show what they learned, and watching a video about mythical monsters. We had so much fun celebrating what we have learned about Greek mythology!!!

4th Grade

Hear ye, Hear ye! We have begun our Middle Ages rotations, and I have been teaching "Those Who Pray," the great impact of the Roman Catholic Church on the lives of people in the Middle Ages, to my homeroom class. During this four-week rotation, students learn about the role of the church in the lives of the people who lived at that time, cathedrals, and calligraphy. They will select a project to complete, and their score will help to earn them a rank for the Medieval Feast. They will also rotate to three other courses - Those Who Work, Those Who Entertain, and Those Who Fight.

In our Art Mini-Course, we had so much fun learning about Edgar Degas and creating sculptures that showed movement, just like him. This week, students will rotate to their second Mini-Course - Science - taught by Mrs. Wallace.

3rd Grade

Two weeks ago, my third graders began our Ancient Greece Values and Beliefs Unit. We have really been enjoying learning about Greek mythology, including the Greek gods and goddesses, Greek myths, and mythological creatures. We are in the process of writing our own myths, which we will eventually "publish" into a class book, as well as an e-book (online book), which will be posted on our website. Next week, we will read the myth of Pandora and create modern Pandora's boxes. We are eagerly anticipating our Mythological Ball, which will feature a costume parade, monster goodies, and some fun, creative activities! It will take place October 29-31, on your child's TARGET day.

Update

Sorry I have fallen behind with my updates - Life has been so busy!! Two weeks ago in fourth grade, we learned about William the Conquerer and other famous leaders through time by visiting four centers where we completed the following activities: acted out the Battle of Hastings, read about William, and made a Norman hat; discussed and answered some "deep" questions about what a leader is and who are some effective leaders, ancient and modern; completed a WebQuest (online scavenger hunt) related to William and the Bayeux Tapestries (Check it out at www.bayeuxtapestry.org.uk); and read biographies about famous leaders through time. This week, fourth graders were introduced to feudalism through a PowerPoint presentation and began working on a picture dictionary of many unusual new words they learned related to the Middle Ages. In art, they learned about Henri Matisse for the past two weeks, and they enjoyed making collages with colorful cut paper, in the style of Matisse, while listening to jazz music.

In third grade, two weeks ago, we learned about timelines by first making a timeline of familiar events in our own lives, then applying what we learned to make a timeline of important events in ancient Greece. Last week, we completed our Geography and History Unit by studying famous people in ancient Greece, including Alexander the Great, one of the greatest military leaders of all time, and Socrates, one of the most famous philosophers of all time. We had lots of fun discussing many deep philosophical ideas! Ask your child what he/she thinks about.... What makes people happy? In my Art Exploratory, students learned about color theory, as we mixed watercolors to make our own color charts. Then, we learned all about Claude Monet, the father of Impressionism, as they painted landscapes "en plein air" (outside), just like Monet! Their finished products are breathtaking! :)

4th Grade Update

"Bar-bar-bar!" Last week, fourth graders became barbarian tribes as they worked in groups to create and present presentations on the major barbarian tribes that invaded Rome and led to the downfall of the Roman Empire and transition into the Middle Ages. Students enjoyed working together to research their assigned tribe, and many found interesting websites from which they gathered information. (I will post them soon!) Many groups got very creative as they made up interesting skits and added colorful touches to their visual aids.

This week, we left the barbarians behind as we moved into... and quickly out of.... the Dark Ages - with the help of a wonderful leader named Charlemagne. He is credited with spreading Christianity across Europe, placing emphasis on education and the arts, and giving us a user-friendly system for reading and writing. Did you know that before Charlemagne, only capital letters were used, and there were no spaces between the words? Next week, students will learn about another famous leader of the Middle Ages - William the Conqueror - and they will travel to various centers to participate in hands-on activities related to famous leaders of the Middle Ages and today.

In art, students learned about Impressionism and began creating their own watercolor landscape paintings in the Impressionist style. During the Art Mini-Course, we will experiment with other various styles and media, including sculpture, digital photography, and abstract art.

3rd Grade - Daycation to Greece

TARGET third graders had an exciting week as they traveled across the Atlantic Ocean, all the way to Greece - and back - all in a day at TARGET! We first labeled maps of the ancient and modern world - Did you know that historians believe the Garden of Eden was located in ancient Sumer (modern Middle East), near the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers? Then, students viewed and heard about real items from Greece in an interest center. Mrs. Frangoulis, a fourth and fifth grade TARGET teacher, has traveled to Greece many times (Her husband's family is from there), and now owns a house in Greece! She graciously let us borrow many items that she has collected on her travels there. Next, students boarded the TARGET plane (in our imaginations), and enjoyed a flight to Greece, during which they enjoyed a Greek snack (hummus, flatbread, and grape juice) and viewed an informative in-flight movie on ancient Greece. The flight returned just in time for them to hop on the bus and head back to regular school. Next week, we will be learning about mapmaking, both ancient and modern, and students will explore some cool, new technology - GPS and Google Earth.

4th grade rocks!

I had such an awesome time with my fourth graders yesterday and today!! I have taught most of these kids for two years (and a few for three), and I feel that it is definitely a bonus, because I already know their individual personalities/strengths and weaknesses/interests/etc., and they know what to expect from me in return. It has been fun watching them as they meet new friends from other schools and get to know one another. I have such a great mix of kids in both my Thursday and Friday classes, and I can already tell it is going to be a fabulous year!

Our year-long humanities theme for fourth grade is the Middle Ages. Today, we learned about a major event preceding the beginning of this era of history - the fall of Rome. Students first worked in groups to brainstorm the "gifts" of ancient Greece and Rome; then, we learned about some internal reasons leading to the decline of the Roman Empire. Next week - Beware! Students will "become" barbarian tribes as they learn firsthand how Barbarian tribes invaded Rome and led to its fall. In the following weeks, we will learn about the feudal system, and students will rotate to different teachers to participate in four units related to aspects of life in the Middle Ages: Those Who Work, Those Who Pray, Those Who Fight, and Those Who Entertain. They will complete individual projects for each rotation, and the points they earn for these projects will determine their rank at our culminating fourth grade event, the Medieval Feast!

In addition, each afternoon at TARGET, students will get to participate in three different Mini-Courses for six weeks each: Art (Mrs. Coleman), Science/Chemistry (Mrs. Wallace), and Problem Solving (Mrs. Belew).

First Week of School - 3rd Grade

This has been the best first week of school at TARGET that we have ever had! We have a fantastic group of third grade students who attend on Mondays, Tuesdays, and Wednesdays, and I also teach fourth grade students on Thursdays and Fridays. This week, my students made new friends and got to know their old friends a little better as they had to introduce a partner. Then, after reviewing class rules and school-wide procedures, they were given the opportunity to vote on which exploratory course they would like to attend this fall. Choices include: Disney/Performance (Mrs. Williams & Mrs. Duran), Art (Mrs. Coleman), Japan (Mrs. Dunham), and Monumental Math (Mrs. White). Students will have so much fun exploring their interests each morning at TARGET in these interesting classes!

After that, they learned all about the gifts of ancient Greece and were given a special homework challenge - Check their STAR binders for more info! We also viewed an interactive PowerPoint presentation about Humanities, during which students learned some cool new words (Ask them what "humanities," "civilization," "B.C.," and "A.D." mean!) relating to our year-long study of Ancient Greece and Rome. Next week, send students with their suitcases and passports... We are taking a "daycation" to Greece!!!

Our Class Website

I am very excited about having a class website for the first time ever! This summer, I attended the National Educational Technology Conference in Atlanta, Georgia, along with another teacher from Sprayberry, and we learned many new, exciting ways to integrate technology in the classroom. One workshop I attended was about free software options for K-12 classrooms, and one of many strategies I learned about was how to use blogs and wikis (both free options for creating webpages for schools, organizations, businesses, personal use, etc.) for educational purposes. The main point of a blog is to chronicle the events of a day, week, etc., similar to a journal. In an educational setting, blogs can be very effective to communicate to parents what activities students participated in that day/week at school. In addition, parents can use the "Comments" feature to comment to my posts and/or communicate with each other, if they wish. My goal for this website is to involve you more in your child's education at TARGET. Happy reading! :)