Tuesday, June 17, 2014

Miss Darby's Third Grade Travelers

We spent the last two weeks in third grade enrichment sharing information we learned about a country of our choice. Students chose the method by which they would share their learning.

Here are some of the country projects from Miss Darby's class! Enjoy!

England:


Mexico



Kuwait

England

Russia


Netherlands

Mrs. Ankerson's Third Grade Travelers

We spent the last two weeks in third grade enrichment sharing information we learned about a country of our choice. Students chose the method by which they would share their learning.

Here are some of the third grade country projects by Mrs. Ankerson's class!
Phillipines


Poland



Australia



Peru


France

Chile
 Australia
 Canada


Creating Plants in First Grade Enrichment

First grade students in enrichment spent the last two weeks of school creating their very own original plants!  As we ended the year, students were excited to design and create 3D plants.  Plants had to meet a checklist of 'plant features' including but not limited to thinking about:  seed, roots, stem, leaves, flowers, fruit, sources of nutrients, and methods for collecting sun, water and nutrients!  It was a great end to our year as each student shared with the class one creative feature of their plant. I love watching students think creatively--their imaginations ran wild as their designs ranged from carnivorous to candy eating to magical plants and everything in between!

Enjoy this slideshow that provides a peek at some of their designs!

Sunday, June 15, 2014

Enrichment Challenge SuperStars!

All students from RES were invited to take part in an enrichment challenge from January to June of this year. Challenges ranged from physical activities to designing magazines to participation in the RES Science Fair and LOTS more!!!  Today I was excited to visit with each challenger who submitted their scorecard and present them with a certificate and some fun awards!  A new award this year was some purple Cougar Cub Slime for each participant!

School is just one aspect of our learning, and I feel so lucky to get a peek into the amazing learning these students did this year outside of RES!

Congratulations to the Enrichment Challenge SuperStars!



Didn't get a chance to work on your Enrichment Challenge during the school year? Pull it out this summer....it is chocked full of ideas you can use all summer long! Looking for additional summer enrichment ideas?  Here are two programs that are a lot of fun and have an online presence!

Camp Wonderopolis:
http://wonderopolis.org/camp-early-registration/

Vermont State Parks Venture Vermont Outdoor Challenge:
http://www.vtstateparks.com/VENTUREVERMONT/

Wednesday, June 11, 2014

Planning a Trip in Grade 3

During enrichment, third graders were busy the last few weeks planning a trip.  Each student selected a country they were interested in and then spent several classes learning about that country.  Students used online resources, as well as books and atlases to collect information.  Students were able to select both the country they wanted to learn more about as well as the method by which they would share their learning.  Methods for sharing included: postcards, travel brochures, posters, Tellagami and iMovie. 

Here is a technology example from Mrs. Ayer's class of travelers!

Armenia



Here are some postcards, and brochures:






The Life Cycle of a Plant Claymation Videos-Part 3

 Claymation videos from Mrs. Cross' class! Please leave a comment!

The Watermelon

 The Tomato Seed
The Sunflower

The Life Cycle of a Plant

The Plant Life Cycle-Claymation Videos Part 2

Here are the videos by Ms. Purvee's class! Please leave a comment!

The Sunflower



The Pumpkin Plant

The Morning Glory
The Tale of a Watermelon Plant

The Plant Life Cycle- Claymation Videos Part 1



These claymation stop motion videos were prepared by first grade students in Mrs. Hackett's class to share their understanding of the life cycle of plants.  As a collaborative group, students designed and created backgrounds and then decided what type of plant to grow.  Next students used iPads to photograph the step by step life cycle of their plant using clay.  Once each step was photographed, students   imported the pictures into iMovie and created a short film.  Next they added their voices to describe the plant life cycle and added a title and credits.

Students were able to complete these tasks with very little adult support and I think the results are very impressive for a group of first graders just learning to use these new technology tools!  Please leave a comment to tell us what you think!
A Bean Plant

The Sunflower

The Mint Plant
The Watermelon Plant

Wednesday, June 4, 2014

Enrichment Challenge Scorecards--Due By Weds 6/11/14

In January every K - 4 student received an enrichment challenge booklet.  The packet is a series of activities that students are challenged to try over the course of the school year.  Challenges range from participating in a community event, to building a lego creation and everything in between.  Students can choose which activities to try, and can work with family and friends to learn!  Some of these activities will match things they are doing at school, while others will extend their skills in different areas.

I created the enrichment challenge my first year at RES in response to requests that I received about how families could extend, enhance and enrich their children's learning outside of school.  The challenge has grown to include a large variety of activities that were requested by students as well as community members!  

I hope many of you  enjoyed taking the Enrichment Challenge! 

Please return your scorecards to school by Wednesday June 11th, 2014 in order to be eligible for prizes and receive your certificate!