Happy Holidays and Happy New Year!

This past week has reminded many of us how infectious the holiday spirit can be.  While some fret the "holiday week," for various reasons, we embrace the opportunity to provide meaningful learning to our students.  Yes our room was giddy with excitement for the upcoming days, but that giddiness is why so many educators (including myself) went into teaching in the first place.  This week was all about completing tasks, teamwork, and having fun.  I think we accomplished all of that and more.

Our first blizzard of this winter also blanketed our area with nearly a foot of snow, which only added to the holiday buzz around our school today as students sang at the Winter Sing Along, which was supposed to be yesterday.

If listening to children sing holiday songs, with hopes and dreams attached to each, does not get you excited for the holidays, I am not sure what will.  Great job this afternoon!

 

Enjoy the time off with your families, as both Mrs. Olson and I (Mr. Hendricks) also intend to do. See you in 2013!

**The above digital card was made with Wordle.net and PowerPoint.**

Why we like True Flix...

Below is a group of students explaining why they enjoy using True Flix in our classroom:

Snowstorm Brianna is brewing up.  As we prepare for our first large winter storm and/or blizzard, we would like to wish everyone a Happy and Safe Holiday and New Year!

~Mr. Hendricks and Mrs. Olson

Chesapeake Bay Ecosystem Debate

Today our fifth graders took part in a class debate, which we have spent weeks preparing for.  The debate was on the topic of solutions to cleaning up the Chesapeake Bay Watershed Area.  Leading up to the debate our students studied the effects of various groups of people on the watershed: waterman, recreational boaters, dairy farmers, land developers, and ordinary citizens.  Each group had to determine one major way they contribute to the pollution problem of the bay, along with three solutions, the pros and cons of the solutions, and lastly trade-offs they would make with other groups in order to clean up the bay.

Yesterday groups presented their findings.  While listening, the viewing groups had to take careful notes on what they heard.  Many students took note of items they wanted to further discuss/debate.  This morning, when our students arrived, we transformed our room into a "community hall."  As you can see in the picture, groups had designated areas, where they could easily see and listen to each other.

The debate went so well that an hour and a half into it, students were floored that they had debated so long, and upset to take a snack and bathroom break.  When returning, they began firing away at each other, once again.  We ended up debating this morning, staying on topic, from 7:45 to 10:45 (with a 15 minute break).  Talk about stamina!  These kids love a good debate!

Following the debate, students "voted" on the trade-offs we chose.  We used a Google Form, which works much the same as a Survey Monkey.  We are in the process of counting up all of the votes, but at first glance, it appears as though all of our trade-offs passed unanimously.

Great day in the classroom.  Excellent "hands-on" learning experience for all!  

...AND THE RESULTS ARE IN:

(Screencast created with Screenr: www.screenr.com)

We used a Google Form to gather "votes" after our debate.  Below is the form we used: