St. Elmo's Third Graders have done it!

Kade and Xavier, two of St. Elmo's brightest have created their very own book trailer!

Initially, we viewed a book trailer about the book, The Mitten. Then, I talked to them about our purpose for reading and said, "We are going to make our own book trailer for The Christmas Wreath." I asked them to watch the The Mitten book trailer again, and tell me what makes the audience want to read the story.

Xavier said:
1.) It has a problem.
2.) It is a glimpse of the story.
3.) It makes you wonder.
4.) It has a picture on the cover.

Kade said:
1.) It has good music.
2.) The words stay up there long enough for you to read it.
3.) It is made of still pictures.
4.) It gives credit to the author.

Finally, we prepared for the making of our own book trailer by reading, The Christmas Wreath, but before we started, I asked them to think about these three things as we read:

1.) summary of the story
2.) think of something that might make others want to read it
3.) think of a question to ask your audience

Kade took notes mostly composed of predictions in the form of questions as we read the story, and Xavier did a lot of summarizing (Xavier also answered many of Kade's questions).

As we read the story and looked over their notes, one of the boys established that it was a mystery story. So, "It's a mystery," became the theme of our book trailer. Once we established our theme, we had to decide which direction to go. Xavier suggested our hook should be, "Who made the wreath?" and Kade eventually revised his idea to read, "Can you solve the mystery?" Once they came up with their hook about who, we decided make a web of the characters to help us organize our descriptions of each character. Their list was composed of the elves, the chief elf, the polar bear, and Santa. After we spent a few minutes attaching adjectives to each of the characters, we looked over our descriptions and replaced our initial adjectives with WOW words.

Finally, we wrote our outline for the plot. Each number represented a slide in the trailer starting with number one, "It's a mystery involving...". We followed suit with slides describing each character and wrapped it up with, "Can you help Santa discover the mystery behind the Christmas wreath miracle?"

Front beginning to finish, this process took about 105 minutes. After we read the story aloud together, I transcribed what they dictated, and they were responsible for everything else in the process including drag and drop, cropping, text insertion, taking the pictures of the pages with the iPad, and choosing the music. I posted it to the web, haven't stopped hearing about doing another one since. Student book trailer number one: SUCCESS!

The Mitten Book Trailer

Be sure to check back for a book trailer previewing Welcome Comfort made by one of our very own Explorers! Also, don't forget Reading Night is December 7, 2011! I hear it's going to be a Winter Wonderland worth remembering!

On Our Way to Defying Indifference

"The opposite of love is not hate, it's indifference. The opposite of art is not ugliness, it's indifference." --Elie Weisel

Last week, we learned how art affects writing. Well, this week we are going to use art and writing to represent our math findings! Each of you have a survey about your experiences with bullying. Do not write your name on this survey. It is anonymous. I would like you to take the next 5-10 minutes to complete the survey. Do not forget to list many, varied, and unusual actions you think parents, teachers, and other adults could perform to stop bullying on the back of your survey. Once we tally the responses for each question, I would like you to decide which type of graph would best display our data. Once we have graphed our data, we will determine the fractions and percentages for each answer. Wear your thinking cap!

Before we jump into our art activity, I want you to think of the experiences that you reflected upon when you answered the questions to your survey. If you were bullied, is there something you wish someone could have done to prevent that experience from happening? If you witnessed bullying, is there something you or someone else could have done to stop it? If you were apart of bullying, is there something you wish you would have done differently so that you wouldn't have felt the need to bully? Our goal with this short answer writing assignment is to first list many, varied and unusual ways that we could be proactive about stifling maliciousness and spreading kindness throughout our communities. Then, each of you will choose one strategy that you can expand upon, and complete this sentence with your wish (strategy), "All I want for the holidays is..." We will paste your sentences to an ornament and display them so that others can be inspired by your great ideas!


In honor of Welcome Comfort, I would like you to imagine a Christmas scene that features a Christmas tree. Determine what belongs in the foreground, middleground, and background. Using the torn paper technique like Ms. Luckey's third grade class demonstrated with their Australian Creation Story comprehension visualizations, I would like you to first completely cover your paper with images that belong in your background, even if it is a solid color. Next, I would like you to layer the images that belong in your middle ground on top of your background layer. Finally, I would like you to add your foreground layer. Before you begin this process, you need to use your PLANNING TALENT to determine the colors you will need to create your image, the steps in the process of your gluing and layering, and any problems that might occur along the way.

Make a Free Flash Slideshow

ALCOS Standard, Grade 5:

14. Analyze data collected from a survey or experiment to distinguish between what the data show and what might account for the results. Evaluate different representations of the same data to determine how well each representation shows important aspects of the data. Using given measures of central tendency (mean, median, and mode) to analyze data.

Journal Entry: "Gratitude is what defines the humanity of the human being."-- Elie Weisel

Today, we are going to read our journal prompt together. Your ipads are at your desk, I would like you to go to the voice memos app (it has a picture of a microphone with a red background) and start recording. As soon as you press record, I would not like you to touch the ipad until our conversation is over, unless instructed to look something up. As I read the text to you, I would like you to raise your hand and share any connections or related ideas you have. You may also raise your hand and ask any questions if you don't know what a word means, or don't understand a particular concept.

I have printed a copy of the text for each of you. Please feel free to respond to the text in writing on the back of your handout. When we are finished discussing the passage, I would like you and your table partner to think about what indifference looks like. Once you have an idea of what it looks like, use your iPad to find an image that represents your description. Finally, I want you to email me the picture you found with your first names in the subject header, and in the message, I would like you to include, "Indifference looks like ________because________."

The passage below is a series of excerpts taken from Elie Weisel's speech, The Perils of Indifference, that he gave as part of President Bill Clinton's Millennium Lecture series held in the White House. The full text can be read by clicking here.

Elie Weisel has earned his wrinkles.

What is indifference? Etymologically, the word means "no difference." A strange and unnatural state in which the lines blur between light and darkness, dusk and dawn, crime and punishment, cruelty and compassion, good and evil.

What are its courses and inescapable consequences? Is it a philosophy? Is there a philosophy of indifference conceivable? Can one possibly view indifference as a virtue? Is it necessary at times to practice it simply to keep one's sanity, live normally, enjoy a fine meal and a [warm cup of hot cocoa], as the world around us experiences harrowing upheavals?

Of course, indifference can be tempting -- more than that, seductive. It is so much easier to look away from victims. It is so much easier to avoid such rude interruptions to our work, our dreams, our hopes. It is, after all, awkward, troublesome, to be involved in another person's pain and despair. Yet, for the person who is indifferent, his or her neighbor are of no consequence. And, therefore, their lives are meaningless. Their hidden or even visible anguish is of no interest. Indifference reduces the other to an abstraction.

In a way, to be indifferent to that suffering is what makes the human being inhuman. Indifference, after all, is more dangerous than anger and hatred. Anger can at times be creative. One writes a great poem, a great symphony, one does something special for the sake of humanity because one is angry at the injustice that one witnesses. But indifference is never creative. Even hatred at times may elicit a response. You fight it. You denounce it. You disarm it. Indifference elicits no response. Indifference is not a response.

Indifference is not a beginning, it is an end. And, therefore, indifference is always the friend of the enemy, for it benefits the aggressor -- never his victim, whose pain is magnified when he or she feels forgotten. The political prisoner in his cell, the hungry children, the homeless refugees -- not to respond to their plight, not to relieve their solitude by offering them a spark of hope is to exile them from human memory. And in denying their humanity we betray our own.

The Beginning of Great

Friday, our Question of the Day was, "What is good art, and how is does it affect writing?" We examined the painting from Journal Entry: Art and Australia, and came up with a few explanation to define what good art is. The St. Elmo Explorer's came up with the following:

1.) Good art is inspired.
2.) Good art is inspiring.
3.) Good art expresses feelings.
4.) Good art makes you feel.
5.) Good art tells a story.
6.) Good art has a purpose.

We discovered that good art shares a lot of the same qualities of good writing. Kevin said that the best art and writing describe. I couldn't be more proud of the St. Elmo Explorer's dialogue about art and writing, the conclusions they drew from looking at the Australian painting, and the connections they made about it all. The morning's conversation showed me that the students of Room 110 know how to draw from their field experiences and research in order to add substance to meaningful conversations in the classroom.

The work did not stop there. The students applied their knowledge about art and writing to write the following text. This is just a start, but I am too proud of their accomplishments to wait for the final product to post. The prompt for this task is located in the post Featuring the Best of Mobile and Baldwin.

This activity started with a TALENTS Unlimited Communications 1 Activity and was followed up with a Communications 5 Activity. Click here to learn more about TALENTS Unlimited in the classroom.

Featuring the Best of Mobile and Baldwin

Today, we will be compiling an expository text about the Gulf Coast as a team. Together, we will write an inviting introduction and a closure that summarizes what makes our Gulf Coast so great! After all, we are nearing Thanksgiving and our coastal community provides us with many reasons to be thankful!

After we write our introductory paragraph, which will frame out paper, I will split you into pairs. Each pair will be assigned to one of the links below. Each link will take you to the destination of which you must research. During your first twenty minutes, you are to find three qualities that would attract visitors to our our home. These qualities may include recreational areas, science exhibits, historical landmarks, industrial giants, etc. Record your findings in your journals.

Gulf State Park

Bellingrath Gardens and Home

USS Alabama

Coastal History
Museum of Mobile- Fort Conde
Dauphin Island- Fort Gaines
Blakeley State Park

Exploreum

Fairhope- Jubilee

Dauphin Island Sea Lab

Downtown Mobile- Revitalization

Once you have recorded your findings, you must list at least 3 adjectives to describe each quality.
Create a paragraph that includes illustrious descriptions of each quality that you chose to highlight your destination.
Your paragraph should have at least 4 sentences (a main idea sentence and three destination quality sentences).
When you have finished, email your paragraph to awc802@gmail.com.

While you are waiting for others to finish, choose a photo that best represents your destination and save it to your iPad.

Journal Entry: Art and Australia

Describe It

1.) Using the most vivid adjectives you can, explain how you would describe this painting to a person who could not see it.

2.) How would you describe the person in this painting? Is he like you or different?

Relate It

3.) What interests you most about this painting?

Analyze It

4.) Which objects seem closer to you? Further away?

5.) What can you tell me about the colors in this painting?

6.) What can you tell me about this person's life? How did you arrive at that idea?

Surf Safely

Yesterday, I was exploring a class website made by a teacher in Indonesia and discovered that he has his children browse the internet using the following school-safe search engines. They will help you find websites that are easy to navigate and safe to explore.

Use these links to create buttons on your iPads:

GoGooligans

Ask Kids

iPL2

Kids Click

Searchy Pants

Sweet Search

A Preview of St. Elmo's Exploreum Adventure by Sean

Sean couldn't wait to share his experience at the Exploreum any longer. He put together this presentation with some of the pictures that his classmates took with their ipads to share his favorite memories with you!

St. Elmo Explorers Reflect on Literature

Below, you can watch a project that we have finally tied the loose ends too. Inspired by our sister school, Elsanor Elementary, we have created our very own movie of book interviews that we recorded to show our comprehension of the books that we read, and practice our interview and technology skills. Stay tuned for more from our Explorers, and don't forget to watch the blooper reel that Sean compiled for us.

Field Trip and News to Report!

Great News Team! Yesterday, Sean helped me put the final touches on the Book Interviews Movie. Today, we need to think of a name for it, and I will publish it tonight! Be sure to thank Sean for all of his hard work after you watch it. Of course, he was largely involved in the making of the blooper reel.



Today, we will be attending a field experience to the Mobile Museum of Art. Like our prompt that prepared us for the Exploreum, I would like you to come up with three interview questions for employees of the museum, as well as three questions for other visitors. Your questions should be positive and also aimed to raise awareness about our promotional video focus, "What makes the Mobile area Gulf Coast such a desirable place to live and visit?"

Journal, Predicting Art

In today's journal assignment, you have been assigned a section of painting titles (see list below, it corresponds to your seating arrangement). I would like you to make a prediction of what you think the painting is going to look like. What will be in the painting? What kind of colors will it use? How will it make you feel? What makes you curious about it? Will it look real? Answer as many of these questions as you can about each title in the section of which you were assigned.

Section 1 (table closest to the door)

Man Resting Under a Tree
The Daydreamer
Young Girl Holding Pink Gladiolas

Section 2 (table closest to the Mac desktop)

View of the Thames
The Phoenix Entering the Harbor of Whitby

Section 3 (table closest to Mrs. Cole's desk)

Morning, Noon, and Night
Sunrise in the White Mountains
Sunset Near Deerfield

Section 4 (section closest to Mrs. Cole's AR library)

Roman Country Scene
The Valley of Pemigewasset
River with Man on Bank

Get ready for a PHENOMENAL DAY!

Journal Prompt: Last week you wrote about the qualities that makes us unique. Many of you also wrote about the most unusual person you have ever met. Now I want to know what you would like to learn from the person that you chose. What questions would you ask them, and why?

If you did not write about anyone last week, you have one of two options. You may write about the most unusual person you have ever met, and all of the qualities of that person that makes them unusual: their behavior, appearance, culture, et cetera. Otherwise, you may think of a place you would like to visit and make a list of questions that you would like to ask the people who live there.

Making Connections

I am very excited to report that we have successfully made a connection with Mrs. B's Team from Room 13, Cooinda Primary School in Bunbury, Australia! We have chosen this school because we want to learn more about how we are similar and different from them before we embark on our field trip to the Exploreum to see the exhibit, Kangaroo Kraze! Last week, we began our research on some of the wildlife native to Australia. This Friday, we will be wrapping up our presentations and writing scripts for a podcast we plan to share with Mrs. B's team. Our podcast will include some of our discoveries about their school and community, the wildlife we researched, questions that we have about where they live, as well as a bit about ourselves.



In addition to our research and script writing, we will be following up on our spanish math activities to see if we can make two more mathematical conclusions by encoding our own story problems with the statistics we sorted through a few weeks ago. If all goes well, we will be decorating paper cut-outs of the nations we have been exploring, including: Venezuela, Cuba, Argentina, Spain, Mexico, United States of America, Peru, Costa Rica, and Nicaragua. Be sure to check back soon for pictures of our geographical fact art!

Spanish Nicknames Origins on a Timeline

Friday, we created a timeline on timetoast to share our discoveries about hispanic historical figures that we named ourselves after. Check out our timeline to learn what our nicknames are and why we chose them! You can click the bubbles to read our captions and view the whole picture.

Australian Wildlife Presentation

As you can see, this is a work in progress. I am very proud of those who have already begun this project on their own initiative and I look forward to seeing more to come from the rest of our Explorers! We only have one more class meeting before our big adventure at the Exploreum. The wildlife you see in this presentation will be featured in the exhibit at the Mobile Exploreum. We plan to come prepared so that we can proudly represent our school and community as professionals.

Note to Room 110, St. Elmo Explorers: Each slide should contain at least one picture, your FIRST NAME ONLY, and at least three interesting facts written in complete sentences. Remember, we are always looking for the most unusual information that we can find so others can read our discoveries from a unique perspective. With that said, write about something that surprised you in your research!

Australia, Story Problems, and Spanish Nicknames

Journal Assignment:

As you know, we have been learning about how differences make us more valuable. For the next few minutes, I would like you to list as many ways as you can think of that makes us unique. You should have at least ten ways listed. If you finish early, write a short paragraph about the most unusual person you have ever met. Be sure to include details about why you chose this person. Did they behave differently? Did they look differently? Do they sound differently?

Today, we will be looking at a few interesting classrooms in Australia. We will be choosing one with whom we will make contact. Our first destination will be Leopold Elementary School. We will then be visiting a 6/7 grade class from Cooinda Primary School. Lastly, we can take a look at Ms. Brown's Grade 5/6 class blog to find out what classes around the world are learning. I am especially interested in discussing a Flat Stanley Project, we will be engaging in a Decision Making Talents Activity to see whether we should participate or not.

Be sure to check back her next week to find our Exploreum Presentation. We will be publishing our findings about native Australian wildlife to prepare us for our Exploreum Field Experience!

We will also be creating a timeline using timetoast. The timeline will include historical hispanic icons from whom we will adopt our new nicknames.

Coming soon: Book Interviews!

Friday, our Explorer's learned more about the interview process, videography, and professionalism, scholarliness, research skills, and data analysis skills. Along with our Self-Portrait Activity, we explored Spanish-speaking countries on the CIA World Factbook. As we did this, we compared population sizes, average incomes, literacy rates, and other statistics to prepare us for our word problem skills next week.

Next week, we will be using the data we gathered to explore hispanic culture more fully by creating word problems. Our problems will look something like this:

41,769,726 people live in Argentina. The United States has a population of 313,232,044. How many times greater is the population of the United States than Argentina? Why do you think this is true?

Along with our math exercise, we will be creating book interviews to review the books and skills that they have been learning in Mrs. Joyner's Reading class. Elsanor Elementary has provided an excellent example for us to use as a framework. You can see their interview by clicking here. We will use this opportunity to connect with their classroom by commenting on their blog post, Interview Book Report.

I can't wait for Friday to get here! I hope you are excited too, Explorers!

We are similar because...

Today, we discussed the qualities of a scholar, and as all of the Explorers can attest, my scholarliness was put to the test! I feel so fortunate to have the opportunity to learn alongside this group of young people. Lately, it seems like I have been saying this a lot, but I have truly never been as challenged as I am when 17 of St. Elmo's finest show up in room 110 ready to learn. The problem with P.A.C.E is not the age old struggle of, "How can I get them to understand this?" but more like, "What can I teach them next?!" They are all so eager and ready. I truly believe that the students at St. Elmo Elementary will be responsible for molding our community into one that will be a beacon of light for a multitude of surrounding communities in years to come.

This year, we are looking for qualities in ourselves that will help us contribute to the world, and more immediately, our class and school goals. We painted self portraits of ourselves after completing a TALENTS Communication 1 and 3 activity in which the kids listed as many single word adjectives to describe themselves as they can and then use those words to create similes to compare themselves to something great. We came up with wonderful WOW words. They will be hanging proudly in the walls around Room 110 shortly because like all good scholars, we are proud of our excellent work.

Check out our video below to see why the St. Elmo Explorers believe they are similar and different from each other.

Letters to Lucy

I never would have thought that writing letters of gratitude would unlock so much potential for learning. In the letters below, the St. Elmo Explorer's demonstrate their strengths and weaknesses as young writers, communicators, and crusaders. I describe them as crusaders because they so willingly put aside any apprehension that they may have secretly carried and dived into pecking away at the keys on their notebooks. As their leader, I mistakenly took for granted their familiarity with the functions of the keyboard. It didn't take long to realize that these kids are not only fearless, but also unexposed to the things most professionals take for granted. I was asked questions like, "Mr. Capps, how do I make the blinky thing go to the next line?" At this point, I realized that these letters were our means to explore this new tool. After the kids learned the enter, tab, space, and shift keys-- our most rewarding discovery of the day took place. I taught them that they could almost entirely eliminate the need to ask me how to spell challenging words by trying to type them out phonetically, then right clicking the red-underlined word to reveal the correct spelling. They were absolutely amazed and mystified, and I gained a new appreciation for word processors.

As you read these letters, I hope you smile like I did when you see the sincerity and humor in their words of appreciation. If you are reading this, Ms. Buffett, I want to extend a special thank you for providing me with an opportunity to learn alongside these children. We have all gained a profound degree of purpose, excitement, and pride. Most importantly, we have gained yet another reason to love our school.

Day One, Success!

Friday, September 9 was the first day that our St. Elmo Elementary Explorer's were able to come together and learn about the exciting events that will be unfolding this year thanks to Ms. Lucy Buffett. We discussed internet safety, created google account, used google docs to write letters, practiced interviewing skills, and of course, took our first group picture. We are officially off the ground and flying!

Below are pictures of some of our Explorer's discovering their iPads.