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.