On the move

We turned our library into a construction zone. Students worked in small groups to build towers from newspaper and tape. The challenge was to build the tallest free standing tower. Design and construction methods varied but the excitement level was shared. An observation made by one of the staff members was that some of the students who struggled with math on the computers were thriving with this challenge. It is amazing what a motivating activity can do for students. The idea for this activity came from The  4 O'Clock Faculty  blog. The library was also still a library. Students checked out books to keep their minds engaged at home. Our other major accomplishment for the day was to enroll the 3rd through 8th graders in Newsela . Students are working on the summer challenge and completing quizzes. I even heard a student who is a reluctant reader say, "Yes, I did it!"

We launched our first day of the summer program with straw rockets, Mobymax math and coding. 38 young scholars extend their school year. They ranged in age from incoming 1st graders to incoming 8th graders. The best comment I heard today was, "I am learning lots of math." The 1st and 2nd graders listened to the story, If I Built a Car by Chris Van Dusen. They discussed which part of their story was their favorite. They recorded their preferences on an index and posted them on a bulletin board. We will track all of our stories and fill the bulletin board by the end of the summer. We finished our time with some coding. The 1st and 2nd graders worked on the iPad app,  Kodable . For some students this was an introduction to coding. I had a few of my students from Kindergarten who were able to teach the other students how to code! The older students explored the websites from the http://www.symbaloo.com/mix/mkesstudent  that I set up for the summer progra

Last year at this time, I remember writing that I needed to accept uncertainty. A year later I still have to accept the uncertainty but this year it is more excitement than nervousness. I spent time today planning and I feel as prepared as possible for what Monday may bring. I am thankful that I documented the process last year so I have a model for what we will do this year. I have a larger number of students registered than last year! We were able to generate a buzz about summer learning at our morning assemblies. I think this help more students to realize that learning during the summer could be fun. This year I will continue to learn along with my students. Last summer I learned about computer programming, iMovie, Newsela and how to find STEM projects that required lots of tape. This year we will make marble roller coasters, balloon rockets and newspaper towers. We will learn about computer programming through off-line as well as on-line projects. My first challenge is implementin