Day 82: What We've Learned from HZN165

The Finish Line

In September, we set out to start a blog that would share the learning that takes place at Hilliard Horizon Elementary.  The idea came from a couple of other blogs that set out to share what they were learning everyday.  It has been a great experience and we have learned so much about ourselves and each other.

We are officially at day 165 on the project timeline.  So at the end, I'd like to share what we've learned from this project.

165 days was ambitious, but a worthy goal.  With 82 stories, it's easy to see that we didn't quite make it to 165.  However, I can tell you that even though we didn't post a story of learning every school day, great things happened at Horizon everyday -- more than what can be counted or captured in a story.

Failure is natural and should be embraced.  Did we meet our goal to publish a story every school day?  No.  But it's important to remember the original vision of the project: to share our stories with the world and to show that a learning community goes beyond the walls of the school.  In that respect, we succeeded.  We connected with 24 different countries, making our audience worldwide.  When we continue this project next school year, I doubt we will be as ambitious with the number of stories we aim to publish.  But how would we have known what was possible without setting a goal?  So did we fail? Yes, but failure is a natural part of learning and it can be a powerful force if we choose to learn from our failures.

Connecting our learning community to social media helped us to be lead learners.  Through this blog, we modeled how to interact with social media for our students and our community.  Let's face it: there are more poor examples of how to interact through social media than there are good examples.  By using Blogger, Facebook, YouTube, Vimeo, and Twitter to promote what we were learning and doing as a learning community, we modeled responsible use of social media for our kids.  We hope to build on this experience and continue to be the lead learners in this area to help our students engage with the world in a positive and productive way.

Finally, thanks to those of you who shared in our learning this school year.  We appreciate the support for the blog through your frequent visits.  You helped prove to us that our stories matter.  And, of course, thank you to those of you who published a story on the blog this year.  We couldn't have done this project without your support.

Have a great summer and we'll see you next school year!

Day 81: 2nd Grade Animal Study

2nd Grade Habitat from HZN165 on Vimeo.

Day 80: 1st Grade Nonfiction Books

Celebrating Young Authors

Mrs. Remington and Miss Tucker's 1st grade classes have wrapped up a study of nonfiction writing.  Students learned to research questions about a topic, record new facts, and use the facts they collected to create an informational piece of writing.

The students will celebrate their hard work with an Writing Celebration this week.

Below are audio versions of books written two young authors.  Listen as they read their last release!

Day 79: Mr. T's New Home

 

1st graders have been learning about habitats and how they support life.  One of the important concepts 1st graders have learned is that habitats have to be appropriate for the animal or plant in order for them to thrive.  

You don't see bunnies swimming in the Pacific.  You don't see fish hopping in a meadow.

After really understanding this concept, 1st graders noticed a habitat in the school that wasn't appropriate for the animal living there.  

"Mr. T" the turtle lives in a tank that sits on a table in the primary hallway.  Mr. T's tank wasn't exactly fitting for him.  Turtles like Mr. T need a source of heat and a place to rest.  Mr. T had neither.

So, the first grade classes decided to host a brownie sale to raise money for an appropriate habitat for Mr. T.  The classes earned over $200 for a new habitat for Mr. T.  Now he has a warming lamp, a place to rest, and a source of fresh water.

Mr. T is a happy turtle.

Day 78: 2nd Grade Student Reflection

Learning the Power of Setting Goals

A student in Mrs. Potter's 2nd Grade Class wanted to share how he set a goal for himself to go above and beyond when it comes to meeting the expectations for behavior in his class.

Here's his submission:

"One day I set a goal for myself and I learned [I] learned to try to get a certificate and I reached my goal.  I learned that if I try I will reach my goal."

He shared that it was hard sometimes to work towards his goal.  "I got frustrated when I saw others [doing well].  But I set my goal and I got to be student of the month."

This 2nd grader has learned that setting goals for himself can help him stay focused on what he wants to accomplish and that hard work pays off.

Day 77: There's a Giant in the Hallway...

Mrs. Wray's 2nd grade class has been working on learning how to measure.  We have talked about estimating our measurements before we do the actual measurement.  We have also discussed quite a lot about proper tools to use when measuring.  

We have also been reading and comparing various fairy tales.  We decided to combine the two lessons.  We read Jack and the Beanstalk by Richard Walker and Niamh Sharkey.  After reading the book we decided to create a life sized giant.  

First, we decided what parts we would add to the giant.  Then we made a "model" of a giant and estimated the size of each part, keeping in mind that we wanted the giant to be proportionate.  

Next we broke the class into teams to make the parts of the giant.  Once each part was finished we glued the whole giant together.  

Not only did the kids have fun but they worked together and really learned which tools would be best used to measure all the different parts of the giant.