Day 85: Jamee Smith, 4th Grade Teacher

O.R.E.O. Project--So much more than Cookies!

A few weeks ago, I was looking through tweets on my Twitter account and came across something that looked fun and interesting.  Several clicks later and I found my way to the O.R.E.O. Project.  O.R.E.O. stands for Our Really Exciting Online Project.      

This project, developed 15 years ago by teacher Jennifer Wagner, involves a simple bag of original Oreo cookies.  Students are asked to make a predication of how many Oreos he/she can stack with out making adjustments before the stack tumbles.  Sounds simple enough, right?  

My fourth graders made predictions, tallied their stacks, and we graphed our results.  I was proud to our learning community that was cheering each other on as their stacks grew higher and higher.  The students were engaged and smiling!   But, that was only part of the project.  Upon completing the project in our classroom, we posted our results in a Google Form, viewed a map of the world that highlighted where others had participated in the same project across the globe, and received a certificate of participation.  And, at this point, we still weren't finished.  

The last part of the O.R.E.O. project was to use the cookies from the stacks to make a sculpture.  Yes, a sculpture out of the cookies and cream.  Quite honestly, I wasn't so sure where this part of the project was going to go.  But in the end, I was so impressed!  

My 9-10 year olds made amazing sculptures--someone made a panda, several made mountains, several connected to sports.  They were problem solving, being creative and…PLAYING WITH THEIR FOOD!  This project will continue into this coming week as we follow the results of other classrooms.  We were part of a global project!  How great is that! 

You can find more information at http://op2015.weebly.com/index.html.    

So what did I learn?  So much--the power of Twitter and what one can find from a simple tweet,  the power of fun at school, and the power of playing with your food!   I walked away from school on Friday with such a love of teaching!  I had a smile on my face and a pep in my step!  I hope my students did, too!   It is days like this that reinforce why I love my job and why I can't imagine doing anything else! 

**You can see more of our sculptures on our class Twitter account  @FourthGradeHZN!  Follow us as we continue to connect with others doing really exciting online projects! 

We are signed up for the Global Read Aloud that starts September 30 and we will be participating in Jen Wagner's Holiday Card Exchange in November and December.  

Jamee Smith is a 4th grade teacher at Hilliard Horizon Elementary.

Day 56: Authentic Learning

Building Excitement for Reading with Book Clubs

One of the biggest motivators for students when it comes to learning is when we create authentic learning experiences.  These learning experiences go beyond the "ditto sheet" learning of the past and instead provides students with real-life experience in which to learn.

Earlier this week, Mrs. Meister, a fourth grade teacher at Hilliard Horizon, emailed me about an authentic learning experience she was creating for her students.  Here's part of her message:

I just thought I'd let you know that my class will be browsing several books in class and choosing one for their book clubs tomorrow. They are pretty excited about this. Just thinking maybe we could chat with a few of them about how they decide what book they choose for book club and what they are looking forward to the most. We spent today talking about the purpose of a book club and tomorrow we will brainstorm discussion topics before they have time to make their top two selections.
Just a thought...not super interesting, but they seem pretty excited about it and that's all that matters. :)

Students created a list of discussion topics to use during book club

As Mrs. Meister mentioned, one of the authentic learning experiences many teachers, including Mrs. Meister, provide for students at Hilliard Horizon is through providing time and support for students to be involved in their own book clubs.  Just like book clubs many adults are apart of, student book clubs share the experience of reading a book together as a group and discussing what they have read.  This is a highly motivating reason for reading for students.   

In the video clip, Mrs. Meister is asking Alex about his process for choosing which book to read for book club.

Day 35: 4th Grade Matter Day

The Melting Witch

Today, 4th grade students spent their afternoon attending 5 sessions that featured chemical change experiments.

4th grade students have been studying matter (solids, liquids, and gases) and how it changes.  Some of the more interesting changes to matter occur during chemical changes.

Check out one of the five experiments students got to participate in: