Day 86: Denise Estep, 3rd Grade Teacher at Hilliard Horizon Elementary

Connecting the Community to the Classroom

3rd graders at Hilliard Horizon participated in a Community Fair on Friday, October 11th. Our goal was to reach out to our community members and ask them to come into our classrooms to show the kids what impact they have on our local Hilliard/Columbus community.  

Although we didn't have quite the turn-out we had originally thought, it was an extremely powerful event for all involved. We had a local nurse, 

a local firefighter (who is stationed right on Feder Rd.), 

2 cancer researchers from the OSU James Cancer Hospital, 

a local Hilliard police officer, 

a Boy Scout troop leader from Horizon, 

and a post office worker from the Hilliard Post Office. 

This event was extremely hands-on with the kids being allowed to use a microscope to see how cancer cells are studied, holding & even trying on a bullet proof vest (and much more), touching a firefighters helmet, asking questions and having great dialogue among all community members. 

Now that we are unable to take field trips, it is so important to bring the "trips" to us. We are so very appreciative of all people who volunteered their time, our third graders learned so much about what makes a strong community and it includes all of our great volunteers.

Denis Estep is a 3rd Grade Teacher at Hilliard Horizon Elementary.

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 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 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 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.

Day 73: Dana Humm, 5th Grade Teacher

Kidblog:  Why my students enjoy blogging about their reading with total strangers.

I have learned that no matter how enthusiastic, energetic, funny, or entertaining I try to be, I will never be completely “cool” in the eyes of my students.  It’s something about the fact that I am the one assigning work, giving out homework, and nagging about forms that are due that make me seem almost like a second mom.  Do I think my students like me?  YES!  Do they want to blog with me about the books they are reading?  NO!

Enter Kidblog:  a website that safely lets students blog about books with total strangers!  Ok, not total strangers.  Currently my students are blogging with students at Columbus State Community College.  The college student and my 5th grader read the same book and then blog weekly to each other about what they read.  They ask each other questions about the book, answer questions from previous blogs, and talk about themselves.  (The whole time I get to monitor their posts to make sure they are appropriate and withhold any personal information).  The quality of writing and book analysis that comes from my students when there is a real-world purpose for it is phenomenal (not to mention that they get to use the laptops!)  I even find my students using their newfound audience to talk about other books they are reading and to make new book suggestions.  It is nice to see them engaging as real readers over real books.  Now if only I were as “cool” as their book buddies!

Student Blog:

“March 7, 2013 at 10:32 AM

Hello again you should get a chinchilla their so cute! I agree about how Jay is selfish. The book Hoot is really good im really far in it. Its probably going to be like Lost and Found a book that you never wished ended. You should read it its an awesome book. Ya I agree never knowing what happens next in a good book is what makes a book so good. Thats what happens in Hoot if I leave off at a good part I just wanna keep reading on. If I were Melissa and I knew the secret then I wouldn’t tell anyone even if I trusted a friend not to tell. Because like what happened in the book everyone was only telling friends they trusted,and then thats how the secret got around. Because every one just had to tell one of there close friends who they trusted. What would you do if you knew RAY and Jays secret? hmm would I tell melissa the secret if I were Jay? I think I would because Melissa seems like she could keep a secret, but like what happend in the book I think I wont tell Melissa my secret ,but I would because Ray even said he felt good to tell someone so maybe I would tell Melissa my secret. What would you do?

I do think that the whole school is going to find out. Because its getting around really fast, and sooner or later the whole school is going to tell because it is a cool secret. So yes I think the whole school is going to find out. Their going to get in trouble probably by there parents. I cant wait to hear back from you. Bye!!!!!!!!!”

Day 62: The Power of a Compliment, UPDATE

100 Acts of Kindness

The beginning of something positive: Miss Tucker's class is displaying acts of kindness outside their room.

A couple of weeks ago, I posted a story about a group of high school students from West High School in Iowa City, Iowa who are using social media to send complements to their classmates.  I asked the question of how we could do something like this as a building, and I'm happy to say that some classroom teachers have answered through action.

Heather Tucker, a 1st grade teacher at Hilliard Horizon, emailed our staff about a plan she already had for her classroom called 100 Acts of Kindness:

"If anyone is interested in learning more about the 100 Acts of Kindness project, email me and I will put a copy of it in your mailbox. I will send home a letter about the project on Friday, Jan. 18th, and the project will start Jan. 22nd and end on Valentine's Day. I am encouraging students to participate in Dr. King's dream by doing 100 acts of kindness at home, in the community and at school. This project can be adapted to take place any time of the year..."

Miss Tucker's project features some of the same aspects that the Westhigh Bros project in Iowa has: sharing acts of kindness and displaying it for a community to see.  It really is the perfect answer to the question of how we could do something similar to Westhigh Bros in an elementary school.

Close-up of Miss Tucker's display

More classrooms have already started, and we are looking forward to more joining in on this positive community building project.

Mrs. Remington's class Acts of Kindness display

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 46: KLIP Hallway Mural project

When the leaf blew in...

Students in Mrs. Granger's Kindergarten literacy intervention program (KLIP) class recently read the book When The Leaf Blew In, by Steve Metzger.

http://www.amazon.com/When-Leaf-Blew-Steve-Metzger/dp/0545112818

The students created a wall mural that retold the story.  They colored in characters from the story, rewrote some of the lines, and practiced reading the sentences by pointing to each word.

Here is a clip Mrs. Granger recorded as the students were retelling the story.  Take a look:

Day 43: 3rd Grade Instrumentalists

The Sound of Learning

For a few weeks, 5 third grade students have met with Mrs. Romine, Hilliard Horizon's music teacher, twice a week to work together on a song for the upcoming choir concert.

The girls are using hand chimes to create a sound that will accompany a song the choir will sing during the performance.

The girls shared how challenging it was at first.  They had to learn when to play and when to rest.  They admit that they have come a long way and they are excited to share their hard work.

Take a moment to listen in on one of their practice sessions with Mrs. Romine: