Gratitude is the Thing

November is the month where we talk about gratitude. We've got Veterans Day and Thanksgiving - both holidays that are not only acknowledged but celebrated in our public schools. For our enrichment lab, I wanted to further the dialogue about gratitude so I suggest to my supervising teacher that we do a letter writing project to our armed forces. I did some research and found out about Operation Gratitude, which sends gift boxes to the Armed Forces. Each box includes a personal letter of thanks. This was the perfect organization for us to go though to conduct a writing assignment that would be true service learning. I found some leveled letter templates at Teachers Pay Teachers that worked for this project and the kids got to work:

I introduced each lesson with vocabulary:

1. Gratitude - what in the word is that? The attitude of being thankful! Many students did not know this word going into the lesson. Students then shared with one another something they were thankful for. 

2. Armed Forces - who are they? What do they do? We briefly discussed the different branches of the military and also discussed the difference between active duty, the reserves and veterans. 

We watched a short video of soldiers talking about what it is like to not receive correspondence from home and how much children's letters mean to them. 

Then, with leveled guidance depending on the grade (kindergarten & 1st grades copied an example whereas 2nd-5th grade wrote their own letters), the students composed letters that thanked our Armed Forces and also shared information about themselves. They worked so diligently and in some classes you could have heard a pin drop the students were so very focused. I was proud of their dedication to the project. 

Another component was that we also made holiday cards to go to wounded military who will be in the hospital during the holiday season. The pictures and messages of the cards were so heartfelt! In all, the school composed over 600 cards and letters to send out to our Armed Forces. I was incredibly proud of their work and dedication and thrilled that we could lead a project like this! 

Tangram Puzzle - 2nd Grade Math

This semester, I am taking Math Methods as part of my Teacher Education program at Fort Hays State University. Earlier in the semester, I taught a mini lesson during my math internship class to a group of excited 2nd graders. The kids loved the lesson and I learned a great deal about the power of modeling when teaching a hands on concept. 

The lesson was an introduction to the 2nd grade geometry unit. 2nd graders need to be able to, "Recognize and draw shapes having specified attributes, such as a given number of angles or a given number of equal faces. Identify triangles, quadrilaterals, pentagons, hexagons, and cubes," (Kansas Common Core Standards for Mathematics). So, my lesson objective was to have the students be able to reassemble the tangram puzzle,  organize the tangrams by similar shape, create larger triangles from the tangrams and assemble a square from 2 or more tangrams, receiving at least 8 out of 12 points. To do this, the students were given 6"x 6" pieces of construction paper and then I walked them through the process of making their own tangram puzzle. 

As the students worked on their tangrams, I asked them questions about the shapes like, "Which shapes are similar?" and "Can you create a larger triangle using smaller pieces?" 

The students completed this lesson during math stations, so each group I worked with was about 4-5 students. At another station, the students read the book Grandfather Tang's Story by Ann Tompert. This book is about tangrams and partnered nicely with the tangrams activity. 

A few weeks later, the students began their geometry unit that is part of their regular curriculum. The tangram activity was a nice introduction and allowed the students to think about the relationships between shapes. 

Pea Pandemonium! and....letters from Capt. Jim Lovell!

The campers are working hard on their play, "Pea Pandemonium" this week. They have done such a great job with their line memorization and really working on their acting skills. I'm so proud of them! They even made flyers to announce their production! Very, very cute.

I'm a little nervous about how many audience members I may end up with in my house... They've done such a good job with their promotion!

Another bit of exciting news...our campers wrote Captain Jim Lovell letters after they watched "Apollo 13" during Space Camp week. They told him the life lessons they learned from watching the film. Well, Capt. Lovell wrote back!

He sent each camper a personal, signed letter! I couldn't believe it. I was truly so honored for the children and excited for them. 

This is my last week of camp for the summer and I'm having some mixed feelings with only two days left. We've had a great deal of fun, learned so much and been truly enriched. I learned about the problems related to palm oil during our wildlife week, and got to know Homer's Odyssey better during Epic Stories week. I was introduced to new artists like Rosina Wachtmeister during Art Camp and I tried out some new recipes during Cooking Camp. I've certainly grown as a person and been enriched! 

My campers have smiles and tell me they will return. I'm not sure if it's because of me, the activities I plan, or...my little dogs! 

I'm guessing it's the dogs!

Art Camp Recap

Art camp has come to a close! What a fun week. I got to get back to my roots of teaching art. I worked for 5 years in the scrapbook/paper arts industry as a product designer, class project designer and instructor. I've often missed those days and this was a fun way to tap into my visually creative side again! 

One of the projects the kids did this week - to wonderful results - was a Paul Klee inspired fish painting using oil pastels and watercolors. 

Mrlundgren1 on You Tube did a tutorial we followed - it was incredible! 

Paul Klee Fish Lesson

This piece had a lot of wonderful technique going on! 

Another fun project was a tissue paper collage. We used elmer's glue mixed with a little water as our Mod Podge medium. The campers loved it and created beautiful pieces. 

Our sculptures were painted on the last day of camp...

And we also took time to go to the park and just sketch...

The camper's with their favorite creations: 

And, I painted a little something at the end of the week too. This was a Sylvia Wachmeister inspired piece. 

I can't wait until art camp next year! 

Art Camp - Wow!

Our video to Michael Jackson's "Black or White." This project taught the kids the ideas that A) Art is EVERYWHERE and B) You can use art to impact social justice! They did a great job!

The kids painted their own "backdrops" for the video shoot. 

One of our other projects this week is paper bag books. We painted the bags with acrylic paint and bound the pages with ribbons. 

Then we made these adorable Claudine Hellmuth inspired Fairies. The kids looked at samples of Claudine Hellmuth and Donna Downey's artwork. 

We made tons of little fairies after taking pictures with my iPhone. I converted the pics to b/w, laid out the prints using the collage app on PicMonkey and printed them on my Canon Selphy.

Then we colored, painted, drew, cut and glued dozens of little fairies!  

More exciting things to come later this week! It's a fun camp...and lots of work for the campers and me! Special thank you to my friends Stevie and Jolie for all their help! Mary Kate has been a huge help as always! 

Week 4 Recap

What a week! The campers traveled a long journey of exploring the qualities of epic tales. We started the week by viewing a powerpoint about epic tales and the 6 qualities of epics. We then started working on our own script and storyboard for the movie we would produce. 

 Script writing is hard work! So we took some time off to play a little "Star Wars Jedi Master Life." Miss. Sarah won - it came down to her Jedi Padawan vs. Mr. I's Sith Lord.

We went out to scout locations and then filmed the movie short on Wednesday and Thursday. 

 Once we shot the film, we were up in the "editing room" for hours...organizing, cutting and mixing footage, adding sound, etc. The kids now know the basics of Adobe Premiere Elements editing software and a little more about file organization.

On Friday, with our movie wrapped, we finished our read aloud of a children's version of The Odyssey. We watched "Oh Brother, Where Art Thou," a very funny retelling of Homer's masterpiece. The campers LOVED "Oh Brother, Where Art Thou" and were able to pick up on many of the literary references and symbols. I was so proud! We concluded the week with our own puppet show version of The Odyssey completely improvised by the campers. GREAT JOB kids!

Here is the campers film short:

Here is the puppet show. This is hysterical! 

Camps Update & Business Week Recap

The camps are going great!!!! Hopefully I will do them again next year - send me feedback on your thoughts about pricing, times, themes, etc.. Enrollment for next week's camp is closed but there are still spots open in Epic Story Week - June 17-21 (campers will write, act and direct in their own MOVIE!), Theatre Week (July 15-19) and Myths, Fairytales and Folklore week (July 22-26). 

The camp that just wrapped was Business Week and the campers impressed me with running their own non-profit business. Throughout the week, the campers learned about for-profit and not-for-profit businesses, famous entrepreneurs and executives, and the stock market. They worked as a team to conduct their own not-for-profit business using Alex's Lemonade Stand as a platform. The campers served as CEO, CFO, VP of Marketing, etc... The CFO did a cost analysis on our products. The VP of Sales ran a taste test survey on several types of lemonades. The VP of Marketing designed the booth color scheme and produced a commercial. Each day of camp, the campers attended business meetings, made task lists and set goals. The compliments the campers received today at the Farmer's Market were awesome. People were amazed at the customer service skills (which we role played ahead of time) and the visual appeal of the booth (thank you iPad and Pinterest - which our campers used for research!). 

Business Week Recap Video

Alex's Lemonade Stand Commercial

Outta this World Recap & SCIENCE ROCKS videos

Here are a few videos I made to recap our "Outta This World" camp experience...what fun memories!  

The participants at "Outta This World" tried out hands-on experiments and solved problems just like real NASA scientists. We were inspired learning about American heroes like Captain Jim Lovell (Apollo 13) and Christa McCauliffe (Challenger).

Our participants will fly as virtual crew members on the Orion test flight (2014? 2015?) thanks to the research they did on space radiation!

Outta This World camp was true summer enrichment. I am so proud of what we accomplished and pleased to acknowledge that similar programs would have cost 50-75% more than the cost of my program. I am able to keep costs low by keeping the groups small, operating out of my home and utilizing the vast information through free educational Web sites. Consider signing up for a camp with me this summer - it will be a week your child will never forget!

Oh - and I promised to share online the videos we watched on Friday...reminding us that SCIENCE ROCKS!!!

We didn't have time to watch these, but I wanted to share. This is the Will I. Am "I.Am.First Science is Rock and Roll" special. Lots of celebrities advocating science education...lots of kids doing COOL stuff with robotics! 

Wednesday Recap

Another great day during our Outta This World week! We began the day learning a little bit about the history of NASA and creating our own Mission Badges. We discovered how NASA astronaut's go about creating their mission badges. There are over 135 NASA Mission Badges!

Next, the campers learned about Newton's 3rd law: Every action has an equal and opposite reaction. To better understand this vital law used in rocketry, the campers made balloon rockets and then launched them to the stars! (Well, my ceiling to be more precise, but who's judging...we used our imaginations!). Check out our video of the balloon rocket launch, filmed by two of our campers!

Balloon Rocket Launch

We ended the day planning and constructing our Orion mission projects. Campers were designing and building model rockets, a space suit, a rover and a tent for Mars. They will continue this work on Thursday. To make the work a little easier, the campers enjoyed watching "Horton Hears a Who" in the background as they cut, taped and stapled tissue paper and tinfoil to their projects.

Tuesday Recap

Another great day! We began the day creating Sun-Earth-Moon models and learning about the relationship between the Sun, Earth and Moon, rotations, the ocean tide and more.

Next, we created pin-hole viewers so we could measure the sun. Unfortunately, the sun wouldn't come out! Our plan is to try again today!

We enjoyed a special treat of watching Space Chimps and eating Miss. Sarah's famous Bo Bo Dip. Then later, we conducted materials testing on our tissue paper and copy paper as part of our Ray Shielding Experiment.

Materials Testing Video

It was a busy, fun day!

We survived our first day!

We survived day one of camp and the kids did GREAT! What fun! We kicked things off recording odd facts about ourselves using a voice changing app for the iPhone. The campers then listened to the recordings and guessed who each recording belonged to. They LOVED that! 

Next, we created our own solar system stained glass (I got the idea from Pinterest! Gotta love it!). This was challenging cutting work but the campers oohed and ahhhhed at their finished results. 

 

We learned about radiation and the challenge radiation presents to astronauts. We also learned about NASA's Orion mission and the campers made a video on the Weather on Mars:

The Weather on Mars Video

After some free time and lunch, we began working on the Exploration Design Challenge for NASA. The campers tested "radiation" resistance on a variety of materials and then tracked the data in a graphic organizer. After the experiments, we discussed the findings, tweaked our experiment and did some further research. 

To celebrate our hard work, we enjoyed ice cream sundaes at the end of the day! 

Well, we were still working actually while having the sundaes...but ice cream makes hard work a lot easier! 

Week One - Just 4 more days until BLAST OFF!

It's almost here! Week one of the FIRST EVER Summer at Miss. Sarah's Camps! I'm thrilled! And week one couldn't be a theme that excites my family more...SPACE EXPLORATION. We're going to be exploring/learning/testing/creating so much awesomeness next week. 

One of the things I'm really excited about is our NASA challenge to solve the Orion vessle's radiation issue. The kids will be testing various materials and their shielding abilities against radiation (well, we'll be using flashlights...). After testing, the campers will CREATE their own Orion Shields! We'll report back to NASA our findings and the campers will get certificates from NASA celebrating the completion of their mission. Pretty cool, huh?