Buddy Towers

To practice working on group dynamic skills, our Rocketeers built towers out of index cards. While this task sounds simple enough, the challenge was that they could not talk while doing it! Our rocketeers were very creative in communicating with their group members and figuring out how to construct the tallest tower. Have a look at some of their end products below.

Virtual Career Skype Tour: Jeff Rivera

It's that time of the year to jump start our Annual Virtual Career Skype Tour. Every year, we invite professionals from different careers to speak to our classes about planning for the future. These calls give us insight into different skills needed for various professions. We have also learned the path that each expert has taken to get where they are today. It's never too early to start thinking and planning for our futures!


This month, we had the unique opportunity to chat with author, Jeff Rivera. He read his new book, Um. . . Mommy, I Think I Flushed My Brother Down the Toilet.  and then shared how the illustrations came together for the book. Next, we asked him several questions about his childhood and what inspired him to write. The timing for this book could not have been better, especially since we are in the process of publishing our own class e-book. We had a great time reading Jeff's book and sharing our own "work in progress." Have a look at some pictures  from our call below.

Here is a sketch of a page in the book. 

Here is a the final illustration that appears in an excerpt. 

We were even able to preview a video game that is in the works! 

Fairy Tale Trial

Last week, our sixth graders presented a case, Goldilocks Vs The Three Bears, to their entire grade, who also helped serve as their jury.  Students prepared and researched all the necessary elements of a trial including legal arguments, opening and closing statements, and questions for the witnesses. During preparation for their trial they also got a surprise visit from our county's justice court judge. During this visit, Judge Curry shared his duties as a judge and assisted students with their case.

Our Rocketeers did a fabulous job of researching and getting into character for their trial. Have a look at some clips from our trial below.

Sharing Hurricane Experiences

This week our 5th Grade Rocketeers had a fun Mystery Skype call with Mrs. Rockwood's 4th grade class in Massachusetts. Our friends asked some very good questions to try to narrow down our location. After they guessed where we were, we found out that we had more in common than we expected. Just recently, our friends experienced Hurricane Sandy in their home state, and our Rocketeers wanted to take this opportunity to ask some questions about their experiences and offer support. We also shared our own experiences during Hurricane Katrina and Hurricane Isaac. We hope that things go back to normal soon for our new friends!

 

Skype Call with Alaska

This week our 4th graders had the unique opportunity to share their poems with a class in Alaska. Our friends started by sharing some stories they created for the 100 Word Challenge and introduced some interesting stories to us through book talks. Our rocketeers then shared some Animal Acrostic Poems, that were based on their research on unusual animals. We shared some of our Panamanian Molas we created on different animals as well.

The last few minutes of our call were dedicated to a Question and Answer session to learn more about where we live. We learned that it gets very cold in Alaska. In fact, we even got to see some snow in our friends' school! We also learned that there is a three hour difference between Mississippi and Alaska.

Both classes did an excellent job as audience members and presenters! We hope to continue sharing projects with our new friends. Check out our video below for clips from our call.