Our 4th and 5th grade students met with their enrichment cluster for the first time last Friday. They will meet for a total of eight hours, spread out over eight E-slots. The enrichment clusters are small groups of students, who share a similar interest and passion. The enrichment clusters are based on our students' interests, are chosen by the students and are student driven in deciding what product or service will be created by the end of the eighth meeting.
On Friday, as I walked around students were getting their hands dirty, were questioning, exploring, analyzing, coloring, experimenting, drawing conclusions, watching demonstrations, listening, playing, learning to code, thinking creatively, collaborating, discussing safety rules...the list goes on and on. This is how we develop world-class talent at LME.
Please read the summaries below to explore what took place in each specific enrichment cluster. And if you would like to see enrichment clusters in action, please join Mrs. Levitan for a tour this coming Friday, October 17 or October 21 or November 14.
CREATIVITY WITH COLOR
What is Color? The word “COLOR” has many definitions and concepts. Students closed their eyes and shared what they thought color meant to them. There are three basic categories of color theory that are useful. At our first enrichment cluster meeting, we modeled COLOR HARMONY to express color. Color Harmony is defined as pleasing to the eye. This is expressed through music, poetry, and color. From Positive graffiti, to classical movement with color scarves, to discussing artists while exploring with Kaleidoscopes, the students were able use a visual sense to define color. We are excited to see where this journey with colors takes us next.
League of Extraordinary Crafters
We have sixteen excited “Crafters”, most of whom have played Minecraft on various platforms like XBox, Apple Tablets and PC computers. We made a mission statement that lists the guidelines to make our in-game experience enjoyable and kind to all. Reviewing the mission statement will help ensure online safety for all. We watched a YouTube video of the ten greatest builds of all time and saw some amazing buildings. We are making a list of ideas that we can build together as a “league of crafters”. We can't wait until next Friday to start to put our building skills to the test.
TAPE IT UP!
During our first enrichment cluster meeting, we kicked off with a flurry of tape and creativity. The students began with their first service project of creatively taping up pumpkins to be used as decorations at the LME Fall Carnival. This is just one more reason to go to the carnival on November 1st. Come see just how “TAPE IT UP!” taped it up!! There was discussion about design and pattern coordination. Next week, the students will continue with this art project and then explore different duct tape and Washi tape products that can be created during this enrichment cluster of the student’s choosing.
Crazy Chemist and Mad Scientist
The “Crazy Chemist and Mad Scientist” enrichment cluster students explored science by performing many experiments. The students applied the scientific method and worked backwards in conducting the experiments. Then the asked the why and how behind the science. Each of us stuck a straw through a potato (how did they do that?), stuck a skewer through a balloon without popping it (the power of polymers), blended a dollar in the blender to release the iron and then viewed the iron by using a magnet to pull the iron to the side, lit an alcohol absorbed dollar on fire without burning it (did you know alcohol is 30% water?), and so much more. We look forward to creating lab books to document our learning and enjoyed making predictions and drawing conclusions.
Movies, Videos, Reporting…Oh My!
The students in this enrichment cluster were introduced to various types of videos/movies that can be produced. An expert video creator, Roby Brown from RRISD, came in to explain documentaries and movies. Mr. Brown modeled for the students the steps he takes to create media and then the enrichment cluster created our own video by using everyday classroom items, a script, a storyboard and voice overs. Next week, the students will be introduced to WeVideo, an online media tool that was purchased with Excellence Funds, to explore video editing.
Games! Games! Games!
The students in the “Games! Games! Games!” enrichment cluster generated a list of games that are their favorites and games they'd like to learn to play. They also played Mrs. Sorrell's version of tic-tac-toe, learned to play a dice game called Snake Eyes, and used Mrs. Sorrell's phone to play Heads Up! We started developing a calendar for what we'd like to do each week when we meet. We look forward to playing the games and discussing the strategies and types of thinking (convergent, deductive, visual) taking place as the students try out different games.
TO BE OR NOT TO BE
In our first enrichment cluster meeting, the kids first watched five different movie versions of the soliloquy from Hamlet, including one from Laurence Olivier. We noticed the difference in how the speech was said—the pace, the emphasis, and the pauses—as well as the setting of the scene (for example, one was done speaking into a mirror; one was on the edge of a cliff). We talked about how the way you say the words make such a difference. An example of this was a scene that involved being chased through the house by an intruder, but the tone was so matter-of-fact that it wasn’t scary or suspenseful. Another example was the teacher read a definition of a word from the dictionary, but it was frightening because of the tone of voice used when reading the definition. Next, we did a little improv and kids volunteered to “be” a 75-year-old man. The students got to hear how that character reacted to a scene. The kids decided that they would like to perform a play. Next week, we’ll begin choosing which play (or plays) we’ll do, including the possibility of the students writing the play.
During the first meeting of the “Texas Techies” the students introduced to a variety of technology options. There were so many options available, having an opportunity to explore and figure out the different presentation tools was important to the students. The students decided they might want to design a web site OR begin a blog OR create a Google presentation OR present information using Powtoon or a Prezi! And these are only the few options they were introduced to at the first meeting. Some students were so excited about the possibilities; they were going to work on this at home over the weekend. It will be exciting to see where the technology takes us.
Into the Wild: Citizen Scientist
The first enrichment cluster meeting was the introductory meeting. The first item on the agenda was student safety expectations, so this was central to the meeting. Students reviewed safety precautions regarding outdoor learning experiences and reviewed the school's "place" on iNaturalist. Finally, the students had an opportunity to explore the outdoors. They went on a walking field trip through the school's preserve to set a foundation for the scope of items they would like to photograph and identify over the course of the enrichment cluster experience.
During our first enrichment cluster meeting, we started the time together by jumping straight into a team building game called “Cookies in the Cookie Jar”. The students were split into groups and used “cookies” (items in the center of the room) to fill their team's “cookie jar” (hula hoop). The object of the game was to gather one of each item, one at a time, from a list and place it in their team’s “cookie jar”. Teamwork was needed to communicate which items were still needed and where they are located. Teams were allowed to steal cookies from each other’s cookie jar; however that meant their cookie jar was left unguarded. After playing the game once, the students talked about which strategies were successful and what could've been done differently. They played a second time to watch the TEAM work skills improve. Next, the students were shown the "Pulling Together" video. Students discussed what they observed the geese doing in the video and how it applies to their lives in and outside of school. Next, each student told why they chose “TEAM Work” at their enrichment cluster. Also, they brainstormed enrichment cluster names and options for a service or product. With only a few minutes remaining, the students played basketball with a limited number of balls to practice TEAM work skills. It was a very busy, productive and fun time!
LME Software Development Institute
At the first meeting of the “LME Software Development Institute”, the group started off with a collaborative discussion of what programming and what it involves. The students were also asked about what aspect of programming was appealing to them and discussed their vision for the enrichment cluster. Next, we chatted about the tools that could be used to learn programming on our computers and iPads. Some suggestions included code.org and scratch.mit.edu. Mr. Jurecka offered some other suggestions including Inklerwiter (writer.inklestudios.com/). Students were given some time to individually evaluate these resources and share out with the group interesting websites and concepts they found via the interactive touch screen TV. We will use these as a starting point for our next meeting.
On Friday in the “Word Up” enrichment cluster, students quickly discovered the variety of writers within the group. After analyzing the various audiences they wanted to write, create and publish for (parents, teachers, peers, LME) it appeared the written work should address the entire LME community. Students came to the conclusion that a newspaper for Laurel Mountain would allow each of them to write in an area they were passionate about. Likewise, this would make the experience more meaningful and target an authentic audience. Please keep your eyes peeled for The PRIDE Prophet, due to be published school-wide in the upcoming weeks!
Up to Our Ears in Clay!
In the first meeting of the enrichment cluster, we learned the basics of clay creations. The students discovered that there are different types of clay, there are many places where clay is obtained and there are some wonderful ceramic artists all over the world. They also learned how to make a clay creation that will stick together. First, you score the edges and then use water to make slip which allows the clay platelets to stick together. Our first project will be a pinch pot. We also started our potter’s wheel rotation. Each student will get a turn to learn the potter’s wheel and to create their very own pot. We had a squishy fun time!
During our first enrichment cluster meeting, our group watched a couple of videos of children who are making a difference in big and small ways. The students decided to make bookmarks with positive messages. The students made about two dozen bookmarks. We will sneak the bookmarks into popular library books to hopefully bring a smile to someone's face. We decided to change the name of our group to "Mission Kindness" and make t-shirts with that theme on them. We would like to involve the whole school in our missions of kindness.
At the beginning of this enrichment cluster, we brainstormed ideas of what/where we can take this cluster. What do we want to do in this exciting cluster? First and foremost, the class wants to explore with LEGOs. Ideas about creating scale model of various places and famous landmarks...you'll have to wait and see what we actually create. We also discussed building online a virtual design using a Google Lego site. The remainder of the time was spent on creating and building!!! Lots of dialogue and creative building was going on. This is definitely a hands-on/minds-on group!
LME Pet Troupe
The “LME Pet Troupe” had a fun first meeting talking all things pets! We got to meet each other and share what interested us in choosing this enrichment cluster, and then watched a short video on pet care and had some craft, reading, and research time. We spent most of our meeting talking about types of pets and deciding what we would like to do with our remaining seven meetings. The students decided that they want to learn about dogs and cats—specifically about the adoption and foster care process through shelters and rescue organizations, dog grooming, training, and dog shows, and they want to see some dogs. We will have speakers and organizations (with pets!) come teach us about our areas of interest, and hope to provide a product or service that helps pets and people in our community. We look forward to sharing our learning at the showcase in December.
Made from Scratch
In “Made from Scratch”, we spent our first meeting exploring the creative possibilities of ‘Scratch’ programming and learning about the program itself. Some of our members had experience with ‘Scratch’ and shared games and projects they had created previously. We decided that our focus would be to create some sort of learning game that would benefit other elementary students. The programmers decided to split into groups of two or three to benefit from teamwork. Over the next few weeks we will plan out our projects and identify key skills we need develop to complete them.
Lego Stop Motion Film Academy
The “Lego Stop Motion Film Academy” rolled off to a great start. We watched examples of LEGO stop motion films produced by experts, students, and student experts. We discussed the characteristics that make a stop motion film great. We identified the multiple scenes needed to create a 30 second film. Then the students were able to create a hands-on example of frame-by-frame thinking by making a flip book using post-its. They took a simple sequence and broke it down into individual scenes with movement portrayed by slightly adjusting the repetitive scenes.
CSI: Let's Solve Some Mysteries
In “CSI: Let's Solve Some Mysteries”, we discovered where our fingerprints come from and how each of them are different. Students investigated the loops, arches, whorls of their individual fingerprints and then tried to classify some on their own. In thinking like a detective, students observed how different material burned. We looked at the rate that various materials ignited, if smoke was produced, and how a material smells after being close to a flame. Coming this week, students will gather some clues and decide on our mission.