4th and 5th grade Enrichment Cluster Summaries

Friday, December 7 was the eighth and final meeting of our 4th and 5th grade enrichment clusters. Below are the summaries that explain what the enrichment clusters accomplished during their journey.

Printing Imagination Station
The Printing Imagination Station E-Cluster is a hands-on creative way to print your own personalized design. In our e-cluster, we learned about the different ways people first printed books and other important papers. Screen printing is one way to print multiple copies. There are two different ways to print using screens, permanent paint, and our own creative design. The class created, got messy, and in the end created a design that was printed on t-shirts, tote bags, or an apron. The students were engaged, creative, and worked collaboratively during this e-cluster. Special thanks to Mrs. Andrea Loomis, a parent volunteer, for being the “third” set of hands in this e-cluster.

Not Your Average Arts and Crafts
In "Not Your Average Arts and Crafts" cluster, we have had lots of fun making bold and unique arts and crafts. From Lions, to snow globes, to melting crayons, we have created beautiful pieces of art. From using pom-poms to recycled objects, we have had lots and lots of fun creating not your average arts and crafts! We have used so many creative items to make never before seen arts and crafts. It takes a lot of glue and scissors, but it's all worth it!

The Global Food Expedition
The Global Food Expedition experienced cooking and tasting dessert-like recipes from all over the world. We made crepes from France, eirkuchen from Germany, mango mochi from Hong Kong, Irish brown bread from Ireland, tiramisu from Italy, Mexican wedding cookies from Mexico, and pumpkin pie from the United States. In addition to cooking and eating these delicious global foods, we also practiced foundational cooking skills such as appropriately using electric beaters, whipping cream, measuring dry and wet ingredients, breaking eggs, and safely baking items. The students discussed some of the best ways to share their knowledge of global foods in the same ways that professionals might. We decided to create a cookbook with the various recipes we cooked throughout our cluster. Each page of the cookbook shows the ingredients and directions, photos of the final product, and has interesting facts about the country of origin.

LME Computer Institute
The LME Computer Institute has had a very productive 8 weeks. We kicked things off with a group discussion where we determined student interests. Using that information, we started out with the basics of how a computer works, opening up a few to look inside at the various parts and how they all operate together. We also briefly looked at keyboarding and the history of computers. Our cluster members then sketched predictions of what computers might look like in the future.

Our cluster was honored to have two guest speakers. First was Laurel Mountain dad Eric Deal, who spoke about computer architecture including dissecting a hard drive. He also walked us through the mental process of using programming to solve a real-world problem. Second was Laurel Mountain community member David Swofford, who discussed Austin’s vibrant technology history and the amazing things going on right now. He also spoke about careers available in technology and highlighted trends in PC, mobile and social gaming.

Each child selected a product that they wanted to create based on their own interests, and we hope you enjoy the fruits of their labor at the Enrichment Showcase!

Sports Fitness
Fitness is fun!! This semester we played six different sports out of the thirty-six Olympic sports played this past summer. We also learned a new game....Quidditch (yes...from Harry Potter). Will Quidditch be a future Olympic sports? We sure hope so. Special thanks to the three University of Texas Quidditch players that spent time with us. Learning to play Quidditch was a highlight of the clusters for many players.

Stop Motion Animation
The “Stop Motion Animation” enrichment cluster worked in groups of two to three students. They planned a scenario, developed characters, plot, and background before gathering materials to create their scene. Each group drew up a story board complete with details about their characters and background. Then they created the background with cardboard boxes, construction paper, and paint. The characters they created were either built with LEGOs or clay. Each member of the group chose their job responsibilities such as; producer, set design, camera operator, film editor, or production engineer. Next, they set up their scene and took digital still shots with small movements in between. Most groups took 100-300 pictures that they then uploaded to Windows Movie Maker. Some groups added voice-overs using Audacity while others used paper speech bubbles in their digital shots. Their final movies were approximately 10-15 seconds long ranging in topic from "The Great Pumpkin" to "Spaceman"

Cartoon Workshop
The “Cartoon Workshop” enrichment cluster had eight fantastic weeks of cartooning fun. We got to try our hands at character development, story boarding, animation and we even made our own comic books. All of our comic books have different themes and ideas that are all our own. We explored the ideas of our characters and plot to come up with awesome original cartoons that we can't wait to share.

Monsters and Mysteries
We spent the first two meetings talking about monsters--what makes something a monster?--and defining mysteries. We looked at photos and videos of “famous” monsters, including Bigfoot, Yeti, the Loch Ness monster, and Frankenstein’s Monster. The kids generated a list of all the other monsters they had heard of. Each student wrote the monster’s name on a Post-It note and we posted them on the board. We had over 75 monsters! The kids shared information about “their monsters.”

The next five meetings were spent creating monsters. We talked about how each monster needed an origin story. Each student developed a story idea that featured his/her monster as the main character. The last meeting was spent finishing up our monsters and sharing them with the class. We look forward to sharing our monsters!

Future Think
Our future thinkers created societies they believe might be in the future. One of the groups created a Utopian society, while two other groups created societies that were trying to achieve utopia. A lot of fun was had creating these future worlds!

Webmaster Workshop
In the “Webmaster Workshop” enrichment cluster our students explored the how, what and why of web design and learned what a Webmaster does. They worked in teams of two to design, build and publish their own websites. The websites created are intended to be reference sites for other elementary aged students who are interested in video games, mythology, gemstones, animals and other interesting research topics. They even had the opportunity to visit the game creation cluster and have posted links to the games created by these students on their own websites, providing real-world connections between enrichment clusters.

MISSION IMPOSSIBLE: The seQRet treasure hunt
Over the past eight weeks, “MISSION IMPOSSIBLE: The seQRet treasure hunt” has used existing student-created research, photos and other resources to develop a series of "treasure hunts" through the Outdoor Learning Lab (aka: The Preserve). Treasure seekers use smart-technology to scan QR-Codes and read through research and collect artifacts. At the end of each Hunt, the treasure seeker has a set of letters they must unscramble to solve the mystery.

Are Robots are Taking Over?
In the "Are Robots are Taking Over?" enrichment cluster students planned and built robots to help with problems around the school such as hallway monitoring and trash collection. Students gained experience in design and programming using LEGO NTX Mindstorm systems, as well as teamwork and problem solving. Visits from the Westwood Robotics and Round Rock Robotics teams helped to inspire and instruct our members throughout our cluster.

LME Ambassador Society
The LME Ambassador Society had a fun experience working together on products that will serve our community both this year and in the future. We set our purpose during the second week: to craft a plan and product design for welcoming new students and families to Laurel Mountain. We brainstormed ideas for products and services, and ended up dividing into two group; one group who wanted to create a welcome kit for new students and one group who wanted to make a photo book in Microsoft Publisher.

Photo books: The students in this group were interested in taking pictures and using technology to create a sustainable product for new families. They used school maps and a staff directory to figure out who/what to include in the photo book, then divided this list to take pictures of sites and people at Laurel Mountain. Students used netbook laptops to transfer pictures from the digital cameras to the computer, and resized pictures into a Microsoft Publisher book. Each page required a text box explanation of who/what was on the page.

Welcome kits: The 4th and 5th graders in this group discussed ideas for things they could include as a gift for our new students. They had a mixture of interests in this crafty group, so some students worked on making friendship bracelets, some worked on making bottle-cap fortunes (including fortunes, such as “You will make many good friends.”), while others worked to make origami boxes to hold the fortunes and bracelets and complete the kit. They were able to create enough welcome kits for all new students to Laurel Mountain this year, and will be distributing these to new students on 12/17/12 and 12/18/12.

During the last cluster meeting, we had a guest speaker share her experiences as a Guest Relations Manager at the Taj Hotel in Mumbai, India. She spoke of the concierge services and coordination that goes into hosting guests in luxury hotels, as well as how she became interested in hotel services and guest relations. We are excited to share our products and enthusiasm at the Enrichment Cluster Showcase on Friday, December 14!

POWERpoint Cluster
Each student worked toward creating a PowerPoint about them self as they explored various options that are available using the software. They become skilled at adding unique transitions between the slides, adding graphics and pictures and evaluating the characteristics of a quality presentation. It was rewarding to watch students become facilitators as they assisted other members when problems arose or gave feedback regarding editing and ways to improve the presentation. Good job students!

Game-agination
In the last eight weeks we have learned to combine lines of code to make our sprites move across the page, disappear and change color. We have learned how to create backgrounds and move our sprites across the backgrounds. We are well on our way to being game designers. We have also helped out others in our clusters that were having difficulty "debugging code". We are "Scratchers!"

Wild Wild Wildlife Cluster
We started our enrichment cluster by making bird feeders made from suet and peanut butter. We actually mixed and made the suet ourselves. Then some of us took the bird feeders home and hung them in trees with wire cut from coat hangers. The other bird feeders were distributed and hung in trees in the preserve by Mr. Hance and his class.

Our second cluster meeting focused on the different professions that involve working with wildlife. We talked a lot about scientists and scientific inquiry. One of the tools that scientists use is observation. We learned about strict and deduced observations and then went on a scavenger hunt in the preserve to observe ourselves. We then classified the observations we made into strict or deduced observations.

Our third cluster, we spent learning about bird watching. We then went outside and did some watching of our own.

We spent our next cluster meeting with Will Burch from Travis County Parks. He manages the Balcones Preserve. He took us into the preserve and taught us about native Texas plants and animals.

The other cluster meetings we spent time learning about biodiversity and then created a graph to show how many organisms live in each small part of our Earth. The graphing posed some higher level mathematical thinking for the children.

Our last cluster meeting, Mr. Burch returned. He taught us about endangered species in Texas. We had a lively discussion and played a habitat game to help us learn why animals become threatened and then endangered.

Endangered Texas Animals Cluster
The “Endangered Texas Animal” enrichment cluster enjoyed learning from community experts as well as online resources. We also saw live specimens of several Texas endangered reptiles. Among the species we saw were the snapping turtle and the American alligator. We also had an endangered species expert from the Williamson County Museum teach us about the golden cheeked Warbler, the black capped Vireo and the Georgetown salamander. Our final guest was an environmental biologist whom is studying the Georgetown Salamander. We learned how scientists name new species and how animal populations are surveyed and monitored annually. The cluster participants took all this new information and research and choose animal species to research. The products the Laurel Mountain researchers made were 3-D exhibits, power points, photo story presentations and posters.

Creative Clay Creations
Students in the “Creative Clay Creations” enrichment cluster used real life ceramic techniques to make pottery and sculptures with clay. Techniques such as slab, coil, pinch pot and the potter’s wheel enabled them to create a wide variety of work. After creations dried and were fired in the kiln, students glazed their work. Some students decided to donate their work to the Round Rock Empty Bowl Project which will take place in the spring. Their work will be sold and the money will be used to buy food for the Round Rock Food Pantry. These students created QR codes for their work. The QR Code will take parents to a website that has pictures from the cluster and student work.

Treats for the Tweets and Puppies & Pals
We made nutritional treats for dogs, cats, birds, guinea pigs, rabbits, and even horses! Making these was easy, sticky, and lots of FUN! Although some of the treats were smelly & sticky, we still enjoyed ourselves. At our last meeting we decided to make “healthy human” treats. Yummy! We all thought the cluster was awesome!

Cultural Dolls

Last week, on November 20th, was National Children's Day. In honor of this celebration the students in Mrs. Hall's first grade class made dolls representing children around the world.

Students chose a country and researched what children looked like and the clothes they wear. The Hoppers had so much fun decorating the dolls that they continued their learning during E-slot.

The learning continued when students looked through books and researched on the computer to find out information about each country, located the country on a map, created the country's flag, read interesting facts about the country and found out what kind of food the children eat. The Hoppers made children from France, England, India, Mexico South Korea and Hungary.

They had so much fun that some students even decided to check out books from the library to continue their learning at home. Mrs. Hall's class enjoyed discovering how children all over the world are different but still the same in many ways.

Continuing to develop the whole child....

Is a Horse an Authentic Audience?

Is a horse an authentic audience?  She is when she received a special treat from Treats for the Tweets and Puppies and Pals, one of our 4th and 5th grade enrichment clusters. This enrichment cluster is interested in cooking, but cooking for animals. 

Throughout the cluster meetings, the students make all sorts of animal treats from different recipes.  The students decide what animal they want to cook for, find a recipe and create!  This past week the students decided on horses.  A recipe was found and the treats were made.  Now, the next step was to find a horse to partake in the delicious treats. 

Mrs. Myrick, one of our 5th grade teachers, owns a beautiful horse named Fannie.  Fannie was the lucky recipient of the special treats.  And as you can see from the pictures below, I think Fannie approved and gave the work of the students two hooves up. 

Continuing to develop the whole child...

Batty about Research

In second grade, Ms. Rumpf's Respectful Bats researched bats.  They followed the Independent Investigative Method (IIM) research model. IIM is an easy to use method that helps students organize and learn the research process.  The students made a variety of products to show what they had learned about bate.  These included dioramas, a game, a poster, a KPAW script with props, a brochure, a word search and a maze.

The students learned about so much about the research process and about bats.  The best part was that their research was displayed at the Zilker Botanical Gardens on November 3-4, 2012 for the Austin Community to see.  The Respectful Bats won the First Place Prize in the educational information category!  Way to go bats!

Continuing to develop the whole child...

Gears and 3rd Grade

Over the past several weeks, I have been making my way around the third grade working with the students on one of the simple machines, gears.  We are using LEGO kits to help teach us the concepts of gears and see how gears work.

The students have or will learn that a gear is a toothed wheel and that gears work when they are meshed with something else (like a chain or another gear).  We also talk about the terms drive, driven, gearing up, gearing down and idler gear.  My hope is that the students can use this knowledge for a better understanding of simple machines and when building with the NXT kits in 5th grade.

Continuing to develop the whole child...

THANK YOU!!!

The Schoolwide Enrichment Model at Laurel Mountain is a group effort. It really does take a village (teachers, paraprofessionals, students, parents, administrators, community members) to make it all happen. Thank you to our family and community SEM supporters. Continuing to develop the whole child...

Karen Bendelman, LME community member and helper in LME Computer Institute, a 4th and 5th grade enrichment cluster.

Polly Chan and Winston Chiang, LME parents who donated the awesome umbrella for the 3rd grade garden.

Wendy Chan, LME parent and presenter on Hong Kong cuisine to Global Food Expedition, a 4th and 5th grade enrichment cluster.

Eric Deal, LME parent, webmaster for our SEM website, enrichment cluster sorter for 4th and 5th grade students, helper in LME Computer Institute AND presenter in Webmaster Workshop, 4th and 5th grade enrichment clusters.

Loraine Gatson, LME parent and presenter on Irish cuisine to Global Food Expedition, a 4th and 5th grade enrichment cluster.

Dan Herman, Firefighter and LME parent, who talked to Kindergartens about fire safety.

Joyce Hewett, LME parent and helper in Mrs. Nguyen’s 2nd grade class with the LEGO WeDo.

Pete Hewett, LME parent and presenter to Mrs. Miranda’s kindergarten class on juggling.

Andrea Loomis, LME parent and presenter on German/Austrian/French cuisine to Global Food Expedition and helper in Printing Imagination Station, 4th and 5th grade enrichment clusters.

Chunyan Pei, LME parent and presenter to Mrs. Trejo’s 4th grade class on Chinese culture.

Dolores Rumpf, Ms. Rumpf’s mother and presenter to Ms. Rumpf’s and Mrs. Nguyen’s 2nd grade classes on the voting process.

Teresa Nusbaum, community member from the Williamson County Museum and presenter to Endangered Texas Animals, a 4th and 5th grade enrichment cluster.

Jenny Shepherd, LME parent and help with Webmaster Workshop, a 4th and 5th grade enrichment cluster.

Wei Li-Sialm and Clemens Sialm, LME parents, who donated a wagon to the 3rd grade garden.

David Swofford, LME community member and presenter to LME Computer Institute, a 4th and 5th grade enrichment cluster.

Traci Wallace, LME parent and presenter to Mrs. Hieronymus’ 3rd grade class on cooking with Swiss Chard from the 3rd grade garden.

Seth Wallace, LME parent who donated his time to put the wagon together for the 3rd grade garden.

Becca Wassmuth, LME parent and presenter to Mrs. Nguyen’s 2nd grade class on Yoga.

Whole Foods, LME supporter and Fish Monger presenters during 1st grade’s Ocean Day.

Global Games

Going Global is a theme of Laurel Mountain's this school year. Check out how Mrs. Hall's first grade class combined the class interest of games with a global perspective.

During our e-slot today we combined our interest in games and a global perspective to have a lot of fun. We researched different games that children play around the world. The Hoppers explored different ways to play hop scotch and a game like jacks that has different variations in other countries. We learned and played a game called Statue from Greece, Pilolo from Ghana, Skippyroo Kangaroo from Australia, Kim's game from England and more. Another Hopper, who used to live in Argentina, brought and showed us how to play La Taba. We covered the map with lots of games and will continue to teach others to play at recess! Let's Play!

Continuing to develop the whole child...

Visitors and New Friends

This morning, we had the pleasure of hosting four administrators from Richardson ISD in the Dallas area and three administrators from our very own Round Rock ISD. Our visitors from Richardson were Brenda Patne, Chris Goodson, John Feekin (Elementary Executive Directors of Instruction and Operations) and Charis Hunt (Elementary Executive Director College and Career Readiness). Our visitors from RRISD were Dr. Martha Salazar-Zamora (Deputy Superintendent of Instruction and Curriculum), Carla Amacher, Assistant Superintendent) and Robbin Gesch (Student Services and College and Career Readiness). We had a great time touring the 4th and 5th grade enrichment clusters and the Friday E-slots taking place in grades K-3.

Our visitors had the opportunity to see first-hand the excitement and engaged learning that takes place at Laurel Mountain. They had a chance to talk to the students and had the students explain what they were working on. We witnessed the cuisine of Ireland being discussed, the rules of basketball being reviewed, puppet shows being prepared, games from around the world being played, pumpkin measuring taking place, ice cream being created, clay bowls being sculpted, websites being designed, Guinea Pig food being prepared, to just name I few (I really could go on and on).

Our course, our visitors were impressed by our students and staff. They were blown-away with the variety of activities taking place and those activities were based on STUDENT INTERESTS. They commented on how Laurel Mountain feels warm, inviting and fun. It was hard to get them out of a classroom and on to the next stop on our tour.  They noticed that the students are engaged in their learnning and how they are working in different groups with different responsibilities. They commented on the creativity of our students.

After the tour was over, we were able to sit down, visit and answer their questions. We had a great discussion about the importance of using a strength based model in schools and how the work we are doing with SEM is so important. Giving our kids a chance to work in areas of interest is so powerful and vital.

So, thank you to our new and "old" friends for taking time out of your VERY busy Friday to spend a little enrichment time with us at Laurel Mountain.

Continuing to develop the whole child...

SEM Goals for 2012-2013

Every year, we set goals for SEM at Laurel Mountain. There are several areas we want to continue, some improvement areas and new adventures as well. Below is the list of our 2012-2013 goals. Continuing to develop the whole child....

 

2012-2013 Schoolwide Enrichment Model Goals

• Math Compacting: Mrs. Levitan will provide math enrichment through compacting in grades 2, 3 and 4.
• Outdoor Learning: The primary goal for Outdoor Learning is to continue to integrate subjects into our outdoor spaces in a way that establishes a repeatable, sustainable model for our district. Already this year, students and parent volunteers built three new beds in the Edible Garden and an Eagle Scout project has provided us with two new outdoor classrooms in the Outdoor Learning Preserve. Additional projects are in the planning stage that will help reinforce outdoor learning a central piece of our learning model.
• Primary Education Thinking Skills (PETS): Mrs. Levitan will continue to teach the PETS lessons in grades 1st, 2nd grade and 3rd grade. This year, she will work on extending the PETS lessons into our 4th grade classrooms.
• LEGO Educational Kits: Students will continue to have an opportunity during the school day to learn with the LEGO Educational Kits. Mrs. Levitan, our Enrichment Coordinator, will teach: the 5th students a workshop with the NXT Mindstorm Kits, the 4th graders a workshop with the LEGO Simple Machine kits, and the 3rd grade students a workshop using LEGO Simple Machine Educational kits. 1st and 2nd grade will continue to work with the WeDo Kits. In kindergarten, the students will have a chance during E-slot and enrichment clusters to explore the LEGO Educational Kits.
• Philanthropy Mentoring Program: Continue to develop and grow our Philanthropy Mentoring Program, with the help of our parents and community members. This program provides a student, teacher and/or class with a Philanthropy Mentor to offer a helping hand through a project that focuses on the giving of one's time, talent or treasure for the sake of another or for the common good.
• Independent Investigative Method (IIM): The Independent Investigative Method of research will continue to be used in all grade levels K-5. We will focus on increasing the level of questioning in the students research questions by focusing on Bloom’s Taxonomy and Kaplan’s Depth and Complexity Model. We will increase the quality of authentic products made by the students to show what they have learned throughout their research.
• Collaboration: Mrs. Levitan will continue to collaborate with teachers in a variety of areas, such as using the Renzulli Learning System, IIM, service learning, enrichment clusters, enrichment slot activities, Philanthropy Mentoring Program, compacting math enrichment, PETS lessons and many others. This allows LME to reach all of our diverse learners.
• Total Talent Portfolio (TTP): We will continue and improve on building and utilizing each child's TTP. Communicate contents with parents during conference and throughout the year.
• Renzulli Learning System (RLS): Teachers and students will continue to utilize the Renzulli Learning System within the classroom by creating projects and assignments completed by students. We will increase our student and teacher usage from last year.
• Service Learning: We will continue to make Service Learning a focus within our classrooms, enrichment clusters and E-slot activities.
• Enrichment Clusters: In grades K-5, students will continue to participate in Enrichment Clusters for 6-8 weeks. We will continue to offer a wide variety of topics based on student’s interests. We will work towards more student driven clusters guaranteeing that each enrichment cluster round is different since the students participating are different. Furthermore, we will work on developing more student driven authentic products and services by focusing on what would the enrichment cluster look like in the “real world”.
• Enrichment cluster Tours: We will continue our Enrichment Cluster Tours for parents and interested community members. These tours allow our parents to witness enrichment clusters in action.
• Parent and/or community experts: We will continue to utilize parent and/or community experts assist with enrichment, enrichment clusters or Enrichment slots (E-slots) taking place in the classroom.
• Communication: Continue to communicate with parents and community through website, E-news, blog, email and Parent University classes.

Enrichment Clusters Have Begun!

The fourth and fifth grade students at Laurel Mountain began their journey in their enrichment clusters this past Friday, October 12, 2012. Enrichment clusters provide our students the opportunity to pursue an interest in a small group setting. The enrichment clusters for these students will last until December 7, with an Enrichment Cluster Showcase on December 14, 2012. This year, the fourth and fifth graders were able to choose from nineteen different enrichment clusters. Out of the 296 fourth and fifth grade students, 201 were matched with their first choice, 63 were matched with their second choice, 25 were matched with their third choice and 7 were matched with their fourth choice. Below are the summaries from the first enrichment cluster meetings.

Are Robots Taking Over???? In our first enrichment cluster meeting, the members of the "Are Robots Taking Over????" explored some of the ways robots assist people with problems in everyday life. We saw examples of robotic cars, games, and even social robots that help with tasks like babysitting or caring for the elderly. The kids brainstormed a list of real problems here at LME and how a robot might be able to help. Next week we will begin the design phase, planning how robotics can make a difference in our experience here at school.

Printing Imagination Station: For our first Enrichment cluster, we talked about ways people first printed books and other important papers. Screen printing is one way to print multiple copies. We watched a video by Bill Nye the Science Guy on early printing. Next, we learned the steps of screen printing. There are two basic ways. Now for the fun part, each student printed two book marks and began creating artwork that may be used for printing. The students are excited about the possibilities of creating their own design to be used on a t-shirt/tote bag/ or apron. Let imagination begin...

Monsters and Mysteries: We entered through a partially-covered doorway into a dark room. We brainstormed all the different things we think of when we hear the word “monster.” The kids listed them on Post-It notes and we put them on the board, and then categorized them. Mr. Holmstrom told a scary, scary story. He also had a box with something in it, something that made a loud thumping noise when the box was shaken. We still wonder what was in there. We know that next week we’ll be talking about the Loch Ness monster, Sasquatch, and Yeti.

Future Think: The “Future Think” enrichment cluster had a blast into the future! We divided into groups and created worlds we thought might be around in the future!

Global Food Expedition: The “Global Food Expedition” got to experience a European staple during our first cluster meeting. Mrs. Loomis came and taught us how to cook three different versions one of Europe's favorite dish: Eirkuchen, an egg-based German pastry, Crepes, the lighter French version, and Emperor's Mash, the meringue-based Austrian version. Not only did we get to cook and eat these three delicious global foods, but we also got to practice some foundational cooking skills such as measuring dry and wet ingredients, breaking eggs, using a spatula to flip the frying pastries, and decorating a lovely plated dish. The students discussed some of the best ways to share their knowledge of global foods in the same ways that professionals might. Some of their ideas are cook books, cooking shows, and for friends and family in their homes. Everyone has the job of thinking about foods from other cultures or more European dishes they may like to explore in the future.

QR-Code: At our first meeting, we defined "QR-Code", demonstrated how they are created, and showed how they can be used in treasure hunting on campus. Students were then grouped in teams of 3 or 4 and sent on a (paper-clue based) treasure hunt through our Preserve, Edible Garden and other outdoor learning spaces. Next week, the cluster will include an interactive lesson giving students directions for creating QR-Codes. Additionally, students will identify areas and research projects in our outdoor spaces they wish to include in the seQRet treasure hunt they create.

The Sports Fitness– Inspire a Generation: “The Sports Fitness– Inspire a Generation” enrichment cluster is a high energy group of students. We introduced ourselves and shared our interest about one of the 36 sports played this past summer at the Olympics. We watched snip-its of videos from the 2012 Olympic events before noting our favorites. Some of the top choices include athletics (track and field), basketball, football/soccer, hockey and more. We ended our time doing what we like to do most….participating in a sport.

Cartoon Workshop: What a great time the “Cartoon Workshop” had for our first cluster meeting. We watched a few quick videos by cartoonists and learned how animation works with both clay and drawings. Our new cartoonists then made up their own cartoon characters which they then shared with the class. Some characters were funny, others scary, but all were awesome. We had a great time and we'll be doodling and cartooning again next week.

LME Computer Institute: Our enrichment cluster had a very successful meeting. We started things off with a discussion about how much computers are part of our daily lives. Next, we moved on to an interactive history of computers, seeing their humble beginnings and how they have changed over the years.

Mr. Jurecka mentioned that today's newest gadgets will seem like ancient history in just a few short years and to illustrate the point, he showed a video of modern kids attempting to interact with early 1980's technology like a tape deck and vintage personal computer. It was an eye-opener for many of them!

The enrichment cluster also opened some modern computers, looked inside and examined how the individual parts work together. Finally, we predicted what computers will look like in the future and sketched out our thoughts.

Topics of interest for future meetings included making video games, typing / keyboard shortcuts, how to make a computer from parts, how to program computers, how to fix computers, how apps are made, creating web pages, and learning what a virus is. We're going to be busy exploring the world of COMPUTERS!

POWERpoint Cluster: The "POWERpoint Cluster" began by creating a list of what we knew how do using the PowerPoint Software and what we wanted to learn how to do. Then, members worked on sample PowerPoint presentations, adding information about themselves and Laurel Mountain. We decided that it would be a terrific idea to create a power point introducing LME to our new families; we want to duplicate it on CD's and distribute copies to our new friends. There are so many possibilities!

Webmaster Workshop: The “Webmaster Workshop” started off with a presentation on what a webmaster is, a brief history of the Internet, why we create websites, the three main steps for creating a website, and do's and don'ts for website creation. The students were very engaged and had a lot of insight into websites and how they work. After the presentation each student shared what it was they were hoping to do in the cluster and online games was a prevalent theme. With this information, the students started brainstorming about what their cluster 'product' would be. The students decided they wanted to create a website where other Laurel Mountain students could go when researching for IIM projects. The students are going to individually or in pairs, create research content for a page on their website, which is going to be called, www.multiimfo.weebly.com. Next week the students will begin creating content for their pages and designing a logo for the website.

Treats for the Tweets and Puppies & Pals: Today we had fun making stinky, goopy catnip treats for cats! We learned that cats love catnip – just like how we love our favorite candy and that catnip is a member of the mint family. We worked in teams and learned how to follow a recipe, double ingredients, measure, mix and bake. We cleaned up really well and voted on what we wanted to do next Friday.

WILD WILD WILDLIFE Cluster: In this enrichment cluster, we talked about how different organizations such as Metro Goldwyn Mayer (movie corporation), our school and Canyon Vista use wild animals as mascots. We decided this was because most people like the freedom and strength these wild creatures exhibit. We then brainstormed the different jobs that people can hold that have an interest in wild animals.

Today we focused on the job of scientist. Mrs. Jackson taught us about two types of observations: strict observations and deductive observations. Strict observations are easily seen and right in front of you. Deductive observations are observations that require you to make an inference. One example that we thought of was when you see a leaf with part of a leaf missing, which could indicate that an insect has been eating it. Even though we did not see the insect, we can deduce that it was there.

We then went into the preserve to make some strict and deductive observations of our own. The kids carried magnifying glasses and a clipboard with a paper that stated different things to look for. We saw many interesting things including snails, scat, animal tracks, signs of human interaction, shells, fossils, tadpoles and wild mushrooms. Stay tuned for what else this wild group will discover.

LME Ambassador Society: The LME Ambassador Society was greeted at the door in person by Mrs. Justice and crowned with colorful beaded necklaces, much like in the Hawaiian culture who welcome visitors with flowered necklaces, or lei’s. We took some time introducing ourselves, talking about our backgrounds, and discussing why we were interested in this cluster. We were encouraged to hear that many of us share an interest in helping other people, making new friends, and helping new students feel welcome at our school. Some of us were interested in technology, while others shared a passion for creative and artistic products.

We spent most of our time today taking part in a culture-shock simulation, called “Bafa Bafa”, where we were immersed into a new culture of trading people (the “Betas”) who spoke a different language and used body gestures to communicate with each other. We got to learn their customs and basic language, and then were set off on a task of trading colored and numbered cards in an attempt to make a set, which helped us gain social status and make friends. Many of us found this task to be quite difficult since our native backgrounds were so different from the culture of the Betas, and we often reverted to our familiar verbal and body language customs with others “like us” to have more effective communication and help us feel more comfortable within the new culture of Beta. We debriefed the activity at the end of the cluster. We discovered that our successful and frustrating experiences in joining the Beta culture are probably very similar to the experience that students new to Laurel Mountain might be going through when they first come to our school.

We look forward to using our creative, technological strengths and helping personalities to craft a plan and product design for welcoming students to Laurel Mountain in the many years to come. Stay tuned for exciting developments as we take an eight week cluster and transform into… the Ambassador Society.

Game-agination: The students wrote down the reason they chose this cluster. Most wrote that they like games, especially computer and video games like Mindcraft. Some wrote that they liked other games like cards or sports.

The next task was actually writing down all the different kinds of games they could think of. The students wrote a game name down on a sticky and categorized them up on the white board. The categories that were grouped after this activity include: computer games; video games; board games and sports. Mindcraft was the most popular game submitted.

Mrs. Marshall surveyed the group to find out if they would like to play Mindcraft as part of this cluster. She is going to explore the feasibility of the group being able to play online during cluster time.

In addition to other games mentioned, Mrs. Marshall and Mrs. Kaplan introduced a role playing game called Argyle and Crew. It is about sock puppets or Soppets that come to life and have adventures. Each student was able to select a sock and some extra features such as eyes, mouths, hats etc. The students began designing their Soppets. At home, the students will finish making their Soppets and write down characteristics of them. The characteristics may include where they get special powers from; what their strengths are ; what their weaknesses (flaws) are; what they look like and how they act.

Not Your Average Arts and Crafts: In “Not Your Average Arts and Crafts”, students worked in groups of three to make a piece of art out of recycled materials such as toilet paper tubes, plastic jugs, paint, apple juice bottles, bowls, cups and paper. The theme for their piece of art was anything that represented Laurel Mountain. Interestingly enough, all five groups produced different types of lions. Next week, we will continue to create works of art and decide what our product or service will be.

Texas Endangered Animals: Our cluster got off to a great start with Ms. Teresa Nusbaum from the Williamson County Museum. Teresa taught us about several endangered animal species found in Williamson County. We learned about the sneaky cowbird that threatens Black Capped Vireo’s. We also learned how loss of habitat has endangered golden cheeked warblers. Finally she told us about the Georgetown Salamander. Some people think they are endangered, while others do not. We are excited to explore the chest of endangered animal resources Teresa left for us to explore.

Cool Clay Creators: Clay, clay, clay! Where does it come from? What can you make? The enrichment cluster, “Cool Clay Creators” (cleverly named by the students here at LME), introduced techniques and processes in the clay process. Each student will have the opportunity to “throw” on the potter’s wheel and then create additional hand-formed pottery using the “score” and “slip” technique.

Stop Motion Animation: The "Stop Motion Animation" enrichment cluster rolled off to a great start. We viewed several examples of stop motion films created by adults like Wallace & Gromit and examples produced by other LME students. We discussed and identified the characteristics of a stop motion type film and how it is created. Students listed the characteristics, like using multiple scenes and simple story lines. Then they used post-it notes to create a flip book. They took a simple sequence, like throwing a ball, and broke it down into individual scenes portrayed by slightly adjusting the repetitive scenes.

Watch Our Gardens Grow

At Laurel Mountain, we have many outdoor learning spaces. During our E-slot last week, several classes spent the hour gardening. Check out the pictures below.

Ms. Lofaro's 2nd grade class: Ms. Lofaro's Leapfrogs planted their seeds in the Edible Garden today! We decided to plant baby romaine lettuce in our section of the second grade plot. The other classes will be planting spinach next week. We can't wait to watch our lettuce grow.

Mr. Hance: We've been working hard to get in the groove during this fall planting cycle. Six classes did garden work this past Friday and it will be fun to see their progress. Those classes were Mrs. Hein (5th), Mr. Hance (4th), Ms. Gordon (4th), Ms. O'Neal (4th), Mr. Brinkman (4th) and Ms. Lofaro (2nd).

LME's Top Ten Lists

Children come to school to learn about the world. They also come to school to learn about themselves. Laurel Mountain is committed to helping students develop an understanding of their own interests and talents. Our ultimate goal is to help children develop interests and understand how they can share their talents with the world.

The interest surveys help our teachers focus on their students’ interests, learning more about them as individuals and as a class. This, in turn, helps build classroom relationships we value at Laurel Mountain. Knowledge from the interest surveys also guides the enrichment clusters and E-slot activities on Friday mornings.

At the beginning of the school year, each student completed an interest survey in which they were asked to select their top five to ten interests. The K/1st grade survey consists of 19 different pictures, ranging from pets to outer space. The 2nd/3rd grade survey has 77 different categories while the 4th/5th grade survey has129 categories. The number of categories increases as children get older and are exposed to new experiences and information.

Following are the survey results by grade level. The number following the topic are the number of students who selected that interest from the interest survey. Continuing to develop the whole child.

Kindergarten Top 6 Interests
Computers - 53
Pets - 48
LEGOs - 47
Cooking - 47
Puzzles and Games - 38
Rocks and Minerals - 38

1st Grade Top 5 Interests
Arts and crafts - 51
Science - 49
Computers - 41
Pets - 41
Cooking – 40

2nd Grade Top 10 Interests
LEGO building - 60
Pets - 48
Arts and Crafts - 46
Magic - 43
Playing games - 37
Playing sports - 37
Cooking - 36
Robotics - 34
Pottery - 32
Painting – 30

3rd Grade Top 11 Interests
Magic - 55
LEGO building - 52
Robotics - 45
Cooking - 40
Playing games - 38
Pottery - 37
Arts and crafts - 35
Playing sports - 33
Pets - 29
Dinosaurs and fossils – 28
Claymation - 28

4th Grade Top 10 Interests
LEGO building - 56
Playing games - 40
Cooking - 40
Robotics - 38
Pets - 33
Movie making - 33
Magic - 33
Arts and crafts - 33
Wild animals - 31
The future – 30

5th Grade Top 11 Interests
Robotics - 41
Cooking - 35
Creating websites - 34
Pottery - 30
LEGO building - 30
Pets - 28
Animation on the computer - 28
Monsters and mysteries - 27
Wild animals - 26
Acting - 23
Playing sports - 23

The Enrichment Continues

Fridays are always very engaging and exciting at Laurel Mountain because of our Enrichment Slot, or E-slot.  The E-slot happens every Friday from 8:00-9:00 am.  This is a time for enrichment, a time for students to explore an area of interest, a time for the students to explore their talents.  Below is a small sampling of the fantastic E-slots that took place last Friday.

Mr. Hance's 5th Grade Class: We had a great E-slot today as we paired up with Mrs. Rung's 2nd grade class. It was a lot of fun for our fifth graders to take on the role of "teacher" or mentor to the younger students. We placed Alka-Seltzer in film canisters with a little water inside and timed how long it would take for the lids to pop off. The kids really enjoyed it. We recorded our data based on the amount of water and the size of the tablets. The students our turning into some great science predictors.

Mrs. Neely's 1st Grade Class: My class really enjoyed their e-slot today. Yesterday they listed a long list of fish they wanted to learn about. I told them we did not have time to research that many fish as a class but we could do independent research for e-slot. They were thrilled with the idea so off to the computer lab we went this morning. Check out our finished products. The gnomes are very proud!

Mr. Hance and Mrs. Ferriola's 2nd Grade TAG Class: This morning as Mr. Hance was huffing and puffing in the garden and Mrs. Ferriola walked by and said that her second grade TAG students were about to design some of their own garden beds on graph paper.

He told her that was an awful idea because we had beds to design in the garden and he needed them to help! He quickly sent her the layout for the beds, the sizes he was planning, and a quick breakdown of the "3-4-5" method that explains how to "set a corner" when you build something. The 3-4-5 method is based on the Pythagorean theorem and says that to set a corner, pick a spot, measure 3-feet in one direction, 4-feet on a perpendicular line and if the distance between the two far points equals 5 feet, you have created a right angle.

Mrs. Ferriola delivered her mini-lesson in class and then they met Mr. Hance in the garden. The students set to work, measured 6" off the sidewalk (which corresponds with our other stone beds) and set their corner. Attached is a picture of proud LME second graders at work, hammering their first stake away from their very well formed corner.

About half-way through, one of the students said, "Mr. Hance, why are we even doing this?" He explained that the bed they were framing was going to be constructed by 5th graders, and that for the rest of their time at LME and beyond, it was also their bed.  What fun, what an adventure...

Mrs. Campbell and Mrs. Markle's 3rd Grade Class: This morning Mrs. Markle and Mrs. Campbell's were in the science lab experimenting with fruit to see which fruit would sink or float. They spent 90 minutes experimenting and TALKING a lot about the whys of everything.

Continuing to develop the whole child...

E-slot Fun

Fridays are always full of excitement here at Laurel Mountain. Of course the weekend is near, but on Fridays we have our Enrichment Slot, or E-slot, from 8:00-9:00 am. Here is a little sampling of some different enrichment activities that took place over the past two weeks.

Ms. Lofaro's second grade class: Ms. Lofaro's Leapfrogs prepared for working in the Edible Garden by learning more about plant needs and practicing planting seeds. We let Miss Frizzle lead the way to teach us that plants need soil, sunlight, water and air. Then we ventured outside to check out our plot. We learned that the graden is organic, we have 2 composts and we also collect rain water. Then, we used one of our top interests, cooking, to practice planting seeds. We made a chocolate mousse dirt pudding and dropped mini chocolate chips into the "moist soil" to plant our "seeds". Then, we covered them over with with the soil and added some crushed oreo "dry soil" on top. Of course we added a gummy worm so that our soil would have extra nutrients. We can't wait to plant our seeds in LME's Edible Garden!

Mrs. Castro's fifth grade class: The Castro Courgars spent time in the Edible Garden.

First graders were busy making their fish for Ocean Day. The first grade hallway is now an ocean.

Mrs. Castro's fifth grade class drew self portraits. Very impressive!

Mrs. Watson and Mrs. Heironymus' third grade classes worked throught he scientific process using "Oobleck" that they made.

Did you know that raisens can dance?  Mrs. Annette Lee's kindergarten class loves science and they watched their raisens get down and boogie!



Continuing to develop the whole child...



Dot Day

Every year on September 15, innovative educators around the world celebrate International Dot Day by making time to encourage their students’ creativity. Dot Day was created by Peter Reynolds, who is a NY Times best-selling author and illustrator, a renowned public speaker, and the founder of FableVision, Inc. He is best known as the author and illustrator of dozens of children’s books published in over 20 languages, including The Dot. Peter inspires kids and "grown up kids" with his messages about authentic learning, creativity, and self-expression.

Take a look at how many Laurel Mountain students celebrated International Dot Day, a day early, and how we are all learning to make our mark.

Third graders make a class dot.

 

Second graders make dots out of slime.

 

Students make their mark.

Third graders make clay dots.


 

More examples of second graders making their individual marks.

Some second graders make their dots on canvas. 

Another example of a whole class dot. 

Our kindergartners make their mark. 

And even get a dot snack.  Yum!!!

Dots, dots everywhere....

Mr. Holmstrom, one of our fantastic fifth grade teachers, knows how to make his mark. 

These fifth graders are very creative!

Finally, Mrs. Prentice, one of wonderful kindergarten teachers, wins the "award" for making the biggest mark on International Dot Day.  Check out her outfit, full of all sorts of dots.  Even her shoes had dots!

At Laurel Mountain, we believe in and understand the importance of creativity.  And we encourage all of our students (and teachers) to make their mark everyday.

Continuing to develop the whole child...