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...

Enrichment Slot (E-slot) is in Full Swing

We just finished our second week of school at Laurel Mountain.  And things are in full swing, including our Enrichment Slot, or E-slot, time that occurs Friday morning from 8:00-9:00.  This is a time when students can explore special topics or projects, based on their interests.  And yes, this happens EVERY Friday at LME.

How do the teachers know what the students are interested in?  During the first few weeks of school EVERY student at Laurel Mountain completes an interest survey.  The surveys contain a list of different areas that we think the students would be interested in.  The students complete the survey but indicating their top ten or five interest areas.  Then, the data is calculated and organized. 

The teachers use the information from interest surveys to come up with different activities during the E-slot. For example, if a class indicated on the interest survey they love to cook, then the teacher might teach the class how to cook a kid-friendly recipe or even ask a parent to come in and demonstrate a family or cultural favorite. 

Here is an example of what Mrs. Castro's Cougars did last week during their second E-slot:

Today the Castro Cougars watched the video based on the book The Dot by Peter Reynolds and had a lively class discussion about how we are all creative in many different ways. Then we decided to put our talents to work to create a work of art using paint. We look forward to a great year of exploring our talents!

Continuing to develop the whole child...