We save the best for last at Laurel Mountain. The kindergarten and 1st grade enrichment clusters started last Friday and the students were excited and ready to learn. Please read below for a summary of what each enrichment cluster did during the meeting and what they plan to accomplish over the next two meetings. Our youngest students will get to participate in another enrichment cluster for three weeks starting on Friday, April 22nd. Our goal in the younger grades is to gives these children an opportunity to explore areas of interest and expose them to a variety of interest areas. And having them participate in two enrichment clusters in kindergarten and another two in first grade accomplishes this goal. At Laurel Mountain we believe in giving all of our students an opportunity to explore areas of interest DURING the school day and this is another thing that creates our world-class talent.
LEGO: Everything is Awesome
Everything really was AWESOME in our first meeting of the “LEGO: Everything is Awesome” enrichment cluster. The kids were working together in three small groups building and creating. Fun was had sorting the LEGOs (Math!), helping friends find a piece, and building something new and creative. Some of the kids have never worked with LEGOs without using a guide. One person said, "I never knew playing with LEGOs could be so fun." For the next two meetings we will continue to create and build with different challenges.
Origami Fun
Today during our first session of the “Origami Fun”, we talked about our experiences with origami and looked at a variety of paper origami models! We also learned that Origami comes from Japanese words meaning “to fold paper”. We followed step-by-step directions on a website, www.en.origami-club.com to learn some origami-folding techniques. After that we made the face of a dog and a cat. Everyone did a great job and our paper friends were so cute! Students will be beginning with simple models and move on to more complicated levels. We cannot wait to make our wonderful creations next week!
Amazing Paper Airplanes
In the first “Amazing Paper Airplanes” enrichment cluster, we made a basic model called the Arrow together. We talked about folds, symmetry, elevator flaps, and wings. We made several samples of the Arrow so that we could save the best one in our Airplane Hangar and take the rest home. We then practiced our flying technique and found out it's better to throw the airplane gently. Most of the students felt their planes flew really well. We talked about some things we could do to trouble shoot if the planes keep diving or spinning. Next time we will make a harder model.
Out of This World
Three, two, one, liftoff! Our space friends participated in four different space stations: space books and stamps, space puzzles of all types and sizes, space sticker booklets, and hands on space toys/rockets. The manifest listed twelve kindergarten students and six first graders on board. Stay tuned to our next space adventure!
Animal House
Our enrichment cluster had a great time at our first meeting! We dived right in and watched a video so we could meet several wild animals. Students were then able to pick their favorite to research further using books and the iPads (online resource Pebble Go). Each kiddo filled out a simple form with the name of the animal and a quick sketch. Then we learned where the animal lives, what they like to eat, and one interesting fact. In our remaining two meetings, we're going to build clay models and create puppets of our animals. At our last meeting, kids will share out their findings with a quick puppet show!
Hocus Pocus
It was a magical time in the first meeting of the “Hocus Pocus” enrichment cluster! We explored new vocabulary and practiced our presentation skills as we learned two exciting illusions. We will perfect these “tricks” and more using cards, cups and other simply supplies in our next two meetings of the “Hocus Pocus” enrichment cluster!
Reading Garden Party
The members of the “Reading Garden Party” enrichment cluster went to have a look at the Reading Garden. We saw lots of beautiful art there and noticed that there was room for more. We introduced ourselves to our new friends and shared thoughts about reading books outside. Everyone liked the idea of making the Reading Garden even more beautiful so we painted water bottles to make colorful flowers. Next week we’ll finish our flowers and design interesting painted rocks to add to the garden. Then we’ll make plans to celebrate with a Book Party at our final meeting.
Sybil's Sensational Science Experiments
During our first enrichment cluster meeting we introduced ourselves and Sybil the Scientist, brainstormed what scientists do and how they stay safe and then got to the fun part...EXPERIMENTS! The students made predictions and observed what raisins would do when placed in club soda. They quickly noticed that the soda was filled with bubbles. The raisins initially sunk to the bottom of the cup. Excitement filled the room as the raisins began to "dance" in the club soda. We answered questions about what made the raisins move, discovered that bubbles are pockets of air and then tested other objects in the club soda to see if the results would be similar. We also predicted and observed what would happen to the raisins in water, water with baking soda, and water with baking soda and vinegar. Good think we safely secured our goggles during that explosively good time! At the end of our first cluster meeting we took time to share new discoveries we'd made and brainstormed a list of activities the students are interested in doing during our next two enrichment cluster meetings. Working from their interests, new experiments and tests will be performed during our next 2 cluster times together.
LME Production Company
The “LME Production Company” got right to work creating our "productions" during our first cluster meeting. We started by watching some examples of stop motion, claymation and Toontastic cartoons. Then the directors decided whether they would work alone or in groups, which app they would use to produce their movie and what their movie would be about. After all our brainstorming we got our hands on the iPads by making a Chatterpic videos of ourselves sharing our movie plan.
The next two weeks we will do the hard but creative work of making our movies, polishing them and sharing them with others. Watch out for exciting plots from flying dinosaurs, busy beaver kits, hatching chicks and growing butterflies. We have directors and stars in the making at the “LME Production Company”!
The next two weeks we will do the hard but creative work of making our movies, polishing them and sharing them with others. Watch out for exciting plots from flying dinosaurs, busy beaver kits, hatching chicks and growing butterflies. We have directors and stars in the making at the “LME Production Company”!
Games Galore
For our very first meeting of “Games Galore”, we spent time talking about games. What do you know about games? What categories are there for games? What makes a game fun and one you want to try again? What makes a great game player? What if someone does not play fair? Do you always need a game board and game pieces? With seventeen game players in the group, it was a fun discussion! Then we played some of our favorite games like Candyland, Chutes and Ladders, and Memory. We also enjoyed playing a few logic games. It was fun to be in a group where everyone loves to play games!
Hats Off to Chefs
“Hats Off to Chefs” spent our first session together creating personal size pizzas and making aprons! We talked about safety in the kitchen, careers in cooking, and future recipes we may want to create during our cluster. We related this to math by reading a mystery about pizza fractions as parts of a whole and to social studies by speaking about Italy and how different recipes originate in different places around the world. Our enrichment cluster participants voted on pancakes for next week's cluster as well as creating chef's hats in the near future! We look forward to having great book extensions for all of our recipes!
I Heart Seuss
“I Heart Seuss” started off with delight as Thing 1 and Thing 2 picked us up in the gym. We read The Lorax, and then got to make Lorax finger puppets or Truffula tree crafts. Next week we will read Horton Hears a Who to discover that "A person's a person, no matter how small". We will finish with The Sneetches as we learn how our differences on the outside, like skin color and culture, are not something to fear or scorn about each other, but rather should be celebrated. We look forward to crafting and learning together.
Fur, Feathers, Scales and Fun!
“Fur, Feather, Scales and Fun” began with birds. Yes, Mrs. Scott has a very unusual bird (the African gray) that sings, dances, and has a very unusual coloring. The students learned than just the feeding a care of these great birds. Then, the students got to hold and have a picture taken with this lovely bird. Birds in the wild often don’t have enough food so as a service we will make a “surprise” bird feeder.
For session #2 we will focus on the questions, “What is a mammal? Which mammals would make good pets? Why and why not?” But the most exciting thing we will learn is what it might be like to have and train a show dog. Mrs. Bretsch will bring her show dog Truman. The students may get to run Truman in a circle like a real show person would do. We will learn all about what Mrs. Bretsch must do to get Truman ready for a show and what he needs to be well taken care of. It will really a blast!!!
For our last session, we will explore the wonder of reptiles. We will meet the bearded dragons Snap and Leader. When Snap and Leader his brother are put together, they may run across the floor, bob their heads and flick their tongues. We might see Snap’s beard go from white to black when he saw his brother Linder. We will learn that bearded dragons do this as they protect their territory. We hope to see Mrs. Scott’s snake but it is shedding its’ skin, so we have to wait a bit. We will get to make reptiles from Model Magic. All in all, we will have an AMAZING time!
The Puzzle Piece Makers
During our first enrichment cluster we spent time getting to know one another and discussed why the students wanted to be in this particular cluster. Each student told the group what their favorite types of puzzles are, such as: picture, word, or number puzzles. The most favorite for the group was picture puzzles. Then the children broke in to groups and worked on a picture puzzle of their choice. These were 100 piece puzzles and many of the groups were able to complete the whole puzzle. We used the edge piece strategy to complete the puzzles. Our 5th grade helpers helped the students finish their puzzles and created word puzzles for the students to work on next week.
Start Your Engines!
In our first meeting, we set a goal and completed 2 challenges. The first challenge was to create a track that would allow our Hot Wheels car to go in a loop. The second challenge was to create a ramp for the cars that would land in a box. There will be more challenges ahead, however during the next two cluster meetings, we will be working in teams to create a Hot Wheels city and e able to take home a smaller city of our own.
