Miss Todd's Terrific Team: May 2017

Tuesday, May 30, 2017

Dallas Zoo

During the past two weeks our Kindergarten and First Grade students have been hard at work researching endangered animals through a PBL experience. Together in small groups, our students learned about panda bears, polar bears, tigers, elephants, gorillas, and sea turtles. They studied ways to help these endangered animals and then created propaganda to help educate others about the needs of these animals. Then, we took to the hallways and advocated for the protection of our endangered animals as we paraded through our school encouraging our Watson family to help save these animals. We also created commercials which our Watson family viewed in support of our cause. After all of our hard work these past two weeks, we had some fun exploring the Dallas Zoo and seeing the animals that we learned about all week in person. You can enjoy our parade, commercials, and zoo show below. Leave us a comment and let us know what you think.

Zoo Parade

https://vimeo.com/219628493

Zoo Commercials

Gorilla Commercial

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B_CGJElEYcj8bEFueVM1MWM5ZXc/view?usp=sharing

Zoo Visit

https://animoto.com/play/0IBbgMBnnXAH90JL1yS3UA

Sunday, May 28, 2017

Music Around the World--Session 3--Week 7--England

This week in our Music Around the World class we enjoyed learning about England. We explored the Time for Kids website for this country and learned about many unique places that it has to offer. In England, we learned that they enjoy having tea and saw amazing pictures of Big Ben. Then, we had the opportunity to create our own instrument out of recyclable materials. Here is a video and some pictures from our fun day.

https://vimeo.com/219336181

Fun Run! :)

What a fun day we had running in our school's Fun Run! With each lap that we ran, we earned money for our school, which we plan to use to purchase new furniture for our library! Here is an exciting video from our day! Check out how much fun we had and leave us a comment and let us know what you think!

https://vimeo.com/218835749

Friday, May 12, 2017

Music Around the World--Session 3--Week 6--South America

What an exciting day we had at our Music Around the World Club today! We learned all about South America and one of their favorite instruments--the rainstick. After exploring some of the special places you can visit in Brazil, we were able to learn about a day in the life of a boy from Brazil. We also saw some of the different ways that you can make a rainstick. We enjoyed learning about the rainstick so much that we decided to make our very own rainstick. Then, we had the privilege of singing "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" with our new instruments. We also reviewed one of our favorite songs, "It's a Small World". We had such a fabulous day and can not wait until Monday for our dress rehearsal! Here are some pictures and a video from our exciting day! Leave us a comment and let us know what you think!

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B_CGJElEYcj8WkYxQUw2VGtnVkE/view?usp=sharing

Muffins for Mom

We had so much fun honoring our mothers today during our Muffins for Mom event! We served them a special snack, performed a Mother's Day program for them, and told them why we loved them in our Mother's Day show. Check out our videos from our special day and leave us a comment and let us know what you thought!

Pictures from our special day--

https://animoto.com/play/yi2d4yxz0J1sxsSC1PuRtg

"Why We Love Our Moms" video--
https://vimeo.com/216534555

Muffins for Mom program--
https://vimeo.com/217213708

We hope you have a very Happy Mother's Day!

Northeast Texas Children's Museum

We were blessed this week to have the opportunity to visit the Northeast Texas Children's Museum in Commerce, Texas. During our stay, we learned about bubbles, solid/liquids/gases, animals on the farm, and healthy foods. Then, we were treated to a plethora of learning stations where we played, explored, and observed our world around us. If you ever get the chance to visit this children's museum, take it...you will be glad you did! :)

Here is a show and some pictures of our fun day! Leave us a comment and let us know what you think! :)

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B_CGJElEYcj8NDN2SzdzUmhIMWM/view?usp=sharing

We also had the opportunity to enjoy an interview with a real life college student, Rebekah Grey, our principal's sweet daughter! She talked to us about the fun experiences she is having at college and shared her musical talents with us as well. We were so glad to have her join us today during our lunch, and we look forward to being college students just like her one day! :)

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B_CGJElEYcj8aEUzX09yQTlFRmc/view?usp=sharing

Friday, May 5, 2017

Hey Tiny Seed---Are You Something We Need?

Over the past two weeks, our Kindergartners have been participating in a project based learning (PBL) experience. Our driving question was, "How can a tiny seed make a big difference in our world?" During this unit, our students learned about plants. They were challenged to think critically about how plants impact our world and if/why plants are something that we need. Throughout these two weeks they learned the needs of plants, patterns in nature (life cycles of plants), how young plants resemble parent plants, how the Earth provides resources for life, and the parts of a plant. They participated in plant stations where these skills were reinforced. Here are some pictures from our exciting stations:

Parts of a Plant

Matching Baby Plant to Parent Plant

Dirt Cup Snack

Our Kindergartners then participated in a research project about a specific plant. They worked in small groups to learn about their plant and collect facts about it. Then, they collaborated on a technology project using the app Educreations. Finally, they presented their finished project to our Third grade friends. Here are some pictures from our research and technology projects: