Appleyard

The Newest Suggs!

Digital Storytelling Staff Development....Coming Soon!

What skills make a 21st Century Learner more likely to achieve academically?

In order to help teachers tap into 21st Century Skills of Digital-Age Literacy, Inventive Thinking, Effective Communication, and High Productivity, we will be conducting 1 PLU (10 hour) staff development course called "Commercials From Our Curriculum."  The course will focus on how to help students create digital stories using Adobe Photoshop Elements 5.0 and Adobe Premier Elements 3.0.

Curriculum and Instruction Design Team November 13th

Brief Briefings:  Curriculum Information Download brief_briefings_nov_13_final.doc

Social Studies Textbook Information Download social_studies_textbook_info.doc

Surveys....Click on the link that says "Surveys.  Teachers Complete by December 1st" on the right-hand side.

Double-Check Locations for November 5th

November 5th is our Professional Learning Day.  If you want to double check times and locations, you may use the spreadsheet below:

Download november_5th.xls

You will need to use the tabs at the bottom to navigate through topics.  If you are unsure of the session you signed up for, go to INFORM to find it.  INFORM does not list locations.  :0)

Curriculum and Instruction Design Team

Below is a copy of "Brief Briefings."  Instead of meeting on October 23rd, please review the information and share with your team at your team meeting on Wednesday.  It is a lot of information, but it has been condensed from about 25 pages to 4! 

Download brief_briefings.doc

Reminder about November 5th:  You need to sign up for a morning session in INFORM.  If you need instructions on how to do this or if you would like to review the course offerings, you can find that information here:  http://sopecreeklibrary.typepad.com/appleyard/november-5th-professional.html

Octoberfest was a HUGE success!  Thank you to Arzu and her army of volunteers who organized a day filled with inflatables, bungee jumping, pumpkin painting, rock climging, dunk tanks, auctions, putt-putt golf, cake walks, sno-cones, cookouts,bake sales, dance and karate exhibitions,  and many other family fun opportunities!

Thanks to all families who participated!  We hope you had a wonderful day and we appreciate your support of Sope Creek's students and programs.  Our school is a wonderful place because of the community and staff.  There is no way that we would be able to do all that we do without the help of our parents and community!  The Creek is truly UNIQUE, and I feel fortunate to be a part of all that goes on here!

T.A.M.E. in the Lunchroom

Sope Creek's Lunchroom Procedures

 If you would like a visual to post near your door, you can use the one attached here.  If you would like to loop a PowerPoint presentation on your LCD/Scan Converter, the PowerPoint is attached, as well.

Word Document to Print:  Download tame_word_format_update.doc

PowerPoint you can loop on your LCD or TV with Scan Converter:  Download tame_presentation_update.ppt

**These are updated versions with VOICE spelled correctly.  Thanks, Kerry and Fallon for catching this mistake!  **

National Archives Contest....Interested, 4th and 5th Grade Teachers?

The National Archives is hosting a student photography contest for fourth and fifth graders.   "This Great Nation Will Endure" is the theme of the contest, and it is sponsored in conjunction with the presentation of "This Great Nation Will Endure: Photographs of the Great Depression." The deadline is October 5th.

Some highlights from the contest:
All photographs must be taken of events, occurrences, and places as they actually happen (candid shots) between the time period of September 10 and

October 5, 2007

For this photo essay contest students will focus their attention and lenses upon one of the following five categories:

1. Home in the Evening

2. Attending Places of Worship

3. Where People Meet

4. Looking Down a Street

5. People On and Off the Job

For complete details on the contest, submission guidelines, and other information, download the form here: 

Download NationalArchivesStudentPhotoContest.pdf

Hope you have some shutterbugs who enter!

Some Cool Resources

For the SMARTBoard:

Kaleidoscope Painter
Kids can get some practice manipulating the board.  Geometric concepts correlate in 1st, 3rd, and 4th grades.
M1G1c. Create pictures and designs using shapes, including overlapping shapes.
M3G1. Students will further develop their understanding of geometric figures by
drawing them. They will also state and explain their properties.
a. Draw and classify previously learned fundamental geometric figures
M4G1. Students will define and identify the characteristics of geometric figures
through examination and construction.

Science NetLinks
This site has MANY interactive resources for Science.  They are organized by K-2 and 3-5.  Some of the coolest:

• Biodiversity:  Life in the City
  Students use the "virtual magnifying glass" to find hidden critters. 
• Nowhere to Hide
  An animated simulation based on a real situation involving moths and pollution in England.  Students can control the amount of pollution.  Be sure to click on "How to Play" and "Learn More."
  
  S4L1. Students will describe the roles of organisms and the flow of energy within an ecosystem.
  c. Predict how changes in the environment would affect a community (ecosystem) of organisms.
  S4L2. Students will identify factors that affect the survival or extinction of organisms such as adaptation, variation of behaviors (hibernation), and external features (camouflage and protection).

Invention at Play

• Try the Cloud Dreamer generator.  This would be a place to integrate science and language arts.  Kids can create the cloud, watch it in the sky, and then write about it.
• Puzzle Blocks...very similar to Tangrams.
• Play TinkerBall to create hypothesis and test them.
• WordPlay is online collaboration for storymaking!

Students will use ideas of system, model, change, and scale in exploring scientific and technological matters.  This is process standard #4 in each of the grade level standards.  Teh elements of that standard become more detailed at each grade level.

Teacher Tools
A great bank of teacher resources!  You can find quiz and flashcard generators, blank forms, and many other time savers.  This is more of a management tool site than interactive whiteboard site.

Graphic Map Tool
Great visual for students to use to chart action in a story:  could be arranged by chapter, by scene, by money spent, or they can create their own category.    For students who have trouble understanding sequencing or who need some  previewing or "frontloading" to  maximize understanding, this could be used as a strategy to preview a story!  There are also a  lot of  GREAT interactive resources at ReadWriteThink.

Thanks, Sea Turtles!

Last Friday, I was fortunate to walk through several classrooms while delivering workbooks.  The Sea Turtles invited me to sit down and watch them work through ThinkMath! magic boxes.  Those Sea Turtles were using amazing logic and thinking skills.  It was quite impressive!  They also invited me back to take part in their celebration...after completing the story "Justin and the Best Biscuits in the World" by Mildred Pitts Walter.  What a fun and delicious day!