Wonderful times teaching the 4-6 grades--4 years of blogs!

This year, 2014-2015 has been a wonderful year teaching 4th graders. There is a blog for these kids.

Go to:   grade4bonzo.blogspot.com
______________________________________________


There are 2 other blogs from years past. 

Go to:  http://msbonzosppselcrew2011.blogspot.com/

   and:  http://ppsel4-5.blogspot.com/

 And more to come in 2015-2016!

The kids were interviewed today by KLEW!

Check out Channel 3's  www.klewtv.com in the next couple of days and see the interview about the Altered Books. The segment will be on again tonight at the top of the 11 p.m. hour.

The reporter Stephanie Hale Lopez was so terrific. She talked about how at their age she wanted to be a journalist and explained all the things she did to become one in middle and high school. All the kids got to experience a formal TV interview wearing a microphone and being asked questions. She spend about an hour and half with us and then went to the gallery to see the great art work of the kids.

The kids had chance to hug each other and say something to each person too. We started slide show of this and last year and couldn't get through the whole thing. I'll have it playing during Student Led Conferences.

See you all tomorrow:)

Last Field Experience for this year's Water Expedition...trip to EcoAnalysts

 We had a very interesting time learning about the macroinvertabrates that EcoAnalysts sample from all over the world. We had a walking day in sunshine to boot!!

Prichard Art Gallery Advertising and PR

 Dona Black from the Prichard Art Gallery came to visit and start the kids thinking about getting the general public to come and see their work. She printed up invitations and posters. The posters were created from all the pictures I have taken during this expedition.
 We spent time talking about what is PR, how do you create excitement around our work and what the Opening will be like. The kids understand the importance of the event on Tuesday, May 24, for 6-8 p.m. A few will speak about their art, Ms. Black will say a few words, and there will be light snacks.
The clipboards in the picture are the rough dafts of the essay to explain the art they created. Final copies will accompany the final project in the gallery. 

Inspiration from UI MFA students

 The Altered Books the kids are working on are coming together. Most are able to describe their creation as it relates to the Guiding Question: How does water quality affect the ecology of a community?.

We also are preparing for the exhibition which will be May 24, 2011. Lots to do as each student is writing an essay to explain the ideas/theme of their book. They hope to inspire, educate, inform and makes the general audience wonder.  The installation below really stretched their brains.

Water Quality in our classroom and tomorrow out in the field

99 Steelhead trout sack fry in the 5/6 Hatchery. The kids are getting to do pH, Nitrate and Nitrite testing. When they are buttoned up, we'll get to feed them. The kids are learning all aspects of water quality.

PCEI came in on Wednesday to review the parts of water quality with the 5/6 and for them to put together their plan as we will head out to Heron's Hideout to test Paradise Creek, return for lunch, and the go to Pullman to test the water of the South Fork of the Palouse River. These indicators listed are what we will test for. We'll collect the data, analyze and present the results on Monday when PCIE's Jenica, Turner, and Nikki return--the scientific process continues...

The kids are working in the instructional groups set up from MOSS. This is Wild Waters working with Jencia on the plan for Friday.

Here one of the instructional groups with Jenica prepare the plan for Friday. 

The 5 days at McCall Outdoor Science School were MOSSome!!!!

 This picture is from Friday morning after Inquiry Presentations. We are minutes away from   heading back to Moscow. The 5 days were absolutely terrific. The kids were in 3 instructional groups and 4 cabins that I assigned. They got to work with these kids all week during the day digging snow pits and testing for moisture, doing water quality tests on Payette Lake, hiking into Ponderosa State Park to study animal adaptations and then back to cabins to socialize. Each evening we had a specific evening program tailored to what I have been teaching in our Water Expedition. The instructors were flexible and thorough in all they did with the kids. 


The 5/6 were engaged learners though out all the weather conditions. We had full on white out snow and wind, tons of ice and cold temps. They really helped each other and proved to be the best group of students the McCall School has had all year. That is what we were told by their instructors-- Shannon, Chelsea and Andrea-graduate students in Environmental Education, who have taught hundreds of kids this year. We loved the compliment!! Louisy the program director agreed and everybody applauded!!


My special thanks go to the chaperones who really helped the kids throughout the whole day whether in class or making sure shower time went smoothly. It was such a pleasure for me to get to know them all better too. 


Here are the names of the parents that helped make this trip possible: 
Betta Bunzel, Valeri Schillberg, Steve Flint, Debbie Berkana, Colette DePhelps, Ray Anderson, Paul Pierzchanowski,  and J.D. Wulfhorst 
We had a great surprise when Nancy Taylor came up from Utah and Mark Lesko came down from Moscow. 


This coming week at school we will be reviewing the content, revisiting the process,  working on our product and putting together thank yous and advice lists. 


Thank you parents for sending your kids with me to McCall Outdoor Science School!! 

3 Chairs Discussion

  Noah sits in one of the three chairs to give his facts and opinion to the discussion question: Are chemicals the biggest threat to water quality? He is sitting in the 'No' chair and speaking his opinion from  examining the expert and common texts  related to water quality. The kids had 22 texts from many sources and various reading levels to find information related to the Guiding Question of this expedition. The GQ is How does water quality affect the ecology of a community?
This discussion protocol I learned while at the EL National Convention in Portland over Spring Break.  As soon as I learned it, I knew this crew would love it.
It is a very structured format and each and every student speaks during this discussion. There are 3 chairs. One for NO, the one in the middle for posing questions to the group for clarification and deeper understanding, and a YES chair. For the YES/NO chairs, the student speaks and there is only listening from the group. The Question chairs allows the person there to pose a question that has come up for them about the topic and engage in conversation with the group.  Only one person comes up at a time. We had several good questions that allowed for interaction that was interesting and informative.
The crew really likes this protocol. The discussion lasted an hour and could have gone longer. After each person  had a chance to go to one chair, then the floor is open and each can come up again. They said they appreciated how each voice was heard and interesting to see how people thought about this one deep question. They also said that it was interesting to see which sources were used.

Revisit of Educational Goals, and Water Expedition Addition: Trout Eggs

This is the tank in the 5/6 classroom. It's covered with black paper mostly to keep the Steelhead eggs in the dark. The refrigerator looking box is the Chiller from Dworshak that I was able to pick up 2 weeks ago. The water temperature will be kept at about 50 degrees for the eggs to mature and 'eye up' We'll be considering water quality for this community and those that live in the river. When we return from MOSS,  the kids will get to do water quality testing at 2 sites in our community. All this work is to help them answer the Guiding Question of this expedition which is: How does water quality affect the ecology of a community? On Tuesday, Mr. Henson is coming to our class to deliver the eggs. This program is called Trout in the Classroom. Michelle Feeley helped me to make contact with Idaho Fish and Game and get the process started to get trout eggs. More information about what is next for this part of the expedition will come soon.

Reviewing Eduational Goals...so what do we want to be and what steps are being taken to accomplish it.

This group did a fabulous job in reviewing their educational goals. Each spoke about what they want to do and how well they are accomplishing the steps. Then each person at the table asked a question to help further the discussion and aid each other in making more clear goals or steps. These crew mates were patient, thoughtful, and very attentive listeners.  The stayed with the protocol for the discussion and each student benefitted from their collective stamina.