Students should be working on research and their projects at home. We will take some of our class time to do some research, but most will be done at home. This is a mandatory assignment for all ALPHA students (except kinder).
I have posted information on the website. I divided the research resources for Endangered Species and Disappearing Destinations. I added the questions which the students should have in their binders, the product ideas, and the research rubric. Please review these with your student. We have one more unit to go through - Aquatics with a mini-unit on the Edwards Aquifer.
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We are completing the following projects in class for our unit.
Parents, look over the information in the brochure attached for a summer STEM opportunity. Parents,
On Monday, March 23rd, we will travel to the San Antonio Botanical Gardens. The students will tour the conservancy, build their own terrarium, and visit the Rainforest Exhibit. The field trip will support our study of world biomes. Please return permission forms as soon as possible. Photos from our trip are below. Parents,
We will be starting the research for our big project. Students have or will receive the Decision-Making sheet to complete for their topic and return it to me as soon as possible. Grades 1-2 and possibly some 3rd graders can choose Endangered Species. The 3rd-5th grade students are researching Disappearing Destinations. I hope to give everyone their first or second choice, but we may have to move to a third or fourth choice as we have enough topics so as not to repeat. Most work will be done in class, such as lessons on note-taking, bibliographies, consolidating notes, etc. Some work may be done at home. Projects can be done at school and at home. Students will present their projects at Eco-Adventure ALPHA Nights in May. The ECO-ADVENTURES ALPHA NIGHT for Ellison will be Wednesday, May 27th at 6 pm in the cafeteria. The Braun Station ECO-ADVENTURES ALPHA NIGHT is scheduled for May 21 at 6pm in the cafeteria. I will begin sending timelines, project ideas, and other items for the research in the next few weeks. Please check binders for any new information. Some information is located on the Research and Research Resources links on this website. These will continue to change as we go through the steps in the process. We had a great trip to the San Antonio Botanical Gardens where students learned about several biomes and the plants that grow in them. They made terrariums that they took home and will care for. Although the day started out cold, it warmed up and became a beautiful sunny day. Students are writing in their journals about their experience and will connect it to their learning in the classroom. Super job ALPHA students!
As Kira has reminded us, "GT isn't about getting smarter. It's about making connections." Bravo, Kira! Parents, thank you for all your help in getting forms back, lunches packed, and for joining us for the day. If you have pictures from the field trip, please share them with me electronically. We are happy to welcome these students to the ALPHA program at their respective schools! This will be a challenging, but fun experience for you :)
Charlotte Christian Drew Mercedes Joshua Jordan Hailee Hailey and Hazen On January 21st, Ellison 4th and 5th grade students participated in a webinar scheduled by Time for Kids with researcher Jean Pennycook. She is the researcher we sent our postcards to last fall. Over 2,000 people viewed the webinar live that day. The students who were not in attendance at both Ellison and Braun Station have seen portions of the recorded interview during their class time. We learned quite a bit about what it is like to visit Antarctica as a researcher and how Jean studies the Adélie penguins. What amazing animals to be able to live in such an environment. The money raised from the Deanan Popcorn fundraiser will cover our field trip listed below. I will schedule some speakers to come speak with students on the biomes we are studying. Please note the events and dates below.
Meet the New Director for Advanced Learning in NISD at the GT Advisory Council Meeting on January 15. See below for the flyer. February 26 is our Fuddruckers & LaserQuest Fundraiser Night for the GT Programs in NISD. Check back for more information soon to come. Ellison ALPHA students are scheduled to take a field trip to the Botanical Gardens on Tuesday, February 17, 2015. We will participate in the Terrarium Ecosystem Program while at the Gardens. We will leave school about 9 am. We should have space for parents to ride with us on the bus if they choose. Please make sure you have your background checks completed before the field trip. I will check about a week or two before the trip for a list of parents eligible to chaperone. I am also planning a field trip to Friedrich Wilderness Park. More information on that later. Please make sure background checks are done asap. The ECO-ADVENTURES ALPHA NIGHT for Ellison will be Wednesday, May 27th. Students will share their final research project displays with family and friends. We will begin this project either end of March on beginning of April. Some information is posted on the Research tab of our website. More information will be added later. The Braun Station 2nd Annual ALPHA Picnic is scheduled for Sunday, May 24th from 12-3 at Phil Hardberger Park West off NW Military. We would like to have the Ellison End of Year Picnic that day as well. I spoke to our 4th grade ALPHA kids and they thought that might be fun to have both groups together. I hope you will be able to attend! We had so much fun last year even with the little rain we had that morning. It's gonna be so great! More information as the date approaches. |
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April 2015
AuthorMs. Longoria is a GT/Enrichment specialist at Braun Station Elementary and Bonnie Ellison Elementary Categories
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