Video Christmas Card - We Wish You a Merry Christmas!

GATE students have been busily creating a creative video Christmas card for friends and families!  Each GATE student had a part in producing our video.  GATE students were seen last week with our Flip video camera all over the school...on the stage, in the library, in the lunchroom, on a school bus, running track, with our MacBooks, in the hall, in the office, at our AES Community Credit Union....even in the stairwell!  We used iMovie, GarageBand, iPhoto, our Flip video camera, a digital camera, and an electric keyboard to create this movie.  We hope that you will enjoy this video Christmas card and SHARE it with all your friends!  Merry Christmas!

Click here to enjoy our Christmas wish to you - We Wish You a Merry Christmas from AES GATE!

Wishing you a very Merry Chihuly Christmas!

GATE students at Evans Elementary and Albertville Elementary joined together to create a "Chihuly Christmas tree" at the Albertville City Schools Board of Education office.  If you are by the central office, stop in the lobby to see the works of art created by Albertville gifted students.  Mrs. Mary Shurett, gifted teacher at Evans, and I decorated the tree first thing this morning.  On the tree are some of our "Mini-Chandeliers" (made of pipe cleaners), Niijima Floats (ornaments with glass gems), definition cards so that viewers will know what we have been studying, Evans' balloon chandelier ornaments and macchias.  We hope it will bring joy and happiness with its bright colors and student artwork to all who see it!  Enjoy the pictures below!

A few inches closer to an Amaryllis by Christmas...

During the Thanksgiving holidays, our amaryllis grew and grew and grew!  When we left AES for the holidays, our amaryllis measured in at 6 3/4 inches above the bulb.  Our Star of Holland now measures in at a whopping 14 inches!  Check our blog each week to see how it has grown!

 

Amaryllis by Christmas???

A "Star of Holland" Amaryllis has been planted in GATE!  Yesterday and today in class, students looked inside the box labeled "amaryllis" to find a container, HARD disk of soil, and a large bulb.  Today that hard disk of soil was mixed with several cups of warm water to create our dirt, the bulb was placed in the dirt....now the waiting begins!

Each week we will chart the growth of our amaryllis.  These grow really fast and are fun to watch.  The box said 8-10 weeks until we should see a bloom.  We are hoping that it grows quickly and we see it before Christmas....will it happen?  Check our blog often to see updates, measurements, and photos of our "Star of Holland" (bright red with a white stripe) amaryllis.  

Should we name our plant?   What are your ideas for naming this red and white flower?

Author visits GATE!

On Monday, November 14th, Alice Duckett ( who was MY gifted teacher in 6th - 8th grades at Alabama Avenue Middle School ) spoke to GATE kids about writing.  Mrs. Duckett is celebrating the one year anniversary of her children's book, One Step at a Time, with a book tour.  We were stop #8 on her tour!  She came complete in costume with safari hat and hiking boots!  Mrs. Duckett told my students about her writing process and how she began writing her first novel in the 6th grade.  She told the students that  you never know what you might be doing now that can become a career or hobby even as an adult.

Her first book was a workbook for kids and families to use to "dig through attics and basements" to find their family history.  When I was in her class in 7th grade, we researched about our families and studied genealogy.  I still have that notebook!  She encouraged the students to sit down with their grandparents and great grandparents during this holiday season and hear the stories about when they were children or about family memories and write them down!  Great idea!

The children's book she brought is about a centipede and includes factual information and a glossary in the back.  The illustrator is a lady who also lives in the Anniston area.  Mrs. Duckett brought actual chalk drawings that were used for the illustrations of the book to show.  

While she was with us, I reflected on several projects in my GATE class with her (we called it "resource" back then).  We had two 7th grade classes in resource.  During an archaeology unit, our class created a "country" with our own language, artifacts, customs, and traditions.  We actually rode in cars out to someone's farm and BURIED our box of "treasures" for the other class to find.  They had to follow our treasure map to find our box then figure out what it all meant.  We did the same with their treasures!  That was a great way to study archaeology!  I remember it so well!  Mrs. Duckett recalled another of our class events from my 6th grade year.  We went CAMPING for 3 days and 2 nights!  I had never been camping.....and she remembered how my tent sagged a little in the middle.  We did a little orienteering, journal writing, hiking, and storytelling during that trip. What an experience!  I hope that my GATE students can look back at our class memories when they are 42 and remember our class with the fondness that I remember my gifted class in middle school!

Thank you, Alice Duckett, for volunteering to speak to our students!

SUCCESS!

Thank you, students, for your hard work, dedication, and creativity throughout our Chihuly Unit!  Thank you, PARENTS, for bringing your children, grandparents, and guests to our Night at the Museum!  It was a HUGE success!  We had 238 guests sign in!  I loved watching the students give tours through the "museum" explaining about their research and art!  The iPods and MacBooks were a big hit, too!  I have loved this unit and watching the students express themselves through our "Chihuly-ish" art!

It's HERE! CHIHULY WEEK!

I'm so excited!  It is time to hang the artwork, load up all the Ikebanas, carefully pack the Niijima floats, and find a really tall ladder to hang the chandeliers!  Chihuly week is here!  Only a few days until Night at the Museum - Chihuly and AES GATE opens to the public!  Thursday, November 3rd (this Thursday!) from 5:00 - 7:00 p.m., feel free to come and go as you tour the artwork created by our students!  Please enter through the AES Main Office area.  Our AES Ambassadors will greet you and guide you to the media center...also, you can follow the "Chihuly this way!" signs!  Each GATE class will have their own exhibit with their Ikebanas, Macchias, Niijima Floats, Seaforms and Mini-Chandeliers.  The back wall will be filled with all the Chihuly-ish paintings by all GATE students!  It will be beautiful!  Third grade torn paper self-portraits will also be on display.

After touring the artwork, iPods will be available for guests to hear a podcast about Dale Chihuly created by GATE students.  Brochures created in Pages by 3rd graders about Chihuly will also be on display.  We will also have a MacBook area where several computers will be "tuned in" to Chihuly's website while others are visiting the Orbix Hot Glass website.  Guests are welcome to check out two of our favorite websites.  A slideshow of "behind the scenes" work will be playing throughout the night!  It will be a GRAND EVENT!  Don't miss it!  See you there!

Pumpkin Walk - Fall Festival at AES

Our classroom has been filled with pumpkins and paint and creative minds at work!  Each GATE student has hand-painted a pumpkin that will be used in TONIGHT'S AES Fall Festival (5-8 p.m.).  Thank you, parents and students, for sending pumpkins for us to paint for this event!  They look great!  I know many students will visit our Pumpkin Walk and cherish their pumpkin prize!  I look forward to seeing everyone tonight!  Enjoy the pictures below of our Pumpkin Artists at work!

Check back on our blog in the next several weeks frequently....NIGHT AT THE MUSEUM - Chihuly and AES GATE is next Thursday, November 3rd from 5:00- 7:00 p.m.  This will be a come and go event in the AES Media Center.  All friends and families of GATE are invited to attend!  I will be uploading lots of pictures or slideshows of our works in progress as well as pictures of our museum night.  I have enjoyed this unit and I think the students have, too.  We have learned, researched, and created together making memories of our Chihuly time in GATE.  I hope to see you all there!

IIM (Double I M)

All GATE students are in the process of learning a research method called IIM (Double I M) or the Independent Investigation Method.  In this approach to research, kids learn through 7 steps.  We are using this process together in class to learn about glass artist, Dale Chihuly.  Please see earlier blog post about Chihuly to learn more about our IIM steps.

I believe that this method will give students the scaffolding they need in order to begin to learn to effectively conduct research while taking notes that make sense without plagiarizing.  4th grade students are also using this IIM method in the independent research for their technology projects.  I have told the students that I think this set of skills will be useful to them throughout their school career and that they might even call me from college and say, "Hey - this really does still work!"

AES Community Credit Union

AES GATE 4th graders are employees of a credit union right at our own school!  Community Credit Union partners with AES each Tuesday morning to open our school branch.  All 3rd and 4th grade students are eligible to open a savings account with as little as 50 cents.  Students learn real life skills of how to fill out a deposit slip and watch their money grow through quarterly statements mailed to them at their home.  Upon opening an account, students receive a free t-shirt and, of course, get a sucker after saving!  Our GATE 4th graders are the tellers who actually have to record the deposits AND balance their drawers like a REAL bank teller!  Our runners are the kids who go class to class announcing when it is time for each class to come to AES CCU!  This experience is great for all kids to learn the importance of saving, depositing, and for practicing math skills.  Our tellers and runners do an excellent job of "working" at AES CCU!

Technology ROCKS in GATE!

Our classroom is filled with fantastic technology!  When I started teaching I didn't have a computer in my classroom...and still didn't many, many years later.  NOW...oh, boy!  We have lots of different ways for students to learn with the "language" they know - technology!

Each student has a MacBook ( Apple laptop ) to use while in GATE.  Students will learn how to create professional looking newsletters and brochures in Pages, fantastic movies in iMovie and iDVD, neat slideshows in iPhoto, audio and enhanced podcasts in GarageBand, and sharp presentations in Keynote.

We also have 15 iPods which have music (of course), photos, and movies created by former AES GATE students.  All during the year new movies, photos, and music will be added featuring this year's GATE students.  We have begun to learn how to use these iPod Classics in class.

Our class also has a digital camera, video camera, Elmo document camera, iPad, Promethean Board (interactive white board), and projector.  Wow  - a teacher's dream come true!  The kids and I learn new ways to produce quality projects together in class.  We are fortunate to have support for our GATE program in many ways...but the technology might be our favorite!

Later this school year, many of our GATE students will participate in the regional technology competition at Jacksonville State University and hopefully advance on to state competition at Auburn University in Montgomery.