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.

Jesse Brooks Foundation Fashion Show

AES Ambassadors

Our GATE students serve AES as Ambassadors for the school. Our students were hosts and hostesses for Grandparents' Day at APS. Our Ambassadors were scattered throughout APS to help guests find the appropriate classrooms. Some of our 4th grade Ambassadors were models in the Jesse Brooks Foundation Fashion Show held at AES at the end of August. Be sure to check out the slideshow to see photos of our GATE students at this event. On Veterans' Day our 4th grade Ambassadors will carry the banners for Army, Navy, Air Force, and Marines in our Veterans' Day Parade. Ambassadors usually wear their AES t-shirt and have an "official badge" with photo and name. There will be many other Ambassador functions throughout the school year. I am proud of the manners displayed by these students as they represent our school and are a role model to younger students!

Torn Paper Self-Portraits

Third grade GATE students created self-portraits using torn paper, glue, and paint! They are beautiful! It is amazing to see how their personalities come out and their portraits REALLY look like the kids. We had a great time creating these in class! Half of the portraits are decorating the hall and the other half will go up soon! I know you will all enjoy having this fabulous piece of art created by your child at home! Kids' artwork just makes me happy! Be sure to watch the photo slideshow of the kids and their art!

Torn Paper Self-Portraits Slideshow - 3rd grade

Chihuly!

G.A.T.E. students have been diving deep into research about Dale Chihuly and his art of glass blowing.  This past summer Mrs. Shurett (Gifted Teacher at Evans), Mrs. McCulley ( Assistant Principal at Evans) and I attended an international gifted conference called Confratute at the University of Connecticut.  After our week of learning and sharing with other gifted specialists from all over the world, we spent a weekend in Boston, Massachusetts.

One of our first adventures in Boston was visiting the Boston Museum of Fine Arts.  Through the Looking Glass, an exhibit of Dale Chihuly's glass art, was first on our list!  The bright colors and swirling shapes of his art mesmerized us for hours!  Mrs. Shurett and I were so inspired by this artist's work that we both decided to study Chihuly and create "Chihuly-ish" art in our classrooms!

Both 3rd and 4th grade G.A.T.E. students are learning how to conduct research using our Independent Investigation Method (fondly called IIM - Double I M) in our classroom.  There are seven steps to the IIM method:  topic, goal setting, research, organizing, goal evaluation, product, and presentation.  Together we are using these steps to learn about Dale Chihuly.

Our classroom has been filled with paint, glitter, spray paint, pipe cleaners flower, tissue paper, streamers, coffee filters, markers, balloons, ribbons, clay, glass gems, glue, spray starch, and liquid starch.  We would not win the "cleanest classroom award" this week, but the artwork that we have created would be considered "masterpieces" for sure!

Our dream is to hold a "Night of Chihuly" where students' Chihuly-ish art will be displayed and students can share what they have learned about this great artist.  Incorporating technology in our night will be fun with the podcasts created in GarageBand on iPods for our guests to use to listen about all that fills our museum.  Students will also create invitations, brochures, and posters to commemorate this event!