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!