Trash to Treasure Ornaments

What could YOU make out of an old DVD?  Our GATE students are so creative!  I love their unique ideas!  I have been saving old DVDs that didn't work for years.  I KNEW there would be a good use for them!  We have recycled these old trash DVDs into works of art!

Each GATE student had two weeks to work with their families to create something unique.  Some are Christmas-y...some are funny....some decorative...I love each one of them!  Personalities of the students shine when they are able to create something with basically no rules!   The only rule for this project was to use the old DVD they were given.  They could add to it, cut it, paint it, glue on it...they did all of that and more!  Look at our colorful bulletin board outside our classroom!

If you look closely you will see a minion, fish, reindeer, and animals!

Check out the peppermint, dinosaur, decorative ornaments...and even a Christmas turkey!

4th grade slideshow

3rd grade slideshow

Veterans' Day 2014

One of the most celebrated days at Albertville Elementary School is our Veteran's Day Program and parade!  All of our 3rd grade students work diligently with Ms. Tracy Rogers, our music teacher, to perform a fabulous salute to our veterans!  This year's program was exceptional!  The students sang a genuine thanks to our guests, spoke words of appreciation, and proudly sang the military march where our veteran guests could proudly stand.  Our lunchroom was packed with friends and family members to celebrate this great day.

All 3rd grade GATE students were a part of the 3rd grade choir (GREAT JOB, students!).  Several 4th grade GATE students were a part of the 4th grade choir, while others carried banners in the parade.

Enjoy this slideshow of GATE students in this AES celebration!

KNOCK-OUT!

Students have been using CRITICAL THINKING with our new math game, Knock-Out!  At the Alabama Association for Gifted Children conference in September, Mrs. Thompson (the Evans' GATE teacher) and I learned to play a challenging math game for all ages!  Knock-Out (with a Muggins Math game on the back of the game board) is a fantastic, fun way to strengthen math and critical thinking skills.  Students have to "think outside the box" to find equations that equal the number they roll on the dice.  Marbles can be placed on different numbers according to how offensively or defensively the students play the game.  The game box says the Muggins Math game is for ages 5 - Nuclear Physicist!

We have had a great time learning the rules to this new strategy game AND learning that mathematical equations can be solved in a number of different ways!