Meet our WINNERS!

The Mountain Valley Arts Council has announced the winners of the Christmas Card Contest.  AES GATE 4th graders won EVERY award in the 4th grade category!  Congratulations to these students!  A reception was held Friday night in their honor.  All entries will be on display during the whole month of December. Please drop by to view the children's art.  I am so proud of each of these students.  Kids' art makes me happy!

Congratulations, Roxie, on winning 1st place!!!!

Andrew was the winner of 2nd place!  Great job!

Congratulations to Emma for the 3rd place prize!

Honorable Mention was awarded to Kiley!

Dr. Bice listens to students in Alabama

 I am fortunate every day to be around creative, smart, interesting young students in my class!  Yesterday, I was fortunate to be around creative, smart, interesting OLDER students from around the state of Alabama.  Dr. Tommy Bice is our State Superintendent of Education.  I have heard him speak on several occasions at our Alabama Association for Gifted Children Conference and I think he is an intelligent, creative, "think outside the box" educator.  He has instigated the very first Student Advisory Council for Alabama.  Sixteen students from all over our state were selected through an application process to be a part of this committee.

I was amazed as each student presented well thought-out ideas and research they had conducted in their areas of the state.  Students brought ideas and issues that affect Alabama students.  Dr. Bice listened - I mean, REALLY listened - and commented on the ideas presented by each of the delegates.  As a teacher I was intrigued by their ideas.  I am so thankful I had the opportunity to be a "fly on the wall" to watch and listen.  These young people have been given a voice and Dr. Bice is a willing listener so that decisions can be made about what is best for our students in Alabama.

Dr. Tommy Bice with Anna Clay Adams
(Of course, I am a proud mom, too!)

Members of the Inaugural Superintendent's Student Advisory Council

I see this council as an important part of our Alabama State Department of Education and I can foresee my 4th grade gifted students on this council in the future!

Principals on the Loose!

     Once upon a time there was a class of 4th grade GATE students who were diligently working on productive thinking and problem solving to figure out a great mystery happening in our school.  ACS Child Nutrition Program director, Mrs. Connie Kennamer, brought to our attention that so many milk cartons go unopened and are wasted each day.  She is worried about the students missing out on the nutrients found in milk and the waste problem.  She wondered why students are not drinking their milk.  As we were actively participating in a productive thinking activity listing all kinds of ideas (maybe kids don't like milk, they might not like drinking out of a carton, maybe they play and talk too long and might not have enough time to drink the milk) and were really "into" our discussion, a funny thing happened.

All of a sudden Principal #1 (Mrs. Sheets) came into the class and said the magic words, "I have a creative idea!  Will you all help me see if it works?"  (Of course!!)

So our deep thinking about this milk epidemic was pushed to the side to help our principal in need. 

Suddenly, Principal #2 (Mr. Walker) entered the scene.  He wanted to check out our cool gadgets.  My students were HAPPY to help!  We demonstrated our robot buddy, Ollie, first.

Mr. Walker even got in on the fun by driving Ollie around the classroom!  A few kids were ready to share Osmo and all the fun apps you can use with the Osmo:  building words, creating tangrams, navigating a pinball type app...so fun!  Mr. Walker decided to try this one, too.

We didn't leave out Mrs. Sheets and Mrs. Lee...they got to check out our cool tech stuff, as well.   These students had a great time teaching the adults how to use our technology!

Then....just as the kids were having fun....the principals left.  

The students were so engaged in  were experimenting with the technology...they were excited...they were creating new things...was this in my lesson plan? No.  Not really.  I just didn't have the heart to say, "Please put up the cool stuff and let's get back to the milk problem."  So, for today we got a little off track...but look what great things happened as a result:

 

These girls used our Little Bits engineering pieces to create a face that would light up and the tongue would wag!  (When they asked me for a paper plate...I wondered why...just check this video out!)

These kids found the Makey Makey in a box and hooked up a FORK to use as the joystick to play a game on the computer!

Learning to connect the alligator clips to the Makey Makey!

Can you see the fork?  They hooked up the Makey Makey
and tapped on the fork instead of the space bar!  Cool!

Kids were spelling and working on math (tangrams) and practicing
engineering (Newton on Osmo)  - all while having fun!

This class started out using higher level thinking to try and solve a real world problem, but ended up creating, experimenting, exploring, collaborating, cooperating, giggling, talking, sharing, encouraging, and teaching.  I think all those skills will help us as we get back to our milk problem next week. Beware...the principals are on the loose!  They might just pop in and take your class on a different path and great things may happen!  We love having principals who care, love, and enjoy being with our students who also want to learn new things FROM our students!

Mountain Valley Arts Council Christmas Card Contest

Once again GATE students have used their creativity to paint, draw, or glue holiday masterpieces.  These mini works of art have been entered into the Mountain Valley Christmas Card Contest.  All of the students created magical holiday pieces that are happy and look great!  We are crossing our fingers that AES might have some winners in the contest!  If we do, I'll be sure to post that next week!

In the meantime, please enjoy this slideshow that 4th graders helped me create about their artwork.  It's a little long (about 5 minutes), but we hope you enjoy seeing the kids and their art!

Ho! Ho!  Ho!

LED Throwies Light up our World!

What can you do with a watch battery, a magnet, a little duct tape, and a LED light?  That's just what we used to make LED Throwies!  We have had a blast making these bright lights.  Each student attached the LED light to the watch battery and magnet with tape.  The students each have taken one LED Throwie home and we have been spreading a little Christmas cheer around the school!

This group of kids snuck into the hall between Mrs. Sheets' office Coach Walker's officeand put LED Throwies around the office window!  Mrs. Sheets was surprised!  We love Mrs. Sheets and Coach Walker and wish them both a Merry Christmas!

This sneaky group of kids put a Christmas tree of LED lights on the door of the Network Operating Systems room to show our tech guys how much we appreciate all they do to keep our technology up and running!  Merry Christmas to the tech gurus!

Even our Central Office staff can have fun throwing the LEDs!  We took a metal Christmas present to the office with many LED Throwies attached!  We hope they have fun throwing the lights!

It's Christmastime!

Celebrating an International Dot Day Christmas!  

All the GATE students in Albertville created DOT ornaments in honor of International Dot Day back in September.  This fun day of celebration was centered around Peter Reynolds' book, The Dot.

On the Friday before Thanksgiving, all three GATE teachers gathered at the Albertville Board of Education to decorate the tree using our creative DOTS!  (You might be able to tell from the picture that it was the last day of school before the Alabama vs. Auburn football game!)  The ornaments are made from different mediums:  watercolors, markers, glitter, "good junk", Zentangle designs, paint, and more!  We think the tree turned out well...so colorful!  AES GATE students also donated ornaments to the Marshall Medical Center South's Christmas tree in the Women's Center.

 I am fortunate to be able to work with these two ladies!  Mrs. Thompson is the GATE teacher at Evans and Miss Rogers is the 3rd grade GATE teacher.  We have a great time brainstorming, planning, and giggling together!

Cardboard Challenge...a huge success!

AES GATE students used creativity, problem solving, and planning to create unique cardboard games.  Thanks to Malanta Knowles of Paragon, Inc. in Boaz for donating LOTS and LOTS of cardboard for our challenge.  Our classroom has been filled with cardboard boxes, cardboard tubes, and other "good junk" necessary for constructing our very own arcade.

 

Students used productive thinking to think of many, varied, and unusual ideas for their games then plotted their top 5 ideas on a decision making matrix to rank their alternatives.  After choosing their best alternative, students divided

into groups to begin the planning process.  Materials were listed, steps were organized, and cardboard games began to evolve.

Days of creating, cutting, and gluing were well worth the end products.  Students have enjoyed presenting their games to other GATE classes and playing each others' games.  I love seeing these great minds at work with creative ideas and strategic problem solving!

Enjoy this video of our cardboard creations!  Click on the link below.

http://www.kizoa.com/Video-Maker/d25754062k9212545o1l1/global-cardboard-challenge-2015

GATE is "Going Global" with the Global Cardboard Challenge

It's coming......

New App!

Ok, kids...here it is...the name of the app I showed you in class today...

Sketch Nation

This app is an easy way to CREATE YOUR OWN VIDEO GAME!  I was so excited to share this with the students!  Today's class was so worried they would not remember the name that I promised them I would post the name of the app so they could find it tonight!  Other classes will see this app tomorrow!

We now have Sketch Nation working on our class iPads!  Thanks, Zach!
Kids, get ready to create an awesome game!

Have a great time!  

Create! 

Play!  

Revise...and play again!

Dot Day 2015 ... SUCCESS!

International Dot Day 2015 was a total and complete success at AES!  All of our students - over 900 - created some type of dot for our celebration!  Our halls are filled with creativity!  The students and teachers are dotted from head to toe...literally!  There are kids with colored hairspray dots in their hair and polka dotted socks on their toes.  What a fun day for all of us!

Many classes wrote ideas and thoughts about Vashti and her dot.  Social Studies classes found dots on a map of Alabama.  Some students created dots using "good junk"...some made a tree of dots....some bulletin boards showed photos of the kids and their dots.  GREAT JOB to all the teachers and students who used creativity, kindness, and courage to make today great!

The photo above is of 4th grade GATE students with Mrs. Tara Wilson and a recycled bottle cap dot picture of a vase of flowers.  All 4th grade GATE classes glued part of this picture.  Just as the hot glue cooled, we took this picture to Mrs. Wilson to hang in her office.  Mrs. Wilson is the special education coordinator for Albertville City Schools.

As a teacher I am always on the lookout for new apps and new technology.  I was in search of a new way to create videos.  I asked another teacher in another state if she had an idea..and instantly she sent me a new website to try.  I have created a video which allows free slideshows to be made and shared.  Also, in our professional development workshop prior to school starting, we learned about a website that has royalty free music - which is great!  I found music on jamendo and I am able to use this jazz song from Slikk Tim called Bahia for free.  I will continue to look for great ways to make videos for our blog...let's see how we like this one!  

Enjoy this 6 minute slideshow of GATE kids creating their DOTS.  Happy Dot Day, 2015!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Es9IFA7FjiA

International Dot Day...September 15th!

It's coming....one more day!  All of AES will be participating in International Dot Day on September 15th.  Every student in our school will hear the story, The Dot, written by Peter Reynolds.  In this story, a very reluctant student named Vashti lacks confidence in her creativity and art.  Her teacher proudly frames Vashti's dot and in turn Vashti gains confidence in herself and passes along that creativity and courage to a friend.  It's a great story!   All students will be creating dots in their class...that will be over 900 people creating dots at AES!  WOW!

GATE students have been busy creating dots!  We have created...

*Good Junk dots
*Watercolor Dots
*Pastel Dots
*Zentangle Dots
*Recycled Bottle Cap Dots
*Goals for 4th grade Photos Dots
*Tagxedo Dots

Each student will select their favorite DOT to be "framed" in the hall to show on DOT DAY!  We hope that all students and teachers will dress head to toe in DOTS on Tuesday, September 15th!  Happy Dot Day!

#acsdotday
#DotDay
#Makeyourmark

As I continue to experiment with new apps to make videos, I'll post them to see how they look on the blog.  This one is all our Instagram pics in one slideshow.  Enjoy!

http://replayapp.com/v/hjFJHD0zFC/

Stick names add color to our classroom

Each year we start with an art activity for students to share their creativity and personality with their friends.  These pieces of art will hang in our classroom from the ceiling all year giving the students a little ownership of room 408.k  Students used a variety of colors and designs to decorate popsicle sticks then they were blue together to shape their names.  The only rule was that each name had to have at least one DOT somewhere.  I want the students to remember celebrating International Dot Day at AES 2015!  Gracyn's name is full of color and DOTS!  #DotDay #acsdotday #Makeyourmark

Brannon painted his name in his favorite team colors! Can you guess who he cheers for during football games?

Alexandra LOVES cats!!!  If you look closely you will see that her name is painted to "look like an OCELOT!"  Great idea!

I am experimenting with using Animoto to create videos.  In the "free" Animoto only 30 second videos are made...so I'm going to create several really short videos to see how we like the look.  Pardon our progress as we try different technology in class! :)

Group 1 Girls

https://animoto.com/play/y3NqdTyJ4vFw6secr4iNbg

Group 1 Boys

https://animoto.com/play/YBiGFgG9Mnophn3l9zWH4w

Group 2 Boys

https://animoto.com/play/VReVewLfEvm8f1Rb4Z061w

Group 2 Girls

https://animoto.com/play/cD1D5FrqLMi3Ng4TkgGaYA

Group 3 Girls

https://animoto.com/play/eBYSq3eCfaGWNY7xqKA0ow

Group 3 Boys

https://animoto.com/play/vT0ZHuDiq8LEyG9LGJwrbw

Off to a great start!

Fourth grade GATE has begun!  It has been great to see all these "former 3rd grade students" who have grown up over the summer into my mature 4th grade GATE kiddos!  Our first class felt like a family reunion, catching up with what all happened this summer!  We have three groups of 4th grade GATE.

Do you have Instagram?  AES GATE does! We started posting on day 1 of class this year!  We will post one picture per class per day so that all our "Friends of GATE" can keep up with what's going on in class.  Look for aesgate on Instagram to find us!  Also, Miss Rogers' 3rd grade GATE class has an Instagram, too:  aesgate3.

GATE is going GLOBAL this year!  With Instagram being our first new step, we still will continue to update this blog AND we will be participating in TWO GLOBAL events!  Our first event is coming right up - September 15th is International Dot Day!  Please see the blog post that will be all about International Dot Day.  Our 2nd major event will be the Global Cardboard Challenge around October 9th.  I can't share any secrets about that day yet....but....if you want to watch the video on www.cainesarcade.com,  you might find a "HINT" about what we will be tackling in September/October.  

Later in the semester we will begin our research for our independent technology projects.  Students, be thinking of what topic you would like to research, if you would like to work alone or in a group, and what type of technology project you want to create (brochure, video, podcast, website, etc.)

We are busy at work already and have lots in store for GATE kids this year!  Welcome back to GATE!  It's going to be a great year!

It's a new year in GATE...welcome to 2015-2016!

Meet the GATE teachers of AES! This year we proudly announce that Albertville City School System has added a 3rd GATE teacher! YEA!  Left to right in the photo above you see Mrs. Lauren Thompson, GATE teacher at Evans for 5th and 6th grade gifted students, Mrs. Dianna Adams, GATE teacher for 4th grade gifted students at AES, and Miss Tracy Rogers, GATE teacher for 3rd grade students at AES.

The three of us are so excited to be working as a team to bring creative, challenging lessons and ideas to share with our gifted students!  Albertville gifted students may be creating inventions, participating in global events through the internet, learning to conduct research, creating high quality technology projects, entering art contests, learning about their own learning styles, researching about Africa, designing their own culture, viewing the world through Leonardo Da Vinci's eyes, participating in STEAM activities...you just never know where the creative minds of our students will take us.  We are a TEAM working together to challenge and inspire our gifted students...and we have a great time together planning our GATE adventures!

As I enter my 25th year in the classroom, I am so thankful to have co-workers like Mrs. Thompson and Miss Rogers to share in our gifted adventures!  Happy first day of school, everyone!

Best wishes as my former 4th graders "fly away!"

Last year was filled with so many happy moments...lots of art, technology competitions, art contests, tech gadgets like Ollie and Sphero, creativity, great thinking minds, and memories galore!  Our essential concept was DIFFERENCES with our theme being "Celebrating our Differences."  We did just that!  Our good friends from Japan visited our class to make sushi - so much fun - and we learned to make origami Christmas ornaments.  We learned about similarities and differences between our culture and others.  Our sweet friend and Ken's mom, Makiko Jones, made a mobile of origami cranes - one for each of the 4th grade students who will "fly away to Evans Elementary" this year. This piece of art is beautiful, colorful, and a true gift of friendship.  Thank you, Makiko, for all that  you have done to enrich the lives of my students!   I wish these special students well on their adventure in 5th grade at Evans.

Makiko holding the mobile of colorful paper cranes.  Beautiful!