4th grade students visit the Birmingham Museum of Art

Fourth grade GATE students visited the Birmingham Museum of Art on Wednesday, April 15, 2015.  Students and parents were treated to docent led tours of some of the permanent works of art housed at the museum as part of the Color My World tour.

Many of the pieces of art we saw were from the 1400s!  WOW!  Students learned about line, texture, and color during the tour.

Students also visited the Contemporary Gallery to see modern sculptures, abstract pieces, and geometric art.

These students are seated in front of one of our favorite pieces, Lady Helen Vincent painted by John Singer Sargent.

At lunch students were served by the entertaining duo of Mr. Marvis and Mr. Tripp.  These gentlemen shared rules of etiquette with the students and even involved the students in demonstrations.  Everyone enjoyed our delicious lunch in the beautiful setting of the museum lobby.  Thanks to Krystal Cobb for organizing our fabulous meal!

Please enjoy this 1.5 minute slideshow of our trip to the BMA!

3rd grade GATE students visit the Birmingham Museum of Art

Third grade GATE students visited the Birmingham Museum of Art on April 8, 2015.  Students had studied works of art in the permanent collection at the museum prior to the trip.  While at the museum, students participated in the Color My World tour led by fantastic docents!  Students learned about line, texture, and color and were able to see IN PERSON several of the works of art we had studied!

Docents led students in an interactive, fun approach to see and "experience" the art through movement and music.

Andrew posed in front of one of our favorite pieces of art from the 1400s!  Doesn't he look so handsome?!

Levi had the opportunity to experience some of the hands on exhibits in the kids' area at the museum.  If any of our families have a chance to go back, this area is a MUST SEE for the kids!

Lukas found a mannequin made of beautiful supplies in the lobby of the museum.

Our students were entertained at lunch by Mr. Marvis who shared rules of etiquette, served a fabulous lunch, and made us laugh with his witty sense of humor!

This was a "bird's eye view" of our etiquette luncheon in the lobby of the museum.  Boys pulled out the chairs for the girls, napkins were in laps, and polite conversation was heard as we enjoyed our delicious lunch prepared by Mrs. Krystal, Mr. Marvis, and Mr. Tripp from Oscar's at the Museum!

Please enjoy this slideshow (1.5 minutes) of our 3rd grade field trip!

Regional Technology Competition was a SUCCESS!

On March 13th the AES Technology Team competed in the Regional Technology Competition held at North Alabama Community College in Rainsville.  The photo above is of most of the members of the team.  Students have worked diligently for months doing research, taking notes, and organizing their information into Keynote presentations, Video Productions, brochures, Prezis, websites, and Scratch computer programming projects.  Students compiled a notebook of required information sharing the steps in the process.  Judges interviewed students and learned about their research and how they created each of these projects.

I was so proud of EVERY STUDENT that day!  Each had a high quality project and each student shook hands, made eye contact, and talked to adults in such a professional manner.  It was a great day for all of us!   Thanks to NACC for hosting such a well organized event!

AES had a few winners that day:

1st place Website Design - Evan and Courtney

1st place - Multimedia - Lily

1st place - Video Production Individual - Emilee

1st place - Video Production Group - Ainsley and Victor

2nd place - Computer Programming - Ethan P.

2nd place Multimedia Group - Will and Cameron

2nd Place - Website Design Group - Ethan W. and Brandon N.

(Somehow these young men escaped getting a picture at the competition...)

2nd Place - Website Design Individual - Ken

3rd place - General Applications Individual - Jacob

3rd Place - General Applications Group - Adriana, Olivia, Belinda

3rd place - Multimedia Group - A.J., Brandon J., Caroline

Proud Mom moment....my daughter, Emilie (on the Evans Tech Team), won 1st place in the IT test and 2nd place in General Applications.

CONGRATULATIONS!!!!!!

All 1st place and 2nd place projects are eligible to advance to state competition on April 25th!  Good luck to all!!!

INSPIRE Art Contest Winners Announced!

Congratulations to the following students for placing in the Inspire Art Contest sponsored by Marshall Medical Center Foundation!

1st place - Victor Reyes Ventura

2nd place - Belinda Franco

3rd place - Michele Cerrillo

4th place - Brandon James

5th place - Lily Laverty

6th place - Olivia Brothers

Foundation Award - Courtney Morrow

Foundation Award - Kailyn Boman

These student artists will be honored with a reception on Thursday, April 30th at Marshall Medical Center South- Women's Hospital at 5:30.  The winning art will be displayed for one whole year in the Women's Hospital.  Congratulations to these talented students!

Inspire Art Contest 2015

All 3rd and 4th grade GATE students had the opportunity to enter a piece of art in a Youth Art Month contest sponsored by Marshall Medical Center Foundation.  Students designed each piece of art and chose their medium:  watercolors, acrylics, collage, colored pencils, markers, or crayons.  We had about 60 pieces of art which were so colorful, happy, and creative.  Judges looked over each piece of art and selected the 15 pieces that would represent AES in the MMCS contest.  These 15 were submitted this week and we hope to have some winners from our school (results should be in around the first week of April).

The artists whose work will advance to the contest:

Evan Patterson          Levi Hester               Ethan Williams         Olivia Brothers
Lily Laverty              Caroline Godwin      Victor Reyes             Ainsley Stephens
Destiny Thomas        Courtney Morrow     Belinda Franco         Ethan Pratt
Michele Cerrillo        Kailyn Boman           Brandon James

Please check back later in April to see if we have any AES winners.

Below is a slideshow of the students creating their artwork and also the finished products.  Enjoy this happy, kid-friendly art!

GATE kids at the theatre!

Congratulations to some of our 3rd and 4th grade GATE students for their recent participation in the Whole Backstage Children's Theatre's production of The Little Mermaid!  JoAnna, Yukina, and Ava all did a magnificent job as seaweed and an eel.  Being on stage teaches kids how to "become" a character, about poise, how to project your voice, improve singing and acting skills, and they make friends, too! I am so proud of these students for their participation and wonderful acting, singing, dancing skills!  It was a great show!

The Little Aggies Theatre sponsored by the Albertville City Schools Foundation will present the FIRST PERFORMANCE of The Lion King, Jr. in Alabama!  What a great honor to be the first school system in Alabama to bring this production to the stage.  Show dates are June 12-20 at the Albertville Fine Arts Center.  Please bring your friends and family to support these student actors and our school system!  The Albertville City Schools Foundation sponsors classroom grants, supplies and services needed by students, and a variety of other sources that support teaching and learning in Albertville.  Congratulations to these AES GATE students in the Lion King:  Yukina Hamai, Gracyn Spicer, and Ainsley Stephens.