Edgar Degas Study

Third grade GATE students recently read a book about Edgar Degas' Little Dancer.  Degas was an impressionist artist who loved painting dancers and horses.  He loved to show movement in his paintings.  This summer while in Boston, I visited the Boston Museum of Fine Arts.  I saw Degas' Little Dancer.  The sculpture I had read about so many times was amazing!  I shared photos of this sculpture with the students. We viewed many pictures of Degas' paintings.  The students and I discussed how you can see MOVEMENT in his paintings.

We talked about what other activities involve movement:  skiing, skating, dancing, soccer, fishing, etc.  Students used their creativity and problem solving skills to create a sculpture showing movement out of ALUMINUM FOIL!  It was challenging at times to decide how the foil pieces could be molded together...but the kids did it and the outcome is STUNNING!

Enjoy pictures of our latest art endeavor!

AES Service Learning Project - Winter the Dolphin

GATE students and families are hosting a school-wide AES service learning project!  Who knew that on New Year's Eve a service learning idea would come to be?  That is exactly what happened!  One of our 3rd grade GATE students saw the movie, Dolphin Tale, and was so inspired by the story of Winter the Dolphin that she knew AES students could make a difference.  True service learning is when the students have the idea and are passionate about making a difference.

When the idea of a service learning project was presented to each of the GATE classes, students actually CHEERED!  They were so excited!  Two students asked if they could join the planning committee.  These three students, Ty, Emilie, and Sam, took their idea to Mrs. Sheets who quickly approved the idea!  These students also met with Dr. Ayer, Mrs. Bishop, and Mr. Tidmore to seek their approval.  At the end of that meeting, they asked the students to present their idea to the school board members.  The vote was a unanimous, "YES!"

On Friday, February 24th, AES will host a Family Movie Night.  Tickets are being sold now through THIS FRIDAY for $2 each.  There will be a huge, inflatable screen on the stage in the lunchroom.  We encourage families to bring chairs, blankets, etc. to come watch Dolphin Tale with other AES families and friends.  The doors will open at 5:30 and the movie starts at 6:00.  There will be pizza, candy, popcorn, drinks, and dolphin necklaces for sale.  

All the money raised at AES Family Movie Night will go directly to Clearwater Marine Aquarium in Florida to "Adopt a Dolphin!"  Please make plans to bring your family for a night of fun and to make a difference!  If you are interested in volunteering for an hour that night, please contact Mrs. Adams. 

Meeting with Mrs. Bishop

Students with Dr. Ayer.

Students with Mr. Tidmore.

Be looking in the Sand Mountain Reporter this week (February 13-17) for an article about our movie night this week as well as look on www.sandmountainreporter.com for video clips!

Presenting the proposal in Mrs. Sheets office!

Kaden reads a book to his class about whales!  He wanted to share another non-fiction book about an ocean animal!  Thanks, Kaden!

Higher order thinking skills - Communication #1 and #3.

Jonathan Stinson from the Sand Mountain Reporter visited our GATE class to find out details about movie night!

Happy New Year!

Happy 2012, everyone! I hope you all had a wonderful holiday break with your families!  Today several students have shared how they emailed out our video Christmas card to friends and families! I am so glad!  I must admit that I watched it many times myself over the holidays!  I will always cherish that video!

Please let me know if your DVD that I gave you for Christmas has any problems.  I want to be sure everyone has the slideshows, movies, and bloopers to keep forever! :)

To start our new year, 4th graders will be working diligently each class to continue their progress on their technology projects!  We have a good start and will work on these in class.  We have students creating their own webpages, printed brochures, videos, podcasts, and keynote presentations.  We'll share these projects later in the spring.

Third grade students will continue to be our "tech team in training" learning all about our MacBooks and applications.  Be sure to ask your child about the "fortune cookie" wisdom they wrote about before Christmas.

I am looking forward to a great 2012 with GATE students!  Happy New Year!

Video Christmas Card - We Wish You a Merry Christmas!

GATE students have been busily creating a creative video Christmas card for friends and families!  Each GATE student had a part in producing our video.  GATE students were seen last week with our Flip video camera all over the school...on the stage, in the library, in the lunchroom, on a school bus, running track, with our MacBooks, in the hall, in the office, at our AES Community Credit Union....even in the stairwell!  We used iMovie, GarageBand, iPhoto, our Flip video camera, a digital camera, and an electric keyboard to create this movie.  We hope that you will enjoy this video Christmas card and SHARE it with all your friends!  Merry Christmas!

Click here to enjoy our Christmas wish to you - We Wish You a Merry Christmas from AES GATE!

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?