AES Tech Team ROCKS State Technology Competition!

Congratulations to EACH MEMBER of the AES Technology Team who represented our school at the State Technology Competition at Auburn University in Montgomery on Saturday, May 5th.  I am so proud of each of the students!  They presented their projects with 100% confidence!  They looked great in our "skittles colors" of AES shirts, used fabulous manners and held adult conversation with judges, and KNEW their projects so well!  TO ME THEY ARE ALL 1st PLACE WINNERS!

AES brought home two 1st place trophies, three 2nd place trophies, and one 3rd place trophy!  Woo hoo!!!  The other Albertville schools did well also!  As the cheer goes, "It's GREAT to be from Albertville!"  So many people came by our table to ask how we got our fabulous technology...I told them the truth...we have great administration from the top down who truly care about our students.  Our main question is "What is best for the students?"  Thank you, Dr. Ayer, Mrs. Bishop, Mr. Tidmore, Dr. Slivka, and Mrs. Sheets for supporting our GATE class with the best in technology!  These kids made ACS look great this weekend!  I could not be more proud!

Please enjoy these photos of our fun times...beginning with 'finger mustache tattoos", Red Robin, swimming in the pool, then the competition!  Enjoy!

INSPIRE ART 2012

Congratulations to 5 AES GATE students who were honored at a reception at Marshall Medical Center South last Thursday night, April 26th.  These 5 students were winners in the MMCS Inspire Art Contest.  Their artwork has been professionally matted and framed and will hang under gallery lighting in the Women's Center at MMCS for the next year.  If you visit the Women's Center, be sure to stop by to see this fabulous artwork.  Winning students brought home brightly colored ribbons for their awards.

Congratulations to Layla Bell for 2nd place, Cade Boman - 3rd place, Sydney Hollis - 5th place, Will Johnson - 6th place, and Jackson Mitchell for the Foundation Award and the Physicians' Award!  Great job!

Thank you, Sand Mountain Reporter!

Jonathan Stinson, the education reporter for The Sand Mountain Reporter, visited our class right before spring break.  He took pictures, talked to the students, and learned all about our regional technology competition that was held on March 2nd at Jacksonville State University.  (Please see an earlier entry to this blog to see all of our awards!)  If you missed Saturday's edition of the Sand Mountain Reporter, you will want to find a copy!  Our AES Technology Team was featured in an article that spanned 4 pages with 3 large photos!  I am so proud that these kids have gotten such great coverage for their technology efforts!  Our article was in the special "Community" insert in the Saturday, March 31st issue.  There is a copy of the article on my classroom door if you are at AES and would like to see it!  Congratulations, AES Tech Team!

INSPIRE 2012

Marshall Medical Center South sponsors an art contest celebrating Youth Art Month - YAM!  All GATE students created beautiful pieces of artwork using pastels, acrylic paint, watercolors, or colored pencils.  Each piece of art is unique and beautiful!  AES is allowed to send 15 pieces of art.  Congratulations to the 15 students whose art work was entered in the contest.  We should find out in April who the winners are. MMCS hosts a reception in honor of the kids' art work in April.  The MMCS contest is for students in the area served by MMCS.  Winning artwork will hang in the hospital for one year.  Enjoy this short slideshow of students and their artwork!

EGG-citing Lessons in GATE!

Pictures were 'larger than life' as the illustrations in The Talking Eggs  were projected using our Elmo document camera and Promethean board.  In class last week, the students listened to this story by Robert San Souci.  This folktale is from the South and depicts a mother and two sisters...one is evil and the other good.  It is along the lines of Cinderella in that one has to clean and cook while the other is a lady of leisure with the mother.  The illustrations are detailed and colorful, the language is fun and interesting, while the story teaches a lesson.

Students created several types of "beautiful eggs" from the story:  torn paper eggs, shaving cream swirled eggs, and blown out marbleized eggs.  The marbleized eggs are gorgeous!  Thank you all for blowing out the eggs at home and sending them to class.  I hope you will enjoy having these at home and I hope the students will always remember our story, creating the eggs, and our GATE class.

Students were asked to write "the moral of the story."  I was most impressed with their ideas and answers! These "morals" written by the students are hung on a bulletin board in the hall outside our classroom with our beautiful eggs.  I wanted to share a few of the quotes with you.  Below the quotes will be pictures from our GATE egg-citing lessons. Enjoy!

• "If you are nice and kind to people, you'll get something in return."  by Jonce
• "Do not be selfish, greedy, and mean, but be nice."  by Giovanny
• "Point of this story was that never want what other people have."  by Jose'
• "Treat others like you would want to be treated."  by Grace Anne
• "You only get out of life what you put into it."  by Isabella
• "The lesson of this story is to do what you're told." by Jordan
• "The lesson was be nice and obey and keep your promises." by Melodie
• "I think this story's lesson is that you always need to be thankful for what you get."  by Layken
• "The moral of this story is to always listen. Mostly to adults."  by Ebony

I think they get it!  Read the book and enjoy!