The older students at E.C.A. have been campaigning for a Gaga Ball pit ever since returning from camp. Today, they started researching what is needed to build such a thing here at E.C.A. Everyone simultaneously collaborated on a Google Slides document and they were greeted with the best surprise - an opportunity to play gaga ball! We're looking forward to the next step in this project.
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First grade is entering their second week of their animation project. Students put on some finishing touches to their backdrops and started filming this week. We are using a new stop motion animation app on the chromebooks that has been a little tricky to master, but so far, the first graders are handling the challenge like champs!
Mrs. M and I have begun a school-wide STEAM project. We are participating in the Global Awesome Squiggles Collaborative Art Project 2017. Students from grades kindergarten through middle school are creating art based on the same four squiggles as hundreds of classrooms world-wide. Fourth grade and up will also try their hand at creating digital art with the template. We will be sharing the students artwork in a variety of ways using various technology. A few of the classes will take it a step farther as we connect with classrooms around the world via skype, twitter, facebook, etc. We are so excited to be a part of this huge project! The Kindergarten students have been reading and writing about the adorable book and character Elmer by David McKee. This week they opened their choice of Elmer pictures in Paint and decorated him. Some of the choices had his lines drawn and some their children had to draw themselves. They really enjoyed this project and gained proficiency in mouse skills and using the program. First grade students began researching stop motion animation this week. They broke into groups and started creating a story with a beginning, middle and end and a few characters. Today, they got their background boards so they could begin creating their story background. Loved the intense involvement. They are super excited about this project!
"It's the most interesting field trip I've ever been. We are not the audience!" -Luca A handful of third grade students were invited to present their "MakeyMakey Scratch Game Control Challenge" during the state MACUL Teachers and Technology conference at Cobo Arena today.
After a little break - we returned to create the top of the water bottle greenhouses. One group used more water bottles. The other group scavenged in our recycling area and found clear egg cartons to use. We can't wait to test them - hopefully next week when the snow melts.
First grade students have been learning how to open, save and manipulate items in PowerPoint. Today, they created "animated movies" by arranging duplicating slides and moving graphics in small incriments. Here is one that I added sound to. Our four teams had the opportunity to share the excitement with our student body. They performed their central challenges and invited other students and adults to participate in an instant challenge. We celebrated the end of an awesome season with team members and their families immediately following school. You can see even more pictures here. ECA sent four teams and a total of 21 students to the Destination Imagination tournament. We took two non-competitive Rising Stars teams comprised of kindergarten and first graders. We took two competitive teams, one from elementary with third and fourth graders and a middle school team. We had an amazing time and the children did a fantastic job! We are working on posting video of their competition here.
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AuthorI'm Mrs. G - and we're doing great things in the ECA STEM program this year! Categories
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February 2018
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