Fort Worth Museum Field Trip

What a great day we had Friday at the Fort Worth Museum! It was a beautiful day and our scholars were able to experience all of the special exhibits during Engineers Week. We even saw a 3D printer at work. Thanks to all of our parents who went as chaperones. We could not have done it without you!

Historical Figures

We will start our historical figures filming on Friday, February 14th. I will begin filming with the students who have finished their scripts and have had time to practice them. Because we have been conferencing to go over the scripts to ensure the information is correct and that it is quality work, some students may still not be done.  Filming will continue throughout next week as well.  Costumes should be ready by Friday to ensure that your child has everything they need when it is time to film. Costumes do not have to be elaborate. Please use things you already have at home or make costumes out of materials that you have available to you.  Thank you for all of your help with this fun and exciting project. I can't wait to start filming!!! 

Sharing our Learning

Today our class was able to participate in a video conference with Mrs. Taylor's 2nd grade class at Gordon-Barbour Elementary School in Virginia. Both of our classes read the book Snowmen at Work. Students imagined what job their snowman could have, designed a snowman and wrote 3 clues to their snowman's job. We have been working on inferring and this was a great chance to apply this new skill. It was great fun to partner up, hear their clues and try to infer what jobs their snowman had. We saw fashion designers, doctors, police officers and even a few super heroes!

iPads

Sadly, student iPads did not go home this weekend. Earlier this week we found that students were loading gaming apps onto their iPads and having the iPads out on the bus ride to and from school. In addition, quite a few students have had trouble turning in homework. We will be looking through iPads this weekend to check downloaded apps, pictures and internet history. We have reviewed the iPad expectations in the classroom, but we would appreciate your help in reinforcing those expectations at home as well. Just as a reminder:  

iPads should:

* remain in student backpacks until student is at home

* be free to any non education/productivity apps

* be kept clean

Students should:

* be monitored at all times - at home or at school

* fully charge the iPad every night, and bring the charger to school each day in their backpack

* never be alone or isolated when using the iPad for any purpose - at home or at school

Remember, iPads are school tools, not toys. Taking iPads home is a privilege and can only happen when students are responsible with their iPads.

Thank you for your support.

Materials Engineering

We are in the middle of our newest engineering unit -- learning about materials engineers. Students are engineering a mortar to hold together a rock wall. Check out some of our pictures from today. We will test our walls on Monday using the "demolition ball". You won't want to miss seeing our walls at Open House in March!

Package Engineering and the Super Bowl

In our last engineering unit, students learned about package engineering. Each team designed a package for a plant. The package had to meet the needs of the plant as well as the needs of the consumer. At the end of our unit, Mr. Nathan Loftice, one of our great Cannon 2nd grade parents, shared how he engineers packages for FedEx. Students learned that FedEx ships all kinds of items -- even whales!

On Friday, we found out that Mr. Loftice and FedEx also had an important role in this weekend's Super Bowl! The Denver Broncos mascot is making his way to New York via FedEx and Mr. Loftice engineered the solution to the problem of how to get the stallion safely to the game. Check out this link to see the full story. http://www.fox21news.com/news/story.aspx?id=1000696#.UurbU7eA3cu