Students loved using the spinning wheel!
Watauga’s kindergarten students were treated to another wonderful in-school field trip provided by the Wytheville Museum. This visit enabled the students to learn how to turn the wool from a sheep into yarn. The students enjoyed a reading of Charlie Needs a Cloak. During the reading, the students learned how a shepherd shears the sheep and then scours (washes) and cards (combs) the wool. The most exciting part was when each child got a chance to make the spinning wheel “hum” to turn the wool into yarn. The students then saw how the yarn was used to make mittens, socks, sweaters, etc. All of the kindergarten students enjoyed this visit, and we cannot wait until our next in-school field trip!
Students listen to Officer Sexton.
Last week, to kick off February as National Bullying Prevention Month, Officer Sexton came to Watauga Elementary School to discuss bullying with students in third through fifth grade. Officer Sexton defined bullying and the various types of bullying as either verbal, cyber, or physical. The students were given warning signs to identify bullying and steps they needed to take for help. Students were told the most important way to stop bullying is to tell an adult they trust, immediately. Officer Sexton opened the eyes of the students by informing them of how easy text messages, website posts, and emails could be retrieved by the police department to stop cyber bullying. All of Watauga Elementary has agreed to take a stand against bullying!
Fourth grade students enjoyed many activities on Digital Learning Day.
February 1, 2012 was National Digital Day to celebrate the use of technology in education. Fourth graders at High Point Elementary School participated in a simulation of a day in a “school of the future”. Students enjoyed learning games, investigations, videos, and PowerPoint Presentations on individual laptop computers. The activities demonstrated the use of technology in all four core areas of instruction. Students listened to stories read by famous people from the Actor’s Screen Guild, watched videos and simulations from Colonial Williamsburg, wrote short stories on Scholastic.com, and many other activities. One student commented that “she loved history, and that the videos from Colonial Williamsburg shared a lot of artifacts and interesting information from America’s history.” Another student stated that “he loved being in the computer lab, and he loved learning how to make 18th century chocolate”. Other students enjoyed creating books about the Solar System on Microsoft Word. National Digital Day was a great success! We can hardly wait until next year!
Ms. Austin’s and Mrs. Gregory’s classes are stepping out to make math fun.
The Patrick Henry High School PE 10 classes of Ms. Beth Austin and the data analysis classes of Mrs. Lorrie Gregory are working together to make learning math fun! Recently, the Fuel Up to Play 60 Club received pedometers for the school that are being used in Ms. Austin’s classes. Her classes wear them every day, and students track their daily steps. Each day their goal is about 3000 steps, which is half of the number of steps a person should take each day to be healthy. Mrs. Gregory’s classes then take this information and chart to see how far each student walks daily, weekly, and yearly, as well as measuring their stride length. Students determine their stride length using math formulas. So far, they have found that students are getting at least one mile worth of steps each day in PE class. The data analysis class is also planning on figuring out how fast (MPH) a student runs based on time, distance, and steps. What a way to make math fun!
Fourth graders place winning bids on 100th day of school.
Students participated in a mock auctioning activity recently on the 100th day of school at High Point Elementary. Jill Matchett's 4th grade class had first hand experience bidding on various items that were brought in or donated for the students to bid on. The children were given $100 in play money to spend on items that were being auctioned as their teacher served as the auctioneer. The items varied from stuffed animals to candy to stationery, pencils, and erasers. Students had to keep a running tally of their expenses to know when they had exhausted all their funds and the bidding for them was complete.
The experience taught them the importance of keeping expenses within their spending limits. It helped to prepare them for real-world purchasing. The children cherished their winning items and had a wonderful time reviewing computational skills while at the same time, proving that learning can be fun!