Walk Our World 2015

Foot PrintRoom One is participating in the “Walk Our World” global event.  We are working together with classes all over the world to walk the circumference of the Earth.  We need 87,653,456 steps to make a complete trip around the world.  Each student has been wearing a pedometer and recording steps in a log on a daily basis.  Each Friday, we calculate our totals and enter them on the official Walk Our World website.  To learn more about this project click HERE.

We also created a scavenger hunt for this event and we want YOU or YOUR CLASS to join us.  It’s fun, engaging, and FREE!  All you need is an Instagram account (free) and a copy of the scavenger hunt items.  So grab a parent, teacher, or family friend and get walking.  Count those steps as you cross those items off your list.  For a copy of the rules and item list, click Walk Our World Scavenger Hunt.

If you have other items that would be fun to add to the list, please leave your ideas in the comments below.  We will be happy to add new items to the list!  Happy walking…and clicking!

Hj Mohd RoCreative Commons Licensesanno Hj Omar Ali via Compfight

Global Read Aloud

14th goldfishThis year my class participated in the Global Read Aloud.  This is where we read the same book as other students in different schools around the world.  We chose to read The Fourteenth Goldfish by Jennifer Holm.  We really enjoyed the book and making connections with other students who have also read this amazing book.  If you like science, you’ll love this book!

Here are some activities that we did during the GRA:

Have you ever been involved in a global project like the Global Read Aloud?  If so, please let us know.  We’d love to hear about it.

If you’re interested in participating in next year’s Global Read Aloud, click here to sign up!  

 

The Oreo Challenge

Have you ever wondered how many OREOS you can stack?  Our class participated in the O.R.E.O project.  In the OREO project, you have two chances to stack the tallest tower you can before it falls down.  We wrote a hypothesis and estimated that we could stack about 20 OREOS before the tower collapsed.  When we were finished, we analyzed the data and found the class mean or average.  After crunching the data, we discovered that our class mean was exactly 20.  Crazy, right?

 

Our top stacker was Marcia.  She was able to stack 26 OREOS before her tower came crashing down.  But what really surprised us was our Kinder Buddies.  Later that afternoon, we visited our Kinder friends and supported them in the OREO challenge.  One girl was able to match our maximum stacker by creating an OREO tower 26 cookies tall.  Take a look at the action by watching our slideshow.

Oreo Stacking by Room One on PhotoPeach

After we were finished stacking OREOS and crunching data, we carefully scraped out the oreo guts and used them to make sculptures.  The students had so much fun and made some pretty awesome sculptures.  Take a look at our OREO gallery by viewing the slideshow…

Oreo Sculptures on PhotoPeach

In the end, I challenged the whole class to learn the OREO hand game by the end of the week.  Most students took the bait and was able to complete the challenge.  As a matter of fact, they are still perfecting it while standing in line at lunch and after recess.  They are even teaching students from other classes and family members at home.

Has your class ever participated in a challenge like this?  Would you like to participate in a challenge with our class?  If so, please comment below and share your ideas!

 Photo Credit: Daniel Oines via Compfight

Student Blogging Challenge

sbc_2014_d-1fonf8sWe did it!  We signed up for the Student Blogging Challenge!  Each week we will have a new task to complete as participants of the challenge.  This week the challenge was to create or update an “About Me” page on our blogs.  Since many of the students had already accomplished this task, it gave us an opportunity to edit, revise, and evaluate our About Me pages.

The students used an app from the Google Store called My World to add interest to their page.  They created their world, took a screenshot, and then described it on their About Me page.  Not only does this app allow you to drag items into the canvas that describe you and your personaility, but it also analyzes these items and gives the creator some feedback regarding their interests.  The program tells you the type of person you are and suggests some fields of study for when you attend college.  We had fun using this app!

Here’s an example:

The World of Vazquez

The World of Vazquez

Please click on our Student Blogs located on the right-hand side of the page to view some of the About Me pages created by the students.  Look for the “About Me” tab located on the top of their Home Page.

Have you created an About Me page?  If so, what web tools have you used to make your page interesting?

QuadBlogging Buddies

Credit: iStockPhoto

Credit: iStockPhoto

We are excited to share that we are QuadBlogging with three other classes from around the world.  QuadBlogging allows the students to share their work with other students from different parts of the world.  Each class will take turns being the “Spotlight” class.  When you are the spotlight class, the other three classes will visit your blog and leave comments on the works you have posted.  We are looking forward to sharing our learning with our new blogging friends.

Ms. Staker’s 4th Grade (Italy)

Hardy Mill Primary School (UK)

Bellfield Primary School (England)

 

Typhoon Haiyan Hits Hearts

Photo Credit: Erik de Castro/Reuters

Photo Credit: Erik de Castro/Reuters

UPDATE:  We have raised $304.84 and chose to donate to Care.org.

When Typhoon Haiyan hit the Philippines, I believed it was important to inform the students about this disaster. The class had done CLOSE reading work on the articles regarding Superstorm Sandy (which hit the east coast last year) and how children have responded to that disaster.

Then, we read the article about Typhoon Haiyan by Time for Kids. The students could not believe that such a devastating storm had hit the Philippines a mere three weeks ago. We watched a music video to the song “We Are the World” which showed images of the aftermath of the storm. The students were moved by the images they saw.

When asked about the video and how it made them feel, a student responded “There were many people on the streets; I can’t believe how poor people around the world are. I felt so sad for all those people. I just can’t believe it,” Jasmeen wrote.

“I felt sad. The people were left with no homes or food to eat,” Jagger commented.

Logan B added, “This video made me feel sad and it also made me think about how thankful I am for what I have.”

The students realized the impact this disaster has had around the world and they saw how people wanted to help this impoverished country. Nicole R stated, “Lots of people are heart broken about the people that live there.”

Benson declared, “The video showed destroyed houses and homeless or displaced people, including newborns. I want to help if I can.”

We brainstormed as a class all the ways we would like to help. Students thought we could raise money, collect goods to donate, volunteer to help rebuild houses, and send supplies including construction equipment. As a class, we decided that raising money would be the most realistic way we could help. We made fliers and decorated donation jars.

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In order to make a larger impact, we decided to ask our whole school to participate. Students went around to the other classrooms on campus and shared our vision to help the Philippines. They also left donation jars in every classroom. Any student who donates a dollar receives a heart that they can write their name on and add to our hallway bulletin board.

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Our class is going to analyze the websites of the many foundations that are sending help to the victims of the Philippines. We will choose our foundation that we would like to donate through and send the money we raised to help.