Christy Garvin

Mission Possible- Friday, April 28th

Today was our final "regular" Target day of the year, and we definitely made the most of it!  Spy kids shared their character badges with one another and completed a final reflection on the VIA character traits.  The kids were very excited to read what other students recognized as their character strengths.

However, the most exciting part of the day was the spectacular repair of our broken time machine.  Almost all the spy kids correctly wrote code and programmed their robots to diagnose and fix the ailing machine.  Thankfully, the day was saved and we were able to return to 2017!!!!!!  Congratulations Spy Kids! I'd like to send out a huge thanks to Wendy Raeuchle who came in to help with the time machine project. She was the only parent who was able to volunteer and without her, we would not have been able to do our final mission of the year.  The kids would have been so disappointed, so please give Wendy a huge thank you the next time you see her! 

 

Just a reminder that next week is our field trip to the Nantahala.   Please check the field trip section of the blog  next week for very important last minute reminders and details concerning our trip.

Also, due to our window 3 Target testing and our 4th and 5th grade trip to Camp Highland, we will not have Target on Friday, May 12th.  Our last Target meeting of the year will be on Friday, May 19th.  I will be spending some time with the students from 11:30-12:30 and I believe we will have an end of the year party from 12:30-1:30. Unfortunately, I don't think my room mom is going to be able to help with the organization of the party, so if there is someone else who can help, please let me know.  It isn't complicated as we would like to do an ice cream sundae bar and a couple easy games.  I know it's a busy time of year, so if no one can volunteer it's not a problem, I'll just get the kids popsicles and let them play.

If we do end up having the actual party, all parents will be welcome to come join us at the pavilion from 12:30-1:30.  I will let you know if I find a volunteer and whether or not we will be having the party.

 

Thanks so much! 

3rd Grade Target Tally- Download Target Tally-4-28

 

May Target Calendar

Please use the following link to download the May Target calendar:  Download May 2017

Garvin's Scuba Academy (GSA)- Week of April 24th

Due to Milestones, today was a very short day for 5th grade Target students. Basically we had a very short math lesson and spent the rest of the day presenting projects.  There were a few students who did not get to present today, but they were given the option to present tomorrow morning or next week.  However, all 5th grade students will need to bring their costumes back next week as we will be presenting to some of the other Vaughan classes.

 

Fourth grade had a full day in Target and we used every minute!  Students presented their oral reports to our class and then other classes from around the school came for some tours as well.  We reviewed some Hands On Equation Word Problems and also reviewed for our Student Learning Objectives (SLOs) test that 4th grade Target students will be taking next week.  All 4th graders will have Target next Wednesday due to our school wide STEM day on Thursday.

 

5th Grade Tally-  Download Target-Tally-4-24-4-25

4th Grade Tally- Download Target-Tally-4-26-4-27

P.S.- There is a lot going on in May with testing, field trips and end of the year parties.  I have posted the May calendar with dates and times.  Please make sure to download a copy of this so you will have all the information you need.

Mission Possible- Friday, April 21st

Due to Milestones testing, today was a shorter day than normal. However, we didn't let that stop us from having a jam packed day! We have so much left to accomplish as the school year is drawing to a close, so we found ourselves very busy. 

 

This week, students were introduced to the final and most important of our robotic missions.  As you know these spy kids have been perched on the edge of the “between world” since the conclusion of first semester.  As we were returning from ancient Rome our time machine began tumbling uncontrollably through the space time continuum. It became wedged in the gap between present and future- hopelessly stuck in the “between world.”  But all was not lost and we had no fear because Secret Agent Garvin was here with her “spy kids”  Their mission, was to learn advanced coding and programming and they have done an amazing job.

The mission for our final two Target classes is to program the Recon Rover 6 super robot to enter the “between world” and repair the damage to the time machine by correctly recording the error diagnostic code, returning that code to the spy kids so they can solve the puzzle, and then sending the solution code back out to the time machine computer.  Hopefully, the spy kids will be successful with this mission and return us safely to 2017 before the time machine is destroyed forever by cosmic galactic rays.  It’s a big task, but I know the spy kids can do it!

In our advanced coding, spy kids are working in the “play lab” to apply all of the coding skills they have learned so far.  Their task is to create animated stories.  The objectives were to:

• Identify actions that correlate to input events
• Create an animated, interactive story using sequence, loops, and event-handlers
• Share a creative artifact with other students

This is a great way to combine critical thinking with divergent thinking and the students are really enjoying the activity.  They will be finishing these stories as part of their homework.

In addition to our coding and programming, students started an affective lesson that involves making character badges for each of their classmates; we will share these badges next week.

I will be posting our May calendar this next week, but here are a few important dates to remember:

Friday, May 28th- Last regular Target class

Friday, May 5th- Nantahala Whitewater Rafting Trip

Friday, May 12th- No Target class this day

Friday, May 19th- 3rd Grade End of Year Target Party

 

3rd Grade Target Tally- Download Target Tally-4-21

 

Garvin's Scuba Academy (GSA)- Week of April 17th

We had a wonderful time on our trip to the Georgia Aquarium last week!  The classes and behind the scenes tours were great and the kids thought the shows were amazing.  Thanks again for supporting the trip!

 

It's so hard to believe that there are only five weeks remaining of school- this year has truly flown!  As you are all aware, next week is the final due date for our semester long coral reef project.  Students should bring their costumes, props, and project notebooks to school next week and should be prepared to give their 4-6 minute presentation.  We practiced the presentations in class today and gave each other constructive feedback, but please encourage your child to perform his or her presentation for you several times over the next week.  Students will not be using notes for their presentation so it is very important they practice and feel comfortable with their presentations.

Fifth graders had a normal day in Target this week- their last one of the year. We definitely had a busy day as we wrapped up our One White Dolphin novel study, practiced our coral reef presentations, began a study of time management, and completed our final Hands On Equation lesson.  Over the coming weeks we will present our coral reef projects to both our Target class other classes at Vaughan, finish our study of time management, and transition from Hands On Equations to the traditional algebra methods students will use in middle school and high school.

Due to Milestones testing, fourth grade had a shorter Target day.  We were still able to wrap up One White Dolphin, practice our oral presentations, and work a few Hands On Equations word problems.  I'm hoping we might have a full Target day next week, but that will depend on whether or not I am needed to proctor the 5th grade Milestones.  The remainder of our year will involve finishing our group dynamics curriculum, taking the 4th grade Target SLO's, and presenting our coral reef projects to both our Target class other classes at Vaughan.

I will try to post our May calendar in the next week or so, but here are a few important dates to remember:

Week of April 24th- Coral Reef Project Presentations

Friday, May 12th- Camp Highland Trip

Monday, May 15th- 5th Grade End of Year Target Party

Wednesday, May 17th- 4th Grade End of Year Target Party

 

5th Grade Target Tally-  Download Target-Tally-4-17-4-18

4th Grade Target Tally-  Download Target-Tally-4-19-4-20
 

Mission Possible-Friday, April 14th

Welcome back from spring break; I hope you all had fun and a little time to relax!  We are now in the home stretch!

One of our most exciting activities today was working on our Recon Rover Obstacle Course Mission.  Groups designed a course with ramps and various obstacles and then converted the actual course into a scale model which they drew on their mission map.  Once the map was completed each group figured out how to program their rover to run the course without hitting the obstacles.  It was very awesome!!! There were a couple groups that did not finish their course and will need to come in one morning next week to complete the task.

 

In our affective curriculum we have now completed our study of all the VIA character traits.  Over the next few weeks we will reflect on our character strengths and identify character traits on which we might want to spend time improving.  We will also share with others the character traits we see in them.  Today we finished the movie Dolphin Tale and discussed expressions of love in the story.  We also reviewed all the VIA character traits and started working on a checklist where students self-assess their 10 strongest traits.  You might ask your child to share this with you; it might spark some great conversation!

 

3rd Grade Target Tally- Download Target Tally-4-14

If you are going on the Nantahala trip your child will have a dinner menu for you in his or her notebook.  We pre-order so that our food is ready shortly after we arrive at the restaurant.  Please fill out the back of the form and return it next week.  Thanks so much!

Update on Aquarium Return

We have now cleared the traffic and the GPS is estimating a 4:15 arrival.  See you at the flagpole soon!

Georgia Aquarium Late Arrival

We had a wonderful time today, but due to some Atlanta traffic we are going to be running a little late.  We should be back at the front flagpole shortly after 4:00.  If anything changes I'll post another update.  See you soon!