Bald Eagle's Nest in Iowa

Today,the students and I watched a bald eagle sitting in her nest, at the top of a cottonwood tree in Iowa.

The Iowa-based nonprofit Raptor Resource Project set up the Web camera shot of the bird in late November using UStream.

The cameras have allowed us to watch the eagle turning her eggs and arranging her nest. We have also seen the male eagle come and go.

The eggs were expected to hatch on Friday!

Enjoy watching the eagles!

http://www.ustream.tv/channel-popup/decorah-eagles

Beautiful Oops

Oak Hill kindergarteners were very lucky to have a visit from Barney Saltzberg, author and illustrator. Mr. Saltzberg talked to the children about writing, drawing, and the fun in being creative. As he played the guitar, Mr. Saltzberg motivated and entertained everyone.

Ft. Worth Opera Visits OHE

Oak Hill Elementary was visited by The Fort Worth Opera! The students enjoyed an operetta titled The Billy Goats Gruff. This traditional tale was transformed into a story about 3 happy goats who learn to stand up to bullies and to treat each other with respect. This lesson about friendship and was set to delightful upbeat music and the children were totally engaged by the performance.

Our New Innovation Station

Last week we received our "Innovation Station". The Innovation Station is a complete station that consists of a cart with a Dell computer, wireless keyboard, wireless mouse, and a Lumens document camera. The Innovation Station system has a projector, that hangs from the ceiling, a large retractable screen, and an audio video system with microphones. Our innovation station makes teaching more flexible, allows for technology integration and creativity. The best part of the Innovation Station is that the students can use it in many ways. It is exciting to watch children read and track print on the large screen as it is displayed by the document reader. Students use the microphone as they read the daily message or calendar. During math lessons, students show their math thinking as they work with manipulatives under the document camera.

I hope you will visit the class and take a closer look at our newest teaching tool!

5 Little Pumpkins

5 Little Pumpkins

I registered our class for the fall CIESE Square of Life project. For this project, our class observed square meters of earth in the schoolyard. The students looked for and recorded items that were living and nonliving; they were assisted, during this process, by their big buddies! After our class completed this initial activity, we made a Skype call to another class in the project, to discuss our findings. This was the first Skype call of the year and the students were very excited and did a great job. CIESE's Square of Life online collaborative project is a wonderful activity for students in grades pk through 5. Working with big buddies makes this activity possible with younger grades and the Skype call gave the students an opportunity to discuss their understanding of living and nonliving. To add a literacy connection, the students discussed and then read questions that they had prepared for the Skype call. This process helps children understand how we communicate and collaborate with others in order to learn.

FOSSWeb.com

Our class went to the computer lab on Friday and the students used a new science website that supports our curriculum. FOSSWeb is the official site for the inquiry-based FOSS science curriculum. The website has grade level interactive science games for the students as well as information and resources for adults. Our class should work within the K-2 area and explore the many science units that include: force & motion, air & weather, plants & animals, plus much more! Enjoy!