The Sandbox Project - Start to Finish (Well Almost Finished)

The students in the rainforest room have been hard at work since October working on designing, measuring, creating and finally building a sandbox for our blank outside area.  As part of their project preparation they gave a presentation to the Bridge School Board of Directors that summarized their work and made a request for the funds to build the sandbox.  Through this process we were able to apply for a grant that awarded us $800 towards the cost of the project.  Here is a compilation of all of the hard work.  A huge thank you to Fred Meyer, Chris Yeargin, Anne York, Bob Embrey and Burners Without Borders Seattle.  We wouldn't have been able to complete this project without you.

The Beginning
When we moved into our space in August we knew we would have work to do in the outside area to make it a more desirable place to spend time at recess during the day.  My class decided that it was in need of a sandbox.  This is what our outside area looked like prior to the sandbox project.

Brainstorming and Planning
We began the process by walking around the space and determining as a team what would be the best size, location and depth of sandbox for our school.  

Once they had determined the size, shape and materials needed we headed off to Home Depot to begin pricing to prepare our budget.

Preparing a Presentation to the Board of Directors
Once the students had done the math and came up with a budget they prepared for the presentation to the board.  

Their Request:

October 30, 2012

Dear Bridge School Board:

We would like to have a sandbox in our play area.  Our class measured the outside area and decided the best place for the sandbox.  After we measured we figured out the cost of the materials.  The cost of the sandbox will be approximately $785.00 plus tax.  Right now we only have balls and hula hoops.  This would be another choice for the students at recess.  We are asking you for money for the sandbox so the cooperative school can have fun.  If you grant our reasonable request we will start building so kids can have fun.

Thank you for your time and respectful consideration of our request.

Sincerely,

Determined Bridge School Builders

Moriah, Kaylee, Ethan, CarolJean, Rian, Evan, Sam, Elliot, Zavyen and Zachery

Burners without Borders Grant

A parent brought this grant opportunity to our attention and a team of parents quickly assembled to gather the required materials and submit it on our behalf. We were so excited to find out that we had been selected as the recipient of the grant and our building began.

Pre-Work

In order to build the sandbox so it would be strong enough to hold the weight of the sand the students had to do some pre working by measuring, sawing and drilling to prepare for the final assembly.

Assembly

The biggest step yet was moving all the materials from our inside workspace to the outside area and begin building.

After the building was complete it was time for the sand.  This was an event that the whole school took part in.

Playtime

The sandbox has provided many hours of enjoyment, memories and team work so far.  We are looking forward to the rest of the year.

What's Next??

We will be adding some art to the outside of the sandbox.  In the coming weeks all students, families and other community members will be invited to participate in the creation of the art pieces.  I can't wait to see what they come up with.

Again, thank you for your support on this project.  It has been a ton of fun and a very educational experience.

Catching Up....

Sorry I have been MIA from the blog.  School has been very busy between conferences, Thanksgiving Break and life I haven't been able to blog as much.  Here is an update on what we have been up to in the Rainforest Room.....

Math

Students have been working hard on their math goals.  Many of them are nearing the end of their first selected goal and we will be reflecting on our work, deciding if we need to change the goal or keep working.  This will happen as we get closer to the winter break.  You can support your child at home by asking them what their goal is and practicing this with them.  If you need ideas for this please let me know.  I have a lot of resources I can send home with your child.

During math time we generally have 2-3 groups going at a time.  The groups we have right now are:

Addition Strategies and Money

This group has been working on recognizing money values, adding collections of coins and playing games with money.  The students have a strong understanding of money.  We are working on addition strategies to move beyond counting on our fingers and drawing pictures to solve problems.  While these are very good strategies, when the problems get harder they aren't always efficient and often lead to errors in their computation.  

Strategies we have been/will be working on:

• Counting On -  put the larger number in your head and count on. (example: 26+2 is 26... 27 ... 28).
• Use Doubles - use doubles you know to solve problems that are near doubles.  (example: 3+4 is the same as double 3 + 1).
• Add the Parts - Add on numbers you know, similar to using the 100s chart.  (example: 26+13 is the same as 26+10+3).
• Make a ten - use combinations of ten to help you add.  (example: 9+6 is the same as 10+5).

Measurement and Multiplication

This group has finished up with their work on measurement.  They were working on standard and non standard measurements, comparing measurements, talking about estimation in measurement and looking at time and ages.

They have moved onto strategies for multiplication.  They have been working hard on mastering the basic facts and then learning strategies for harder problems.  The verbiage that we use in class to explain multiplication is "groups of".  For example, if you have 3x4 that would be said as three groups of four.  This helps them visualize the problem instead of memorizing the fact.  When students can master this understanding of multiplication they will have a far easier time with more challenging multiplication problems and division facts.

Literacy

In reading we have been working on story elements.  Currently we are picking out the characters and situations happening in our group read aloud, Holes by Louis Sachar.  This has been a fun read aloud and I hope to host a movie night after the winter break for us to compare and contrast the book with the movie. Watch for more information on this.

Students started with their book clubs a few weeks ago.  This has been a really fun way for them to think about literature and have group discussions.  Thank you to Sarah and Heather for helping me facilitate these.  The students are making great progress in these groups.  The two club books this first session are:

We will finish these books up before the winter break and offer new clubs in January.

The kids have been HARD at work on their research projects.  They are doing so well.  It is amazing to see them pick a topic, research facts and then decide on a way to present their information to the group.  I hope to have students present these on Monday, December 17th.  We will be wrapping up our work this week.  

Stone Soup

Before the Thanksgiving Break we enjoyed preparing soup and noodles for the event.  Thank you to all of you who participated.  It was so much fun to watch their work come together.

 Burners without Borders Grant

A HUGE HUGE thank you to Anne York and Bob Embrey to worked hard to pull together a grant for our sandbox in less than 24 hours.  They took the work that our kids created and presented it as part of the proposal.  We were awarded $800 for our project and will begin work on building it soon.  Watch for information on how you can help.

We have been busy, busy busy in the Rainforest Room.  

Election 2012- The Results

On Tuesday, November 6th we conducted a Presidential election at school.  All students and parents were offered the chance to vote.

After the school had voted the students in the Rainforest Room took the votes, counted them and sorted the data to come up with multiple representations.  Then shared this information with the students in the Iceberg Snow Leopard and Earth Rooms.  

Sandbox Project Board Presentation

Sandbox Project Board Presentation

This week students had the opportunity to share our hard work on the Sandbox Project with the Bridge School Board of Directors.  They were nervous and excited while they prepared, but did an excellent job delivering their ideas to the board.

Here is the proposal they presented to the board:

October 30, 2012

Dear Bridge School Board:

We would like to have a sandbox in our play area.  Our class measured the outside area and decided the best place for the sandbox.  After we measured we figured out the cost of the materials.  The cost of the sandbox will be approximately $785.00 plus tax.  Right now we only have balls and hula hoops.  This would be another choice for the students at recess.  We are asking you for money for the sandbox so the cooperative school can have fun.  If you grant our reasonable request we will start building so kids can have fun.

Thank you for your time and respectful consideration of our request.

Sincerely,

Determined Bridge School Builders

Moriah, Kaylee, Ethan, CarolJean, Rian, Evan, Sam, Elliot, Zavyen and Zachery

Thank you to all of you who have helped with this project.  The board is currently working out the financial portion of this request and we have also submitted a grant request that will hopefully cover a portion of it.  Stayed tuned for more information on how you can help us begin building!

Math in Class

Math in Class

Over the past couple of weeks we have been working on several different things in math.  Number Sense, Measurement and Math Goals.

Number Sense:

A small group of students has been working on foundations for harder subtraction and addition problems as well as the beginnings of multiplication.  This includes number games, counting by 2's, 5's and 10's and figuring out how to solve word problems.

Measurement:

The group that has been working measurement has been looking at exact vs. estimated measurements this included figuring out when it was necessary to be exact and when it is ok to just estimate.  They have looked at the difference between the metric and standard US measurement system.  The last thing they have been working on is looking at products to determine weight and next week they will look at capacity.

Using a known item to estimate measurement of the table.

Math Goals:

Every Thursday we spend our math time working on a goal that your child has set for themselves.  These range from adding single digit numbers to working in the thousands.  I encourage you to ask your child what their goal is and to help support them at home.    We have some fun new tools to help with this time each week.  The kids LOVED them today!  

Learning Palette - Can be used for multiple operations and activities across the grade and skill levels.

Wrap Ups - A set of "keys" that the kids practice their basic facts with.

Home Depot Field Trip

Home Depot Field Trip

Yesterday we headed off to the Home Depot for a field trip to get some prices on our lumber and other materials for the sandbox project.  Thank you to Fred Meyer and Jaime DeLong for coming with me.

Fred did an AWESOME job of helping the kids understand the different things we were going to need and how we would construct it.  He even created little examples in the aisle of  Home Depot.

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It was exciting to see our brainstorming and ideas starting to come together.

From her we went to the place where we would most likely get our sand and they showed us where it was an gave us a visual of how much we would need.  Sam has calculated the volume of the box as 10 cubic yards.  Their "little" dump truck holds 6 so we will need a full one and a partial.  It is a LOT of sand.

Today in class a group of students spent some time calculating the total cost of the wood.  They are preparing ideas for their presentation to the Board in a few weeks.

Thanks for your support on this project.