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.

Visit to the Library

Our class took a quick trip to the library last week to get more resources for our research projects.  Rachel, the teen librarian at the Des Moines Library, was very helpful and showed the kids how to use the catalog and the dewey decimal system.  It was a fun visit and the kids got tons of resources for their projects.

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.  

School Agreements

School Agreements

As a school we met and brainstormed agreements for our school and how we should treat each other.  There were about 30 ideas, many of which overlapped.  The Rainforest Explorers with some help of our 1st grade friends broke into teams to come up with the main school agreements.  I was so proud of these kids.  They were able to summarize the suggestions into a set of reasonable expectations and then share them with the Kindergarten and first graders. 

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.

Sandbox Update

Sandbox Update

We have been hard at work planning our sandbox.  This week with the help of Fred Meyer we were able to come up with some real dimensions and possibly costs of the sandbox.  The kids created a list of necessary materials and are excited to begin the actually construction.

Our next steps are:

• Field Trip to Home Depot - cost out the project (Monday or Tuesday next week)
• Review our cost and decide if that is reasonable or not and make adjustments as needed.
• Prepare a presentation for the Bridge School Board of Directors.  This will include visuals and written proposal.  I will provide more info as the date gets closer, but I would love students to come and present this to the board since it is their work.  
• Begin building.  :)

Through this project we are learning the following:

• Team Collaboration - having discussions, politely disagreeing and respecting each others opinions to come to a solution.
• Math Skills - area, perimeter, measurement, addition, multiplication, subtraction, division, metric conversions and money.  These are all applied at a level that is appropriate for your child.  Giving them enough challenge to learn new things, but not lead to frustration.  

Sorry - no pictures.  We are SUPER busy planning!

Thanks for your support!  

Planning for Star Gazing

Star Gazing

Today with the help of Chris Yeargin we begun the planning for our class star gazing trip on Friday.  We talked about what we might see, what we hoped to see and were left with some questions.  The class took some time looking in books, looking online and having a discussion about various aspects of the trip.

Chris will be back on Thursday and we hope to answer the following questions:

If you child wants to work on this at home it would be great.  Several mentioned that they had a book or other tool that they wanted to bring in and share and that would also be great.

We are all very excited for Friday.  I hope you can make it!

Math: Problem Solving Strategies

We have been working on solving math story problems with the CUBE Strategy.  This helps students focus in on what the important parts of the problem are and decide what operation they will be using (add, subtract, mutiply or divide).