Barrett Principal Mrs. Bratt talks with a student about his research on snakes.
All the second grade classes have been learning about one kind of reptile, endangered (or threatened) sea turtles. Two of the students started doing research on their own at home and in the Barrett library about sea turtles. Soon we had a small group researching different kinds of reptiles.
In the Discovery Lab the students viewed videopodcasts created by 4th graders as part of Barrett's Toyota Tapestry $10,000 grant. Afterwards the students thought about how they could share their research through a videopodcast.
This week Kindergarten students learned more about the endangered whooping cranes through a dramatization. Each group "performed" two times so that students had the opportunity to play the role of the scientist once and the role of a whooping crane once. The scientist/researcher costumes were sewn by Mrs. Garman's mother and paid for from our $2,500 Toyota Tapestry grant we were awarded last year. The puppets that look very similar to the puppets that the scientists use, were made by Barrett teacher and artist, Melissa Poore.
The real whooping cranes are currently migrating behind the ultralight aircraft. Due to bad weather, the cranes have only migrated as far as Illinois. When will they reach their Florida home? You can check out the daily status report here.
Barrett has been so fortunate to receive three invitations to visit the White House over the last two months. Just this week all 3rd grade classes toured the White House. You can read about the trip on Ms. Toussant's blog. Earlier in the month twenty-five students, representing first through fifth grades, toured the White House Chef's Garden. And in October four fifth grade students represented Barrett at the Astronomy Night at the White House. Following is a thank you letter from one of the students (posted with parent permission):
Dear organizers of White House Astronomy Night:
My expectations were extremely high but now I could consider them low in comparison to what actually happened. I had no idea that Buzz Aldrin would be there or Sally Ride or John Grunsfeld.I didn’t know I would be within two feet of PresidentObama or see Jupiter through a large telescope and take my first astro photo of the dumbell nebula. Really, it was one of the most enjoyable nights of my life. It was more fun than one thousand birthday parties or a truckload of Christmas or Hanukah presents with your name on them. I had so much fun I would do it again any night, even on the eve of the SOLs. Thank you so much.
A Grateful 5th Grade Student from K.W. Barrett Elementary in Arlington Virginia,
October 7, 2009 We talked with Apollo astronaut Buzz Aldrin, the first American female astronaut Sally Ride, and astronaut John Grunsfeld who recently returned from his 4th shuttle mission to service Hubble. When we were inside one of the inflatable dome/planetariums all of a sudden who should come in and sit on the ground with us for 10 minutes but the president, his daughters and the first lady!!
In Project Discovery, first graders are exploring various habitats and we are currently assessing our outdoor surroundings to decide whether or not Barrett is a good place for animals to call home! We are building our knowledge for an upcoming design challenge--creating a habitat for our model Blue Crabs, using some of the evidence from our findings outside!
This week the students from the classes of Mrs. Bruce, Mrs. Gomez, and Mrs. Owsley participated in sea turtle activities in the Discovery Lab. For half the time students used the laptop computers (most of which were purchased with our NASA and Toyota grants) to play an online sea turtle migration game and to view videos on the National Geographic Kids website. For the other half of the time students made foldable flipbooks that will be used on their next visit to the Discovery Lab. You may be interested in reading an article on the CHANGING environment and endangered sea turtles that was published in the New York Times this week. We will discuss this article during our next lesson in the Discovery Lab.
Mr. Bryer shared his career with all three fourth grade classes during presentations on Thursday and Friday. Mr. Bryer's presentation connected nicely to the 4th graders' study of the Chesapeake Bay watershed and the plant and animal life in the bay. Mr. Bryer talked about his work to restore the oyster populations. Click here to see photos related to an oyster restoration project. Thanks Mr. Bryer for an informative presentation!
In conjunction with Barrett's annual Career Week, Project Discovery has hosted several career week speakers over the last two weeks.
Third graders heard Mr. Rick Nagle (Mrs. Nagle's husband) speak of his career as a navy officer and his work with aquatic life. Also, we had Mr. Carey Johnston speak to Ms. Toussant's class about his job as an environmental engineer and his work with water quality control.
Fifth graders spoke with Mr. Bruce Moravchik, NOAA Specialist, about his career with NOAA and the kinds of skills needed to pursue a career in ocean exploration.
Career speakers in December include:
Dr. Emilia Costin, a toxicologist, will share her career with 4th graders.
Dr. Susan Garfinkel, a molecular biologist, has created a visually stunning, animated PowerPoint presentation to share with 5th graders.
Mr. Ken Lavish will share his work with the endangered whooping cranes with our Kindergarten students.
Later in the year, we will host more career speakers, which will tie into current topics discussed in the Discovery lab and classrooms. Most importantly, we hope that our speakers provide inspiration to our students to work hard and to dream BIG!!!!
Here are a few pictures! Enjoy!
{class} {speaking}
{question} {dad}
{kids} {class}
{scuba} {rick2}
{bruce} {kids5}
Posted by Allyson Greene at 1:00 PM
11/10/2009
4th Graders...Design Challenge: A Watershed Model
Ms. Royston's class did an outstanding job designing a model of a watershed. They worked together in small teams and used their engineering minds to construct an accurate model as all of the 'pollution' washed away into the large body of water when Hurricane Royston hit! Nice work, Ms. Royston's class!
