A Thank You, an Announcement, a Question, and Technology Camp!!

Well, my summer OFFICIALLY begins tonight! I had a few trainings to attend the week after school ended and this past week was Technology Camp, something I teach at every summer (since its inception 4 years ago). Visit the link in the previous sentence to read about last summer's camp--see the bottom section of this post for cool pics and activities from this year's camp!

First things first--A Thank You!
THANK YOU SO MUCH for your support and advice in regard to my move!!! Within hours of my announcement several of you responded to my post and HUNDREDS of you responded to my survey about what to do with my blog! It is such an incredibly awesome feeling to know that you all are behind me, especially when I have yet to meet any of you face to face!! :)


An Announcement
I have decided to keep this blog and simply adjust my tagline, especially since 81% of you suggested I do that!! I'll get around to emailing my awesome blog designer, Alicia, for an adjustment sometime this summer... ;)


A Question
I have decided to change my classroom theme from frogs! I love the colorful frogs and all but I think new grade level, new theme. Yesterday, I was struck with inspiration to do a Chicka Chicka Boom Boom theme! My question is, is that even plausible?? I think the book is an enjoyable read AND it would be SO cute to have those cute little coconut trees around! What do you think?? Any suggestions?!


Technology Camp
Picture this--teaching a class with an engaging topic that includes activities that you have complete control in planning for, no grades or test pressure, all the technology you need/want, all the supplies you need/ask for, an aide to help out, a small group of kids AND only 4 hours long...oh, and NO professional teacher wear, strictly t-shirt and jeans or shorts attire...sounds awesome, right??! That's Technology Camp in my district!!!! This is the best part of my summer each year!!

This year, I planned and taught "Germs, Mold and Other Gross Stuff" to kids that will be entering 4th and 5th grade next school year. I ended up having 5 girls and 4 boys, most of which just finished 3rd grade. I also ended up having two aides to help out for most of the week, so that was super nice. We did a variety of utterly GROSS activities and projects. I actually didn't get as many pictures as I wanted to because we were so busy the whole time. I did, however, capture a few things! I will also share some of the actual activities/projects we did with you (probably in a later post because this one's length is approaching "never-ending").

First project to share...bird poop paintings!!

First, the students chose a bird and we used PebbleGo to research them, particularly the bird's diet. We then talked about how a bird's poop should reflect its diet. After that, the students summarized the bird's diet and turned it into a QR code using Kaywa, which we glued onto their paper. We then took ketchup and mustard squeeze bottles and put some white tempera paint in them. Using the bird's diet, the students placed bits of various items into the paint, such as nuts, berries, grass and twigs. For the meat-eating birds we just tore up bits of construction paper and put it in the paint. After mixing up the paint the kiddos squeezed the paint onto their paper to make the poop.

It was wayyyyy fun--they had a blast with it! Here are a few more examples--enjoy! (And yes, I realize that some may be a little extreme...what can I say, they had wayyyy too much F-U-N with it!):