Today was our first day to meet in GATE 3. We played a lot of games! We used Tangrams. You can check out the ones we made on this website!

This picture shows A. solving one of the hardest puzzles– the candle! We also solved the boxed arrow! It was a great first day!

Next week we are going to start our first unit. We will be studying Mars!

If you didn’t make it to Open House this year, you can take a tour of our GATE Room right here online.  Of course, you can’t smell the air freshner, but you can get the idea of what the room looks like.    I don’t know about you, but I am still humming “Domo Arigato, Mr. Roboto…..”   GATE Classes begin the week of August 30, so get ready! I am….

Attention! Attention!  You are invited to OPEN HOUSE!  On Tuesday, August 17, 2010 from 5:00-7:00pm I will be hosting an Open House at GATE!  Stop by room 104 at the Elementary and say hello!  I’ve been quite busy getting things ready for the school year and can’t wait to share our classroom with you.

Hope to see you there!

Today was busy!  I got to hear many interesting speakers.  Robert “Hoop” Gibson told us about his numerous travels to space flying the shuttle.  Did you know that his favorite thing to eat in space is shrimp cocktail?  He told us that NASA lets the astronauts plan out their meals.  The dehydrated food is then re-hydrated in space.  What would you take to space with you?  I’m thinking pizza!

Here are a few interesting facts from today:

• The shuttle travels at a speed of 17,500 miles per hour.  This is 5x the speed of a bullet.
• When astronauts orbit the earth, they see 16 sunrises in one earth day.
• When astronauts get off of the shuttle, they are one inch taller because fluid builds up in their vertebrae.
• The rocket boosters are assembled in Utah and shipped to Kennedy Space Center in Florida by train.
• The “Crawler” that takes the shuttle to the launch pad takes 150 gallons of fuel to go one mile!

I now have the key to my very own dorm room here at Space Camp USA.  When I arrived, I received the key, flight suit, and information!  This week is packed with much to learn!

A view from the plane. I love looking at the clouds.  I wish we had our own classroom jet!

The bus that picked us up at the airport.  When I got off the plane, two people from the US Space and Rocket Center were waiting in their flight suits for us!

I’m ready for a busy, and quite full, week of learning!

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Well, I’m not live from outerspace, just the “space” above Huntsville, Alabama! I will be arriving at Space Camp in about an hour. I can’t wait to share my adventures with you! I’ll be posting that right here on our classroom blog. For any teachers reading, I’ll be sharing lesson and teaching ideas that I am learning here over at my teaching blog, TeachFactory. This is Mrs. V. signing off.

School is out for summer!  I hope everyone enjoys the vacation!  In a few days, I will be boarding a plane to Space Camp.  It will be 5 days of busy fun learning about math and science.  I look forward to meeting teachers from all over the world and picking up some new materials and ideas for us to use in class.  No, I’m not going to the moon, it’s actually Huntsville, Alabama, where there is great oxygen and gravity.  I look forward to sharing a bit from each day here so you can see what I am participating in!  Have a great summer everyone!

On April 12 and 13, Hillsboro Elementary Census Bureau is making the rounds to administer and collect a Census from every student in the school.  Following weeks of research about what a Census is, how it can help the community, and how often it occurs, 3rd and 4th graders developed a Census for our school.  The purpose of our census was to make everyone count and we hope to use the data to make a real improvement in our school.  Afterall, that’s what the power of data is all about!

Hillsboro Elementary Census Bureau badge-bearers entered classrooms at scheduled times, gave a short speech about the importance of the Census, and then passed out a survey to each student.  One third grader was heard saying, “Hey, my mom filled out a Census!”  The next time the Census rolls around, these kids will be filling out the US Census for themselves!  Time flies when your learning…and having fun!

We will be placing an order soon for GATE T-Shirts!  The shirts will be black with white print. Shirts are $6.25/ All students will have the opportunity to pick up an order form in class this week.  Or, you may DOWNLOAD the order form here.  Please have ALL shirt orders to Mrs. Venosdale by Friday, February 5, 2010.

This morning, GATE6 students gathered to talk about the earthquake that occurred in Haiti.    Students decided that we could work together to DO SOMETHING for this country in need.  After we checked out Haiti’s location on Google Earth, we realized it was smaller compared to our own country, but the need is certainly GREAT.    Students immediately began brainstorming ideas.   We needed posters to hang in the halls.  We needed a short speech to read on the morning announcements.  We could work together, collecting donations.   Our plan is simple:  we would cut out hundreds of small red hearts.  Students will work in teams to provide hearts to anyone who stops by the table in the mornings to give a donation.  The hearts will be hung in the halls of our school to show our support for Haiti.  We are sure about one thing: no donation is too small.  Every penny will count in Haiti!

A 6th grade student created this video to show the need to help:  Hearts For Haiti

Another 6th grade student designed a website for the project!

If you would like to help with our project, stop by our table before Morning Announcements to make a donation.  You will receive a heart to hang in our Intermediate School’s hallway.  Following the collection, all proceeds will be donated to the American Red Cross for Haiti.

The project will run from Monday, January 25 to Friday, February 12, 2010!   Thank you for your support!

If YOUR school would like to join in this project, check out our project blog at: http://classroomheartsforhaiti.blogspot.com/ We would love to recieve a picture of your school’s wall filled with Hearts for Haiti!  Please check it out!