Bridge Point's El Futuro classroom was proud to have one of Bridge Point's many native Spanish-speaking schoolmates read to them in Spanish. Knuffle Bunny, or El Conejito Knuffle, is already a kindergarten favorite, but read in Spanish by a 5th grader from our very own school was EVEN BETTER! Imagine, one day our El Futuro students will be bilingual just like our 5th grade friend! ¡Gracias por leernos!
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From creating puzzle pieces to note how we all fit together, to sponsoring Bully Free Dress Up Days, our counselors, Ms. Edwards and Ms. Ashorn have worked with our school become a No Place for Hate campus. This video explains our Project Kindness campaign that aims to help lift the hopes and spirits of our students when they are in need of a kind word. Learn more about the No Place for Hate project here, and may kindness find you wherever you are at Bridge Point Elementary :)
Need a good laugh? Want to make your day brighter? Listen or read this Joke Book created with the Book Creator App from Mrs. McMillin's class of second grade jokesters. You will laugh, smile and be absolutely delighted by their illustrated original and classic jokes!
The folks from Austin's very own Typewriter Rodeo inspired our 4th and 5th grade students to let their imaginations wrangle up ideas straight from their heads and lay them down to paper without a mere hesitation. A lesson in the process of letting a mistake take you to the edge of your creative notions when composing poetry was a wonderful part of today's workshop with Jodi Egerton and David Fruchter, impromptu poet extraordinaires. These talented folks, who compose spontaneous poetry on vintage typewriters, are regulars on KUT's Texas Standard and have been featured in Edible Austin, The Austin Chronicle and even on radio stations as far as Boston!
Jodi and David talked about the process of creating spontaneous poetry and how to ask questions of their "customers" in order to compose a personalized poem that feeds the heart. A poem can be a wonderful gift of kindness. Students also learned a lot about the mechanics of old-fashioned typewriters. As our 4th and 5th graders oohed and aahed over machines that don't use electricity or batteries, they were invited to submit their own topics for a custom poem typed up by our presenters. From topics like a Memory Foam Mattress Staircase and a Sloth to a poem about Magic, our students guffawed, snorted, and smiled whole-heartedly as they listened to David and Jodi present tales about their poetic adventures and revealed custom poems for our students.
Towards the end of each workshop, students wrote poems for their partners and some shared their personalized poems with the crowd. Many students went back to their classes to write more poetry! It was delightful to see what amazingly creative and compassionate poets we had in the crowd! Thank you Jodi and David for awakening the inner poets of our students and encouraging them to write from their hearts, spreading kindness one rhyme at a time.
After watching an episode of Shark Tank that showcased the QBall throwable mic, our 3rd grade teacher, Ms. Bennett immediately thought about how it could be used in the classroom. With the help of district funding, Bridge Point received a QBall to try out. It has been an engaging way to give students a voice during morning meetings or during large group presentations. The QBall hides a bluetooth connected mic inside a soft exterior, easily connects to our existing classroom sound systems, mutes while it flies through the air and has proven to be a fun way to increase engagement!
Our K-5 teachers are working hard this year to bring Reading Workshop to life at Bridge Point. At the beginning of this school year, our teaching staff participated in workshops by Columbia University's Teachers College trainers about how to use Lucy Calkins' Units of Study as a resource to teach reading. To learn more about how our kindergartners are involved in Reader's Workshop, watch this video that our wonderful Kindergartner teachers made!
The iPad can really help kids express themselves in a variety of ways. It can be utilized by students with different abilities and strengths in ways we might never have been able to imagine before life with iPads. If you have ever seen our teachers, Eleanor Thompson, Anthony Diaz, Heather York, Da Delano, Sharon Freede and Shannon Pipkin working with students in our building, you would absolutely shake your head in amazement. Technology is a part of how students can reach and teach us as much as it is how we can reach and teach them. Using Adobe Spark, Mrs. Thompson and her team of talented teachers have created amazing activities for their students. And even more incredible, is that they cook in their classroom too! Enjoy this student-created Adobe Spark video on how to make cheese sticks, YUM!
Full STEAM ahead! Bridge Point hosted yet another incredible STEAM Day (formerly Science Day) where students got the opportunity to learn from a wide variety of community members who really dig science. There were robots, slime, drones, dogs, snakes, rockets and so much more! Here's glimpse into the awesomeness of a half day of hands-on science learning in a video created by a 4th grader. Much thanks to Bridge Point parent, Jayme Tirres and her amazing crew of parents and volunteers who made this day happen!
Today's blogpost is brought to you by a 4th grade junior guest blogger, Ryan:
On Tuesday, February 6th, David Yeomans came to BPE to share some behind-the-scenes information about reporting about the weather on TV. He also talked about the weather and how it works! The whole class was so excited, I could see the excitement shining in all of their eyes. David Yeomans showed us a slide show with the help of a 4th grade tech expert, that was all about weather and behind-the-scenes effects. Mr. Yeomans showed us that instead of a big, giant TV behind him, it’s really a big lime green wall! He and his crew have a special camera that turns the lime green wall into what you see on the weather report. Right next to the lime green wall, there is a little mini TV that shows what you see on TV! David also showed us a big balloon called a weather balloon that floats into the Earth’s atmosphere. When it flies into the atmosphere, it grows to the size of a basketball court! My favorite part was when he was in Hurricane Harvey. Instead of trying to evacuate, he and his crew went right into the storm! We were so inspired by his presentation and knowledge of meteorology! Learn more about David Yeomans, a former Westlake student, who loved learning about the weather at an early age online: http://kxan.com/author/david-yeomans/ Thanks for coming to teach us all about the weather, Mr. Yeomans! |
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