First Lego League Family Night

A paper invitation will go home with your child this week! We hope to see you there!

The ACES Love Science!

We had another FABULOUS science demonstration this week- Balloon Blow Up - ENJOY!

Mad Scientists!

The 1st and 2nd grade ACES have begun science demonstrations! Each week a new student will be sharing a science activity with the group. The ACES have been doing a wonderful job and we're learning so much!

Enjoy the demonstration we enjoyed today - "Vinegar Volcano"! It wouldn't upload in one part so it's broken into three parts.
Part 1:

Part 2:

Part 3:

Legos, Legos EVERYWHERE!

The St. Ambrose's ACES haven't fallen off the face of the earth! We have been busy working on lots of new projects during this 2011-2012 school year. The biggest project we have tackled this year is Jr. First Lego League and First Lego League! It has been an exciting learning opportunity for both the students and myself. Enjoy a few pictures and check back soon for more information about what we've been working on in our classroom!

Saintly Scholars

Now that school is out for summer break, I plan to catch up on all the exciting things that happened in ACES during the 4th quarter of the school year. It gets crazy with assessments schedules, spring break, etc.

I wanted to take a chance to recognize a few very dedicated 2nd grade ACES. These students worked diligently on their Saintly Scholar's Challenges throughout the year.

This little girl learned ALL 50 states and capitals and recited them to me in a matter of minutes. She also learned all the presidents of the United States in order - ten presidents at a time. Can you say AMAZING!!!!

This fine young man probably wins the award for the most visits to my classroom before the 7:55 bell! He completed a variety of challenges including knowing all the mysteries of the rosary. He also had the great strategy of organizing his answers to his challenges into manageable groups and even sometimes the answers were alphabetized. Great work young man!

The next gentlemen worked through a variety of challenges and knew them well when it was time to recite them from memory to show mastery!

The last 2nd grader I would like to mention is Jacob! Unfortunately I don't have a photo of his saint. Jacob also completed a variety of challenges and no doubt could show mastery of the challenges he completed.

*The numbers on their trophies don't necessarily show the final number of challenges that were completed by these ACES. These pictures were taken a month or so before the last day of school!

Thank You Dr. Kannarr!!!

Dr. Kannarr visited the 3rd/4th and 5th/6th grade ACES for a cow's eye dissection!

First up were the 5th/6th graders. When planning the dissection, Dr. Kannarr and I were going to be the ones actually working our way through the eyes and the ACES would be spectators. Well . . . Dr. Kannarr came with enough cow's eyes, gloves, trays, chewing gum, and blades for the students to work in pairs and do their own dissection. Such a great opportunity!

A few days later, Dr. Kannarr returned for round 2 with the 3rd/4th graders. We recruited the help of some of our 5th grade ACES to lead the younger students through their dissection. It was great to watch the 5th graders recall all they had learned from Dr. Kannarr! I think we just may have some future opthamologists or surgeons in our midst!

Click HERE to link to a site that we used to prepare in advance of the dissection. It has lots of great information and I'm sure your super scientist would love to tell you all about the parts of the cow's eye!

ThAnK yOu DR. KANNARR for this fantastic learning opportunity!

Better Late Than Never

During December, the 1st and 2nd grade ACES participated in a Holiday Card Exchange hosted by Jen Wagner here. I registered our group and we received the names and addresses of 24 classrooms in the United States and Canada. The theme this year was GiNgErBrEaD mEn! So . . . we made these cute cards to send.

The idea came from Family Fun Magazine. We used colored dots and reinforcement circles to decorate our houses. We wrote messages inside the houses and added gingerbread boys and girls. We also had an information sheet to complete about our school and town. The ACES were proud of their creations!

The students were each assigned to a classroom. I made a map of the United States and we found all the towns and cities using Google Earth. Everyone added a star with their name and we waited for the cards to arrive.

The kids had a great time reading about all the classrooms that were part of the exchange and looking at all the cards! We not only had fun, but also learned about geography!

Google Docs Experiment

I am hoping to be able to share documents with parents and other teachers. This is my first attempt at embedding a Google Doc into my blog! Here goes...

Designer Dinosaurs

The 1st and 2nd grade ACES have been studying dinosaurs for the past several weeks. Our most recent learning adventure was to "create" a dinosaur using a list of word chunks and their meanings. The students L.O.V.E.D. this! They begged to take the list with them so they could create, create, create! Enjoy the Voice Thread we created - you may need to crank up the volume as we were having microphone issues.

Rudolph . . . We Want Your Job!

I have recently found the greatest treasures in other teacher's blogs. This idea I saw on a wonderful blog here. With the crazy, hectic schedules right before Christmas and the illness that was going around at school, unfortunately you will not see every one of the ACES in this slideshow. The children pretended that Rudolph was planning to retire and Santa was looking for a replacement. They not only had to create the finest looking set of antlers, but also they had to complete a job application highlighting the skills that would make them a good choice for Rudolph's replacement. Here are some of their responses:

*I can jump high.
*I am in good physical shape.
*I like being cold.
*Santa is so nice I'd like to work for him.
*I am very reliable.
*I am really daring and not scared of anything.




I'm sure Santa will have no problem choosing a replacement with these highly qualified applicants!! Who knows, he may just have to hire them all!

The Gingerbread Man

We are participating in a Holiday Card Exchange project. The theme for the project this year is gingerbread men. The 1st and 2nd grade ACES did a readers' theater today. We hope you will enjoy! I will be posting more information soon about the Holiday Card Exchange.

LoGaN's ExTrEmE rOoM mAkEoVeR

Enjoy Logan's presentation! He was disappointed in the quality of the pictures he got from the internet, but he did a fantastic job! He also worked on making some great transitions that didn't show when I transferred his presentation to Slideshare :(

Logan e r m2

View more presentations from obrienkristen.

ExTrEmE rOoM mAkEoVeR

The 3rd, 4th, 5th, and 6th Grade ACES began an Extreme Room Makeover project in early October. The students were given the task/creative challenge to make over their bedrooms. They were each given a budget of $5,000 and a list of possible internet resources. It was so awesome to watch this project unfold. Most students chose to display their information using PowerPoint. Some decided to make a poster. Many were very frugal and hesitated to spend their budgeted amount. Some filled their rooms with the latest technology and gaming systems. My hope for this project is that the students gained an appreciation of budgeting. We talked about how we must first provide for our needs - bed, pillows, blankets, etc. Then we can think about those items that we might want for entertainment. We talked about how in our families, parents must first provide for our needs. Hopefully the boys and girls can better understand the next time they are told that they don't NEED the newest Xbox 360 game or latest fashions at the mall!!! I plan to continue posting their presentations and pictures of the posters they are creating. Enjoy this first of many . . .

Dominic erm

View more presentations from obrienkristen.

Meet the 1st Grade ACES . . .

I'm so glad I did! These little darlings are always ready to learning something new. We get so busy each Friday afternoon that I kept forgetting to take their pictures individually. I couldn't be more thankful to have the opportunity to teach them.

Fuel Up to Play 60

The 5th and 6th Grade ACES made a very quick attempt at a 30-second commercial highlighting how to "Get Healthy, Be Active, and Make a Difference". This was part of a contest sponsored by the Play 60 movement to encourage kids to get off the couch and play. We learned that it's not easy to condense thoughts and ideas from a group into 30 seconds. They gave it their best shot in the hour that we had to spend. Turn up the volume and enjoy!

Weird - but Totally Awesome - Science

The ACES enjoyed some weird, but totally awesome, science experiments recently! We ooohhhhed and aaaaahhhhhed over bubbles. They weren't just your everyday ordinary bubbles. They were bubbles that contained trapped carbon dioxide gas from our dry ice. We made Insta-Worms and Green Slime (hopefully everyone who took some home followed my directions about not opening the slime unless they had permission from a parent :)) We energized Glow-In-The-Dark Powder and made balloons scream.

These experiments came from the Steve Spangler Science Company. If you would like to receive a weekly experiment in your inbox, just visit www.stevespanglerscience.com!

The ACES had a great time with these experiments and gained some knowledge about science concepts in the process. I even heard a few of them say that SCIENCE is their new favorite subject!

Morning Announcement

Some of the 5th and 6th Grade ACES have taken over the Monday and Thursday Morning Announcement! The students are doing a wonderful job first praying, then saying the Pledge of Allegiance. They also announce the focus at Mass for the week. This focus is written by our Professional Learning Community Religion Committee of teachers. "Jazzed up with adjective" lunch menus and birthdays are also part of the announcement. Lastly, the ACES let the student body and teachers know about upcoming events. The students are doing a fabulous job! Most recently we have decided to add willing 3rd and 4th graders to this process.

Pumpkin Seed Count

The first and second grade ACES participated in a Pumpkin Seed Count Project hosted by Jennifer Wagner at www.jenuinetech.com. Students from around the world registered and completed the project. We had lots of fun estimating, measuring, sorting, and counting. The ACES even learned that "circumference" is the distance around a circle/sphere. They also had no trouble telling me that we would not be able to use a ruler for this measurement. They recommended using a tape measure or string that we could measure using a ruler. So clever!

Be sure to scroll over the pictures to see the captions! We hope you enjoy the slideshow as much as we enjoyed the project!

We're Back!!! with UV Detecting Beads

Whew!!! It has been so busy at school and I have fallen behind with our blog. The ACES have been hard at work for just over three weeks now. We have some exciting things happening and I can't wait to tell you about them!

For our first class, we had a science inquiry lesson. I gave all the ACES, 1st grade all the way through 6th graders, three mysterious beads to examine and describe.



The kids thought of adjectives like: smooth, hard, white, small, and circular. They noted there was a hole in the center.

After carefully observing these "magic" beads, the students hypothesized about what could be so special about the beads.

They said . . .

. . . maybe they glow in the dark!

. . . maybe they change color because of our mood!

. . . maybe they are sensitive to heat and cold!

We spent time observing the "magic" beads in the classroom. Then . . . we went outside with our beads. Something amazing happened!


The "magic" beads changed from white to a rainbow of colors. Why? Because these beads are ULTRAVIOLET DETECTING BEADS!!!

The ACES are so naturally curious that a myriad of experimentation began to take place. What happens if I go in the shade of the building? What happens when we go back inside the school? Will the beads always be colored now instead of white? This curiosity is why I love my job and never cease to be amazed at the learning that unfolds in young minds every day!

We talked about how ultraviolet rays from the sun can be harmful to our skin. We also decided that we could experiment to see if sunscreen is really effective. The possibilities with our UV detecting beads were endless!

Owl Pellet Dissection: The Beginning

The ACES are working on becoming "Wise Owls"! We have been researching owls and completing our first Lapbook project. To get some real hands-on experience and gain more knowledge about owls, we are completing an owl pellet dissection. The 1st - 4th grade ACES got started this week. The ACES were amazed to find so many bones in their pellets. Some had one skull, some had three skulls, some had a hard time with the smell of the project! It is so exciting to see them working on this project and being real scientists as they solve the mystery of what owls are eating! We will be finishing up our study in the coming weeks and will surely have more pictures to post and even some video too!

The 5th and 6th grade ACES participated in the Thinking Cap Quiz Bowl - America Answers competition. We will let you know the results of their efforts around May 10! These students will soon have the chance to begin their dissection.