SPRING BOOK FAIR CONTINUES TODAY

Carol Gehringer
Media Coordinator

FAMILIES,

Thanks for coming out last night (Thursday, April 23rd) for our annual Barnes & Noble Book Fair (near Cary Towne Center).

The Book Fair will continue through SUNDAY, April 25th for in-store purchases, and through WEDNESDAY, April 29th for online purchases (use our book fair code: 11586161 when you place your order).

TODAY'S PERFORMANCES, FRIDAY, APRIL 24th:

3:30-3:45pm    Storytime with Mrs. Gehringer & Mrs. Warmke (& TALON!)

3:45-4:15pm    7th-8th Grade Band

4:15-4:45pm    High School Band

While at the Book Fair, you can

• decorate & pick up your pre-ordered cupcakes (near front of the store)
• shop for Mother's Day (any purchase in the store counts!)
• listen to the storytime and band performances (near back of the store)
• buy your child's summer reading (TK-6th grade only, 7th-12th grade not available yet)
• make a purchase for any grade level classroom or one of our libraries (don't forget to complete the forms)
• get your picture taken with Talon, our mascot (near back of the store)

BUYING A BOOK FOR THE CLASSROOM OR OUR LIBRARY?  Fill out a donation form, so we know who to thank, AND fill our the Cheesecake Battle Form to help your child's teacher win a cheesecake!

While we won't have student performances after today (FRIDAY, April 24th), our students' artwork will be up over the weekend -- and you can purchase books, DVDs, CDs, and food from the cafe over the weekend to help our Book Fair totals.

Just be sure to tell them you want your purchase to help GRACE Christian -- and if you order online, you will need this voucher code: 11586161.

THANK YOU for your support!!

Come See Us Perform!

Lou Wells
K-2 Music

Please join us at the Barnes & Noble bookstore on Walnut St. in Cary on Thursday, April 23rd at 3:30 for a "short preview" of our K-2 Spring Concert music.  (TK will be performing along with us!)

With joyful singing,
Ms. Lou


Schedule of Events:

THURSDAY, APRIL 23rd:

3:30-3:45 K-2 singers with TK

3:45-4:00 Elementary Chorus

4:00-4:30 5th grade band

4:30-5:00 6th grade band

FRIDAY, APRIL 24th:

3:30-3:45 Storytime with Mrs. Gehringer

3:45-4:15 7th-8th grade band

4:15-4:45 HS band

See you there!

Ready...Set...Practice for Field Day!

David Taylor
K-6 P.E.

First graders practiced their sack-racing skills to get ready for Field Day later this week.  Stay tuned for photos from the actual Field Day events!

SPRING BOOK FAIR in less than 2 weeks!

Carol Gehringer
Media Center

Our annual Spring Book Fair on April 23 and 24 at Barnes & Noble (Cary) is coming soon!

You can purchase books from our Required Summer Reading List, as well as ANYTHING in the store (CDs, DVDs, books, games, items from their cafe, etc.) to help. GRACE gets a percentage of the sales which we will use in both the Raleigh and Crossroads libraries.

You can pre-order cupcakes and decorate them there, while we view the student art on display, and enjoy performances by our students.

We are having a competition between classrooms: for every book you purchase from a classroom or library wish list, you can enter your teacher’s name in a drawing.  One teacher will win a cheesecake from the Cheesecake Factory! (ATTACH FORM)

We will have student performances Thursday and Friday after school. Our final performance schedule will be available the week of the book fair, but we expect to see TALON there!

Our youngest students (TK, Kindergarten-2nd grade chorus) will perform, as well as our older students in band and chorus.

See you there!

Trash to Treasure: 3rd Grade Needs Plastic Bottles!

Merrily Boyd
K-6 Art

In 3rd grade art, we explore several different types of sculpture.  We learn about "assemblage sculpture" (students assemble found objects to make robot sculptures, which I then spray paint silver), we make pinchpot birds and coil pot nests from clay, and we also learn about and create mobiles (hanging sculpture).  I will share pictures of these different 3rd grade sculpture projects in upcoming posts! 

At this time, we need donations of about 30 plastic 2-liter bottles (green or clear is fine) for our upcoming mobile project.  Third graders will be turning these plastic bottles into amazing fish!

So, don't throw away your bottles!  Please bring empty 2-liter bottles (rinsed out please!) to the art room at the lower campus (room 123) by Friday, April 17th.  Thanks for your help! 

Hour Of Code=Big Hit For 4th-5th Grade

Dana Morrison

Media

Ms. Gehringer and I (Dana) swap off weeks with the 4th and 5th grades.  If it's my week, I have a 45 minute session with each of the classes.  Topics vary.  On the tech side of things we've discussed digital citizenship, creating presentations in Google, laptop care, typing assessments, and a variety of other topics.

Before spring break, we added to the variety by doing an "Hour of Code" on Code.org.  The students programmed with the "Frozen" theme.  They had to move Anna and Elsa while just using blocks of code.  Of course, the programming starts out with really simple tasks, like making Anna move 100 pixels, turn right by 90 degrees, and go forward another 100 pixels.

The tasks get harder and harder.  As I watched the students think through the problems, here are my observations:

1. Code.org could make a great introduction to geometry.  Shapes and angles in coding may help students connect mentally with what various angle sizes mean.  I think it could be used as a lab of sorts in a math class.
2. Collaboration and peer teaching ruled the room.  Some students became stumped by certain tasks.  When their neighbors were successful, you would occasionally hear, "Hey!  I figured it out!" or "What!?  How did you do that?"  During our exercises, I tried to limit the amount of help I directly gave the students and let them help each other out and try to solve problems together.  Best of all, this happened naturally.  I didn't have to force them to collaborate; it just started happening.
3. Overall, the students really seemed to enjoy the easy "drag and drop" programming style.  We even had a few students that completed the 20 exercises in the roughly 30 minutes that we used for the "Hour of Code" (no, we didn't do the full hour).
4. Females and males did equally great.  Females are sometimes under-represented in programming fields. This is a shame and I believe females should be encouraged to explore programming if they show some interest.

Since it may be difficult to base success on my observations, I decided to do a Google form and survey the students.  Here are the results:

52 students, representing 51% -  "I really enjoyed it and want to learn more"

26 students, representing 25.5% - "I enjoyed it"

20 students, representing 19.6% - "It was ok"

4 students, representing 3.9% - "I didn't really like it"

So, that's what I call "a big hit!"

Completed Mexican Folk Art Projects

Karen Harrison
K-6 Spanish

Some of the completed metal-embossing done by fifth graders in conjunction with Mrs. Boyd's instruction of Mexican Folk Art and homeroom/science plant projects. ¡Qué hermoso!

Licensed to Type

Dana Morrison
Media

At GRACE, we have a diverse ensemble of desktops and laptops at our disposal. Most users are working in the world of Apple, using 13 inch MacBook Pros, 11 inch MacBook Airs, and a few odd-ball devices here and there. Oh, and dare I (Dana) forget to mention those that are trapped in the world of all things Windows?

For most engaged in the IT realm, I think we automatically focus on the power tools. We, or at least I, think of the full computer with the full OS and the dedicated hardware as being the tool of choice. Yet, one has to admit that not every tool is appropriate for every staff member or student. Just as you wouldn't think about setting a toddler behind the steering wheel of a moving vehicle, I think it is premature to try to put a 15 inch MacBook Pro in front of a 3rd grader.

Enter Chromebooks. Our 3rd grade students have had the opportunity to learn responsibility. They have to assemble themselves in an orderly fashion to retrieve and return the Chromebooks. They must use them in a respectful manner in the classroom. They must follow the teacher's instructions at all times. They must also demonstrate proper typing technique. Not only is it a great introduction for our 3rd graders, it is also prep for the 4th grade, where they have even greater responsibility and access to a more powerful laptop.

As an educator, I cannot simply plop any device in front of a student and expect a good result if the student has not been properly instructed first. Our 3rd graders won't be creating flyers and powerpoint presentations, editing video, or making a newsletter; however, they are at least licensed to type. We'll worry about all the other licenses later.