It is officially the FINALE.
April was quick with a week off and May is filled with testing....if it's not one school, it's another....if it's not one grade, it's another. It is what it is and I count my lucky stars for the time I have had with this group this school year.
We problem solved, worked as a team, engineered, expanded our creativity skills, and unlocked our ingenuity through the Space Needle project. We learned about The Pritzker Architecture Prize and a group of high school gifted students even walked over to critique and judge our designs. They even planned an official award ceremony for my middle school students;)
We learned amazing facts and information about Zion National Park, The Wave, and Carlsbad Caverns National Park.
We blogged, discussed, and brainstormed ideas about alternative transportation in America's National Parks.
We wrote adventure stories as though we had visited the parks ourselves and used our imagination and creativity along with facts and information about the park to boost our creativity and improve our creative writing.
We completed Junior Ranger packets prepared by the National Park System and mailed them to 5 different states, earning badges and becoming Junior Rangers ourselves.
We completed a simple research project that involved filling a paper bag with items that best represent a specific national park? Princess and the Frog? A ping pong ball. What does that have to do with anything?? We know, and we can explain.
We learned about a creative professional working at NASA Headquarters and a photographer with National Geographic that left their lives in Washington, D.C. and hit the road to write about exploration on Earth, telling the history and story of our protected lands accompanied by stunning photographs.
We designed name sculptures. Students had to design, plan, cut, arrange, rearrange, and assemble the letters so that the sculpture was balanced and interesting from different angles. They were also asked to include principles of art in their designs that also said a little something about who they are as an individual.
We discovered the Google Arts & Culture website and app that features content from over 2000 leading museums and archives. It includes powerful search capabilities to help us easily find artwork and filter according to artist, museum, medium, date, country, historic events, or even colors.
We looked at the work by Dorothea Lange and discussed how photography can make an impact in a community or worldwide. We discussed how to tell a story through photographs and how one can provide context to an image. We researched a photograph that changed the world and presented it to the class, then captured five photographs of our own that reflect photojournalism or the topic, I Simply Love.
We had a great year! Now go and enjoy your SUMMER!!!!