School Wide Events

Emily Kelley
1. Digital Learning Day
Digital Learning Day was held at Trace Crossing Elementary School on a Wednesday afternoon. Each PLC chose a Google Plus technology APP to present. My group (Taylor,
Abbi, Hannah, and myself) chose to research the app PowToon. Initially, we chose this topic because of the catchy name and it ended up being so much more. PowToon is a
free animation app that allows students and teachers to create movie-like animations to present information. We have a brief summary of our app and then the teachers
grabbed a "tech bite." For planning, we did a lot of research on PowToon so we became experts on the topic and would be able to answer any questions the teacher would
throw our way. We explored every piece of the website. We divided the information into sections and each person focused on their designated part. We also prepared
handouts that clearly displayed the information about the app. At the table, we provided an example of a PowToon in case our words were not enough.
I know this is an App I will denitely be using in the future, along with many of the other Apps presented on Digital Learning Day. Teachers from all over Trace Crossing
came to explore new apps to use. It was a cool experience to have put in all the time it took to research and really understand our App and then be able to teach teachers
about it. The teachers all seemed genuinely interested in the App and my favorite part was hearing about the way that the teacher could use it in their classroom. This
experience was one full of technology and learning.
2. Space Day at SU
Space Day was an event Samford hosted and we brought over students from Trace Crossings. The students arrived in buses that morning and then took off in an adventure to
the different rooms learning all the different parts of space. The day ended with bottle rocket launchings, games, and lunch on the Quad. In my room, the students' learned a
lot of content about constellations. But before we could get into what constellations are, we dened what stars are. From there we explained how constellations are like a
giant game of connect the dots. We compared the real constellations and how they look in the sky to how they are drawn out in our classroom. Then the students guessed
how many constellations are in the sky and wrote it on a post it note and put their guess on a poster and we saw who was the closest to 88. The students also learned that
different constellations look brighter at different times of the year. So we look through 7 months and which constellations are brightest during that month. We engaged
students by seeing if their birthday is in that month and we described a few details and facts about each constellations (Orion, Cancer, Leo, Virgo, Little Dipper, Aquarius,
Andromeda). The students also made their own constellations out of toothpicks and marshmallows. The students were constantly engaged and learning new material.
The set up that made our room happen was quite the experience. I have always loved star-gazing so that made me choosing the topic a lot easier. I did my research on the
stars and wrote out a bulleted lesson plan for what me and Hannah wanted to cover. Hannah even put together a slide-show of how the constellations looked in the night sky.
Organizing the sophomores was probably the most difcult part for me. We had a few (3) that were committed to making the room look good, and then the rest of the group
was not exactly on board. So Hannah and I decided to sat and help our room be the best it can be.
I learned SO much through this Space Day experience. I learned a lot leading up to it about coming together and getting the room decorate and organized. But the actual
Space Day made it all so worth it. This was right up my alley- 4th grade, science, all day. It was wonderful! Each lesson got better and better and I learned a lot about stars
and how to manage a classroom. I also learned how to teach a lesson with another partner. Thank goodness we bounced off each other well.
3. Young Author's Conference 4/4/14
The Young Author's Conference was an overall great experience for me. Samford hosted the event and brought Trace Crossings students over in busses. They were going to
study and learn about the books The Tales of Despereaux, Bud Not Buddy, Rules, and Esperanza Rising. There was 2 classrooms for each book and the students got to go to
each room once. They also got to hear from a story-teller! A fun day lled with inspiring young students to read.
Preparation started by reading the book, The Tale of Despereaux. This was the rst book I remember actually liking to read when I was younger. So I choice to read it and fell
in love with it all over again. When I saw it was an option for YAC, I immediately signed up for it. The rst step Chelsea Tredway and I took was to decorate the door. We
turned the door into a castle wall and put a stained glass window with light shinning through it with the title of the book in the light. We brushed up on our book information
and we were ready to go. That morning we met the students from Miles we were working with. They were actually the same ones I worked with in the multicultural fair! It
was seriously the best reunion. While I love them, they had never even heard of Despereaux. We obviously wanted to include them in teaching, so we began to teach them
the book so that they could teach the other students! I participated in decorating the door, gathering the materials, and helping teach the lesson. Our day started with Chelsea
talking about the book and introducing it. Then a Miles student talked about our decorated door, what it is, and what it means to the book. The another Miles student read an
excerpt on the book that talked about Despereaux being born and how his identity was given to him as a disaster. Then I came up and talked about the identity the world
might give students. Just like Despereaux's mother gave him a label, the students might be given a label too. But we can change that, we can do something positive with our
life and make a new meaning out of it. We gave each character a label based on the rst letter of their name (the characters were Despereaux, Roscuro, Princess Pea, and
Miggery Sow). Despereaux went from disaster to determined in our eyes. Then the class was able to label themselves by playing the name game. They used the rst letter of
their rst name to think of an adjective to describe them. I was "Energetic Miss Emily!" All the words were positive and when a student was stuck, his/her fellow classmates
helped. They also turned into Despereaux and went through a maze to nd Princess Pea. Then if we had time, we had the students write down their name game word on a
notecard and we read out the words and the students had to remember whose was whose.
This event was a huge success. I feel like we accurately conveyed our joy of reading and it was contagious to the children. A lot of them left saying that they really wanted
to read the book after being in our room. It is amazing the impact teachers can have over students. If you are passionate about what you are teaching, they will be interested
in learning.
4. Trace Basketball Night 2/27/14
Trace Crossings Basketball Night was an event where Trace Crossings students came to Samford and attended one of the men's basketball games. During half time the Trace
Tininkiling team performed. The crowd roared as the students began dancing and then brought out there long poles. They performed an intricate routine where you could tell
they put in a lot of practice. There was not any preparation we had to do for this event besides get our yelling voices ready. As soon as the students came out, we all yelled
and erupted with cheering. My favorite part was seeing their faces light up when they heard the positive feedback from the crowd. I reected on this event and thought it was
such an encouraging opportunity for these Trace students. I saw their parents with their video camera's lighting up as they watched their students. And the students seemed to
have so much fun! They had huge smiles on their face the whole time and ran off the court high ving each other. They were able to see a college campus and perform. Not
many students get to say that. What an awesome event to be apart of and cheer on some amazing students!