Museums

I hope others got to check out some of the museums this past Sunday for the Austin Museum Day. Luckily I was able to visit four different ones. I went to the Computer Museum and saw some amazing older pieces of technology, games, and robots. At the Mexic-Arte museum , people were making paper mache heads! The Texas Music Museum had loads of information about many musicans and a live band was playing! There was a very interesting exhibit respresenting the life and works of Edgar Allan Poe at the Ramson Center on the University of Texas campus! I learned so much about this famous writer.

I had a great educational experience at the museums. Please send me a post on the comment section of this blog, and tell me about your museum experiences; even if it was not this weekend, but any time you can remember.

WIND

This week we are learning about the wind. We are making pin wheels, checking the weather forecasts for wind direction and speed. We will also be making a wind sock, barometer, and another invention to see if we can capture tiny particles that blow with the wind.
The local Wal Mart donated some Betta Fish to our school. The 2nd graders are keeping a daily journal about the fish in their classroom. The students will be feeding and taking care of the ones in Room 101 and the integration lab.
Remember to ask your 3rd and 4th grader about the word of the week.... altruism.

Free museum visits in Austin

Students and parents..... Check this out.... Austin Museum Partnership is hosting the annual Austin Museum Day on Sunday, September 20, 2009.... FREE!
website link http://www.austinmuseums.org/

How Hot Air Balloons Work

Try this site to see how hot air balloons work. Also, great site to see how "lots of stuff" works.
http://videos.howstuffworks.com/howstuffworks/43-how-hot-air-balloons-work-video.htm

We had a great week learning a bit about hot air balloons and heat. We made model air balloons and flew them. We use kidspiration and wordle to help us with our word of the week, "prodigious". Third and Fourth graders will have a new word on Monday. With the younger students, the word of the week was "nourish". We will still be working on that one a little longer. Some of the students have become pretty quick on solving the "Daily Puzzle". A few fourth graders were able to begin researching a little bit about wind. We will spend some time this upcoming week discovering more about wind and wind currents.

In the GT classroom we will be very busy focusing on our theme, "Are you "UP" for an adventure?" I decided on this theme after I watched the movie "UP" over the summer. It inspired me to want to get UP and take a balloon ride myself and to learn more about ballooning. So, one of the first things we will be focusing on is learning a little more about hot air balloons, and building our very own model.... so we too can take an adventure!! I am looking forward to all the interesting activities I have planned for this theme. I hope you will too.

If you could go anywhere in the world today, where would you go? Why would you pick that particular place to go? Please take a moment to post your thoughts here on my blog spot!

Welcome! You have found Mrs. Perkins's GT blogspot! Here students will find information and links to help them throughout the school year with GT assignments, projects, and adventures. Feel free to come often and be sure to comment before you leave. Mrs. P.