Recently in science, the seventh grade has been exploring weather.  Ms. Emily had them experiment with creating their own thermometers and figuring out why and how they work.

Ms. Emily’s sixth graders have been learning about botany.  Students created their own 3-D flowers to learn the names of each part.  Some were made of paper, fabric, and food!

One the 100th day of school, teachers in Kindergarten took the opportunity to do lots of fun activities with the number 100!

They made a 100 day necklace out of cereal,  stamped 10 stamps on 10 strips of paper and made a 100th day hat, counted out 10 different food items and made a 100 day snack, each child brought in 100 items to share with the class like 100 items of pirate treasure, 100 noodles, 100 brown beads, 100 paper clips, or even 100 pennies.

 

 

 

Fourth graders at TLC received a special visit from award winning author Gloria Houston today.

Gloria Houston is the author of numerous books for children, including My Great-Aunt Arizona, illustrated by Susan Condie Lamb, which was a Smithsonian Treasure, a Family Channel’s Best Book, an IRA Teachers’ and Children’s Choices book, and an NCTE Best Book, among other honors. She also wrote The Year of the Perfect Christmas Tree, illustrated by Barbara Cooney, which was an annual Publishers Weekly Bestseller and was named a Best Book of the Decade by the American Library Association.

Fourth graders recently completed Gloria Houston’s book Littlejim and were lucky enough to have several hours of Ms. Houston’s time to ask questions, hear real life stories, see photographs and be inspired by all that she has written.  What an amazing opportunity for these kids!

All of us at TLC! thank Gloria Houston for the generosity of her spirit and time.

Be sure to click <<<HERE>>> to read Ms. Houston’s full biography.  Prepare to be amazed and thoroughly impressed!

 

Duke Energy has partnered with The National Theatre for Children, Inc. to educate local elementary students and their familes on the importance of energy efficiency.  The Energized Guyz, a live theatrical production developed by The National Theatre for Children, engages students from kindergarten through sixth grade with its colorful characters, interactive script, and the latest information on energy efficiency.

Be sure to visit www.duke-energy.com and www.MyEnergyKit.org to sign-up for your free energy kit that contains 2 CFL light bulbs, gaskets, low-flower shower head, water meter bag, aerators, an LED night light, a glow ring toy and a booklet on energy saving tips.

Thanks Energized Guyz!

To view the entire gallery of pictures from Sweetheart Ball 2012 visit TLC Grow Zone on Flickr by clicking <<<HERE>>>.

The Cherokee County Arts Council was on campus today to present their Color and Healthy Food Project to the fourth grade class.

The project teaches color theory and healthy eating habits in a 45 minute presentation.  The presentation builds on students’ previous knowledge of color and in a very fun and interactive way explains color theory, introduces vocabulary and relates this to real-life experiences, and goes on to talk about color-rich foods and the science behind antioxidants.

 

The class worked together to build a color wheel made with fresh and frozen cut fruits and then was invited to eat the color wheel.  Yum!

 

 

[Each week Ms. Darea's first grade class has a STEAM lesson that crosses the curriculum and lasts all week.  Here is what Ms. Darea had to say about Project #10.]

Our STEAM project this week revolved around Chinese New Year!  First, we talked about the Chinese zodiac and read what the different animals mean.  We talked about how the Chinese zodiac is similar to astrological horoscope signs.

 

 

Then, we decided to sort the animals according to color.  After sorting, we talked about the five major groups of animals (fish, amphibians, reptiles, mammals, and birds-we very briefly talked about invertebrate).  With a little guidance, the kids actually came up with these on their own!  Then, we sorted the creatures of the Chinese zodiac into the appropriate groups.  Someone started to put the dragon under reptiles.  We talked about how dragons are actually fictional, but we all agreed that if it were an animal, it would probably be a reptile because of its scaly skin.  After sorting them, we made a line plot of the animals represented in the Chinese zodiac and analyzed the results of that.  Next, we sorted a variety of other animals into the same five categories.  I threw in some insects to try to throw them off and then we discussed invertebrates in a little more detail.  We then compared two animals from the Chinese zodiac using a Venn diagram.  The students were then given the instructions for their project.

 

 

The students had to secretly pick their favorite creature from the Chinese zodiac and make a mask to represent that creature.  Each group was given a variety of items to use in creating their masks.  We wore these masks in our Chinese New Year parade.

When we returned to the classroom, we took turns guessing what creature each person made and recorded these on another line plot.  When the line plot was finished, we analyzed the data and concluded that the tiger was the most liked creature of the Chinese zodiac in our classroom.

 

Peter Jenkins is an American travel author made famous for walking across America while writing a book which describes his experiences over the nearly six years that he spent walking.

His book, A Walk Across America, tells the story of his adventure that began in 1973 and includes time spent right here in Murphy.  Eighth grade students at TLC are required to read this book and had the amazing opportunity to meet Mr. Jenkins and ask him questions.

 

Mr. Jenkins is on the road again, this time traveling all over the United States in a 1957 Chevy station wagon.  We so appreciate him taking the time to stop at our school and give so freely of his time with our students!

  

 

 

 

 

 

Each Friday Ms. Darea taps into the wealth of skills and knowledge of her students’ parents and extended family for Friday fun.  They call it Freaky Friday.  Recently a parent came to teach the students how to finger knit.  On another Freaky Friday, another parent came and talked to the children about home health care.