Ellen DeWitt

School-Wide Events
Space Day
This morning was such an exciting day for both the Samford
students and the fourth graders at Trace Crossings. Every fourth grade
student came to Samford today for a fun-filled day learning about
space. Each Professional Learning Community got to choose a room for
space day. My PLC chose The Major Planets. To prepare for Space Day,
we met with our sophomores and discussed ideas for our room. We
decided we should have the sun with each planet and its
corresponding placement in relation to the sun. We really let them use
their own creativity, but we gave them our expectations and showed
them examples and non-examples. We were extremely impressed with
our decorations and our room looked magnificent. In our PLC, we each
took two planets and made a PowerPoint slide with fun facts. Our
activity would be an advertisement.
We arrived this morning at 8:00 to add finishing touches to our
room and to set up our PowerPoint and activity. The children arrived at
about 9:00 and there was an introduction meeting downstairs. The
group guides brought each class/group to the space rooms. We had
four rotations each. The students loved learning about the planets and
even asked us some questions that we did not know the answer to! It
shows how much these students have already learned about space at
Trace Crossings. The kids loved our activity. We decided to put the
students into groups of four or five. Each group would choose their
favorite planet and create an advertisement on a poster board
convincing others to come visit their planet. We thought this would be
a great way to include higher-level thinking into space day. Most
groups did in fact get creative with it, rather than simply stating facts
about their planet. One group of girls even turned their planet into a
shopping mall, Neptunia, with fun facts and mall-related events that
corresponded with their planet. The students had some very
convincing arguments to come visit their planet! Each group shared
when they finished. The last group completed a 3-2-1 exit slip and ate
their lunch. The group guides led them out and they took a bus to the
Planetarium. Finally, we tore down our classroom and helped with the
CMTC and 233.
This was such a fun day and definitely worth all of the effort put
into it. The students were generally very well behaved and seemed
engaged. Only one class was a bit out of control, but we realized that
was because no teacher was in there; just a parent. The students got
really into their advertisements and did not want to stop when we
told them they had to. It was an engaging, higher-level activity that the
students enjoyed. It really showed how much planning goes into an

event, but it is worth every minute of it when you see how happy and
how much fun the kids are having.

Young Authors Conference

Diversity Questions: Turn and talk to your neighbor about a time you
worked with others of a different background than your own.
How do you think Bud might have felt different than his grandfathers
band members when he met them?
To prepare for the Young Authors Conference, I signed up with
Grace Culbreth in a room for Bud, Not Buddy by Christopher Paul
Curtis. This is the book I read for my novel study, so I knew it very well!
A student from Miles College emailed me asking how she could help,
and I instructed her to bring a couple diversity questions in. Before this
morning, Grace and I decorated the door and came up with two
diversity questions each. See questions above. This morning before the
conference we hung up our door and ate breakfast. Dr. Haralson told us
the schedule. We saw five groups of eleven students each. Grace and I
started out with a quick summary of Bud, Not Buddy and the
discussion questions. Next, the students colored a black piece of paper
with a wooden stylus that turned rainbow when drawn on. The
students also filled out a sheet of items they would pack in their
suitcase if they were traveling to find their father. This was repeated
four more times and the last group completed a survey about their day.
Finally, we took the students to Bolding Studio where Rick Shelton, an
author, spoke. The students really enjoyed this.

Our biggest shock was that we had to do our activity in 313, the
room with the die cuts. There was not enough room for 11 children and
5+ adults. The Miles students came unprepared and did not help Grace
and I at all. They sat and talked not only while the students were doing
their activity, but also while Grace and I were discussing with the kids
and giving instructions. Their professors came in and talked to their
studnets about things that were completely unrelated to YAC. This was
very disrupting to Grace, me, and the students. The activity we were
given also had nothing to do with Bud, Not Buddy. We all really enjoyed
the author, however!

Digital Learning Day

Today was Digital Learning day at Trace Crossings Elementary
School. Prior to Digital Learning Day, Mrs. Stone came and spoke to us
about the day. Each PLC had to choose one specific digital tool to
provide professional development to the Trace teachers. After hearing
all of the options Mrs. Stone provided, our PLC decided to do Google
Classroom. After researching Google Classroom, we made a PowerPoint
and handout to show the Trace Teachers at Digital Learning Day.
Google Classroom is a Learning Management System (LMS) where
students see assignments and turn them in electronically. It essentially
eliminates the need for paper assignments. We created the PowerPoint
and printed the handouts out and were ready to provide the teachers
with information about this technology.
Digital Learning Day was supposed to be set up in shifts while
some people were in their clinical. However, Trace ended up having a
two-hour delay. Our professors canceled clinicals and we only had
Digital Learning Day. However, the day ended up somewhat chaotic.

Only about ten teachers came to Digital Learning Day. We were

flexible, though, and used our time wisely. We made our banner for Dr.
Seuss week with the help of friends and professors. I also helped my
cooperating teacher decorate her door. When a teacher did come up to
hear about Digital Classroom, we left what we were doing to provide
the professional development. Some of the teachers already used
Google Classroom and already knew all about it. I helped take snacks
up to our Samford room and put all of the folding tables back in the
gym after the day was over. Overall, it was a crazy but fun and
productive day at Trace.
Dr. Seuss Week

1.

Title/theme: Happy Birthday Dr. Seuss Banner

Grade Level: All grades
Standard: AQTS Reading: 3. Ability to integrate reading instruction into
all content areas that one teaches. (Integrating reading with art)

For my teacher tasks, our PLC was assigned to make a Happy

Birthday Dr. Seuss banner for the TCES cafeteria. First, I got the
butcher paper. Next, we took it into the Multi Purpose room and my PLC
nominated me to trace the letters. Next, I communicated with Mrs.
Stone about how to get paint. She told me that Mrs. Joyner (fourth
grade teacher) knew all about the paint in the school, so I went up to
her room and asked where to find it. She showed me where it was: in
the science lab. We got the paint and paintbrushes and Chandler,
Victoria, Grace, Dr. Hoaglund, Mrs. Birkenfeld and I began painting. The
next day, Grace, Victoria, Chandler and I hung it in the cafeteria. This
sign hung in the school cafeteria during Dr. Seuss week. It was bright,

fun, and reminded the students of what they were celebrating during
the week. It added an aspect of Dr. Seuss to the cafeteria for the week.
I also helped my cooperating teacher, Mrs. Gartman, decorate
her door. She decorated her door Fox in Socks themed. Hannah Cole
and I got butcher paper, covered the door, and cut the grass for the
door. Mrs. Gartman had already done a lot of the door but we were
there to help her with whatever she needed! Overall, Dr. Seuss week
was fun and I was glad we had Digital Learning Day to complete many
of our tasks.

AQTS

Indicators

Comments

Standar
ds
1: Content
Knowl
edge
1.0

Content is accurate
and current

Project content and

standard are
aligned

2: Teaching

Project is standards

Was the standard clearly

evident to viewer either
implied or stated?
I believe that the
standard was clearly
evident. Reading is
evident in art for our
Happy Birthday Dr.
Seuss sign.

What techniques were

used to draw attention

and
Learni
ng 2.0

based

Standard chosen is
visibly
displayed

to this board and its

content?
Bright colors, bolded
words, decorations
Were any evidenced
based teaching
strategies used in the
presentation of the
content on this board? If
yes, what?
Reading is integrated
into art

3:Literacy
3.0

Written work is
grammatically
and
mechanically
correct

Check!

4: Diversity
4.0

Project is interactive
and/or
engaging for
ALL learners

Check! The banner

was displayed
in the
cafeteria at
Trace
Crossings. All
students have
seen it over
the last two
weeks.

5:
Profes
sionali
sm 5.0

Project is professional
in appearance

Project is visually neat

and attractive

How would this board

contribute to the
mastery of the specified
standard?
This board combines
reading with art.
Project is
professional, neat,
and attractive

Event of Choice
For my school-wide event of choice, I attended the Tarrant
Intermediate School Math Bowl. The principal, Dr. McDonald, designed
the math bowl to prepare for the ACT Aspire. Each grade level went to
the gym one at a time. Before heading to the gym, each third grade
class lined up in the hall outside of the classrooms. My teacher, Mrs.
Morgan, called individual students one-by-one to get in their math bowl
teams. After the students got into their teams, we all went into the
gym. The third grade teachers asked me, Katherine, Grace, and
Steffani to assure all students were quiet. Dr. McDonald was the emcee
and she had a PowerPoint with different questions. Half of the third

grade sat at the back of the gym while the other half were in their
teams spread out on the gym floor. When your team had the correct
answer, you went up to a table to show the teachers your work. At the
halfway point, the other half of third grade went on the gym floor to
play and switched.
The Math Bowl was well organized, but it was not very engaging
for the students. I think that Dr. McDonald and the teachers in charge
could have made the Math Bowl much more exciting and engaging for
the students with perhaps jeopardy music, a buzzer or bell, etc. That
way, the students would have been more excited and willing to
participate. Also, the students who were not playing were wasting
time. They were sitting there doing nothing when they should have
been doing something productive. If I were allowed to help plan this, I
would have had the gym separated into two, so everyone could play
for the whole time. This way, no time would be wasted and everyone
would have a chance to play and learn.