Futuristic Foxes Support Main Street

It all started when our town's main street was shutdown for months. The businesses remained open, but they were definitely feeling a great loss. They became the talk of just not local news, but regional news, too.


The Futuristic Foxes knew they needed to do something to help out the town. After a brainstorm session, they came up with the idea to propose a street fair where all of the businesses decorated the outside of their businesses, brought in some entertainment and perhaps gave out some coupons. We even offered our

We spoke to the Chamber of Commerce, got addresses, and sent out persuasive letters to all the businesses on Main Street, and guess what? They liked our idea. That's why they decided to have a day called, "Jingle, Mingle." Almost all the businesses participated. One business, 1spa took us up on our offer and allowed us to decorate their Christmas tree otside their storefront. The owner also donated hot chocolate for the kids to sell and a bunch of toys for a street/yard sale. The kids decided all proceeds would go toward helping the businesses on Main Street.

The Futuristic Foxes came in droves that day to help out, and we earned $188.80! We decided we will spend some of the money advertising in the local newspaper for people to support Main Street and buy local. We are also thinking about getting a banner made that we can hang somewhere in the town.

The Futuristic Foxes supporting Main Street at the Jingle Mingle.

Supporting Stray Haven

Our new president started her new job by fulfilling one of her campaign promises. Imagine that! She started a drive for the local animal shelter called, Stray Haven. Her drive was a success! With only Futuristic Foxes participating, it wasn't long before the giant box she brought it was overflowing with treats, blankets, pet food, cleaning supplies and more. She actually brought in a second box! Finally, a group of students met at Stray Haven after school to deliver the supplies and play with some of the pets who reside there.

Our New Business Cards

Standard Business Cards by Vistaprint

Our skype with Africa!

Today we skyped with Livingstone Kegode who lives in a small village called Kimilille in Nairobe, Kenya, Africa! We shared our classroom pets while he shared a slideshow and information about the wild animals that live in Africa. Below are pictures we took during the skype and pictures HE took during the skype. Also, I have attached the presentation he shared with my students. It was like a trip to the zoo, but the animals were not in cages! They were in their natural habitat!

Our pic of Livingstone during the skype

Our pic of Livingstone sharing his presentation

Our pic of us during the skype

P

Pic of the class taken by Livingstone

Pic of our tortoise Thurman taken by Livingstone

Us sharing our pets with Livingstone

The Global Read Aloud

The Futuristic Foxes are participating in The Global Read Aloud 2015. In short, the Global Read Aloud is a program where thousands of teachers and students from around the world are reading aloud the same novel for six weeks. There are five different books to choose from based on the students' ages and interest. To learn more about, go to this link: http://theglobalreadaloud.com/about-the-gra/faq/ or watch the video below:



The Futuristic Foxes have chosen to read the book, Fish by L. S. Matthews.

Some of the ways we are interacting with the book include: Twitter, Write About It, and Skype. So far on Twitter, we are following other classrooms who are reading the book Fish, including a sixth grade class in our own school who have named themselves The Terrific Tigers. We comment on others posts and make posts of our own. While Mrs. Abernethy is reading the book, we often use sketchnoting. We share our sketches on Twitter and ask others to comment by asking them questions about our pictures. Below are some pictures we have sketched and posted so far.

We also use a program called Write About, https://www.writeabout.com/. We were give a free account when we signed up for the Global Read Aloud. Each of us have our own blog. We write responses to the book and share them with others reading the book. We are especially excited to chat about the book with the sixth grade class in our school reading the book too. We will be able to read and comment on their blog posts and they will be able to do the same on ours. We are also connected with a class from Australia, so that should be fun, too.

Last, but not least, we plan to skype with other classrooms reading the book and hopefully with the author of the book. We just finished week two and with four weeks to go, I am sure we will find even more exciting ways to collaborate and connect with others locally and globally.

Maker's Club

East Elementary has started a Friday morning club called Maker's Club. It is so popular that more than seventy students are in the club! There are three different sections. One is the STEAM Team, one is Creation Station, and one is High Tech. View pictures below from today's club activities.

STEAM TEAM

CREATION STATION

HIGH-TECH

Wake Up!

Stock Market Club

Fire Safety Day

Science at Riverside Park

Created with PhotoPeach

Created with Pro Show Web

Bearded Dragon Lizard

Look at this cool video Alexa found! It is a bearded dragon lizard, just like our bearded dragon lizard, Thunder.

Cool :D
Posted by Łukasz Demianiuk on Monday, September 21, 2015

The Dauntless Dog Talk Show is Back!

The Dauntless Dog Talk Show, a talk show about bullying is back up and running! Some of our cohosts have moved on to seventh grade, and we will miss them. However, we have a few new fourth graders who have joined the show. Click below to watch Season 2, Episode 1. As the Dauntless Dog Cohosts say, "Like, comment, subscribe!" The Dauntless Dog Talk Show Playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLE01kEcCNAGyRv7gdAK3VMLYJBViA615Q

Grandparent's Day

Pymatuning Ecology Trip

The Pymatuning Ecology Trip is a science learning experience created through a cooperative between East Elementary, University of Pitt, and Allegheny College. Students are given amazing opportunities to learn hands on science concepts from real scientists. This year, we had six stations.

One station included a trip out onto the lake on pontoon boats. Students are instructed on how to do several water quality tests and are given the opportunity to use equipment such as a Secchi disk to measure water clarity.

Another station included using microscopes to view plankton and other microscopic critters from the lake.

The third station, a class favorite, included donning muck boots and venturing into the lake in search of macroinvertebrates. This is their first experience with this type of water quality testing that will become a staple in our Creek Connections program when we go to Riverside Park to check water quality of our local creek.

After exploring the three stations above, students were transported to the fish hatchery to explore three more stations. One station was run by a bird specialist who taught the students about the adventures and dangers of bird migration through a really fun game. Another station was run by someone from the PA Fish and Game Commission. Students were given the opportunity to explore the various levels fish dwell. By examining a tube in the building, students could see what fish were bottom dwellers, who swam in the middle and what fish swam near the top.

The last station was an exciting opportunity for students to explore underwater robots. The premise and purpose was explained to the students, and underwater robots created by students were given to the students to explore the underwater world of Pymatuning Lake.

Below is a video slideshow of the day:




Allegheny College Creek Connections Program: http://sites.allegheny.edu/creekconnections/

Pymatuning Lab of Ecology: http://www.biology.pitt.edu/facilities/pymatuning

The Making of Futuristic Fox

September 11th

East Elementeary remembers September 11th every year with a very somber ceremony. Here are some of the highlights.

First Day of School

Today was the first day of school, and we made history. Our class named itself the Futuristic Foxes. Follow our blogs and website to find out how we are going to change the world!