Technology Blooming

Today a student made my day when he showed me a project he created. The funny thing is that the project he created was not assigned by the teacher- see he learned about how to use this tool in class and then went home and created something that was personally interesting to him. Thanks Yucheng for showing me this awesome work!
You can see his work too if you click this link... AWESOME...

A Letter to Oprah

We have 4 students going to Washington D.C. to represent Aurora Quest K-8. Here is a portion of a letter one of them wrote to Oprah about this opportunity:

I’m Abena and I'm a 6th grader at Aurora Quest K-8. I live in Aurora, Colorado. Eric (7th grader), Onyi (6th grader), and Sade (7th grader), and I have been nominated to go to Washington D.C. for the Junior National Young Leaders Conference (JrNYLC). The conference is held in the spring of 2011. We were all gratefully nominated by our teachers and the assistant principal of our school Mr. Michael Roth, for our academic achievements and our leadership skills.

If all of us are lucky enough to attend, we will get to visit the National Museum of American History, the Lincoln Memorial, Vietnam Veterans and Korean War Veterans Memorial, Harpers Ferry, and go sightseeing in west Virginia. We will receive a VIP tour of Washington D.C., and have a sleepover at the Maryland Science Center. On this trip we will learn great leadership skills. At the conference, we will learn the impacts of character, communication, goal setting, problem solving, respect, and teamwork. We will have reflection activities about the lessons and experiences we’ve had each day. We have leadership focus groups to have our discussions and share our opinions. If you want to learn more information about this trip you can go to the website www.cylc.org/JrNYLC. Everyone who hopes to attend this trip wants to accomplish some fun, knowledge of U.S. history, and new leadership skills.
My hopes for this trip, is that everyone will have an experience of a lifetime. Now, the tuition for this trip is $1890 per student. If we include travel expenses, the cost can be up to $2600 per student. For four students, the total cost would be $10,400. We are asking for your kind donation to sponsor us for this trip. Our deadline is February 19 to send in the money. We all are some of the hardest working people when it comes to our education. Schoolwork and education are one of our first priorities. All of us are leaders in our societies, athletics, clubs, and classrooms. When we come back from the trip we will use our skills to positively influence others. Our new leadership traits can help us even further in the future with job applications, college applications, and interviews. The result of us going on this trip will be positive impacts on others, our communities even our country, and last of all ourselves.

These students are preparing a silent auction for the February Kinder/First performance here at Quest. They are selling lollipops and playdough. They are writing to businesses and families for donations. They have written to the airlines for help with travel. They have put some requests on our Giving Tree in the school lobby. PTA has already donated $600 for their trip. Thank you!!!

These students are already demonstrating leadership skills here on campus and we believe this experience is an investment in their futures- we are very proud of these young men and women.

Martin Luther King Jr.

Courage is one of the Guiding Principles we hope our students embrace while they are here at Quest. We teach these principles through the stories in our history.

I hope our students understand the courage it took to fight for Civil Rights. Many people took a stand in the face of hatred and racism and said, "Enough is Enough!" Martin Luther King Jr. will always be remembered for the speech he gave in Washington D.C. I hope however, our students will remember more than those powerful words- I hope they will embrace the courage he displayed and take their stand in the face of any hatred they observe in the world around them.

(the illustration is by Loren Long in the book Of Thee I Sing 2010)

"Nothing Much"

I have talked with many parents who express some frustration when they ask their children about school. The typical interaction looks like this:

"Hey son, what did you learn in school today?"


Dramatic Pause


"Nothing"

So now you know why we ave frustrated parents...

Here is a link with tips I found online today to help out- here are a few of my own:

1. Ask with a sincere interest and passion. I mean get into the information because it is something you want to enjoy with your kid- they feel the enthusiasm in your voice. It is one way to give them positive attention- and you know when we spend time listening and caring it is an investment in their emotional bank accounts. So don't ask if it is just a polite question- get excited.
2. Be specific. When they are reading a book get interested in the characters. Ask- what did you read in school today? Which character surprised you? Which character is most like you and why? You can then get into each subject specifically- what did you write about? Did you build something is science? Tell me about Social Studies today- then enjoy their experiences by probing.
3. Communicate with the teachers and find out what themes/topics are coming up.

I tell you- these kids will not know what hit them when we beef up our questioning skills and our enthusiasm.