Hanging Out in Canada

Mrs. Pazos' classes have been working on The Global Read Aloud with a school in Canada. This is the second year of hopefully many more, that Deerpark has participated in The Global Read Aloud Today, they had a Google Hangout to have a question and answer session discussing the book.  Our friends in Canada started to have more of global perspective as they were watching the national news about the recent flooding in Texas.  Concerned about their new friends, questions turned from the book, to safety, and how often we have flash flooding in our area, as well as our Halloween traditions in the United States.  

The Canadian students have created friendship bracelets for all of Mrs. Pazos' students while our students have 3D printed key chains based on the book using the program Tinkercad and utilizing one the district's 3D printers.

  

Magazine Covers in Canva

Girls in Code Like a Girl have started using the application Canva.com to create magazine covers on topics of their interest.  Students were taught how to use images that were free to use or share from pixabay, and how to layer their pages.  

Artistic Learning in Brainpop

Mrs. Stoeffler's students explored various types of art using individual accounts in Brain Pop.  Students were then able to use the application to create a mind map on various artists and art types.  

Beyond the Hour of Code

A select group of 6th grade students spent the day at Live Oak Elementary School teaching students to code.  Students used lessons that they taught to their peers during the Hour of Code week here at Deerpark Middle School.  Students will be returning to help teach other useful technology skills to their younger counterparts.  

Virtual Field Trip to Yellowstone National Park

After the long trip all the way to their science classes, sixth graders were on their way to visit Yellowstone National Park via a Google Hangout on Air.  Park educators spent over an hour talking with students about the changing earth below, land formations located in the park, bison patties, and much more.  They had countless visual aides, and answered student questions with enthusiasm.  Students and teachers a like truly enjoyed the experience.    

Beautiful Poetry

After experiencing the Berlin Boxing Club Gallery Walk and reading the book in class, students in Mr. Garcia's class wrote emotional poetry about overcoming obstacles and becoming strong.  They utilized the application Canva, to find free to use or share images on Pixabay that would express visually their feelings.  Students then layered their poem on top of the image and printed their poems to be displayed in the hallways.  

Robotics Competes at the Central Texas First Lego League

Deerpark's robotics team, The Epic Rainbow Radioactive Flying Squirrels, competed at the Central Texas First Lego League Invitational Tournament.  The team worked together to build a fully functioning robot that can autonomously complete multiple missions on a field mat and research outdoor survival and how to improve they way people learn about survival.  The team not only spent endless hours researching, but they also worked with The Director of Education from The Thinkery, Dr. Gose to develop their solution, as well as Dr. Weishaar, a survival expert and author of Flynt and Steele.  The day was full of excitement, teamwork, and enjoyment.  Although the team came up a little short, our students were considered for the presentation and inspiration awards.  

Photoshop Fun

Multimedia students have been working with Mrs. Lafond on honing their photoshop skills by learning basic editing techniques, how to create animated GIF's, and creating banner images for Deerpark's webpage.  Check out their amazing work below.  

Berlin Boxing Club Gallery Walk

Students in Mr. Garcia, Mr. Williams, and Ms. Sladovnik's classes recently went back in time to travel to pre-holocaust Berlin.  Students were immersed in the culture, stories and environment that the book embodied.  Some students had their first visit virtually to the Dachau Concentration Camp, learned about the struggles of Max Schmelling, the famous boxer, and learned about survivor stories from The Holocaust.  

Holding the Human Heart

Mr. Lyon's 7th grade science classes worked with the Daqri Human Body App to explore the human heart.  Students were able to zoom in and see the tri-cuspid and bicuspid valves up close.  They could see the blood flow, and turn features on and off on the heart to see various parts of the heart.  Students could also spin their target paper to see a 360 view of the human heart as well.  The experience went beyond looking at a picture of the human heart in a book or worksheet.  

Mapping in Minecraft

Mrs. Kobren's 8th grade science classes were able to explore contour maps using the popular building game, Minecraft.  In this educational version of minecraft, students were transported to a world where they initially had to build the contour lines on the map.  After they completed that task, Mrs. Kobren had a discussion about the lines and what they mean on the map.  Students then were given the contour lines and had to build a new mountain based on the lines.  All in all, the experience expanded the students knowledge of topographical maps, and they scored higher than the other 8th grade students on the benchmark assessment questions that covered topographical maps than the other 8th grade students!

Making Movies, One Picture at a Time

Ms. Stoeffler's art students researched famous artists and then created Lego minisets to create stop animation videos in our Next Gen Library using the Lego Movie Maker App.  Students were able to explain in detail information about why their artists became artists, how they became artists, and what kind of artwork they produced.  They also built sets and props using class Legos to feature in their film.   

Deerpark Teachers go into Spring Training

Several Deerpark teachers have been attending the McNeil Vertical Learning Community App Smash Professional Development Series.  Teachers get the opportunity to explore various web applications and how to apply them to student learning.  They also were given time to create various lessons using the apps that they discovered during the training.