#5 Snow Day

A couple of days ago there was a massive snow storm. I was not really affected, but I know that a lot of people could not get home for a couple of days. Anna lives on campus so she had three of her friends staying the night because they could not get home. The snow storm was really bad. We watched as countless people attempted to drive up a small hill, fail, and abandon their cars. Many people were stuck in their cars for up to two full days. The roads would freeze, unfreeze, and then freeze again. It was a horrible experience for many people out there. The temperature could not get above freezing for long enough to make the snow melt, so even though it was only two inches, it caused a lot of problems. Class even got canceled with never happens unless there is an emergency.

Luckily for some people they lived on campus or had friends that lived on campus. These people made the most of the ordeal by playing games outside. My personal favorite thing that everyone did was sledding. Now I could not talk Anna or any of her friends into actually sledding with me, but I did finally convenience them to let me sled by myself. I grabbed a paper Christmas plate and went down a steep hill. Anna helped me because I could not get enough momentum to go down by myself. I even took a video of my attempt.

Even though this was a tragic experience for many people, I still had a pretty wonderful time. I liked having people stay in the room with Anna and I. We played games all night, drank hot cocoa, and watched American Horror Story. I would not go as far as to say I want it to snow again, but I did enjoy my couple of snow days.

Here is my epic sledding adventure. We took two videos but the other one did not work. 

#4 Study Session

            So the other day, Harry Potter and I were studying for this giant test in math! We were freaking out. The test is 95% of our grade. I had no idea what to do until; Harry came up with an idea. We decided to look for an app that could help us study. We had some criteria, it could not cost much, it had to be entertaining, and also had to really get us focused on working. We are in fifth grade together, so we decided to look for an app in the app store. Many of these apps did not really help anything, and were more for older kids. Finally, we found this amazing app called Mystery Math Museum. This is a great way to practice math problems and still have fun. The app costs $02.99 but I think that this is a small price to pay for quality. The purpose of this game is to go around the museum and collect fireflies. The levels are customizable so each child can be on their own level. The game requires skill to move through the museum to collect all of the fireflies so the children will not get bored with the repetition. It might take a little while to get the basics of the game down but after wards it should be simple enough. There do not seem to be any popups or ads that the child can click on, so that seems to be a good feature.

This app would be very beneficial to education because it can keep the children engaged while acting like a review of math concepts. This is defiantly a math game, and I would use it for mostly the basic skills of addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division. This will be used as mostly a review game. The app says that the app is intended for ages 6-12 so it reaches a variety of standards. Each child can have their own individual profile and there are an unlimited amount of accounts that can be used in the classroom setting.

The main problem that I would see with this app is in the fifth grade setting, If a child is more on the advanced side then this game might not be challenging enough for them. The purpose of everything in the classroom is to push your children to new heights, I am not sure that this game would cater to the children that are too advanced for this. To combat this I might just use this game in the first semester of fifth grade and then give the students another choice. That way each student can have the individual attention that they need. 

This is a link to the iTunes preview of the app.

https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/id640754583?mt=8&ign-mpt=uo%3D8

Thanks to this app we got a 100 on our test

 

#3 Virtual Field Trip

The other day Anna was talking about how she has never been to Vulcan before, so we decided to take a little trip. Unfortunately, we did not realize you would have to pay to get into the statue. The nice man at the ticket booth said that I could get in for free, but Anna would have to pay. The good news is with the new technology available we could go on a field trip from the comfort of Anna's room. We did a little bit of research and found that the best way to get all of the information was to look on the internet. With just a few clicks of a button we had found tons of information. The two sites that we decided to focus on were http://www.visitvulcan.com/about-vulcan.html and http://www.alabama360.com/vulcanpark/tw_vulcanpark.html. The first link is the more of the information than anything else. There is even a documentary that tells some great information about Vulcan. There are also many links like fun facts and a Vulcan timeline. I think that this might have even given me more information than a tour could have! My favorite thing that I learned about Vulcan from this website was how Vulcan was actually made. There is a link that takes you to another page on the site that tells you how Vulcan was constructed! It was really an interesting process.

The second link provided is an actual visual virtual tour. There are five different pictures that you can move around in to discover many things about Vulcan. These pictures range from the entrance to the different rooms in the Vulcan center. The only problem with this site is that you do not really get any up close pictures of the actual statue.  It seem like it gives good pictures of what it does show.

I would use this virtual field trip in the classroom two ways. The first would be to get the children ready for what they would be seeing at Vulcan. These websites give great information that can help the children get excited and already know some facts about where they are going. The second way I would use this in the classroom would be if we could not go on an actual field trip. These sites make you feel like you are actually there. There is so much information and vivid pictures present that it is almost like you have already went. Another great thing about the first link, is that there are pages specifically for the children. There are some activities that can help the children feel like they have left the classroom. Overall, the virtual field trip is a great idea. It gives the students something to experience without having to leave their seats. I think that this is an educational and fun trip that could be easily enjoyed.

Here are some pictures that we took while outside Vulcan

Hey look I am in a tree

Anna took a picture with me from her car

#2 Newks

For our next outing, Anna had to go to work. I thought I might tag along to see what she does all day. All of her coworkers really wanted to take a lot pictures with me. The first thing that Anna does when she gets there is clock in. She works up front so she usually ends up ringing people up on her fancy computer system. Anna is also in charge of making sure everything thing looks presentable. She normally has to fix the roundtable and beverage station many times a day. Anna seems to really enjoy her job and her coworkers were really nice (I think some of them might have liked me a little too much). We took a bunch of pictures that day. It was really fun to be able to get into the real world and see a person working hard.

My favorite thing that I saw Anna do was cut the treats. They have one that is a peanut butter rice crispy treat with chocolate. These are definitely the best. Anna says just don't look athow many calories there are because you will be sad! I had a wonderful day with Anna at Newks. Oh I almost forgot! Anna wanted me to make sure and tell you that she works at the Newks in Vestavia, but there are two other locations. They are also in the process of building another one in Hoover! Anna also wanted me to let you know that she is a trainer. This means that she gets to wear a red shirt and help people learn new things. She really likes working at Newks, and I enjoyed getting the chance to see her at work. Here are some pictures from my day at Newks.

Me at the round table

Anna is showing me how to use the computer

Anna's coworkers (they are scary)

Leave me with the chocolate

#1 The mall

Today is an exciting day. My friend Anna and I decided to go to the mall. There are so many different things to do there. The first thing that we did was decide what mall we wanted to go to. We checked out the different websites of malls near us, and found that the galleria had the best selection of shops. We knew that there were certain things that we had to do at the mall. Anna really wanted to go clothes shopping. We went to American Eagle and the Gap. Unfortunately they did not seem to have my size anywhere! Anna suggested that we go to some shops that I wanted to go to next!

I was so excited about getting to choose the shops. The first thing that I wanted to do was get some food. I was really hungry after all of the planning and shopping we had done that day. We settled on getting some Chinese food. I got some lo mein, but they may have given me a little too much. The final activity of the day was my personal favorite. We went to Build A Bear Workshop and I got to make my very own bear. It is a pretty big bear, but I love him very much! It was really a great day! I hope I can have more great adventures!!!

In case you ever want to go to the Galleria here is their website http://www.riverchasegalleria.com/directory

Also here is a link to Build A Bear! Build A Bear

This is the bear that I made!

This is the GIANT plate of noodles! I was so full