4-24-2020 Cardboard Challenge

Check out this great video about a boy named Caine who created his own arcade out of cardboard!  What games would you create for your arcade?  What other materials do you have around your home that you could use to construct a game? 

Challenge:  Create a game that you can play out of cardboard and other recycled items around your home.

Materials Required

• Cardboard boxes of different sizes and shapes
• Scissors
• Masking tape or painter’s tape which can be removed easily
• Household recycling items (cardboard tubes, egg cartons, plastic containers, etc.)
• Craft supplies for decorating (markers, pipe cleaners, buttons, pom poms, glitter, bells, paper, aluminum foil, etc.)

Instructions

1. Come up with a creation using cardboard boxes of different sizes and shapes that can be played with. To help spark ideas, consider these questions: What might the creation look like? What part of the creation do you want to start with?
2. Using household recycling items and crafts supplies decorate the cardboard creation.
3. Create a narrative to go along with the creation.
4. Share the creation with others.  Post a picture or video of your creation.  

Martha Thornburgh: Mount Vernon Schools Teaching and Learning

4-23-2020 Four 4's

Four 4’s

You can do this on a piece of paper in your journal or by using chalk on a sidewalk.  Using the number 4 four times for each number and the math operations+, -, x,or, to find the numbers 1- 20.

 If you want to add or ( ) such as 4(4 + 4) 4 = 8 or

fraction values such as 44 to equal 1 or  exponents 44to equal 16, you may do that. Just remember you have to use four 4’s to make each number: 1 to 20.  See how many you can make.

Mary Ellen Huggins: Mount Vernon Schools Teaching and Learning

4-22-2020 Earth Day!

Happy Earth Day!  Today, our little bit of the earth is getting some welcome rain.  Rain is what keeps this beautiful place so green and bountiful.  On this 50th anniversary of the first Earth Day, there are many ways to celebrate, care for the earth and learn more about our amazing planet.

One fun thing to do is to explore some of the amazing places here on Earth via webcams.  I found this great site called Exlpore.org that shares webcams from around the world.  I hope to one day be able to go photograph the bears in Katmai National Park in Alaska.  But for now, I can watch a highlight from the webcam from last summer and see the bears catching their lunch.

After watching some of the amazing webcams from our beautiful earth, I am sure you are going to want to do something to help protect our beautiful planet.

Celebrate Earth Day by appreciating and respecting the natural world. Here are some ideas to inspire you! (These ideas are shared with even more information the Old Farmer's Almanac website. )

1. Support our native bees:  The super-pollinators of the garden are … native bees! Learn more about these amazing heroes of pollination—and see how to make a native bee house (much like a bird house!). See how to make a bee-friendly garden habitat.
2. Recycle and repurpose! Gardening needn’t be expensive. See ideas on recycling and repurposing garden items to make something out of nothing—and save money! We also have ideas on how to reuse in the kitchen and in the home and re-purpose everyday household items!
3. Plant wildflowers! We’ll show you how to grow wildflowers in your garden for the pollinators—and to lift your spirits, too! Also, see our guide on choosing wildflower varieties which will thrive where you live. 
4. Reduce plastic dependency: Plastic permeates every aspect of our lives, including the garden. But as the world wakes up to its addiction, just how easy is it to ditch plastic while growing and storing more of our own food? See our ideas on how to garden without plastic. Don’t forget to recycle what plastic you can. See a Plastics Recycling Chart. And also, know what’s in all those bottled drinks!
5. Go native! Plants thrive best when they’re natural to your area. See our article on native plant landscaping and 10 tips for an eco-friendly garden.
6. Bring nature into the garden with plants that attract butterflies and plants that attract hummingbirds!
7. Start an organic vegetable garden. Here are tips on organic seed-starting, and our Beginner’s Guide to Vegetable Gardening to get you started.
8. Conserve water! See our tips for watering wisely in the garden and tips on how to create your own rain garden. Also, avoid over-watering. Know how much your garden really needs with our watering chart! Watch our video demonstrating 10 smart watering tips for a healthy garden garden.
9. Plant more trees! Talk to your local government about planting more trees and native garden beds in public spaces, or consider planting your own on your property! See advice on how to plant a tree as well a our video demonstrating how to plant a fruit tree.
10. Get kids involved! Pass down a love of nature and plants with kids. See our ideas on gardening with kids and also 6 simple kids’ planting activities from the Kids Almanac! 

Martha Thornburgh: Mount Vernon Schools Teaching and Learning

4-21-2020 Counting Donuts

A Krispy Kreme Donut shop in the United Kingdom made an extremely large box for its donuts. Can you figure out how many Krispy Kremes are in this box? LINK

1. How many donuts do you think are in the Krispy Kreme box?

• In your journal, make an estimate.  Explain how you made your estimate.

2. Here is some additional information you might use to solve the problem

	Email from the UK: Here is some information that might help you with determining how many donuts are in the enormous Krispy Kreme box. The box holds three layers of donuts. Each donut has a diameter of 89 millimeters (mm). The box measures 3000 mm by 2300 mm.

• Decide what information you will use to solve the task.
• Choose a strategy to determine the answer

3.

• Compare your work to the actual answer in ACT 3

• How close to your original estimate is your answer?
• Why do you think that is?

Mary Ellen Huggins: Mount Vernon Schools Teaching and Learning

4-20-2020 Learn to Draw and Tell Stories with JJK

Jarrett J. Krosoczka—author & illustrator is teaching how to draw characters, illustrate and write stories!  Each weekday at 11:00 am he is doing a live drawing lesson on his YouTube page.  If you miss the live session, you can go back and watch at anytime.

Here is his first video introducing this project.  He shows us some of his drawings and stories he wrote as a kid and then he shows how he creates his characters for his books now. You can even see how he draws Yoda!

1. Can you create a new character for a book?
2. What would your book be about?
3. Why not try to draw and write a little each day. 

Martha Thornburgh: Mount Vernon Schools Teaching and Learning