TLC Fall Field Trip!

Because we needed to use up a couple of hours between when the boat delivered us to Northeast Harbor and when the field trip began at Camp Jordan, our fall TLC field trip began with a morning trip to Homewood Farm!  We explored a corn maze!

And went on a hayride!

We saw pigs, chickens, ducks and cows.  We fed the animals our corn cobs.

When we arrived at Camp Jordan we met all of our TLC friends and began our first activity.  Energy for Maine Education worked with students in grades K-3 on a project about solar power. 

Then the older students learned about wind power by designing their own wind turbine blades. 

They tested their blades to see how much power they could generate.

That night we had a fabulous Halloween party!  All of the students and teachers got into costumes for a costume parade and dance party,  followed by snacks and cake (of course)!

The next day we all traveled on a school bus to Bangor.  There we went to the Maine Discovery Museum and had way too much fun!

After exploring the museum we learned about chemistry by making bubble gum!

The fun did not end there!  We also visited the Cole Transportation Museum, went on a ghostly tour of Bangor and played tons and tons of games together!  To read more about our fall field trip, check out the TLC blog!  We love TLC field trips!

Student Council Elections!

I apologize for the long time between posts!  The cord to download the photos from our school camera went missing and I finally found it this morning.  Now I have a bunch of posts to hurry up and write....

First of all, Student Council Elections!

Our second annual TLC Student Council Elections took place back in mid-October.  Students from six islands ran for positions such as President, Vice President, Secretary, Treasurer, and PR Representative.  There were several tight races!

Listening to all of the campaign pitches!

Voting!

TLC Book Groups Begin!

Today we kicked off our first TLC book groups of 2012!

These two students are in a book group with students from Monhegan, Frenchboro and Cliff!

These students are in a book group with students from Isle Au Haut and Frenchboro!

These students are in a book group with students from Matinicus and Frenchboro!

This student is in a book group with students from Cliff, Matinicus and Isle Au Haut!

 Today we spent time troubleshooting the technology, and then each group spent time learning about their book choices.  Tomorrow the groups will choose the books they will read, and next week we will be off to reading, discussing and writing!  Yay TLC book groups!

Monhegan Loves Ashley, and So Do We!

Ashley came to visit again this week.  This time he brought with him a collection of books donated to our school by his friend Nikki Giovanni.  We invited the rest of the TLC to join us and together we enjoyed listening to Ashley perform some of Nikki's poems.  Click here to visit Monhegan's blog and read more about the event.   

Poetry Slamming with Monhegan

For the last several writing sessions with Monhegan we have been working on writing poetry.  Now that each student has a collection of original poetry, it's time to slam!  

Today we met with Monhegan and began working on how to perform our poems.  To get ideas about how to perform a piece of poetry, we watched four YouTube videos of different aged students from around the country performing their original poetry.  

Some ideas that were generated from the videos:

• Perform poetry with more than one person.
• Get into it!  Show some emotion!
•  Use your body to express the poem.
• Change the tempo of your speaking.  

The students all chose to work with partners to begin working on performing their poems.  

Here students from Monhegan and the Ashley Bryan school work on some ideas for performing one of their poems. 

Here two students from the Ashley Bryan School work on one of their poems. 

After practicing, we shared our ideas for performance. This student from Monhegan and....

this student from the Ashley Bryan School performed a poem together. 

Pretty fun stuff!

Best Week Ever.

Today was our final day of our first ever TLC Spirit Week! 

We kicked off the week with a pajama day on Monday followed by opposite/backward day on Tuesday. 

One pajama day kiddo.   

Another pajama day kiddo. 

Opposite day fashion....

Even his boots are on the wrong feet!

Even the teachers got into the spirit!

But, the best day of Spirit Week was today--TLC Colors Day!!

100% of the students and teachers at each TLC school wore their spirit colors!  After showing off our terrific outfits, we played a game of TLC jeopardy.  The final scores were close, but the Ashley Bryan School won!  We celebrated like crazy!

The final event of TLC Spirit Week was a sharing of the TLC cheers!  Each school came up with their own cheer.  Here is ours:

Have you ever been fishing with the TLC
All the little fishies swimming up and down the sea
With your hands in your pockets and your pockets in your pants
All the little fishies doin' the TLC dance!

Monhegan, Matinicus
Isle Au Haut, Cliff
Ashley Bryan School
And the TLC Rock!

With your hands in your pockets
and your pockets in your pants
All the little fishies doing the TLC dance!

The Hydrosphere!

This week it was our turn to share on Science Monday!  Our focus for this week was the HYDROSPHERE!

We learned that 75% of the Earth is covered in water!  Next we had to guess how much of the water on Earth is salt water and how much is fresh water.  Using a small piece of paper to represent all of the water on the planet, we colored in how much of the water we thought was salt water. 

Then we shared our guesses with the rest of the TLC.  How much of the water on Earth do you think is salt water? 

It turns out, 97% of the water on Earth is salt water!  Of the 3% of water that is fresh, 2% is frozen!  That means just 1% of all the water on Earth is available fresh water! 

Next we learned about the Water Cycle.  Two Islesford students presented a slide show about the Water Cycle and then we watched an animation to further explain the process.  Next we modeled the Water Cycle with our bodies.  Here the whole TLC is condensing! 

Next, each school had to come up with a series of tableaux to demonstrate the Water Cycle.  Can you imagine these kiddos evaporating? 

Condensing...

Precipitating...

Running off and collecting!  Every school took turns presenting their tableaux to the other TLC schools.  We finished the lesson with a discussion about the Water Cycle, how we use fresh water and questions we have about water on Earth.

Everyone enjoyed learning about the Water Cycle!