Mystery Skype

One of our third grade classes took on a Mystery Skype challenge today. During Mystery Skype, we set up a Skype session with another class somewhere in the world. This time we connected with someone from the United States. As a class, we brainstormed questions that would help us narrow down our options until we could guess which state they were from. Some of our questions included:

• Are you east of the Mississippi River?
• Do you get snow?
• Is your state mostly flat? 
• Does your state start with a vowel?

Both classes continued to take turns asking questions back and forth until they could come up with a valid guess of the other's state. Each student in the class had a role to play. The Greeters introduced the class and got the Skype session going. Our Questioners used the class list of brainstormed questions to take turns asking the most specific questions on the list. The Trackers took notes of the other classes responses. The Mappers used atlases and printed maps to narrow down the states as we eliminated them using our critical thinking and geography skills. Our Google Mappers looked for landforms and physical features of the United States to suggest other questions for our Questioners to ask. Our Answerers were in charge of responding to the questions that were asked from the other class.

The other class guessed our state of Indiana one round earlier than us. We discovered they were from Oklahoma. They told us a little bit about their state. We learned they are an hour behind us, our temperatures today were only 3 degrees apart, and they have around 500 students in their school. They also were in third grade and their mascot was the Red Tornadoes.

You can learn more about Mystery Skype here.

We want to thank Mrs. Stephens Class for playing Mystery Skype with us today! It was a lot of fun! @Stephens_Class

Everyone tuned in and ready to go.

Questioners ask questions to the other class.

Answerers give correct responses to questions that were asked from the other class.

A sample Trackers sheet.

They guessed we were from Indiana!

Hour of Code

Our 3rd, 4th, and 5th grade students joined students in over 180 countries while participating in the Hour of Code this week. Students used online tutorials to learn basic coding language with Blockly Blocks. They practiced coding using popular characters like Anna and Elsa from Frozen, Angry Birds, Minecraft, and Star Wars.

Want to learn code? Ask you teacher for your username and password or sign up at Code.org.

Can you beat our current record of 18 lines of code? Tweet us a screenshot of your record on Twitter @academy_ba.

Fifth Graders launched our Hour of Code Week!

Coding using Angry Birds

A fifth grade student holds our school record for the week. He wrote 18 lines of code in his first hour.

A fourth grade student celebrates after she struggled with using "Repeat" blocks.

Coding over the lunch hour.

Third Grade students work together on a tough coding puzzle.

Happy 80th Day of School!

We celebrated the 80's and the 80th day of school Tuesday! Check out our students and staff who dressed "totally awesome!" Take a journey back to school in the 80's by checking out our throwback pictures.

We are Thankful for our Bon Air Families!

We hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving and time off from school. We are thankful for each and every student in our building and their families. Our Kindergarteners celebrated Thanksgiving with they annual feast. Together they made cornbread, pumpkin pie, popcorn, butter, and cranberry salad.

 

Canned Food Drive Ends Tomorrow!

Don't forget our Canned Food Drive ends tomorrow, Tuesday November 24th. The cans we collect will benefit the Kokomo Rescue Mission. We set a goal as a school to collect 100 cans. If you are able to donate, please help us reach our goal and help feed families for the holiday season.  Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Principals Read from the Roof!

Dr. Concus and Mrs. Smith celebrated National Reader's Week by reading a story from the roof this morning. Students in grades K-5 gathered out back to hear the principals read Duck! Rabbit! by Amy Krouse Rosenthal.

National Reader's Week was started in 1989 in hopes of raising awareness about the importance of reading. The event is co-founded by Pizza Hut and the Center for the Book in the Library of Congress.

In addition to the Principal's Challenge, we have challenged every student at Bon Air to read five of the books from our Teacher Favorite Book Bingo Board. Students who read five of the books will receive a prize. In addition to this challenge, if students read 5 books and tweet a picture of themselves reading to @academy_ba or using the hashtags #techbae or #readingselfie, they will earn two prizes!

Our We Care Tree!

Come visit the Markland Mall and see our Bon Air Elementary We Care Tree! Our tree is one of 80 trees and wreaths on display this year. All donations and proceeds raised will go towards supporting the We Care in our community.

This year our tree theme is "Letters From Home."

Students from the 4th grade classes wrote letters showing their appreciation and gratitude to overseas military.  The tree is decorated with red lights with red envelopes in one section, blue lights with blue envelopes in another, and white lights with white envelopes in the last section.  The envelopes are all tied on the tree with yellow ribbons.  The tree is topped with the flags of the branches of service, red, white and blue hand painted stars; red, white and silver ribbon; and red, white, and blue nylon netting for a tree skirt to add sparkle to the tree.

We are trying to teach our students to be selfless, serve your community, serve your country, and make a difference in the world.

The Trim-A-Tree auction will be auctioned Sunday, November 15th at 5:00 pm.

Honoring Veteran's at our Veteran's Day Program

This Wednesday students from both Bon Air Elementary and Bon Air Career Middle School joined together in the gymnasium to honor our veteran's during our Veteran's Day program.

The middle school band and choir performed to open the program. Then, Mr. Spicer, middle school science teacher and former Marine, spoke to the crowd. The elementary students sang and made cards for the veterans who were in attendance. The program concluded with our Life Skills and Autism classes using sign language to say "Thank You."

Book Character Dress Up Day

The Tech Academy Staff dressed up as their favorite book characters today. Can you spot some of your favorites?

Katniss Everdeen (from the Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins)
Matilda (from Matilda by Roald Dahl)
Professor Trelani (from Harry Potter by J.K. Rowling)
Cruella de Vil (from 101 Dalmations)
Little Red Riding Hood
Pippa the Pumpkin Fairy (from Pippa the Pumpkin Fairy by Tim Bugbird)
Raggedy Ann (from the Raggedy Ann and Andy series by Johnny Gruelle)
Thing 1 and Thing 2 (from the Cat in the Hat by Dr. Suess)
The Big Bad Wolf
Effie Trinket (from the Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins)
The Old Woman Who Lived in a Shoe
Emily Elizabeth (from Clifford the Big Red Dog by Norman Bridwell)
Tris Prior (from Divergent by Veronica Roth)
Waldo (from Where's Waldo by Martin Handford)
Captain America (from Marvel Comics)
A Pair of Book Nerds

NEW T-Shirt Designs for Sale!

Show your school spirit and support our school by purchasing a t-shirt today! We are selling t-shirts for students and parents until November 6^th. We have 6 designs and 10 colors to choose from! T-shirt prices range from $10-$12 and proceeds go towards our Technology Supplies Fund. This fund purchases new and innovative technology supplies for our students. Your child will receive an order form this week, please return that form and your payment by November 6th .

Thanks for supporting the Technology Academy @ Bon Air Elementary!

MORE COLORS AVAILABLE!!

Stop in the main office for additional order forms

World Education Games 2015

Four of our classrooms participated alongside 5 million students across 200 countries during this year's World Education Games this week. We competed against students from all over the world in the areas of Math, Literacy, and Science.

Students choose between head to head challenges with their classmates or seek opponents from all corners of the globe. During each round, students answer questions as quickly as possible in 2 minute sessions. They earn points and achievements for the number of correct answers they enter as they race to the finish line. Accumulated points goes towards their class and school leaderboard, unlocking items for their avatars, and are announced live as the competition unfolds.

But, with every correct answer much more important work is going on behind the scenes.The World Education Games is partnered with UNICEF to provide materials for schools across the world that are in need. For every 5000 points earned by a students, 3P Learning donates $1 towards UNICEF's supported educational project, "Schools in a Box."

At the WEG halfway point today, almost 100 Million Unicef points have been earned by students. This means that students from all over the world have helped to contribute over 75 Schools-in-a-Box so far.

To learn more about the Schools-in-a-Box Program Click Here.

School-in-a-Box

Two third grade students going head to head in an early addition competition.

Friendly competition 

Student's in Mrs. Sale's class worked on the WEG games at home and advanced to more difficult levels. 

Students were excited to challenge other kids from all over the world.

Students exploring areas of the BioDome on InfoScience.

InfoScience Screen

Students use their Avatar to explore various science expeditions.