Bears With Our Bird Buddies

Our final field trip of the school year was a huge hit! We went with our buddy class, Mrs. Bird's 5/6 students, to the Stuffington Bear Factory. 

We started off with an interactive, animal themed Jeopardy game. Both big buddies and little buddies did very well, with many students winning accessories for the bear they would build later in the day. Then, our tour guide brought us around the factory. Since it is an actual, working factory, we were cautioned not to touch anything and "stay behind the red tape" throughout most of the tour. 

We learned about the materials used for the products created at the factory and saw workers stitching by hand. 

Both classes were VERY excited to spy a tub full of Google themed pillows! We asked our tour guide about them and she said they have a contract to create them for another company.

After the tour each student got to pick out a very deflated looking stuffed animal to create. 

First, students stepped on a pedal attached to the stuffing machine to stuff their bear.

Next, they brought their freshly stuffed bear over to the sewing station to be hand stitched closed.

 After the stitching, students headed to the vacuuming station where all the lint, fuzz and extra thread was carefully vacuumed off the bears.

If there STILL seemed to be debris on the bears after the vacuum, this bathtub blasted air and students could "wash" their animals.

Then, students brought their new snuggly friends over to the ribbon station. Everyone chose two different colored ribbons to be added to their bear.

Finally, students looked through lists of potential names for their new toy and filled out a birth certificate.

After this very thorough bear creating experience, we headed back to Fireside and had a delicious pizza, juice and picnic party in the park with our buddies!

It seemed that every student enjoyed this experience and it was a wonderful day for students from both classes. A big thank you to the parent helpers and everyone who sent in picnic foods and supplies for our delicious lunch. 

Field Trip to Phoenix Courts

Every great field trip always starts with an exciting bus ride! Students were wowed by the tall buildings of downtown Phoenix and enjoyed the trip. 

First stop was "The Old Courthouse" and everyone had to go through a metal detector.

We spent a good deal of time in Judge Barton's courtroom and she gave us lots of information about the history of The Old Courthouse. She pointed out the lack of technology and even how some technology was impossible to incorporate because the building was built so long ago. She very patiently answered many of our questions, too! 

 Next, we headed across the street to the much more modern, South Court Tower. We took a combination of escalators and elevators all the way up to a courtroom on the 8th floor.

When we arrived, the person in charge of technology for the entire building gave a presentation about the technology used in the building including assistive technology (which several students got to test), microphones, projectors, and document cameras. This was very different than The Old Courthouse!

Next, students took a seat in the jury box and we heard two different mock trials.

First, Goldilocks took the stand and tried to convince us she was not guilty of breaking and entering and burglary in the home of the three bears.

The interrogation was pretty intense, and unfortunately, Goldilocks was quickly found guilty.

Next, Gretel of Hansel and Gretel took the stand. She explained to us how her poor brother had been captured and caged by an evil witch and she feared for her life! 

After a brief deliberation, the jury found Gretel not guilty and she was free to go! 

Thanks so much to our wonderful parent volunteers for all your help with this field trip and a HUGE thanks to Mr. Vingelli for all his hard work coordinating and setting everything up! 

Diamondback Day Field Trip

Our final field trip of the year was hot and crowded but lots of fun! We spent most of the day at Salt River Fields for Diamondback Day, a special event for K-4 classrooms.

We broke off into small groups and students had opportunities to pet an alligator, a lizard and a snake, build three dimensional shapes and play a virtual reality baseball game. Some students also watched a 3D movie about ocean life!

Some students participated in homerun derby...

...while others pitched to a giant, inflatable D-Bax catcher.

Later in the day we were lucky to get shaded seats and enjoyed eating lunch while watching various shows on the field including hip-hop dancers, D-Baxter catapulting baseballs, races and a video about the science of baseball. 

Thanks again to our wonderful parent volunteers for making this day of baseball possible! 

Fun Is In Session

We were excited to kick off our first field trip of the year at The Apple Store in Scottsdale to learn about iMovie!

Each student worked with a partner to first create video footage and take photos and then edit their movie.

After the movies were edited, the Apple Store Geniuses helped students upload their creation to a bracelet zip drive.

Everyone had a wonderful time and walked away with a movie strapped to their wrist! I uploaded all the movies to my YouTube Channel and created a playlist which can be viewed here. 

We were a little sad to ride the bus back to school because we had so much fun at The Apple Store, but we are excited for our next field trip in a few weeks.

Watch the video below for an inside glimpse of the field trip in action!