At the beginning of the school year, Char Thomas asks her Lee Elementary students to write down their goals for the year. Many say they want to improve their reading skills or work on their math skills. Audrey Lee wrote she wanted to read 100 books - a tall order for a third-grader, but a goal she ultimately achieved.
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Fawkes suffered a devastating injury leading to a debilitating condition called "Bubble Butt Syndrome." It might sound funny, but it can be deadly for a young sea turtle like Fawkes - named by the South Caroline Aquarium Sea Turtle Hospital employees after a character in the Harry Potter series. Lee Elementary second-graders could see the weights placed on the back end of Fawkes' shell during a Skype session with the aquarium. The weights, they learned, help the turtle dive to get the food he needs.
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When Mr. Barnes' students finish an assignment early or are waiting for class to resume after a break, they often reach for their multi-colored Rubik's Cubes. "It's a way to keep their minds engaged during those short breaks they have throughout the day," said Ethan Barnes. "As a class, we researched the benefits of the Rubik's Cube puzzle and wrote a grant together ."
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River otters swam around and around, gracefully gliding through the water and bobbing their heads up every few minutes to see what was going on. It was a one-of-a-kind view for Lee Elementary students as they watched the otters from the rocks high above the water enclosure at the South Carolina Aquarium. No - it wasn't a lavish field trip. Using Skype technology in Lee Elementary's Makerspace room, Mr. Fischer's second-grade class interacted with Susan Snide, a distance learning interpreter for the aquarium.
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Blue, green, yellow, orange and white Lego pieces were stacked in varying heights representing different fractions. At a nearby table, Little Bits were used to turn wheels and make lights go on and off demonstrating simple circuits. And later, students used their ingenuity and creativity as they tried to build the tallest tower possible using 100 Keva Planks.
Lee Elementary School's Makerspace room was in the spotlight and guests from East Grand Rapids Schools were impressed.
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Second-grader Colin Goggins stood proudly beside his father in front of his classmates in Stephanie Woods' Lee Elementary classroom. His dad, Officer Tom Goggins with the Portland Police Department, visited the classroom to talk about his role in the community. His experiences fit well with the current Reading Street lesson about being part of a community, what makes a community, and important people within a community.
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