Earth Olympics Day 2 - Solar Competition

Day 2 of the Earth Olympics at Edison Environmental Science Academy was an exciting adventure into alternative energy! In addition to the reducing, reusing, and recycling happening around the school, students explored how to harness the sun's energy for a practical purpose: heating water. This event was conducted at every grade level, but this video shows you how the 4th and 5th grade students competed. The real winner? The Earth!

Earth Olympics - Solar Competition from Edison Environmental Science Aca on Vimeo.

The Earth Olympics Have Begun!

At 8:30 AM today, the Earth Olympics at Edison Environmental Science Academy officially launched! We will be tweeting the events as often as possible at http://twitter.com/edisonesa and posting pictures and videos to this blog. Here's a video of the opening ceremony!

Earth Olympics Opening Ceremony from Edison Environmental Science Aca on Vimeo.

Students Take Pride in Their Work

One of the wonderful opportunities students at Edison Environmental Science Academy have available to them is the after-school program. Funded by the 21st Century grant, students are able to extend their school day and accentuate their learning in some very exciting ways.

Students are teamed up with adult coaches who make sure they get their snack right after regular dismissal, work with them on homework, and lead them in special activities. Coach Hillsman gave her students a special assignment this past week: a digital camera safari!

With four digital cameras, kids were split into groups and instructed to take pictures of whatever they wanted to around the school. The catch? They had to be ready to explain why they took each picture!

Here's a video that shows some of those pictures. Notice how many pictures are of projects that they have completed and are displayed either in the hallway or in the classrooms. Students at Edison Environmental Science Academy take great pride in their work...and they should! They are doing great things on their journey to a fantastic future in middle school, high school, college, and beyond!

Community Night A Great Success

With tables for every grade setup to show-off student work, and dozens of family members there to take it in, our second quarter Community Night was a wonderful evening for everyone that attended.

Clay models of transportation, posters of alternative energy inventions, videos of students explaining the watershed and dam situation in Kalamazoo County, and radio commercials from specialized and non-specialized (student) farmers. These are just some of the student products that were on display for Community Night.

The highlight of the evening was the presentation of Merit

Awards to several Edison students. Every teacher and the after-school program coaches nominated students to receive this award for good behavior, outstanding citizenship, and the kind of attitude and focus that will see them through to college. There was many a proud parent in the audience as students from pre-school to 5th grade were called forward to accept their awards.

Keep an eye on this blog and our official website at http://edisonmagnet.org for the date of the next Community Night.

An interview with our secretary

Carmela is one of our 5th grade student Video Journalists (VJ). She had some extra time after school on a half-day to practice her video shooting skills and was able to interview Mrs. Stoeffler, our school secretary. Watch and learn what she does!

Interview with School Secretary from Anthony Gettig on Vimeo.

Student Blog Entries June 24, 2009

Yesterday, we wrote the old fashioned way...on paper! It is a good way to practice handwriting so we are balancing writing in journals with blogging throughout the camp. Today we have blog posts from Brian and Elexus as they answer the question, "Would you like to be a strawberry grower?"

Brian:

No because all that time in the sun would be really annoying and you could get sunburn.

Elexus:

No because it is horrible out in the sun and it is kind of disgusting when you touch parts that have been bit out of.

Today, we are making strawberry jam from the strawberries we picked yesterday. We will have video of this interesting and yummy process when it is done.

Student Blog Entries June 22, 2009

Carmela didn't make it Garden Camp today, so the responsibility for blogging falls on Brian's shoulders! Here's what he has to say as we start week #2 of Garden Camp.

From Brian:

Where did your juice come from?Its called mixed berry so it must be from berries.I expect to see a lot of strawberries and a lot of boating.I have a new friend here at garden camp and his name is Zack.

Student Blog Entries June 17, 2009

Two of the students attending Garden Camp are learning to shoot video and use Internet tools like blogging. They are the documentary filmmakers and student video journalists (VJ's) for our camp.

One component of Garden Camp is daily journaling. The VJ's will be periodically making blog entries for themselves and for the younger students at camp. Here are blog entries from each.

From Brian:

I learned how to use a tripod and I got to record kids in the garden picking weeds and putting benches in the garden to look at the garden without standing you can relax and see our wonder garden.Don't be afraid of our wonderful garden,and garden club out at pretty lake vacation camp.I have been at garden camp for 2 years and why stop there I could work with garden camp when I get older.S please don't keep me away from garden camp.

From Carmela:

Yesterday I went swimming at Pretty Lake with Mr.Johnson, Ms.Smith, Ms.Pat.and Mr.Gettig . We also went fishing. At least three (3) of the boys caught a fish. Mr. Gettig took a picture of the fisher boys and their fish. We also took a swimming test. There was also a lifeguard . His name is Zack. He'll save you if you drown. Then free swam and change and left to Edison.