Students in Mr. Gay’s 6th grade Social Studies class at Leestown Middle School learned about one of the hottest “gadgets” on the market today, GPS units. Then they had the opportunity to use the units for a scavenger hunt on the school grounds. GPS stands for Global Positioning System which is a system of 24 satellites that orbit the earth and transmit data to GPS units in order to determine precise locations. The system was developed initially for military purposes by the U.S. Department of Defense, and has been accredited with the precise bombing evidenced in the last war with Iraq, but the system is now available for public access. GPS units are becoming standard features in many automobiles and are being scooped up by hikers, fisherman and even golfers. They are being used extensively by civil engineers for surveying and mapping and are also used to track prisoners out on work-release programs.

The students in Mr. Gay’s social studies class integrated the use of GPS units in a unit on mapping skills. They spent one day in the computer lab researching the units and learning how they work, and then got to go outside the next day for a scavenger hunt on the school grounds. Each group of students was given a GPS unit and their own set of coordinates (latitude and longitude) which they used to map their route.

This was an excellent opportunity for the students to learn to work cooperatively in groups on a real-world application and an excellent way to integrate technology into a lesson. Lessons for these units could be developed for any science, math or social studies class. The Technology Department has ten of these units available. If you would like to learn more about these units and use them in your classes, contact Stephen Holthaus at sholthau@fayette.k12.ky.us.

It’s a Great Day to Be a Mustang!

These words ring every morning throughout the rooms of Morton Middle School. The phrase was coined by Principal Jock Gum to conclude every morning’s live news broadcast. Beginning at 7:30 a.m. each morning students start drifting into Room 206, the home of MMS News and Rick Prince’s Communications and Tech Ed classes. The announcements from teachers drift in throughout the pre-school hours. Students organize the announcements for the live broadcast. As the warning bell rings, students in the broadcast studio take their places behind cameras and behind the anchor desk. Teachers throughout the building tune into Channel 15. The tardy bell rings and the broadcast commences. Students recite the pledge and the anchors read the announcements of the day. Cameras fade out and focus on Mr. Gum, who has arrived to share a personal message with the student body …..and then, once again, everyone hears “It’s a great day to be a Mustang.” School is officially in session for the day.

It’s Breakfast! It’s Lunch! No, It’s Business & Marketing!?!

The surroundings may look like a cafeteria, but for four periods a day the cafeteria at Morton Middle School is transformed into a Business and Marketing computer lab. Students practice keyboarding, complete career studies, achieve greater skills with MS Office programs, engage in web learning and make class presentations with ease, thanks to the wonders of a 24 station wireless laptop lab. What about lunch hours? Teacher Jennifer Hess simply rolls the laptop cart down the hall for her class that is scheduled during lunch hours. With a building bursting at the seams with students, the wireless laptop lab creates a technology center whereever it is … and the cafeteria becomes a viable classroom for the students in Business and Marketing.

The Discovery Channel has nothing over SCAPA 4th grade science teacher Cammy Baxter.

Three weeks ago, she asked SCAPA's resident monarch butterfly expert and 6th grade student, Annie Hunter, if she could bring in a monarch caterpillar and talk to Ms. Baxter's 4th grade students about monarch butterflies. Annie brought in a larva when it was in its J. According to Annie  "The J" describes the stage before the larva becomes the pupa. The caterpillar is still a larva, it is just about to become a pupa or chrysalis and its body looks like a J.  Thanks to the wonders of technology (video cams) Ms. Baxter was able to capture the metamorphosis into the pupa digitally. More dramatically, by setting the cameras to detect motion, she also captured the emergence of the butterfly. The metamorphosis took place over the weekend of September 20th and the students arrived to find a beautiful, adult monarch butterfly (it was a girl! Annie knows how to tell). Ms. Baxter showed the video to all her students. "They were in awe," she said, "just like I was. Later in the year, when I will teach metamorphosis, I can draw on this experience to help students understand the concept."

Click on the pictures to view the videos

The SCAPA monarch began to make its way to Mexico on a wet  and dreary Monday. But she has left a major impression on Ms. Baxter's students and parents. She posted the movie on her web page and received the following letter from class parent LTC James Mathews, who is serving in the Reserves in Afghanistan:

Hello Ms. Baxter:

I thoroughly enjoyed watching your class experiment with the butterfly! Your web cam image works fine all the way over to Afghanistan. Thank you for your efforts.

Regards,

Hunter Mathews

(say hey to Lucy)