Partnering with Community Members to Enhance Our Understanding of the World

Last week our 1st grade was fortunate to have guest speakers from our community; a firefighter, state trooper, lawyer & middle school principal connected to a unit of inquiry they are exploring under Sharing the Planet. Our school counselor, Mrs. Mutscher, also contributed to this unit with a counselor lesson.

The central idea is: “Citizens can work together to create a peaceful and organized community.” In this unit 1st grade investigates characteristics of good citizens before discussing how cooperation leads to a peaceful community, and resolving conflicts peacefully. This is an important unit for students, as it helps in the establishment of a collaborative classroom, illustrates different perspectives on cooperation and provides opportunities for the children to practice peaceful conflict resolution.  In their presentations, our community representatives talked about how they work with others to “keep the peace.”

One of the benefits of teaching and learning in the PYP is how it strives to provide students with a way to connect to their learning. It does this by making that learning relevant. By bringing in members of the community, 1^st grade teachers were able to support students as they made these connections. The opportunity to ask questions of the speakers allows our students to engage in meaningful conversation and deepen their knowledge of the concepts they are studying.

Career Day at COE!

Chandler Oaks recently hosted it's annual Career Day.  Students learned about a variety of in-demand careers on the broadcast, took interest inventories and explored different career choices in the library, and listened to a variety of speakers share about what they do.  Many parents gave their time to help our students learn more about some of the different jobs and fields that are available and they talked about how what they learned in school prepared them for their jobs today.  Students even came to school dressed as what they want to be when they grow up- bankers, fire fighters, teachers, scientists, police officers, business professionals, athletes and artists were a few of the careers represented.  It was a great day to help our students start thinking, planning and dreaming about their futures!

KCOE News: Students at Work

You may not know it, but Chandler Oaks has some budding newscasters in 5th grade!  Each morning, a team of students reports to the broadcast studio to write, rehearse, and produce the daily news show that is delivered to all students.

  Students report to the broadcast room early each morning to update the script with current events, weather, lunch menu, pledges, art and other special segments.  Those same students also produce most of the special reports such as Wonder Box Wednesday, where student reporters research questions submitted by other COE students and report the findings.

Student broadcasters learn communication skills, how to work flexibly on a team and the ins and out of the technology tools used to produce the KCOE news show.  Students get to rotate through a variety of roles such as anchor, engineer, director and special reporter and learn more about some of the duties and skills needed in the broadcast industry.  They learn a lot, but it is also a lot of fun!

COE Cheetahs Win 3rd Place in Battle of the Bluebonnets!

The COE Battle of the Bluebonnets team took home 3rd place yesterday after a heated competition!  Our team of 5 reading rock stars, led by their coach Mrs. Collings, actually tied for first place with three other schools- several tie breaker questions were needed to settle the competition. In the end we brought home 3rd place medals- our highest finish yet!
Our team practiced well and worked together as a team- and it paid off.  If you see Mrs. Collings or one of these students, be sure to congratulate them on their accomplishment!

Student Council Takes Action

Student Council took a field trip last week.  They visited University Village Memory Care Facility and sang carols with the residents!  Our student council visited twice this past Spring and enjoyed it so much they couldn't wait to go back and visit again.  Although they had fun, their visit had purpose!  Here is an interesting related research on the power of music to boost memory.

Stony Point Ambassadors Visit COE

Stony Point High School Ambassadors recently came to visit COE 5th grade students.  They talked about the Academy Program as well as what the IB looks like in high school.  This was one of our activities for Education. Go Get It Week.  Throughout the week, students learned about a variety of colleges and careers as well as the skills and knowledge that are necessary to be successful. The Stony Point students were a high point for our 5th grade.  They talked about what a typical day was like, what they needed to do to be successful in school and how they say their education preparing them for their future.  Students got to ask a lot of really great questions and were excited about the opportunities that lay ahead of them in the next few years!

COE Cheetahs Celebrate International Day of Peace!

COE Cheetahs have been celebrating the International Day of Peace each year. This year in art class, students are making symbols of peace in origami like cranes, butterflies, doves, hearts, homes, and lotus flowers. Students also pledged to take individual actions.  As an IB school, it is so important to all of us that we each do our part to make this world a more peaceful place.  Check out what some of our students have pledged to do in the video below!

4th Grade Investigates Culture in Who We Are Unit

4th Grade has been inquiring into the central idea "Understanding personal histories, beliefs and values fosters intercultural connectedness." As part of their unit, they invited parents with a variety of backgrounds to come talk about their histories, beliefs and values. Students asked great questions to learn more about what makes each culture unique and also how we are all tied together. Parent volunteers came from Venezuela, India and France- it was a great mix of different cultures and students really learned a lot. We really appreciate all the parents who shared with us and helped foster intercultural connectedness!

Student Council Wins Award!

Chandler Oaks Student Council was awarded a great honor! RRISD Partners in Education chose them as the Youth Volunteers of the Year! Our Student Council has worked very hard this year, both for the school community and the Round Rock community.

Student Council members have taught lessons to the younger grades as part of the 15 Days of Caring, volunteered at the local nursing home, raised over $1500 for charities and the school, helped teachers after school and created bowls for the Empty Bowl Project. They are models of integrity, respect and principle!

Congratulations to the 2012-2013 Student Council!

3rd Grade Economics Fair

3rd Grade students recently held their annual Economics Fair.  As part of their IB How We Organize Ourselves unit, they inquired into the central idea: Economic systems require decisions and choices that impact lives and communities. Students created goods or developed services and invited the school to come to their marketplace. Prior to the fair, all students wrote a business plan &developed marketing.
Students used Vocaroo to record radio commercials and shot a video commercial to air on our morning news program.  Check them out!
Radio Commercials


3rd graders researched options for what they would do with the profits. Groups presented their ideas and  then they voted on their favorites. This year they decided that their proceeds would benefit The Wounded Warrior Project and Austin Disaster Relief. Austin Disaster relief was chosen because they are helping with recovery efforts in West.  The Wounded Warrior Project was chosen because there are several students that parents that are active in the military.  In total, 3rd grade raised about $1500 from their fair for the community!

4th Grades Take Action!

4th Grade studetns are investigating the central idea, The availability of usable water affects people’s opportunities, in their Sharing the Planet unit.  Ms. Gray’s 4th grade class was inspired by a guest speaker from Round Rock Water to clean the trash from the reading garden. The speaker told the students one way to keep our water supply clean is to keep the trash out of the environment, so students decided to start in their own back yard!  Many students use the Reading Garden, so Mrs. Gray's class helped both other students and the water supply.  That's putting learning in action!

3rd Grade Investigates Communities

3rd grade students recently wrapped up their Sharing the Planet unit.  Their central idea was "Human and geographic factors shape communities."  Lots of different learning activities helped build student understanding of this idea.  

Students worked in groups to research various landforms on PebbleGo (one of our library research resources).  

Then,  they created a visual representation that included the important facts and information from their research and presented it to their class.

Students worked in groups and used Kidspiration (mind mapping software) to create Venn diagrams where they compared different types of communities such as rural, urban, and suburban.

Students interviewed a family member about the community they currently live in or where they grew up in order to learn about how that community developed.  Students created a timeline and presented it to the class.

Keith Abbott, a parent and local minister, shared photos and spoke to all of 3rd grade about how the hurricane in Haiti affected the community.

4th grade wonders: what does it take to be a good leader?

4th grade's How We Organize Ourselves unit explored the central idea: Conditions within a community dictate the type of leaders that emerge. To help students understand this big idea, they hosted a panel of leaders. We had members of the community- our PTA president, Mrs. Olesen, Cristy Crowder and Ms. Welebob as well as Ms. Haynes and Ms. Herbst. Students asked the panel of leaders questions about what it takes to be a leader, qualities of a leader and how they became leaders. Students asked some great questions and were able to make connections to some of the leaders and leadership types they had been learning about in class.