November Update

Hello fellow followers!

Heres another update for the Outer Islands School Blog! Sorry for the delay, but A LOT has been happening out here. This last month of November has been packed with collaboration. So far we have had our first two student council meetings! Science has been a huge thing for the TLC. We have also been exploring history together.

Student Council has been a huge success. We have gotten plenty of things done. Sadly, our secretary, Fiona, had to leave us, so we swore in Patrick from Islesford! Congratulations Patrick! In our meetings we are deciding where to go for a field trip in the spring, and have decided to raise money for Cystic Fibrosis. We are currently talking about many things in our meetings.

Space has been a big subject for all of us. Every two weeks each school hosts a assignment on a space like subject. At the end of those two weeks we share what we have put together via video conferencing units. We are currently studying black holes.

Yes, we have been exploring history, more specifically explorers. From Erik the red to James Cook, each student has been studying explorers from BCE to the 1700's. Some students even paired up with each other across the islands. This has not been attempted before. It worked out pretty well for all of us and we all learned a lot.

Keep looking for more updates! Thanks for following us :)

Pulling up to the Challenger Center after a day of travel, seeing all our friends. Rushing off the van, screaming our friends' names. Hugs, still screaming. Yup. It's another Inter Island Field Trip. This year we're in Bangor, doing lots of stuff about Space.

After piling off the vans, cars and more cars that we traveled in, we had a few minutes to catch up. So, in other words, a lot of screaming, hugging, jumping, trying to run up buildings, and all the other craziness we do. We are special that way. Then we had one of our famous circle-ups. (Surprise, right?) The best part is, they are never circles. Blobs, squares, ovals, stars, anything besides a circle. We went over the plans, then trooped inside the center for our first activity.

The K-3 graders were doing a program called Astronaut Life. It was a program where they learned what it would be like to be an astronaut. What they ate, how they slept, all that good stuff. The 5-8 graders did a Simulated Space Mission. The fourth graders could choose what they wanted to do. The Simulated Space Mission was a program where we had to be astronauts. We had two groups: people in Mission Control and people in the space shuttle. Halfway through we switched. A few hours later we went back to Camp Jordan for dinner.

Dinner was delicious. Who doesn't love spaghetti? Once everyone was eating and deep in conversation, music started. Kid after kid jumped up and started dancing. Soon almost everyone was dancing and having fun. It was a flash-mob, started by Islesford. After the music ended, everyone went back to dinner like nothing had happened.

The next morning, bright and early (well, actually it was still dark) we had breakfast then left (after we had a circle-up). A field trip isn't a field trip without a sufficient amount of circle-ups. Then we got onto the school bus and settled in for the long ride to the University of Maine. We waited next to the planetarium for a few minutes, waving to people to pass the time. The younger kids went inside a few minutes later for their program, Earth, Moon and Sun. The older kids headed off to the rock wall for a morning of climbing. We were there for about an hour, then left to meet up for a snack. Then the olders went inside for a show on black holes and the youngers went to the climbing wall. An hour later we met for lunch. After lunch we were off the rec center for the challenger course. After yet another circle-up, we split into two groups. This time it wasn't olders and youngers. It was one-twos. One group was on the high ropes course and the other was on the low course. Actually, the name ropes course is sort of misleading because it has nothing to do with ropes except that you are in a harness. The high ropes course had two options: The cat-walk and multi-vine. The cat-walk was a log between two trees about thirty feet in the air. There was a ladder that you climbed, climbed up some staples in the tree, onto the log and across. The multi-vine was like a tightrope with ropes hanging down to hold onto. You climbed the ladder on the staples, onto the wire and across. Scary but addicting. The low course was called Whale Watch. It was like a short, wide teeter-totter. The group split in half. Each person had a partner that was on the opposite side from you. The pairs switched, one at a time when the "boat" was balanced. It took a little while.

Back to camp for dinner and the Halloween Party!! Dinner was burritos. Yum! It was quick, because everyone was eager to get in their costumes and start the party. There was a runway where people could show off their costumes. Dessert followed, then the awards. Then the music started, and the dancing began. We're big on dance parties.

Friday morning arrived. The time had flown by. We couldn't believe it was already time to leave. Monhegan had to leave early, before everyone else. The rest of us ate breakfast and had... guess what? YES! ANOTHER circle-up! Are you noticing a theme here? Then we had a few minutes for good-byes. Reluctantly, we all got into our cars, vans, whatevers. Another field trip had come and gone.

-Meg

Ropes Course, October Inter Islands field trip

On Thursday October 27th, 2011 we got to see and take part in a ropes course. We were at the University of Maine, Orono. Earlier that day we had got to go rock climbing at there rock climbing gym. Everyone had a blast there, and we got to see who was part monkey. We also got to see the Planetarium which was breathtaking. I had been here 2 years earlier on my first MSR, (Middle School Retreat), but I was still impressed by the campus.

After eating at the college cafeteria we headed for the ropes course which was the real treat. I had never been to a ropes course before and I don't think that many others had either. When we got there we played a team game. This was passing a hula-hoop around the circle without letting go of each others hands. We were then split into two groups that went to do different activities. Group 1 went the balance board. Everyone had a partner and had to switch with them without making the board go all the way to one side. Meanwhile Group 2 got to go high in the trees on a high wire and/or a balance beam which looked more like a log. I have to admit I thought Group 2 had the better starting activity. While Group 2 went through their activity, Group ! had to leap frog over one another across a log without falling off. Then the groups switched. Group 2 went and did what Group 1 just did. Group 1 split into two groups. everyone who wanted to do the high wire and balance beam got to do that. The other people got to do another activity. I did the high wire and was by far the most exciting part of the trip for me.

Sadly it ended and we had to go back to the bus. A lot of us had never really ridden in a school bus. We went back and had tacos/burritos for dinner and then a halloween party to finish the trip off. I wish I could have written about the whole thing, but I'll leave the other details to another student. Thank you again and again Anne Bardaglio! We would never be experiencing these great field trips if it weren't for you!

- Daltini :)

The sweetest part of our trip!

The funnest part of the Outer Islands field trip was when we went to the Space Challenger Center. I liked it the most because we went into a model room of the ISS (International Space Station) and we all had different jobs and my job was a Aero Engineer! It was fun because I got to go into a room that no one else could go into! Another kid was commanding me around. When it was my turn to be in the control room, the other kid got to go into the same room. (because we had the same job.) I got to command him around. There were hazards! One of them was we had to rub our feet on the floor and then touch a black bar because we were losing electricity. The other hazard was we were running out of oxygen. That was my favorite part of the field trip :)

Sincerely,

Quinn

TLC making the headlines :)

Thanks Eva Murray for writing a great article about us in the Working Waterfront :

Outer-Island Schools Launch Inter-Island Student Council

Space Studies

There has been a LOT of cool stuff happening for our space studies unit! The kids have been posting A-MAZING travel videos to our space wiki about the different planets (and other space matter) they researched!

Everyone did a GREAT job... here are a few fun examples....

(Sorry we don't have any examples from Matinicus... I couldn't get them off the wiki!)

Student Council Line-Up

On October 20th, 2011 the outer islands made history by electing the first inter island student council. Sadly, Monhegan couldn't join the rest of the islands because of an internet failure, but fortunately was on speaker phone to hear who was sworn in. The week before everyone who was running for a position posted a video(s), or a glogster(online poster) about what makes them suitable for the job they were running for. Voting day came around and everyone got to vote 2nd grade and up. It was a stressful race although a friendly one, no negative campaigning was necessary. Yay! The positions that were available were: President, Vice President, Secretary, Treasurer, Public Relations Representer, Parent Teacher Representer. The island representers were nominated into the position.

Here is the Line up for the first Inter island student council:

President: Dalton

Vice President: Emma

Secretary: Fiona

Treasurer: Joe

PR Rep: Meg

PT Rep: Meg

Cliff Rep: Eliza

Isle Au Haut Rep: Alex and Michael

Islesford Rep: Louise

Matinicus Rep: Dylan

Monhegan Rep: Quinn

Louise's fabulous campaign!

Teacher's were interviewed for people's campaigns.

Dylan's A-mazing campaign video!

Interviews from teachers!

This was a VERY serious election! We even had a ballot collector!

Announcing the results!

Island Teacher's Conference

Last week the TLC teacher's put on their fancy inshore clothes and headed to Rockland for the Island Teacher's Conference hosted by our dear friends at the Island Institute! The TLC teachers were asked to give two presentations about the TLC work we are doing with the outer island schools!

Our first presentation was about the aligned curriculum that the teachers (along with the help from our students) have developed for our schools.

We had a great turn out! There was a lot of excitement of how the TLC could work in bigger island schools! The collaboration possibilities are endless!

At the end of our presentation we had our teacher audience write down questions they had about the TLC. Can you guess which question came from our favorite Cliff Island teacher?!?! Look closely...

Yep, you guessed it. No other question really compares with the utter importance of THIS question. At least within our TLC.

For our second presentation we went over all the different technology we use within our TLC!

The best part of the presentation was that the kids were very much involved. Dalton and Quinn helped interview many of the island kids about how they use technology in the classroom. Then Dalton pieced the interviews together into a few movie clips that we embedded into a Prezi!

See the final product for yourself..

Blogs, Glogs, and Wikis! Oh My! on Prezi

At the end of the Prezi we skyped in the Olders and Middles from Islesford for some Q & A! The presentation was just BURSTING with technology!

After TWO presentations our good lookin' group got together to do some planning and organizing. I know I may be biased I do believe we have the best group of teachers any island schools have ever seen!

I mean, how could you not LOVE these faces!?

Anywho, it was a fabulous conference with fabulous teachers. GOOOO TEACHERS!

The Barter Thing

A Barter Thing

Michael Kenneth Barter 9/27/11
A seagull landed on the bow of the boat and starred at us. My dad, my brother and I were on the boat. We looked out on the sea and saw Jonny and Grampy they were lobstering too.
In the spring we get our traps ready and in good shape. All Barters fish. It is a Barter thing. The things you need to lobster are bait, traps, a boat, gas and your hands or a pot hauler. I love to go lobstering. We fish in the summer and the fall. We use a ninety horsepower boat and we haul by hand. It’s hard work hauling traps.
Isle au Haut has 13 adult fishermen and 5 student fishermen. We fish for lobsters, crabs and fish too, like flounder. We fish around Isle au Haut, Kimball and Merchants. Sometimes the traps get rocked. Rocked means the rope is stuck around the rock or a rock is on the trap. If you run over a bouy’s line it gets in your propeller. You have to cut the line and hopefully, if you can, tie it back on to the bouy and drive off carefully. Once your done hauling you put the lobster in a crate. Take them up to Stonigton and sell them and your done for the day.

Outer Island Student Council

This is the first time in history that the islands have put together a student council. On October 6th, 2011 every island got together through video conferencing units. Mostly only older students (like me) were there and got to decide what to run for. Most of us who have been on the island our whole lives have never had the experience see or run student council. Some of us are now working on campaigns, while others are wondering who to vote for. We have worked out an electoral voting system so even the less populated islands get an equal vote. There are only a few positions you have to run which are: President, Vice President, Secretary, Treasurer, and the idea of having a secret service has also been given. We will see who will race to the finish of this election later on next week! Stay tuned on facebook or keep checking the blog for more posts!

Awesome IIE

Inter Island Event is a day when all the island kids get together to play games and do workshops. Last inter island event was on Matinicus and it was awesome! Capture the flag was probably the best part. Because it is active game so you can get all your energy out. After capture the flag I went to a drumming workshop. That was really fun because I learned new things and I made up music tunes on the drum buckets.

The variety show was awesome even though I was not in it. My brother did a awesome dance which was surprising because he is usually shy when preforming. The middle school day was so fun. It was fun because we talked about the school year and what we will do. The goodbyes were not fun because I didn't want my friends to go but I see them in three weeks now!

Kinder-Communication!

In the past year, our TLC project has mainly focused on getting our older students working together using technology. It seemed logical at the time to have the older students using the technology since they are so use to it in their daily lives as is... but this year we realized that it was time to bring in the younger students into the project as well!

This little ones are pretty tech-savy! We have been using skype and the video conferencing systems to have the kindergartners take part in some virtual sharing (questions, songs, poems, and stories!) I think it is working in terms of getting them excited to work with other island kids since anytime I get my computer out my kindergartner jumps up onto the chair and asks "Who are we calling on the computer today!?"

See for yourself... they are so stinking cute!!

Inter Island Event (IIE) 2011

Once a year five islands plus a new one travel to one island to enjoy a day of field games. This year for the first time ever we all went to Matinicus. Each year a different island host the IIE.

All the islands got to Matinicus at about noonish. Monhegan and Cliff islands were the late ones to the party. We all got our tents ready and immediately circled up for announcements. Before we could go and participate in our activities we signed up for, everyone did a group activity. Apparently we were discovering different parts of the world in three groups. Really it was a three teamed game of sardines. The first team who found the hiding group would get a map and a name as a reward.

Group Sardines

After about half an hour of that we moved onto our activities. I forget what the other activities were, but I was excited for capture the flag. As middle schoolers we were big headed and decided we could do without adults. The teams were kids versus adults. Adults won once and kids won once. There were some arguments about the last game, but we all had fun either way.

We were refueled with snacks and moved to our last activity. I think the choices were drumming, castle making, and variety show prep. I was with the variety show prep because I had nothing planned. My friend and I quickly put together a dance to Dynamite by Taio Cruz. This was a fun activity because I got to find the dance in me, cheesy I know but thats what happened.

Dinner was delicious. It was a potluck, but the food was amazing. Between what the other islands brought and the people living there cooked, it was an amazing meal. Dessert was good to although I'm not sure there has ever been a dessert that wasn't appealing.

Time for the big show! The variety show was great. All the acts were fun to watch and if you were preforming it was just as fun. Almost everyone had an act. I enjoyed doing my dance with a few friends. The last act was done and we all had been given awards fitting to our performance. I wonder how that happened? Sneaky teachers.

Bed time. The older kids were supposed to do some star gazing, but I don't know what happened to that. We all got into our respectful tents and went to sleep. . . well most of us did. My friend and I stayed up a little and caught up. A lot of us hadn't seen each other since last May.

Year Book Signing!

Breakfast was nice. We hopped into our activities right away. I think there was mural painting, hiking, and kickball which turned into another series of capture the flag. We were split into more even teams this time although we had less people this time. We had a great time slipping and sliding on the wet grass. I can't remember the scores or points, but we left laughing with each other.

Snacks are a priority at IIE. We all got a snack and started hanging around Matinicus's

playground. Inter Island Year Book got handed out and we were in a frenzy to get everyones

signature. After an hour or so we had to regroup into our circle for last announcements and

goodbyes.

The Jackie Renee

Sadly everything ends. We all walked down to the dock to say goodbye. All kids 5th grade

and down got onto the Sunbeam or the Jackie Renee to go back to there respected islands.

Wait, 5th grade and under only? Yes for the second time in history we had a middle school day.

I'll let someone else write about that. . .

Hi from the Monhegan School!

Greetings from the Monhegan School!

We are one of the schools that is apart of the Outer Islands TLC project and we have to say... WE LOVE THE TLC! Our school is only made up of three students: an eighth grader, a sixth grader, and a kindergartener! (We are lucky enough to have a school puppy as well!) But with so few kids the TLC project is really important to our school! It is so nice to have other island students and teachers to call our virtual classmates and real life friends! We are just CRAZY about this project!!!

We hope to use this blog to post all of the collaboration we do with the other schools and some fun stuff we do at our school as well.

We thought we would start by just showing you around our school a little! Enjoy...

Welcome to our blog!

Hi everyone! This blog follows the adventures of the outer islands schools as we start another fabulous year of collaborating, field-tripping, inter-island school visiting, and just generally having a pretty awesome time together.

A little history about us: we are a group of K-8 and K-5 one and two-room island schools who work together using technology and try to see each other as much as complicated island logistics allow. We use private wikis for our academic work like science projects and book groups, but we are starting a public blog to share more of the daily happenings and social events from our schools and communities. We might share weather reports, art projects, video clips, photos from field trips, Halloween costumes, school garden projects, or results from bingo nights. It's hard to say. You'll just have to keep coming back to see what we're up to!

For more information about our project, check out this multimedia introduction below. Click on the play button to start the presentation, and use the arrow keys on your keypad to move through it.