Brightest Classroom: Mrs. Teresa Cornett's Class
By: KNWA News
Updated: December 3, 2012
Meet this week's Brightest Classroom award winners: Mrs. Teresa Cornett's 4th grade class at Vandergriff Elementary!
Dan Skoff presented a check and gift card from GE to the class on Monday morning. Mrs. Cornett wrote an essay as part of contest entry, explaining what the students would do with the award:
"I would use the $500 to purchase science materials for my students to use in real-time experiments. Studies show students learn more and are more engaged when the work they are doing is relevant and meaningful. I have several real-time projects in mind: First, I would like for them to estimate how much electricity we're using in our own room per day. Then, we could unplug all power strips and cords at the end of each day to stop using "vampire electricity," the minute amount of electricity that is still running through the lines and adds up in big ways because of the number of things we keep plugged in at all times. Students would use calculators, graph paper and netbooks or IPADs to gather the data and display it for presentations. We have some of these items, but we could use extra funds to supplement our supplies so more kids could get more frequent hands-on time. Another project would be to purchase some plants on which to conduct experiments and observe growth. We could give each plant different types of food or other stimulation and measure and record data, again, working to present it in a professional manner using technology resources. My students love nature! We are fortunate to have a beautiful wooded area just outside our door, and we could use funds to add some bird feeders and bat houses to the trees to give us even more opportunities to observe the ecosystem just outside our windows."
Learn more about Brightest Classroom.
Dan Skoff presented a check and gift card from GE to the class on Monday morning. Mrs. Cornett wrote an essay as part of contest entry, explaining what the students would do with the award:
"I would use the $500 to purchase science materials for my students to use in real-time experiments. Studies show students learn more and are more engaged when the work they are doing is relevant and meaningful. I have several real-time projects in mind: First, I would like for them to estimate how much electricity we're using in our own room per day. Then, we could unplug all power strips and cords at the end of each day to stop using "vampire electricity," the minute amount of electricity that is still running through the lines and adds up in big ways because of the number of things we keep plugged in at all times. Students would use calculators, graph paper and netbooks or IPADs to gather the data and display it for presentations. We have some of these items, but we could use extra funds to supplement our supplies so more kids could get more frequent hands-on time. Another project would be to purchase some plants on which to conduct experiments and observe growth. We could give each plant different types of food or other stimulation and measure and record data, again, working to present it in a professional manner using technology resources. My students love nature! We are fortunate to have a beautiful wooded area just outside our door, and we could use funds to add some bird feeders and bat houses to the trees to give us even more opportunities to observe the ecosystem just outside our windows."
Learn more about Brightest Classroom.
