Can you keep a secret?

Something really strange started happening around The Hirsch Academy in December.
It seems that an animal is in trouble.
What kind of animal?
We don't know.
What kind of trouble?
We don't know.
Here's what we do know:
Agent O, a secret agent as yet unseen, has contacted the students in our class. He needs our help. We have got to uncover this mystery and help this animal. But how?

Ok, let me go back to the beginning:

Some of you have met the wonderful Julie Siler (Agent J, to us), our speech therapist. She is the mastermind behind this amazing language experience activity. She was originally contacted by the elusive Agent O and asked to enlist our students to help solve this mystery. Armed with spy names (Agent Bliveo aka Lightning, Agent A, Nightbird, Agent C, Agent Lightning Buck, Agent Pau, Agent Tari the Spy), badges, and our brilliant, deductive brains, we have been collecting pieces of the puzzle for the past three weeks. Yes, literally, a puzzle. Here's what we have so far:

Let's go back to a Wednesday afternoon, three weeks ago.
It was the strangest thing, I tell ya. The kids were out at recess, I was on my lunch break. I went downstairs to make some copies, turning off the lights and shutting the door as I left. Upon my return, not only were the lights turned back on, but the door was wide open. And so was our class mailbox, which contained letters for all seven of our secret agents! Letters from... the mysterious Agent O.

The letter:

Urgent: There are animals in danger, animals that need your help. You must locate the first puzzle piece by noon on Thursday, December 6th Julie Siler will report to your headquarters on Thursday at 10:15 with instructions. 12 puzzle pieces must be located at the Hirsch Academy to help the animal in danger. Work together.

 Secret Agents must:
1. Have Power and Control
2. follow directions
3.pay attention

Sure enough, at precisely 10:15 Thursday morning, Agent J arrived to lead us on our first clue hunt. Here are some shots (taken from a hidden spy cam, natch):

Nightbird reads a clue.

Agent A doesn't joke around when it comes to dressing the part.

Secret agents have to play it cool. Here we are trying to act casual, you know, like regular students. Nothing to see here, folks!

Agent Lightning Buck tries to "act casual" around Russ Carnes (Shelley's husband). Could he be working for Agent O?

Agent Pau bravely sips mystery juice to reveal a clue.

Agent Lightning Buck finds a clue in the star room!

Agent Tari the Spy displays the first piece of the puzzle.

The next week, it got even more mysterious!

Week two:

"Check your backpacks"

Wednesday morning the agents arrived from swimming to find two cryptic messages in the mailbox. A blank strip of paper with the words "Secret Message" at the top. Attached to the strip was a note,

"How to decode secret messages
Look at the computer"

Sure enough, there was a video loaded on the computer:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TSPH2CDzfG8
Invisible ink!!!
We went outside and held the paper over a flame for several minutes. Slowly, s-l-o-w-l-y...a message was revealed!
"CHECK YOUR BACKPACKS"!!
With power and control, the agents quietly slipped upstairs to find that the wily Agent O had somehow slipped a note into each backpack! Once again, he informed us that an animal was in trouble, and that we would have the chance to find two more clues on Thursday, with the help of Agent J.

This time, we split up into two groups. Unfortunately, a couple of agents were absent that morning, but the teams were able to forge on without them!

Group 1: Agents Tari the Spy and Nightbird:

Tari and Nightbird find a clue!

Hmmm...where can we find pictures of teachers?

We found a clue behind the teacher picture board!

Agent Tari reads the clue

There's a clue hidden somewhere...

Another piece!

 Group 2: Agent A, Agent Pau, Agent, Lightning Buck

An early clue

Hmm, this says the next clue will be found in the boy's bathroom by the tallest student. That's you, Agent Pau!

Sorry, Agent A...

...but you did get to find the piece!

This past week, Agent O didn't contact us until Thursday morning. He's been pretty tied up with the holiday shopping, I suppose.

Group 1:Agent Lightning Buck, Agent Tari, Agent Pau

Clue #1

Hmm, the next clue will be under a toy that looks like this?

Here it is!

There's something under here...

This puzzle will point to the next piece of the puzzle...

Aha!

Group 2: Agent A, Agent Tari, Agent C, Agent Bliveo

A baffling first clue.

What is this? A cross. Take away a letter to reveal the name of the person who has the second clue...Ross!

Agent C finds a jack-in-the-box clue.

One of these keys will open the next clue...

This symbol and the word "Sienna" is on the key!

We found it!

What you don't see in these pictures is the incredible amount of language work that Julie has integrated into each clue. It's pretty impressive.Stay tuned for further adventures of our secret agents. Julie, I mean Agent J, has a lot more cool language experience clues to throw our way before the mystery is solved!


A big, big, BIG thank you to all of you wonderful parents for the wonderful holiday gifts! Whether tomorrow finds you opening presents under the tree, chowing down on some Chinese food, or airing your grievances in the spirit of Festivus (for the rest of us), we hope you have a wonderful, restful winter break. We will see you all in 2013!!!

I was working for Atlanta Public Schools when there was a shooting at the courthouse. The fugitive, Brian Nichols, had escaped and was armed. My school, less than a mile from downtown, went into hard lock down.  Inside the school we had no idea what was happening, but we knew what the announcement "Mr. Green, please report to the office" meant. We had been trained for this moment, though we never expected to live it. Blinds were pulled, doors were locked.  I remember my heart pounding as my assistant and I tried to maintain normalcy for the 12 students in our room. At the time, we had 8 students ranging from the ages of five to seven. We read some books, played with blocks, ate a snack, sang some songs. The lock down was over by dismissal time, though Nichols wasn't apprehended until much later. Sadly, 3 people lost their lives that day. I'm sure some of the older classes were aware that something was amiss. The students in our room, however, were unaware of anything happening outside the safe cocoon of the classroom.


 "Our job is to keep you safe."
Erin, Roxy and I say that so often, it's become our mantra.
"Why can't I lean back in my chair?"
"Because it is our job to keep you safe."
"Why did  he have to go to the engine room after he threw the book?"
"Because it is our job to keep you safe."
"Why can't I run around the class while I eat my lunch?"
"Because it is our job to keep you safe."
"Why are you always telling me I can't do that???"
"Because it is our job to keep you safe."

 Every child deserves to feel safe at school.

  I have shed tears for the children who lost their lives on Friday, many of whom share the same birth year as my own sweet little girl. I can't even begin to imagine the pain in the hearts of their parents.

 I also grieve for the surviving teachers and students. Their sense of security has been brutally stripped away from them. I hope they can find a way to feel safe again.

Sorry to be such a downer, folks, but all other words fail me.  I'm sure I speak for Erin, Roxy, and each and every person who works with our wonderful students at Hirsch: We love your kids, we value your kids, and our top priority is to make sure that no matter what kind of ugliness goes on outside the walls of the school, they feel safe inside.  

A Week in Fractions:

Monday: 6/7 students present.

Tuesday: 6/7 students present.

Wednesday: 5/7 students present   

Thursday: 6/7 students present

Only a fraction of students filled the room this week, as several were out with the nasty creeping ick (which has already knocked 3/4 of the Hirsch faculty and staff on our behinds). Stay healthy, folks; this virus is no fun. 

 

 9/9 pizzas baked to poison the Pizza Monster:

Bo, Tani and Paul combined fractions, measurement and cooperative play to defeat the nefarious Pizza Monster.

Here's the story:

The Pizza Monster is invading the cities of Atlanta and Decatur to devour all of our delicious pizzas. It is up to the fearless trio to defend the city from total devastation by defeating this hungry creature. How? 
Our heroes decided that they would poison their evil foe (with poisonous pizza, of course).
First, given only pieces of the fraction puzzle (halves, thirds, fourths and eighths), each child assembled 3 whole pizzas. Then, they were told to build an oven big enough to bake all 9 pizzas at once. Above you see the box they chose as the oven. After adding three pizzas to the oven, they realized that--oh no!--the oven is not big enough to hold all 9 full pizzas!  Due to some quick and creative thinking, they figured out how to extend the oven with bricks to fit all pizzas. Phew, just in time! Now, sprinkle a little poison on top...quickly, though, because here comes that nasty, slice stealing monster!!! One by one, the monster stole the slices, completely mixing up the pieces. Not to worry, though, because in the end, the Pizza Monster was destroyed and all of the stolen pieces were put back together to form 9 whole pizzas!

6/7 completed Fraction Books:
Below are some of the questions posed. We asked the kids to illustrate and match the sentence to a fraction card. Look for these books to come home next week.

Jakob had a red lollipop. Oliver, Erin, Paul, Annabella, and Tani had yellow lollipops.

Which fraction shows how many red lollipops?

Which fraction shows the number of boys in the class?
Which fraction shows the number of girls in the class?

Bo and Annabella had a pullout with Sarah A. The other students played a game.

Which fraction shows how many children had a pullout?

 Which fraction shows how many students played a game?

5/7 artists make cool paper plate pizzas:

The "sauce" is glue mixed with red food coloring

 

 Friday: HOORAY! 7/7 students here! AND we're gonna bake pizza! 

What could go wrong? Surely everyone will want to make pizza, right?

Wrong. It was a bit of a tough morning. Perhaps we were feeling a little off about not having a full class all week. Perhaps some of us hadn't fully recovered from being sick. Whatever it was, it was not the right morning to make pizza. But, the ingredients were fresh, and I figured my enthusiasm over pizza baking would catch on. 

Wrong, again. 

Fortunately, a couple of students stepped up and helped make the dough. Another students thought it looked pretty fun and ended up helping make a second batch. 

Waiting, waiting, waiting for the dough to rise

 

3/7 help make the dough. 3/7 are not interested, 1/7 is using a tortilla from home as the crust.

By the time the dough had risen, the rest of the gang was feeling up to the pizza making task. Well, almost all of the rest of the gang.

 

6/7 make their own delicious personal pizza. 1/7 decides that pizza making is not for him, and sticks to his lunch from home.

Happily, after a morning of blood, sweat and tears (subtract the blood and add one minor burn on my hand. Oven mitts: Apparently they serve a purpose.) 6/6 thoroughly enjoyed every bite of their pizza. 

A bit of a rocky week, but as always 100% learning and fun.

 Though I'm not gonna lie...3/4 of a bottle of wine was consumed Friday night between the hours of 8 and 10. OK, it was 4/4. But who's counting?