Monday, September 30, was a special day at Marietta Primary. Teachers and students
celebrated Get Your Teach On, the educational movement energizing the K-12 teaching
community, by hosting the sixth annual Rock Your School.
Educators from around the world, including those at Marietta Primary, participated by
creating an outside-the-box educational experience designed to engage their students
and bring learning to life in their classrooms. Participants in Rock Your School can try
something new in their curriculum or challenge themselves and their students in new
ways knowing they are not alone; they are joining a community of teachers world-wide
who are all challenging themselves to find new ways to engage their students.
Marietta Primary School teachers surprised students in Pre-K through Second Grade
with themed decorations in the hallway and a day full of fun and engaging learning
using an exciting SPACE theme. Teachers created fun and meaningful lessons all about
space.
For instance, Mrs. Blevins’s Pre-K classroom practiced counting with a hopscotch
rocket, while Mrs. Stein’s first grade class played moon rock bowling subtraction.
Students started with 10 bowling pins and saw how many they could knock down. Then
they created a mathematical equation to show how many pins had been knocked down
and how many were left.
Mrs. Presley’s first grade class had a science activity where they visualized the phases
of the moon using Oreo cookies, and Mrs. Burchfield’s second grade class made edible
moon rocks. Mrs. Brown’s second grade class learned about astronauts and simulated
traveling in a rocket ship.
And perhaps the most fun activity of all, an alien invasion that looked suspiciously like
Principal Ann Rutledge appeared on the roof of the primary school and students
participated in an alien dance party.
The day ended with a mini-concert by the high school band.
“We definitely rocked our school,” said Rutledge, “but even better, it was a day of
learning, and our kids had fun doing it!”