We met four friends who were utilizing a video conferencing tool on their computers to meet up at the end of summer. Together, they share their excitement and anticipation for the start of a new school year and to discuss a mysterious new addition to the staff.
Four friends come to school on the first day to see who is in their class
and finally be introduced to their new teacher.
We last saw our four friends being introduced to their new teacher in the gymnasium. They also found out who was, in fact, in their class. As they all followed their new teacher, Mr. Brisbane, to their classroom, there were many rumors floating through the line about Mr. Brisbane's past.
Who is this mysterious new teacher?
The students head into their new classroom with their new teacher as he shares directions in a very unique way. In order to get their teacher to talk, they will need to follow a series of clues.
The students were worked on solving the clues that their new 4th grade teacher, Mr. Brisbane had given them in multiple different formats. They were presented with pictures, audio directions from the computer, clues on a class website and search engines for research. In order to get Mr. Brisbane to talk they have to solve his puzzle.
The four friends organized their efforts by dividing up the clues to research and creating a shared word processing doc to keep themselves in sync. The whole class worked in their somewhat chosen pods in order to breakdown the visuals and audio clues given. They also worked to create unique and individualized name tags.
The four friends organized their efforts and solved Mr. Brisbane's riddle, and due to their resourcefulness on the internet, he dubbed them "The Cloud". Check out the class website at bit.ly/brisbanegrade4 and http://www.nightlightstories.net for a link to be part of the class!
The Cloud decided their nicknames and learned about the school's upcoming science fair. Mr. Brisbane incentivized entering the science fair by giving no homework while the students prepared their projects! The class clusters were all abuzz about options for the projects they could do.
The Cloud discussed how they would divide the work for the science fair among themselves, and also thou
ght up ideas to help Jamie make a swift recovery.
Val and Garrett went to turn in attendance in the office, when they found the principal, Mr. Wolff, was feeling sick. Mr. Wolff tasked them both with drafting health rules for the school, and ended with him and Jamie going home sick.
The Cloud found extra resource links, pictures and videos in the digital folders for their science project. They began to hypothesize who could have access to their folders. They made a plan to quietly ask around the classroom to figure out if someone was trying to help their chances of winning.
Val questioned Melvin, hoping to find out who was putting the extra files in their project. The Cloud came to the assumption that Mr. Brisbane was helping them.
Garrett and Todd gave their health recommendations to a very distracted Mrs. Young. Their suggestions were easy to accomplish, but her distraction left them wondering if they would even see them implemented by the end of the year.
The Cloud enlisted the class' help in gathering ladybugs from around the classroom and school. They wanted to conduct an experiment where Todd would breathe in the air from the ladybug container to see if that what was making the school sick. They came to the conclusion that the ladybugs did not cause everyone to get sick, and the experiment was successful.
The Cloud came up with a plan to test their newest hypothesis that Mr. Brisbane
was the one making everyone sick in the school. However, they needed to find somewhere
other than the school to test this! The scientific method was in full effect!
The Cloud had Mr. Brisbane come to the library to help them with their science project so
they could test if he was the cause of the rampant illness in the school by having
other people in another environment around him. In the end, the foursome
found that a sort of sickness captured only one of the library volunteers,
but it was not what The Cloud expected.
The Cloud made a plan to investigate their hypothesis of Melvin making people sick. However, after getting the approval of Mr. Brisbane to clean the classroom, their plan went awry. The Cloud made a judgement error and ended up losing Mr. Brisbane's trust in the process.
The Cloud had a day off of school that they used to meet as a team to put their science fair project together. However, they found that their data had been tampered with and they would be forced to withdraw or get another project together in one day's time.
The Cloud worked diligently at their houses reviewing video and photo evidence to come up with a hypothesis as to what could be causing the school to get sick.
The Cloud walked around to check out all of the other groups projects, and prepared to present their project to all of the teachers, parents, and peers. They asked Mr. Brisbane if they could present last, having more time to prepare for the last minute change they had to make.
The Cloud prepared to present their new project. Mr. Ginsburg, the Technology Resource Teacher, had set up the event and reviewed the interactive voting system. Mrs. Young, the Assistant Principal, introduced each group to come to the center table to present their project to the audience. Melvin continued to make snide comments about the validity of The Cloud's data. Finally, The Cloud was called to the center of the gymnasium as the last group to present.
The Cloud presented their project, revealing moldy insulation which the field mice were carrying around the ventilation system, causing people to get sick.
The Cloud won the science fair! Mrs. Young started a club to have students help keep the school clean and healthy. Melvin was caught in his deceit of stealing passwords and had to present Internet safety to every classroom. The Cloud went out for milkshakes as a celebration and planned on how they could thank all of the staff who supported them in their research and product.
