This month, Dr. Green started an afterschool robotics club. We will be meeting twice a week to experiment with different types of robots and get them to accompish different tasks. There are teams of four students that will be working together and learning how to build and program their robots. Our goal will be to enter AND win a competition on December 12th. That's a lot to get done in only SIX WEEKS! There are two main categories for the competition. They are Invention and Arena.

The Invention category is what it sounds like: A team of students will have to invent a robot that can accomplish some sort of human task. They will need to build and program the robot. A display board needs to be put together as well as a pamphlet to advertise and sell their invention. Their presentation will be judged and scored by others during the competition.

In the Arena category, the team of students will build and program a robot that can complete an obstical course. There will be points awarded for programming the robot to complete specific tasks. They will have only three minutes to get as many points as possible. The team will be competeing against another team in head-to-head fashion on a large game board. The team with the most points after the three minute time limit wins the competition.

We have a lot of work ahead of us in the coming weeks. I hope to be able to keep everybody up to date on our team's progress. If we can get everything put together by December, we have a good chance of winning. The state competition will take place in May. We hope to be there!

If you are interested in learning more about this robotics competition, you can learn about them on these websites:

• To learn about the LEGO kits we will be using to build and program into robots, go the the Mindstorm NTX website.


• To get info on the competition from Texas Computer Education Association, go to the TCEA contest website.


• You can get the rules and regulations for the Invention competition, find them on this TCEA website.


• The Arena rules and regulations can be found here.

We now have a new group of fifth grade students that are ready and eager to start sharing their learning with the world. Expect to see post from everyone in the nex couple of weeks. Check back ofter to see what our students are experiencing in the classroom.

Those of you who are continuing to blog from beyond our Dr. Green walls, you have been moved to Green Alumni. I really appreciate your efforts to continue blogging. Our new fifth graders can learn lots about blogging from all of you. It would be great if all of you could give a visit to the new students pages and give them help and advice.

I've been back at work for a couple of days now. I'm trying to get into school mode before the students show up. It hasn't been easy to get up so early in the morning. Dr. Green's open house will be this Friday. I look forward to meeting all the new students and their parents. I hope that everyone's first day back to school next Monday is great! I have been happy to see many of you continuing to blog over the summer. I have enjoyed hearing about your great summer experiences - and some of your sad ones too (sorry to hear about your bunny, MC).

Unfortunately, it's time for me to move your blogs to the Alumni section. I plan on transferring your blogs over by the beginning of next week. All of you will be able to continue sharing your thoughts and experiences, just from a different location. I will only be transferring the students that have been blogging through the summer. All other accounts will be canceled.

If anyone knows of a student who wants to keep their blog but hasn't been using it through the summer, spread the word and have them contact me at Dr. Green. This applies to all alumni from Dr. Green! If any former students want to restart their blog account, simply send me an email with your El Paso I.S.D. student ID number and I will set up a new account for them. You can also send me any questions you might have about blogging. My email is: hjseufer@episd.org

I look forward to hearing about all your new experiences from middle school. Keep blogging!

I took a trip to visit my family up in Missouri earlier this month. We were only there over the weekend, but we squeezed in lots of fun activities. The first day there, we went to see a professional baseball game. It was the first time we had gone to one as a family. It was lots of fun - and our team WON! Later that night we shot fireworks off at a cousins house. There were a couple of close calls, but no one got hurt.

The next day, we got up early and headed to the Omaha Zoo. I am not a big fan of viewing animals in captivity, but this zoo was fantastic. They had a great aquarium. There was one section where you walk through a tunnel and all the fish are swimming around you! Really cool. I wish we could take a school field trip to something like this. We spent the entire day there and still didn't get to see all the animals. Later that night we went to my brothers house where they had a party set up for my birthday. I had a great time talking to all my relatives, having some cake and ice cream, and playing some sports.

The last day in town, we visited the Remington Nature Center on the Missouri River. There were some great informative exhibits there. Later that afternoon, it was time to head home. Really, the only bad part about the trip was the 16 hour drive in the car. I made a short little video (using Google Picasa) to share some of our fun experiences.

Sunner Trip 2009 from Mr. Seufert on Vimeo.

http://tformers.net/i/a/movies/transformers-revenge-of-the-fallen-poster.jpg" alt="transformers 2" />I am really excited to see so many of you blogging over the summer. I have really enjoyed reading about what you have all been up to lately. I will make it a point to leave some comments soon. I have been working summer school, so I have not had a lot of free time thus far. The good news is that summer school is over by 1:00, so have at least half the day to relax at home. I also get Friday's off, so I have seen a couple of movies. Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen was great! Any other suggestion?

My biggest accomplishment so far this summer is beating the new Ghostbusters game over the weekend. At times, it was rather frustrating, but it kept me interested. I had a lot of fun playing through the different levels and challenges. It was written as if it was the third movie - taking place a couple of years after Ghostbusters II. Thanks to JO for giving me the Blockbuster gift card that I used to rent it! Can anyone suggest some other games?

I will be headed to Missouri to visit my Dad on Thursday. I will let you guys know how the trip went when I get back. Keep Blogging!

We just couldn't get enough technology this year. Our class was working on projects up until the last day of school! I hope everyone enjoys our finished products.

First, the students created a podcast of the lasting memories of elementary school and what they are looking forward to in middle school. Maybe you could share some stories as well!

They also researched a university or college of their choice. Most students were unaware of the cost and requirements to get into universities. Maybe you will learn something as well. Look at what they found out and let them know what you think!

I put a bunch of pictures that had been taken throughout the year into a short little video. A good way to reflect on everything that you learned and experienced this school year. Let me know what you think?

http://www.bestwebdesigners.com.au/images/australian_flag.jpg" alt="" />Our student teacher, Miss Stanley, has taken a trip to Australia. She sent us an email recently. This is what she had to say:

 Hey everyone, it's us (Amy and Laura) just letting you know that we are fine and having an incredible time here in Tasmania. We got to see the opera house and tour a little bit of Sydney the first day. It's a beautiful city with a breath taking harbor. We even got to take a ferry. We are now in Tasmania and have gone to two different schools. The dramas have been powerful and the people here have been very kind and warm hearted towards us. Sorry we haven't been able to write sooner, it's a lot harder to find an Internet connection here than we thought. It turns out Tasmania is much more of a rural state full of small, beautiful towns. Ones that remind many of us of Aztec. Except it's much more extravagant in scenery; "Colorado meets the ocean," as Amy puts it. We have been savoring the luscious tim tams (chocolate cookies) with tea and dreaded the yucky Vegemite bread spread. Our team is bonding very well; time we spend together is full of laughter and good times. Anyways we love you all very much and miss you all. We probably won't be able to send out another e-mail until we are out of Tasmania, since the internet connection is so scarce out here. Sorry this is so short, but other people are waiting to use the internet! Cheers!

Love Always,

Laura & Amy

 Sounds like they are having a great time. I need to start planning my trip to Australia!

Our class just finished projects on different animals and the adaptations that allow them to live within their biomes. Some students used PhotoStory, while other used VoiceThread to share what they learned. They would all love to hear what you think of their work.

Some of our students have created short movies expressing how the TAKS test makes them feel. The TAKS test is a state test given in Texas. Students must pass the Reading and Math portions of the test to be promoted to sixth grade. It is very stressful for our studnts. They were asked to try and put this emtion into a short movie. They used PhotoStory to create their movies - this was their first time using this program. Let them know what you think!

I have also included my own "inspirational" version of a TAKS PhotoStory. You can view it and let me know what you think.

TAKS Motivation from Mr. Seufert on Vimeo.