Laura Rayburn
Contact Information: laura.rayburn@k12.wv.us
Bio
Laura Rayburn is one of the gifted teachers at Cheat Lake Elementary. This is her third year of teaching in the Monongalia County school system. Ms. Rayburn also has a degree in Creative Writing and in K-6 General Education. Outside of school, she enjoys reading and writing, baking, art and crafts, nature, and spending time with her son and their animals.
TAG Lesson - Build-a-Bird
Students learned about different types of bird beaks, wings, and feet and how these can be different based on the bird's diet and environment. They then created their own birds, choosing and explaining their bird's adaptations and showing the bird through their choice of medium.
Tag Lesson - Capillary Action
The third grade TAG students did a series of experiments that all rely on capillary action. They set up six cups, with three empty cups alternating with three cups of water colored red, yellow, and blue. With paper towels, they used capillary action to move water between cups and create orange, green, and blue water in the originally empty cups.
They also observed the lines of color created in paper towels that were used as examples of capillary action. Based on that, they did a two-part science experiment to test what variables would affect how the lines of color, or saturation lines, were created.
Tag Lesson - Greek and Moon Myths
Younger students learned stories from around the world, all about what different cultures see in the moon. Then they wrote their own moon myths based on what they saw in the moon.
Older students learned about and read Greek myths. Then they either rewrote a myth of their choice or created a business based on a person or creature from Greek mythology.