Thursday, December 16, 2010

3rd Grade - The word of the day was Ligature. Ligature means bonds used to tie or bind. The pilgrim of the day was Whoppi Goldberg. Whoppi dropped out of school in the 9th grade, then got involved in drugs. She realized that she was going down the wrong path and checked into a rehab center. Whoppi then decided she wanted to act and did odd jobs to support herself. One of her jobs was a make-up artist for a funeral home. A producer finally noticed her. She now is a spokesperson for the war on drugs. During the trip to Crystal Pond Woods, students were given an opportunity to use their divergent thinking skills in order to solve a problem. They were given three sheets of construction paper and approximately 36 inches of tape. Students were to build a structure that would hold a set of encyclopedias. These students were only able to come up with structures that could hold one encyclopedia. Therefore, their homework over the break is to think of some more ideas and bring them back to school with them. Students then listened to the rest of Abel's Island and watched the video of the book. When we return from Winter Break, we will do one final activity surrounding that book.

5th Grade - The word of the day was Zigzag. Zigzag means a series of turns in different directions that nevertheless proceed in a general direction and sounds like Tag. The pilgrims of the day were the Smith Brothers. One day a peddler walked into James Smith's restaurant and ordered a meal. When it came time to pay for the meal, he offered James Smith the recipe for a cough candy. James took the recipe and paid the man $5. James Smith made up the candy, put it into envelopes and had his two sons, William and Andrew, sell it door to door. The candy was a success. This group also did the Plexers for the warm-up activity. The affective lesson focused on childhood rules, sharing and telling the truth. We then finished considering water density. Students spent time gathering information for the ExploraVision project before heading back to their classes for the holiday celebrations.