Firday, March 25, 2011

4th Grade - The word of the day was Swelter. Swelter means oppressed by heat and sounds like sweater. Today's pilgrim was Thomas Jefferson. President Jefferson loved learning. In fact, it wasn't unusual for him to spend up to 15 hours a day studying. His most famous work was the Declaration of Independence. The warm-up activity of the day was 20 questions. No one from this group has figured out what the object is yet. Our affective thinking lesson had students focusing on the understanding that successful people are task committed. Students were given Styrofoam peanuts, toothpicks, five minutes and a positive or negative motivator. When the time limit was reached, students discussed positive vs. negative motivators and intrinsic vs. extrinsic motivators. Students spent time researching the first clue they received from the CSI team. These clues will help lead them to the rescue of their missing family. The final activity of the day focused on the understanding the exploring societal issues may promote solutions to these problems. Today students put veins and arteries into a body outline. Next week, we will discuss the effects of circulatory damage and how to prevent such occurrences.

5th Grade - The word of the day was Underdog. Underdog means a loser or predicted loser in a struggle or contest and sounds like under dog.The pilgrim of exploration was John Walker. While trying to discover a more effective explosive, he accidentally invented match sticks. 75 years later, a Philadelphia lawyer by the name of Joshua Pusey invented match books. These students also played 20 questions. They used more than 20 questions, but were able to identify the item. The affective lesson had students focusing on what difficult choices they may have to make in the future. By discussing those situations now, it is hoped the students will be able to make better choices in the future. The SOS/Journey lesson had students researching information that came from the CSI unit. These students were able to reduce the number of places they will have to search in order to find their lost families. The Exploration lesson had students once again focusing on parts of the body. In order to help us better understand what is happening inside our bodies, students traced a fellow group member. Veins and arteries (blue and red yarn) were added to the outline. Next week, we will discuss the effects of damage to those parts.