Tuesday, March 29, 2011

1st and 2nd Grade - The word of the day was Demeanor. Demeanor means some one's behavior toward others. Our pilgrim of the day was Frank Thompson. Actually, it was Sarah Emma Edmonds. Sarah was mistreated by her father so she ran away from home. When the Civil War began, she wanted to fight. She disguised herself as a boy and joined the army. Being good at disguises, she volunteered to be a spy making 11 trips into southern territory. Her career as a spy came to an end when she became ill and couldn't risk going to an Army hospital. Our warm-up activity was Stories with Holes. This activity is similar to 20 Questions, except instead of looking at an object, students are given a short problem and have to decipher the situation. These students did so well today, we were able to work 2 problems. The affective lesson had students focused on the understanding that no one is perfect. After watching a video based on the book Leo the Later Bloomer by Robert Kraus, students discussed things they didn't used to be able to do and things they can do now. We started our trip to Crystal Pond Woods with Jordan the Judge, but will have to wait until tomorrow to help the students at Crystal Pond Woods School solve their problem.

5th Grade - The word of the day was Retrieve. Retrieve means to recover; to find and bring back; to get back and sounds like Retriever. The pilgrim of the day was Elijah McCoy. Mr. McCoy worked hard to become a fully qualified engineer. Unfortunately, due to his skin color, the only job he was able to get was as an oilman and fireman for the railroad. While working for the railroad, Mr. McCoy developed an oil can with a tube that would allow machines to be oiled without stopping them. This is how we got the term "the real McCoy." Our warm-up activity was Stories with Holes. This activity is similar to 20 Questions, except instead of looking at an object, students are given a short problem and have to decipher the situation. These students were able to figure out the problem with only a few questions. The affective lesson had students focusing on things that are important to them and why. The afternoon was spent researching the information for the SOS project clue #2.