Wednesday, April 6, 2011

1st and 2nd Grade - Today, we finished up the card game with Max the Magician and Jordan the Judge. Students were to use good factual criteria as they selected a card to match the rest of the stack. Serendipity was the guide for the Discovery lesson today. Serendipity is a discovery by accident. Just as the Gold Rush was begun by accident, hundreds of other products were discovered by accident. Students researched different products many of which came about through Serendipity. 3rd Grade - Spurious was the word of the day. Spurious means false, counterfeit. The pilgrim of the day was Henry Ford. While many are under the impression that Mr. Ford invented the car, there were 50 companies producing automobiles when Henry Ford started the Ford Motor Company. Mr. Ford thought that the people building the car should be able to afford to own one. In order to build them for less, Henry Ford invented the assembly line. The first Model T off the assembly line sold for $850. Seven years later, Ford vehicles were selling for $290. Plexer Puzzles were the warm-up activity of the day. Plexers are common words or phrases put into picture form. Students use visual thinking skills to solve the problems. Our trip to Crystal Pond Woods focused once again on Evaluative Thinking with students continuing the development of criteria to solve problems. Students were given thirty minutes of free time. By using the Problem Solving Matrix and using their criteria, students spent their free time creating games. The Discoveries lesson had students focused on the fact that discoveries may impact the behavior of people and influence history. Just as the Gold Rush brought an influx of people into California, the discovery of dinosaur bones created a frenzy among scientists and they rushed to the west coast of England. Next week, we will research some well known dinosaur hunters. 4th Grade - Shoddy was the word of the day. Shoddy means of poor quality or make; dishonest and sounds like Body. Jackie Joyner-Kersee was the Pilgrim of Exploration. When she was born, her grandmother insisted that she be named Jackie after Jacqueline Kennedy (then First Lady), because grandma knew she would be first lady of something. By overcoming asthma, and with hard work and determination, Jackie Joyner-Kersee won several Olympic gold medals for the heptathlon. The warm up activity of the day was a Plexer Puzzle. Plexers are common words or phrases put into picture form. Students have to use visual clues in order to determine the puzzle answer. The affective lesson had us focusing on the fact that successful people exhibit the traits of creativity, goal setting, intelligence, courage and kindness. Today we focused on kindness. After dissecting the Pledge to the American Flag, students wrote pledges they could keep to those around them. The Exploration lesson had us studying the point that explorations of new frontiers may impact advancements in other fields of study. With the recent earthquakes in Japan, we will be studying the earth's tectonic plates over the next couple of weeks. Finally, the CSI team provided students with another clue for helping find their families.