Friday, October 31, 2014

4th Grade - Due to the music program practice this morning, class was canceled.

5th Grade - Due to the Fall Celebrations, this class met with the Thursday group this week.

Thursday, October 30, 2014

3rd Grade - All third grade classes met on Wednesday due to schedule changes this week.

5th Grade - Due to the Fall Parties tomorrow, the Friday afternoon Enrichment class join the Thursday group. Today's lessons started by learning that Diaphanous means translucent or transparent. They also learned that General Santa Anna (of The Alamo) assisted Thomas Adams in creating chewing gum. The affective lesson had students reflecting on themselves. During the Mystery Disease lesson, students had to write a letter to the editor of the Barrow County Sentinel explaining to the public what they knew about the problem, how they plan to stop the spread of the disease and how the public can protect themselves. The final activity was to introduce the ExploraVision project.

Wednesday, October 29, 2014

3rd Grade - Due to some schedule changes this week, all of the third grade Enrichment students came to class this morning. Students learned that Personality means a set of emotional qualities, ways of behaving, etc. that makes a person different from other people. The explorer for the day was Walt Disney who's cartoons were rejected by the Chicago Tribune. Students completed a Quotation Quizzler for the warm up activity. We are drawing to a close with the affective lessons for third grade so students evaluated where they currently stand with the five characteristics of successful people and set goals for where they hope to be by the end of this school year. The rest of the morning was spent trying to figure out manipulative versions of logic puzzles.

5th Grade - Today's lessons started by learning that Diaphanous means translucent or transparent. They also learned that General Santa Anna (of The Alamo) assisted Thomas Adams in creating chewing gum. The affective lesson had students reflecting on themselves. During the Mystery Disease lesson, students had to write a letter to the editor of the Barrow County Sentinel explaining to the public what they knew about the problem, how they plan to stop the spread of the disease and how the public can protect themselves. The final activity was to introduce the ExploraVision project.

Tuesday, October 28, 2014

4th Grade - Changes to our regular schedule changed the Enrichment schedule for this week. Lessons started by learning that Excessive means something that goes beyond the usual limit. George Washington Carver, who found over 300 uses for the peanut, was today's explorer. Students completed a quotation Quizzler Puzzle for the warm up activity. Personal security systems such as personal space boundaries were the focus of today's affective lesson. For the Mystery Disease lesson, students had to write a letter to the editor explaining what we know so far about E.coli and who is responsible for the disease. Our final activity was to begin a series of lessons in space exploration.

Part of the space exploration lessons will be to have the students build a "robot" from recycled materials. Here are some more details:

Beginning October 27, the 4^th grade Enrichment students from Angie Debo and Washington Irving will be working together to build an alien. Each class will build a creature, write a description of what they have made, and then send the description to the other school. The other school will build the creature based on the directions given to them. By the end of January, the students will have completed the aliens and will share the pictures with the other classes. The goal is to have all of the aliens looking similar. We will be in need of a few materials. Please do not feel the need to go out and purchase any of these items just send what you have available.

Items needed:

3 oz paper cups

Cardboard tubes

Cereal boxes

Duct tape

Masking tape

Paper plates

Shoe boxes

If you could help us in any way, we would greatly appreciate it.

Monday, October 27, 2014

4th Grade - Changes to our regular schedule changed the Enrichment schedule for this week. Lessons started by learning that Excessive means something that goes beyond the usual limit. George Washington Carver, who found over 300 uses for the peanut, was today's explorer. Students completed a quotation Quizzler Puzzle for the warm up activity. Personal security systems such as personal space boundaries were the focus of today's affective lesson. For the Mystery Disease lesson, students had to write a letter to the editor explaining what we know so far about E.coli and who is responsible for the disease. Our final activity was to begin a series of lessons in space exploration.

Part of the space exploration lessons will be to have the students build a "robot" from recycled materials. Here are some more details:

Beginning October 27, the 4^th grade Enrichment students from Angie Debo and Washington Irving will be working together to build an alien. Each class will build a creature, write a description of what they have made, and then send the description to the other school. The other school will build the creature based on the directions given to them. By the end of January, the students will have completed the aliens and will share the pictures with the other classes. The goal is to have all of the aliens looking similar. We will be in need of a few materials. Please do not feel the need to go out and purchase any of these items just send what you have available.

Items needed:

3 oz paper cups

Cardboard tubes

Cereal boxes

Duct tape

Masking tape

Paper plates

Shoe boxes

If you could help us in any way, we would greatly appreciate it.

2nd Grade - These students learned that Civilized means marked by well-organized laws and rules about how people behave with each other. Sylvia Earle, an under water explorer, was today's explorer. Students completed a Quotation Quizzler puzzle for the warm up activity. The affective lesson focused on goal setting. In Crystal Pond Woods, students played a card game that helped them develop their observation skills as they looked at attributes. We were able to finish watching the video Abel's Island and discuss a little bit about the story.

Friday, October 23, 2014

4th Grade - Today's lessons began by having the students learn that Benevolent means kind and caring. The explorer for the day was Jimmy Carter a former U.S. President and peacemaker. Students drew pictures for Loosen Up the warm up activity. Confidence and insecurity were the focus of today's affective lesson. Students learned that cultural borrowing means the transferring parts of one culture to another. We are still working to solve the situation with our fictitious village and E.coli.

5th Grade - Today, students learned that Sequester means to remove and hold in isolation. George Washington Carver, who developed more than 300 uses for the peanut, was today's explorer.. Students drew pictures for Loosen Up the warm up activity. Tolerance and empathy were the focus of today's affective lesson. Students learned that cultural borrowing means the transferring parts of one culture to another. We are still working to solve the situation with our fictitious village and E.coli.

Thursday, October 23, 2014

3rd Grade - Our learning today began with a new vocabulary word. Conclude means to stop or finish: to come to an end: to end in a particular way or with a particular action. Today's explorer, Tom Cruise, was a struggling reader as a child. Students completed drawings for Loosen Up which was the warm up activity for the day. The affective lesson reviewed all five characteristics of successful people. Students then thought about different famous people and wrote about how that particular person became so successful. In Crystal Pond Woods, students developed their own logic elimination puzzles that they shared with the other students. The discoveries lesson focused on what went wrong with Abel trying to get off the island he was stranded on due to the hurricane. Students then had to build their own watercraft from materials they were given that would hold the weight of a mouse and float on water.

5th Grade - Today, students learned that Sequester means to remove and hold in isolation. George Washington Carver, who developed more than 300 uses for the peanut, was today's explorer.. Students drew pictures for Loosen Up the warm up activity. Tolerance and empathy were the focus of today's affective lesson. Students learned that cultural borrowing means the transferring parts of one culture to another. We are still working to solve the situation with our fictitious village and E.coli.

Wednesday, October 22, 2014

3rd Grade - Our learning today began with a new vocabulary word. Conclude means to stop or finish: to come to an end: to end in a particular way or with a particular action. Today's explorer, Tom Cruise, was a struggling reader as a child. Students completed drawings for Loosen Up which was the warm up activity for the day. The affective lesson reviewed all five characteristics of successful people. Students then thought about different famous people and wrote about how that particular person became so successful. In Crystal Pond Woods, students developed their own logic elimination puzzles that they shared with the other students. The discoveries lesson focused on what went wrong with Abel trying to get off the island he was stranded on due to the hurricane. Students then had to build their own watercraft from materials they were given that would hold the weight of a mouse and float on water.

5th Grade - Today, students learned that Sequester means to remove and hold in isolation. George Washington Carver, who developed more than 300 uses for the peanut, was today's explorer.. Students drew pictures for Loosen Up the warm up activity. Tolerance and empathy were the focus of today's affective lesson. Students learned that cultural borrowing means the transferring parts of one culture to another. We are still working to solve the situation with our fictitious village and E.coli.

Tuesday, October 22, 2014

4th Grade - Today's lessons began by having the students learn that Benevolent means kind and caring. The explorer for the day was Jimmy Carter a former U.S. President and peacemaker. Students drew pictures for Loosen Up the warm up activity. Confidence and insecurity were the focus of today's affective lesson. Students learned that cultural borrowing means the transferring parts of one culture to another. We are still working to solve the situation with our fictitious village and E.coli.

Wednesday, October 15, 2014

3rd Grade - Today's lessons began by learning that Infer means to form (an opinion) from evidence: to reach (a conclusion) based on known facts.Cher, today's explorer, did not become an immediate success as a singer. Students discovered the eight mystery objects to the What in the World? puzzle for the warm up activity. Caring was the focus of today's affective lesson. In Crystal Pond Woods, students worked to complete the logic elimination puzzles that they have been struggling with the past few weeks. The final activity was to discover why people can not survive on salt water.

5th Grade - Today students learned that Sequester means to remove and hold in isolation. The Wright brothers, today's explorers, never went to high school but they were life long learners. These students also solved the What in the World puzzle for the warm up activity. Since Fall Break begins tomorrow, these students took a break from what we have been studying to learn a little bit about the Salem Witch Trials. The fifth grade students have been studying colonial America in their regular classrooms and this lesson provided a different perspective to the way of life during that time period.

Tuesday, October 14, 2014

4th Grade - In order to get everybody on the same page through Fall Break, all of the 4th grade groups had Enrichment today. They started class by learning that the word Loquacious means someone who talks too much. Three other words were added to the Fourth grade vocabulary list that we will be interacting with over the next several weeks: Potential means capable of being or becoming, Motivation means willingness of action, and Isolation means a feeling of being disliked or alone. Rachel Carson, an environmentalist who had the pesticide DDT removed from usage, was today's explorer. Students discovered the eight items to the What In the World? puzzle that was the warm up activity. The affective lesson focused on developing a thicker skin to deal with things that bug you. Students also learned that Marco Polo traveled through many different countries that were uncivilized as well as civilized. Time was spent searching for items that would determine if the culture of the United States was civilized. The final activity to to spend time looking through the interviews to determine the source of the E.Coli outbreak in our Mystery Disease simulation.

Monday, October 13, 2014

2nd Grade - Today was a great day to learn that Watercraft is a craft for water transport: ship, boat. We also learned that Thomas Jefferson, today's explorer and our third President, kept a couple of grizzly bears on the White House lawn. Students figured out the What in the World picture puzzle for the warm up activity. Last week in Crystal Pond Woods, students began working on logic elimination puzzles with only pictures for clues. They were able to finish those puzzles today. We also had a chance to see more of the Able's Island video. Over the next several weeks we will complete activities surrounding that book.

Friday, October 10, 2014

4th Grade - Students discovered the word Infallible is a person who never makes a mistake. Elizabeth Blackwell, the explorer for the day, was the first American woman doctor. Students solved a logic elimination problem for the warm up activity. The affective lesson focused on several entities (stress, procrastination, perfectionism, potential, isolation, leadership, risk-taking, and motivation). Students visualized how each of those entities affected their lives and created a house floor plan using those thoughts as rooms.

5th Grade - Their vocabulary word was Solicitous which means attentive or concerned. Luther Burbank, inventor of the Idaho potato and many other varieties of plants, was the week's explorer. Students began working to solve the logic elimination puzzle for the warm up activity. Self-discipline and goal setting were the focus of the affective lesson. The culminating activity for the case of Marco Polo vs. the City/State of Venice was to develop a newspaper headline letting the public know the final results of the case.

Thursday, October 9, 2014

3rd Grade - Today's activities began by learning that Primitive means of, belonging to, or seeming to come from an early time in the very ancient past. Today's explorer, Jim Carrey, was a straight A student but had to drop out of school to support his family. A logic elimination was solved for the warm up activity. The affective lesson focused on Courage. Each student had to deliver a one minute impromptu speech. We have been completing activities around the book Abel's Island. Today's focus was on Natural Disasters and why people can't survive with salt water to drink.

5th Grade - Their vocabulary word was Solicitous which means attentive or concerned. Luther Burbank, inventor of the Idaho potato and many other varieties of plants, was the week's explorer. Students began working to solve the logic elimination puzzle for the warm up activity. Self-discipline and goal setting were the focus of the affective lesson. The culminating activity for the case of Marco Polo vs. the City/State of Venice was to develop a newspaper headline letting the public know the final results of the case.

Wednesday, October 8, 2014

3rd Grade - While Mrs. Rains was attending a conference, these students learned that Primitive means of, belonging to, or seeming to come from an early time in the very ancient past. Today's explorer, Jim Carrey, was a straight A student but had to drop out of school to support his family. A logic elimination was solved for the warm up activity. The affective lesson focused on Courage. Each student had to deliver a one minute impromptu speech. We have been completing activities around the book Abel's Island. Today's focus was on Natural Disasters and why people can't survive with salt water to drink.

5th Grade - Their vocabulary word was Solicitous which means attentive or concerned. Luther Burbank, inventor of the Idaho potato and many other varieties of plants, was the week's explorer. Students began working to solve the logic elimination puzzle for the warm up activity. Self-discipline and goal setting were the focus of the affective lesson. The culminating activity for the case of Marco Polo vs. the City/State of Venice was to develop a newspaper headline letting the public know the final results of the case.

Tuesday, October 7, 2014

4th Grade - Mrs. Rains was attending a conference today, but while she was gone students continued to learn. They discovered the word Infallible is a person who never makes a mistake. Elizabeth Blackwell, the explorer for the day, was the first American woman doctor. Students solved a logic elimination problem for the warm up activity. The affective lesson focused on several entities (stress, procrastination, perfectionism, potential, isolation, leadership, risk-taking, and motivation). Students visualized how each of those entities affected their lives and created a house floor plan using those thoughts as rooms.

Monday, October 6, 2014

2nd Grade - Today's activities started off by learning that Disaster means something (such as a flood, tornado, fire, plane crash, etc.) that happens suddenly and causes much suffering or loss to many people. Molly Pitcher, who kept running to the well for drinking water for soldiers in the Revolutionary War, was today's explorer. Quizzles or Logic Elimination puzzles were the warm up activity for this week. Students then listened to the book I'm Gonna Like Me by Jamie Lee Curtis. They then told several things about themselves they liked. That was followed by some more logic elimination puzzles in Crystal Pond Woods only this time there were not written clues, just silhouettes.

Friday, October 3, 2014

4th Grade - We started the day by learning that Benign means something is harmless. Mary McLeod Bethune, founder of a school for African-American children, was today's explorer. Students struggled to solve the Stories with Holes warm up activity. We will have to discover the solution to that problem at a later date. Since both sides of lawyers have presented their evidence in the case of Marco Polo vs. the City/State of Venice, jurors today had to present evidence that would convince the rest of their friends to vote their way in determining if he is guilty or innocent.

5th Grade - The new vocabulary word for this week was Pejorative which means disparaging or negative. Levi Strauss, inventor of blue jeans, was today's explorer, After quite a struggle, students managed to solve the Stories with Holes warm up problem. Since both sides of lawyers have presented their evidence in the case of Marco Polo vs. the City/State of Venice, jurors today had to present evidence that would convince the rest of their friends to vote their way in determining if he is guilty or innocent.

Thursday, October 2, 2014

3rd Grade - Learning that Prioritize means to list or rate (as projects or goals) in order of priority was the first lesson we learned today. That was followed by learning that our explorer, Lucille Ball, was told by her instructors at John Murray Anderson Drama School that she had not acting talent. Students solved the Stories with Holes problem for the warm up activity. The third characteristic of successful people, Task Commitment, was the focus of today's affective lesson along with learning about motivators. The rest of the morning was spent completing some larger, more challenging, logic elimination puzzles with our friends in Crystal Pond Woods.

5th Grade - The new vocabulary word for this week was Pejorative which means disparaging or negative. Levi Strauss, inventor of blue jeans, was today's explorer, After quite a struggle, students managed to solve the Stories with Holes warm up problem. Since both sides of lawyers have presented their evidence in the case of Marco Polo vs. the City/State of Venice, jurors today had to present evidence that would convince the rest of their friends to vote their way in determining if he is guilty or innocent.

Wednesday, October 1, 2014

3rd Grade - Learning that Prioritize means to list or rate (as projects or goals) in order of priority was the first lesson we learned today. That was followed by learning that our explorer, Lucille Ball, was told by her instructors at John Murray Anderson Drama School that she had not acting talent. Students solved the Stories with Holes problem for the warm up activity. The third characteristic of successful people, Task Commitment, was the focus of today's affective lesson along with learning about motivators. The rest of the morning was spent completing some larger, more challenging, logic elimination puzzles with our friends in Crystal Pond Woods.

5th Grade - The new vocabulary word for this week was Pejorative which means disparaging or negative. Levi Strauss, inventor of blue jeans, was today's explorer, After quite a struggle, students managed to solve the Stories with Holes warm up problem. Since both sides of lawyers have presented their evidence in the case of Marco Polo vs. the City/State of Venice, jurors today had to present evidence that would convince the rest of their friends to vote their way in determining if he is guilty or innocent.