Wednesday, December 21, 2016

5th Grade - Due to holiday activities these students met Monday morning with another 5th grade class.

4th Grade - Today's vocabulary word was Ponderous-which means something heavy and massive. Their explorer, Thomas Alva Edison took out 1,093 patents during his lifetime. Students worked together to solve the Plexer warm up puzzles. Pet peeves was the focus of the affective lesson. A brief amount of time was provided to students to work on their planet brochures before they headed back to class for some holiday activities.

2nd Grade - This group learned coding skills through code.org.

Tuesday, December 20, 2016

4th Grade - Today's vocabulary word was Ponderous-which means something heavy and massive. Their explorer, Thomas Alva Edison took out 1,093 patents during his lifetime. Students worked together to solve the Plexer warm up puzzles. Pet peeves was the focus of the affective lesson. A brief amount of time was provided to students to work on their planet brochures before they headed back to class for some holiday activities.

Monday, December 19, 2016

5th Grade - Due to holiday activities scheduled for Wednesday morning, classes were combined this morning. Students learned the word Soporific means sleep inducing. Today's explorer, Thomas Alva Edison invented many usual products besides the light bulb. Students worked together to solve some Plexer puzzles for the warm up activity. The affective lesson focused on determining the difference between right and wrong. Finally, students spent time working to get an essay written for the Exploravision project.

4th Grade - The class that usually meets on Tuesday afternoon was moved to today so students can enjoy their parties tomorrow afternoon. Today's vocabulary word was Ponderous-which means something heavy and massive. Their explorer, Thomas Alva Edison took out 1,093 patents during his lifetime. Students worked together to solve the Plexer warm up puzzles. Pet peeves was the focus of the affective lesson. What time was available after that found students working on their planet brochures.

2nd Grade - These students were able to check out the math computer activity called Prodigy.

Friday, December 16, 2016

3rd Grade - The vocabulary word for this class was Demand which means the ability and need or desire to buy goods and services. Our explorer today hated music, but after hearing a violin he became the famous composer George Gershwin. Students brainstormed a spontaneous problem from Odyssey of the Mind for the warm up activity. What is a Gift? was the focus of the affective lesson. Our weekly trip to Crystal Pond Woods had students demonstrating their divergent thinking skills as they had to build a tower from three sheets of construction paper and approximately 36 inches of tape that would hold the most encyclopedias. One structure held 17 encyclopedias. Dr. Rains tested their watercraft from last week to see if they would float over the lunch period. Every craft stayed afloat.

5th Grade - Today students learned that Ligature means bonds used to tie or bind. The explorers today traded a candy cough formula for a meal. James Smith mixed up a batch of the cough candy which was an immediate success and named the new invention Smith Brothers Cough Drops. Students brainstormed an Odyssey of the Mind spontaneous problem solving problem for the warm up activity. The affective lesson focused on rules students used to follow and which ones they will have to keep in the future. The rest of the morning was spent researching and writing essays for the Exploravision contest.

2nd Grade - this class focused on the generalization that not all discoveries are important in impact as students explored crayons.

Thursday, December 15, 2016

Dr. Rains was about the building working with small groups. Students had the opportunity to play the Prodigy game from prodigygame.com/play. This is an ability leveling math activity interspersed in a fun computer game.

Wednesday, December 14, 2016

5th Grade - Today students learned that Ligature means bonds used to tie or bind. The explorers today traded a candy cough formula for a meal. James Smith mixed up a batch of the cough candy which was an immediate success and named the new invention Smith Brothers Cough Drops. Students brainstormed an Odyssey of the Mind spontaneous problem solving problem for the warm up activity. The affective lesson focused on rules students used to follow and which ones they will have to keep in the future. The rest of the morning was spent researching and writing essays for the Exploravision contest.

4th Grade - These classes learned that Pulchritude means beauty. The explorer was Frederick Douglass who escaped slavery and became an abolitionist. Students answered an Odyssey of the Mind prompt for the warm up activity. Time was spent completing their Munracks. Students then researched a planet and prepared to create a brochure for their Munrack.

2nd Grade - Students took their weekly trip to Crystal Pond Woods continuing expansion of their Divergent Thinking skills. each student was given a story starter and two words from which to invent a new item incorporating the item into the story.

Tuesday, December 13, 2016

4th Grade - These classes learned that Pulchritude means beauty. The explorer was Frederick Douglass who escaped slavery and became an abolitionist. Students answered an Odyssey of the Mind prompt for the warm up activity. Time was spent completing their Munracks. Students then researched a planet and prepared to create a brochure for their Munrack.

2nd Grade - The affective lesson focused on the principle that gifted people demonstrate the characteristic of caring. Students listened to the story Its OK To Be Different by Todd Parr then drew their own picture of themselves and how they are different.

Monday, December 12, 2016

5th Grade - Today students learned that Ligature means bonds used to tie or bind. The explorers today traded a candy cough formula for a meal. James Smith mixed up a batch of the cough candy which was an immediate success and named the new invention Smith Brothers Cough Drops. Students brainstormed an Odyssey of the Mind spontaneous problem solving problem for the warm up activity. The affective lesson focused on rules students used to follow and which ones they will have to keep in the future. The rest of the morning was spent researching and writing essays for the Exploravision contest.

2nd Grade - The vocabulary word for this week was Merchant which means someone who buys and sells goods especially in large amounts. Harriet Tubman, today's explorer did not receive any compensation from the U.S. government for her years of service during the Civil War. Students brainstormed things they either would or would not like to hear a doctor say during an operation for their warm up brainstorming activity.

Friday, December 9, 2016

3rd Grade - These students began their morning by learning that Depression means a period of time in which there is little economic activity and many people do not have jobs. Their explorer was Harrison Ford who has a small fleet of airplanes he uses to help rescue people. Students worked together to solve a quotation for the warm up activity. In Crystal Pond Woods, students learned that inventions can be fun elaborate contraptions similar to what Rube Goldberg used to design. Each student was given the opportunity to design their own elaborate contraption to help Isabel the Inventor crack acorns. We concluded our book study of Abel's Island by doing an experiment to understand why Abel did not start a fire in his log home. Teams then worked together to design a craft that would float with the materials they were given.

5th Grade - Today students learned that Sedulous means industrious. Samuel Colt as a child liked to tinker especially with firearms. As a young adult he wondered if he could invent a gun that would load more than once with a cylinder kind of like a ship's wheel. The focus of the affective lesson was on choices we have to make. We learned how to observe items primarily through sight. Finally, students researched more information fore the Exploravision project.

2nd Grade - This class also concluded the book study of Abel's Island watching the candle under the jar experiment. They also got to draw a survival bus.

Thursday, December 8, 2016

Dr. Rains traveled to different classrooms today teaching computer coding skills while classroom teachers attended meetings.

Wednesday, December 7, 2016

5th Grade - Today students learned that Sedulous means industrious. Samuel Colt as a child liked to tinker especially with firearms. As a young adult he wondered if he could invent a gun that would load more than once with a cylinder kind of like a ship's wheel. The focus of the affective lesson was on choices we have to make. We learned how to observe items primarily through sight. Finally, students researched more information fore the Exploravision project.

4th Grade - Students learned that Gloat means someone who is happy about another person's failure. The explorer, Walt Disney made the first full length animated film even though many people told him it would work. The class worked together to solve the quotation puzzle for the warm up activity. We read a brief story about a Munrack from the planet Velzar. Each student then drew their interpretation of a Munrack and gave a persuasive speech to their group regarding their drawing. The winning drawing was redrawn on an eight foot piece of paper. Students will complete more activities around the Munrack over the next couple of weeks as they study different planets.

2nd Grade - Students continued to develop their Divergent Thinking skills. Each student was given an item to "SCAMPER" turning an old item into a new invention.

Tuesday, December 6, 2016

4th Grade - Students learned that Gloat means someone who is happy about another person's failure. The explorer, Walt Disney made the first full length animated film even though many people told him it would work. The class worked together to solve the quotation puzzle for the warm up activity. We read a brief story about a Munrack from the planet Velzar. Each student then drew their interpretation of a Munrack and gave a persuasive speech to their group regarding their drawing. The winning drawing was redrawn on an eight foot piece of paper. Students will complete more activities around the Munrack over the next couple of weeks as they study different planets.

2nd Grade - After saying the United States Pledge of Allegiance, students looked up different words from the pledge to help understand its meaning. Students then wrote individual pledges to various members of their lives.

Monday, December 5, 2016

5th Grade - Today students learned that Sedulous means industrious. Samuel Colt as a child liked to tinker especially with firearms. As a young adult he wondered if he could invent a gun that would load more than once with a cylinder kind of like a ship's wheel. The focus of the affective lesson was on choices we have to make. We learned how to observe items primarily through sight. Finally, students researched more information fore the Exploravision project.

2nd Grade - We learned that Inflation means a continual increase in the price of goods and services. Sacagawea was an interpreter for the Lewis and Clark Expedition, but could not speak English. Students worked together to solve a quotation quizzler puzzle for the warm up activity.

Friday, December 2, 2016

3rd Grade - This class learned that a Foundation is a stone or concrete structure that supports a building from underneath. The explorer, Whoopi Goldberg overcame a life of drugs to become a famous actress. Students solved a What in the World puzzle for the warm up activity. The affective lesson had students focused on acts of kindness. The weekly trip to Crystal Pond Woods had students creating simple designs and giving the designs unique, collaborative captions.

5th Grade - Learning today began with the vocabulary word Rapacious which means Raptor-like, preying on others. In 1843 our explorer for the day, Ada Lovelace, created a computer program and she envisioned a machine that would compose, play music, draw pictures, and calculate numbers. Students completed a What In The World puzzle for the warm up activity. The social/emotional lesson focused on the many different hats people wear. The rest of the morning was spent deciding what project they wanted to invent or recreate for the Exploravision contest and researching its history and current technology.

The second graders schedule was changed due to a music program this morning. We will meet as usual on Monday.

Thursday, December 1, 2016

Dr. Rains was out and around the building today providing enrichment activities to small groups of students.