Thursday, September 27, 2018

4th Grade - Interminable was the vocabulary word for the day. It means something that seems forever as if there is no end in sight. Clara Barton, founder of the American Red Cross was today's successful person. Students worked together to solve a Quotation Quizzler or DropQuote for the warm up activity. The affective lessons for the next few weeks will focus on how an individual's traits impact relationships within the family. Prosecutors presented their side of the case in Marco Polo vs. the City/State of Venice. Students filled out entry forms for Exploravision and began brainstorming ideas for the project.

Wednesday, September 26, 2018

3rd Grade - Today's vocabulary word was Prioritize which means to list or rate in order of importance. The successful person was Lucille Ball who was told by her drama school instructors that she could not act. Students worked on brainstorming for the warm up activity using ideas from Odyssey of the Mind. Task commitment was the focus of the affective lesson. Students were given a motivator and then told to complete a task. A discussion followed regarding what motivators work for each student. In Crystal Pond Woods, students developed their Convergent Thinking while learning a new game which is similar to Master Mind.

Tuesday, September 25, 2018

5th Grade - Today we learned that Pugnacious means quarrelsome. The successful person was Alexander Graham Bell who moved his dog's mouth to make him sound like he was talking. Students worked together to solve a Quotation Quizzler or DropQuote for the warm up activity. The affective lesson focused on how leadership can change depending on the situation. In court today, students "listened" as the prosecution delivered their side of the case against Marco Polo. Students filled out their registration for the Exploravision contest and brainstormed some ideas for the project.

Monday, September 24, 2018

3rd Grade - These students learned that Anthropomorphism means an interpretation of what is not human or personal in terms of human or personal characteristics. The successful person of the day was Charles Dickens who had to go to work when he was 12 to help his family. While pasting labels on bottles, he would think up stories which led him to become a famous author. Students were asked to solve a What In The World puzzle for the warm up activity. Our affective lesson focused on the characteristic of Above Average Ability for successful people. We worked on several types of Convergent Thinking puzzles during our weekly trip to Crystal Pond Woods. The final activity had students learning a little bit about hurricanes which will be the natural disaster in a book we will be studying for the next several weeks.

Friday, September 21, 2018

5th Grade - Today we learned that Pugnacious means quarrelsome. The successful person was Alexander Graham Bell who moved his dog's mouth to make him sound like he was talking. Students worked together to solve a Quotation Quizzler or DropQuote for the warm up activity. The affective lesson focused on how leadership can change depending on the situation. In court today, students "listened" as the prosecution delivered their side of the case against Marco Polo. Students filled out their registration for the Exploravision contest and brainstormed some ideas for the project.

2nd Grade - This class learned that Disaster means something (such as a flood, tornado, fire, plane crash, etc.) that happens suddenly and causes much suffering or loss to many. Today's successful person was Molly Pitcher who took over her husband's post when he collapsed during a Revolutionary War battle due to heat exhaustion. Students worked hard to complete a Quotation Quizzler for the warm up activity. The affective lesson focused on the understanding that being gifted means different things to different people.

Thursday, September 20, 2018

Classes were canceled today in order to complete any make up CogAT tests that had been missed.

Wednesday, September 19, 2018

Today's third graders learned that Contaminate means to soil, stain, corrupt, or infect by contact or association. The successful person was Dr. Seuss who had 27 publishers turn down his first book. Students worked together to solve a Quotation Quizzler for the warm up activity. Creativity was the focus of the affective lesson. Students were given a 4 inch black circle and a white sheet of paper and had to make something from those materials. In Crystal Pond Woods, students continued to improve their Convergent Thinking Skills with more logic elimination puzzles.

Tuesday, September 18, 2018

5th Grade - Today's vocabulary word was Prognosticate which means to predict. The successful person was Earle Dickson who invented the Band-aid for his clumsy wife. Students solved a What In The World puzzle for the warm up activity, During our leadership lesson, students worked to develop their vocabulary about leadership by creating an acrostic from the letters in Leadership. We took a trip back in time to the City State of Venice to try Marco Polo who is accused of fraud. Today the lawyers presented their opening statements. Our final activity was to learn about the Exploravision project which is a large research/STEM contest created by Toshiba and NSTA.

Friday, September 14, 2018

5th Grade - Today's vocabulary word was Prognosticate which means to predict. The successful person was Earle Dickson who invented the Band-aid for his clumsy wife. Students solved a What In The World puzzle for the warm up activity, During our leadership lesson, students worked to develop their vocabulary about leadership by creating an acrostic from the letters in Leadership. We took a trip back in time to the City State of Venice to try Marco Polo who is accused of fraud. Today the lawyers presented their opening statements. Our final activity was to learn about the Exploravision project which is a large research/STEM contest created by Toshiba and NSTA.

2nd Grade - This class learned that a tropical cyclone is a cyclone originating in the tropics; specifically a hurricane. The successful person was John Adams the second President of the United States. He never climbed the stairs of the White House because there were not stairs to the second floor while he lived there.Students solved a What In The World puzzle for the warm up activity. The affective lesson focused on the understanding that being gifted means different things to different people. In Crystal Pond Woods students completed more convergent thinking puzzles. For the Discoveries lesson we finished watching Abel's Island, learned the five levels of a hurricane, completed an experiment explaining why the center of the hurricane has the strongest winds, and wrote a story about what we would do if we were stranded on a desert island.

Thursday, September 13, 2018

4th Grade - Our learning today included a weekly vocabulary word - Overt which means something that is open to view; not secret. The successful person was Susan B. Anthony who was a suffragette and did not live long enough to see the Nineteenth Amendment put into law. For the warm up activity, students were to identify nine close up items from a "What In The World?" puzzle. During the affect lesson, students focused on building vocabulary words that described or did not describe their personalities. We then went to court where Marco Polo is on trial for possible fraud regarding his trip to China. Finally, students were introduced to the Exploravision contest which is a STEM contest where students will either improve or invent something that will solve a problem.

Wednesday, September 12, 2018

3rd Grade - These students learned that Anthropomorphism means an interpretation of what is not human or personal in terms of human or personal characteristics. The successful person of the day was Charles Dickens who had to go to work when he was 12 to help his family. While pasting labels on bottles, he would think up stories which led him to become a famous author. Students were asked to solve a What In The World puzzle for the warm up activity. Our affective lesson focused on the characteristic of Above Average Ability for successful people. We worked on several types of Convergent Thinking puzzles during our weekly trip to Crystal Pond Woods. The final activity had students learning a little bit about hurricanes which will be the natural disaster in a book we will be studying for the next several weeks.

Tuesday, September 11, 2018

5th Grade - Today's learning began with the vocabulary phrase Quid Pro Quo which is a Latin phrase meaning a equal exchange. Nicholas Cugnut was not so successful at developing a modern automobile. However, Gottlieg Daimler and Karl Benz in 1889, in two different places, both developed the first practical gasoline powered automobiles. Students worked together to solve the logic elimination puzzle for the warm up activity. We spent a few minutes discussing the meaning of success as our theme for this year is "Open the GATE to Success." The affective lessons this year will focus on leadership. Today, we simply discussed the students definition of a positive or negative leader. We will be focusing on Exploration as a means of success this year. Each student was given a jury summons for which we will complete a classroom simulation of a court case regarding Marco Polo.

Monday, September 10, 2018

Cross Timbers 3rd Grade - Today, students learned that Stressful means full of or tending to induce stress. The successful person was Roald Dahl who could not write sentences that made sense in school but became a famous author. Together students solved a logic elimination grid puzzle for the warm up activity. Our theme this year is "Open the GATE to Success." We spent a few minutes looking at people who are not well known but are successful. There was some discussion about success and students wrote their goals on their footprint. For the affective lessons this year, we will be looking at the five common characteristics of successful people. The final activity was to travel to Crystal Pond Woods where students worked to develop their convergent thinking skills.

Friday, September 7, 2018

5th Grade - Today's learning began with the vocabulary phrase Quid Pro Quo which is a Latin phrase meaning a equal exchange. Nicholas Cugnut was not so successful at developing a modern automobile. However, Gottlieg Daimler and Karl Benz in 1889, in two different places, both developed the first practical gasoline powered automobiles. Students worked together to solve the logic elimination puzzle for the warm up activity. We spent a few minutes discussing the meaning of success as our theme for this year is "Open the GATE to Success." The affective lessons this year will focus on leadership. Today, we simply discussed the students definition of a positive or negative leader. We will be focusing on Exploration as a means of success this year. Each student was given a jury summons for which we will complete a classroom simulation of a court case regarding Marco Polo.

2nd Grade - In this class, we learned that Proper means strictly decorous, genteel. The successful person was Deborah Sampson who disguised herself as a man to join the Continental Army. No one knew she was a man until she got sick and had to go to the hospital. She was given a pension of $4 a month for her service to her country. Our weekly trip to Crystal Pond Woods had students learning how to solve logic elimination puzzles. We discussed the meaning of success since our theme this year is "Open the GATE to Success." The affective lesson had students looking at the ins and outs of their abilities. The final activity was to watch a video about a book called, "Abel's Island." We will be completing several activities over the next few weeks around this book.

Thursday, September 6, 2018

4th Grade - Our learning began with the vocabulary word Oblivious which means someone who does not know or is not aware of what is happening. The successful person discussed today was Jane Addams. Ms. Addams created a haven for her neighbors providing daycare, a boys club, food, friendship, and financial help. She was the first American woman to receive the Nobel Peace Prize. Students worked together to solve a logic elimination grid puzzle for the warm up activity. Since our theme this year is "Open the GATE to Success," we spent some time discussing everyday people who have been successful and how each of us can be successful. The fourth grade affective lessons will be covering topics that students may have on their minds. Our final set of lessons each week will focus on exploring. Today we began a simulation of a courtroom involving Marco Polo. Since students have been summoned as jurors, they have been sequestered and cannot share or read anything about the case.

Wednesday, September 5, 2018

I hope everyone enjoyed the long weekend. Students were ready to learn today. Here is what the 3rd Grade GATE classes did today:
Students learned that Stressful means full of or tending to induce stress. The successful person was Roald Dahl who could not write sentences that made sense in school but became a famous author. Together students solved a logic elimination grid puzzle for the warm up activity. Our theme this year is "Open the GATE to Success." We spent a few minutes looking at people who are not well known but are successful. There was some discussion about success and students wrote their goals on their footprint. For the affective lessons this year, we will be looking at the five common characteristics of successful people. The final activity was to travel to Crystal Pond Woods where students worked to develop their convergent thinking skills.