Wednesday, February 27, 2019

1st Grade - This class learned that a young lady without a name saved her school from a group called Anderson's guerrillas by waving her petticoat from a window. Students brainstormed three different lists for the warm up activity. In Crystal Pond Woods, students continued to develop their detective thinking as they looked for clues to solve problems.

3rd Grade - Today's vocabulary word was Refined which means free of unwanted substances. The successful person was Henry Ford who invented the assembly line not the automobile. Students brainstormed three different lists for the warm up activity. In Crystal Pond Woods, students began studying Evaluative Thinking. Today, they developed criteria that used observable, measurable facts. Students discovered the power of ice for the Discoveries lesson by watching a video and completing some experiments.

Tuesday, February 26, 2019

5th Grade - Today's learning began with Oscitant which means inattentive. The successful person was John Walker who invented the first friction match while trying to develop a safer explosive. Students worked together to solve a DropQuote puzzle for the warm up activity. The leadership lesson had students building with playing cards. The caveat was that students could not verbally communicate with each other. For the exploration lesson, students were building items for a space simulation that involves LEGO. Eventually students will program robots to do activities similar to the NASA space program.

Monday, February 25, 2019

3rd Grade - Today's vocabulary word was Prehistoric which means of, relating to, or existing in the time before people could write. The successful person was Alexander Graham Bell who invented the comic book along with the telephone. Students worked together to solve the logic elimination grid puzzle for the warm up activity. In Crystal Pond Woods, students played a game called Web Walkers a strategy game to continue developing their visual thinking skills. For the Discoveries lesson, students discovered various Serendipitous inventions. To discover more about inventions, we started a breakout.edu escape room.

Friday, February 22, 2019

5th Grade - Class was canceled this morning due to 2nd grade CogAT testing.

2nd Grade - Students learned that Ceremony is a formal act or event that is a part of a social or religious occasion. The successful person was our ninth President William Henry Harrison who was cursed by Tecumseh because of his unfair treatment of Native Americans. Nine small items from a What In The World puzzle were identified for the warm up activity. The focus of the affective lesson was feelings. In Crystal Pond Woods, students matched shape dominoes as they strengthened their visual thinking skills. For the Discoveries lesson, students tried to escape from a Breakout Room by learning about inventors and Serendipity.

Thursday, February 21, 2019

4th Grade - Today's vocabulary word was Idyllic which means something that is pleasant and peaceful. Their successful person was Matthew Henson one of the first men to reach the North Pole by dogsled. Students worked together to solve a Dropquote puzzle for the warm up activity. The affective lesson focused on the understanding that gifted means different things to different people. The Explorations lesson had students discovering the puzzles of the world (plate tectonics).

Wednesday, February 20, 2019

1st Grade - a new class for First Grade was started this morning. They learned that Ulysses S. Grant never wanted to be a soldier. They worked together to solve the 9 What In The World puzzles. In Crystal Pond Woods, students were introduced to Dudley the Detective. Students to use their clues to find the one right answer.

3rd Grade - This class learned that Preserve means to keep something in its original state or in good condition. Their successful person was Albert Einstein who failed the entrance exam to engineering school, but went on to become a famous scientist. Everyone worked together to solve the Quotation Quizzler (Drop Quote) puzzle for the warm up activity. In Crystal Pond Woods, students played Numerical Quadrominoes to challenge their visual thinking skills. For the Discoveries lesson, students learned about inventions while trying to solve puzzles for Breakout.edu.

Thursday, February 19, 2019

4th Grade - Our learning began with Unflappable which means someone who has a lot of self-control and is not easily upset or frightened. Martha Graham, a revolutionary dancer, was the successful person. Students worked together to solve the logic elimination grid puzzle for the warm up activity. The affective lesson focused on humor. To close our our exploration of space, students began working a breakout room about Mercury 13.

Wednesday, February 14, 2019

3rd Grade - Today we learned that a Shard is a sharp piece of something (such as glass or pottery). The successful person was Thomas Edison who only had five years of formal schooling. Students had to figure out the nine What In The World puzzles for the warm up activity. In Crystal Pond Woods, students had to figure out the common words or phrases that were in picture form. For the Discoveries lesson today's focus was Serendipity. In order to learn about some serendipitous inventions, students had to solve a breakout room.

Tuesday, February 12, 2019

5th Grade - The Friday morning group joined us today. We began by learning that a Sojourn is a short stay, brief residence. The successful person was Guglielmo Marconi; the inventor of the sending communication over wires (radio). Students figured out the nine close up views of items for the warm up activity. Our leadership lesson focused on the importance of being able to speak for a group. We started exploring space in our Explorations study. Student complete a Breakoutedu room as they learned about Mercury 13 and the first female astronauts.

Monday, February 11, 2019

3rd Grade - Students learned today that Paleontology is the science that deals with the fossils of animals and plants that lived very long ago especially in the time of dinosaurs. The successful person was Oprah Winfrey who struggled as a news reporter, but became a famous talk show host. In Crystal Pond Woods, we learned that we could turn written analogies into visual analogies. For the Discoveries lesson, we began discovering the Gold Rush of California.

Friday, February 8, 2019

5th Grade - Today's vocabulary word was chaparral which means a thicket of shrubs and small trees. Horace Wells, the successful person, discovered laughing gas could be used as a pain killer - the first anesthesia. Students worked together to solve a logic elimination puzzle for the warm up activity. The rest of class time was spent completing and submitting Exploravision projects. Next week we will begin exploring space.

2nd Grade - Archaeology was today's vocabulary word. It means a science that deals with past human life and activities by studying the bones, tools, etc., of ancient people. Their successful person was Belle Boyd who was a southern spy during the Civil War. Students worked together to solve a logic elimination grid puzzle for the warm up activity. In Crystal Pond Woods, we continued enhancing our visual thinking with codes. Our final discovery was to hear about inventions that were invented by serendipity.

Thursday, January 7, 2019

No school today due to icy roads. Enjoy your snow day :)

Wednesday, February 7, 2019

3rd Grade - Today's vocabulary word was Prehistoric which means of, relating to, or existing in the time before people could write. The successful person was Alexander Graham Bell who invented the comic book along with the telephone. Students worked together to solve the logic elimination grid puzzle for the warm up activity. In Crystal Pond Woods, students played a game called Web Walkers a strategy game to continue developing their visual thinking skills. For the Discoveries lesson, students simulated a gold dig by digging for chocolate chips in chocolate chip cookies.

Tuesday, February 5, 2019

5th Grade - Today's vocabulary word was chaparral which means a thicket of shrubs and small trees. Horace Wells, the successful person, discovered laughing gas could be used as a pain killer - the first anesthesia. Students worked together to solve a logic elimination puzzle for the warm up activity. The rest of class time was spent completing and submitting Exploravision projects. Next week we will begin exploring space.

Monday, February 4, 2019

3rd Grade - Today we learned that Stratum means one of usually many layers of a substance (such as rock). Our successful person, Sylvester Stallone, was kicked out of 10 different schools. He had a speech impediment that other students teased him about. For the warm up activity, students had to pay attention in order to follow the directions to create a picture. The weekly trip to Crystal Pond Woods had students working with Pentominoes. Students had to fit the pieces into specific shapes using visual thinking. For the Discoveries lesson, we focused on the understanding that not all discoveries are equal in importance or impact. Today we made discoveries about crayons.

Friday, February 1, 2019

5th Grade - Today we started our learning with Inception which means the start or beginning. Our successful person was actually two people. Richard Knerr and Arthur Melvin invented the hula hoop from plastic that no one wanted. They quickly solved the Stories with Holes problem for the warm up activity. During the Leadership lesson, students learned it is important to always listen especially when you are a leader. The rest of class time was spent finishing up Exploravision projects. All segments are due today at 3:00p.m.

2nd Grade - A Mineral is a substance (such as quartz, coal, petroleum, salt, etc.) that is naturally formed under the ground. Our successful person was Martin Van Buren, our eighth President, who presented his first case as a lawyer at the age of 15. Students worked hard but could not solve the Stories with Holes problem for the warm up activity. The affective lesson focused on learning to recognize stress and how to diffuse it appropriately. In Crystal Pond Woods, we continued our visual thinking by combining visual thinking and storytelling to solve nursery rhymes with abstract shapes instead of words.