Monday, September 30, 2019

5th Grade - Today's learning began with the vocabulary word Pugnacious which means quarrelsome. Students completed a quiz about Alexander Graham Bell who was the future thinker of the day. Their warm up activity was also in their Google classroom. To enhance their creativity, students were taught to relax and then were asked to draw a picture around our theme of flight. For the leadership lesson, teams were set up with a balloon between and had to try to walk around the room without loosing the balloons. Students learned the importance of communication in leadership. The final activities were to complete their flight experiments regarding the principles of flight and to begin working on a project involving a flight based career.

Thursday, September 26, 2019

4th Grade - Today's vocabulary word was Interminable which means something that seems forever, as if there's no end in sight. The future thinker was Michael J. Fox who perseveres through Parkinson's disease as an actor and helps promote research for it. For the warm up activity, students drew an item their grandmother or fairy godmother may have given them. This led into the affective lesson where they had to develop ABCs about themselves. Later they will create a slide presentation for their ABCs. The final lesson was to have students complete science experiments regarding the principles of flight.

Wednesday, September 25, 2019

2nd Grade - Today's class learned that a Front is a zone of transition between two different air masses. Their forward thinker was James Monroe (5th President) who was so poor in his old age that his daughter had to support him. For the warm up activity, students worked together to complete a floor version of a logic elimination grid puzzle. The affective lesson focused on things they liked about themselves because being gifted means different things to different people. Our final activity was the weekly trip to Crystal Pond Woods. Students sorted attribute blocks into a Venn diagram and labeled the groups.

Tuesday, September 24, 2019

3rd Grade - Students learned today that Personification means the attributes of human nature or character to animals or inanimate objects. The future thinker was Lydia Darragh, an ordinary housewife who was actually a spy for George Washington's army. For the warm up activity, students worked together to solve a logic elimination puzzle on the floor. Creativity was the focus of the affective thinking lesson. Students were given a white sheet of paper and a black circle and in 15 minutes had to create something. Finally, time was given to complete puzzles from the Puzzler's Club puzzles we started last week.

Monday, September 23, 2019

5th Grade - We were able to learn several things today. First, Prognosticate means to predict. The Band-Aid was invented by Early Dickson because his wife was clumsy with knives. For the warm up activity, students observed a brief video and asked questions about it. Our affective lessons this year will focus on Leadership. Today students created acrostics using words usually associated with leadership to increase their vocabulary about the subject. As we learn about completing a research project, students watched several videos that covered different aspects of research. Our final activity was to complete several experiments about the principles of flight.

Thursday, September 19, 2019

4th Grade - Overt, which means something in view not secret was the beginning of our learning today. The forward thinker was Leonardo Di Caprio who was asked not to return to Romper Room, but has become a famous actor. For the warm up activity, students developed their curiosity by watching a short video and asking questions about it. The affective lesson focused on mistakes and how to turn them into a learning experience. Students took a pretest regarding Systems which we will study this year. They then watched several videos to help them prepare to do research. Finally, they began working on experiments regarding the principles of flight.

Wednesday, September 18, 2019

2nd Grade - Students learned that Meteorology is the atmospheric conditions and weather of an ares. Our fourth President, James Madison, was our forward thinker today. Mr. Madison was not the tallest President, but he did write the Bill of Rights for our country. Students worked together to try and solve some online brain teasers for the warm up activity. We then finished some logic elimination puzzles for Crystal Pond Woods. Students then conducted some experiments about lift and gravity as part of our study of flight.

Tuesday, September 17, 2019

3rd Grade - Today's learning began with two vocabulary words. The first was phobia which is a fear of a specific object, activity, or situation that leads to a compelling desire to avoid it. Caricature was the second word which means a picture, description, etc. ludicrously exaggerating the peculiarities or defects of persons or things. Sybil Luddington who helped round up her father's militia group for the Revolutionary Army was today's forward thinker. The affective lesson focused on above average ability and the challenges associated with it. In Crystal Pond Woods, students started developing their convergent thinking skills as they tried looking for clues to solve several puzzles.

Thursday, September 12, 2019

4th Grade - Our learning began with the vocabulary word Oblivious which means a person who does not know or is not aware of what's happening. A second vocabulary word was System which is an assemblage or combination of things or parts forming a complex or unitary whole. Their successful person was Doris Day who had a lot of struggles that did not reflect her "girl next door" screen image. Students solved similes and matched cities with countries for the warm up activity. For the rest of our class time, students completed Get To Know Me inventories. Next week we can start some flight activities.

Wednesday, September 11, 2019

2nd Grade - These students learned that Atmosphere is the gaseous envelope surrounding the earth; the air. Their forward thinking person was Thomas Jefferson who bought the Louisiana Purchase without looking at it.For the warm up activity students took a "plane ride" via Google Earth to match cities with countries. The affective lesson focused on how other people perceive gifted kids. In Crystal Pond Woods we continued Convergent thinking and solving problems using a logic elimination grid.

Tuesday, September 10, 2019

3rd Grade - Today's vocabulary word was Polynesian which is about those island groups in the Pacific lying East of Melanesia and Micronesia and extending from the Hawaiian Islands South to new Zealand. Our forward thinker was Molly Pitcher who took water to men fighting in the battle and then helped with the cannon when her husband passed out due to heat stroke. Students worked together to solve some Similes for the warm up activity. The affective lesson was an introductory lesson to the Take Five program which focuses on the five characteristics that successful people demonstrate. The few minutes we had left was used to get to know one another.

Monday, September 9, 2019

5th Grade - Today's learning started off with two vocabulary words: Quid Pro Quo is a Latin phrase meaning an equal exchange, and Structure which is a mode of building, construction, or organization; arrangement of parts, elements, or constituents. The forward thinker was Nicholas Cugnot who is credited with building the first automobile in 1771. His automobile needed a mechanical genius to operate and its top speed was three miles an hour. After hearing the meanings of the inventories we took during our last class, we settled down to begin learning Leadership Skills. Today's focus was on defining Leadership. When that lesson was complete, students worked in their Google Classrooms to complete an Interest Survey and began thinking about a flight career that was of interest.

Thursday, September 5, 2019

4th Grade - The morning group was busy taking the CogAT test. The afternoon class learned that Oblivious means a person who does not know or is not aware of what's happening. A second vocabulary word was System which is an assemblage or combination of things or parts forming a complex or unitary whole. Their successful person was Doris Day who had a lot of struggles that did not reflect her "girl next door" screen image. Students solved similes for the warm up activity. For the rest of the afternoon, students completed Get To Know Me inventories. Next week we can start some other activities.

Wednesday, September 4, 2019

Hopefully everyone enjoyed the extra long weekend. Here are the activities that were completed today in Second Grade:

The vocabulary word of the week was Drought which means a period of dry weather. Today's Forward Thinker was John Adams who moved into the White House before it was completed. For the warm up activity, students worked to complete Simile Pairs. "What Does It Mean to be Gifted?" was the focus of today's affective thinking. In Crystal Pond Woods, students began working on Logic Elimination Puzzles which require Evaluative Thinking.