Thursday, October 31, 2019

4th Grade - Today's vocabulary word was Benevolent which means kind and caring. Students worked together to solve some Plexer puzzles for the warm up activity. Their future thinker was Bob Hope who hot his career start as a boxer. Due to several special activities going on today, both the afternoon and morning classes were combined with several groups moving in and out. Therefore students worked on a Aviation Career project for the rest of our time together.

Wednesday, October 30, 2019

1st Grade - A student new to our district was able to start GATE today. That student learned that a Pattern is something that repeats in a predictable way. The forward thinker was Hans Christian Anderson who had difficulty spelling but became a beloved storyteller. The student was handed letters to cut out which would form the word FLY when put together like a puzzle. This was the warm up activity. In Crystal Pond Woods, the student was introduced to Dudley the Detective who is a Convergent Thinker.

2nd Grade - Several students were absent today. Those who were in class learned that Precipitation is falling products of condensation in the atmosphere, as rain, snow, or hail. There were two forward thinkers today. Our tenth and eleventh Presidents, John Tyler and James Knox Polk, really did not want to be President but circumstances put them into that office. Students completed Plexer puzzles for the warm up activity. Since so many were gone, I had the few who were in attendance log into Khan Academy which is an online program that allows students to learn and advance at their own pace. Those who tried it today seemed to like it.

Tuesday, October 28, 2019

3rd Grade - Today's vocabulary word was Legislative Branch which is the branch of government having the power to make laws; the legislature. The forward thinker was Mary Elizabeth Bowser who acted as a dull-witted maid when in reality she was a northern spy working for Jefferson Davis, President of the Confederacy. Our affective lessons have completed the individual components of the characteristics of successful people. Today students thought about where they are with each aspect, where they would like to be, and set goals to reach. The weekly trip to Crystal Pond Woods had student working toward finishing more complex logic puzzles.

Monday, October 28, 2019

5th Grade - These students learned that Sequester means to remove and hold in isolation. For the warm up activity, students had to find as many three or more words as they could in five minutes with the letters from the word Aerodynamics. Their forward thinker was George Washington Carver who had a secret garden as a young child. The leadership lesson had students looking at the qualities of people they know and leaders around the world that they can/could use as role models in leadership. The rest of our class time was spent finishing uncompleted projects about aviation.

Thursday, October 24, 2019

4th Grade - These students learned that Loquacious means someone who talks too much. Our future thinker was Tom Hanks went from being a painfully shy child to a successful actor. For the warm up activity students had to come up with as many words as they could in five minutes from the word Aerodynamics. The affective lesson focused on having the students consider their own unique interests and abilities. They then designed a personal license plate to reflect themselves. Now that students have learned the basic principles of flight, we will begin applying those principles. Each student today read about a stealth plane and then built a paper one. Next week we will test and measure their success.

Wednesday, October 23, 2019

2nd Grade - The vocabulary word of the day was Condensation which is the process of changing a gas or vapor to a liquid or solid form. The forward thinker was William Henry Harrison who didn't consider the Native Americans as he took land from them. Shawnee chief Tecumseh put a curse on him and other Presidents who were elected in a year ending with "0."For the warm up activity, students searched for three or more letter words from the word Aerodynamics. The affective lesson focused on the question, How are you creative? Students took recyclable materials and made a creature. They continued demonstrating the creative ability by writing a story about themselves and the creature. In Crystal Pond Woods, students continued working on Convergent thinking puzzles. Today's puzzles used manipulatives.

Tuesday, October 22, 2019

Welcome back! I hope everyone enjoyed a fabulous Fall Break. Here's what we learned today.
3rd Grade  - Our vocabulary word was Executive Branch which is the branch of government charged with the execution and enforcement of laws and policies and the administration of public affairs; the executive. The forward thinker was Clara Barton who overcame her shyness to help soldiers during the Civil War and later founded the American Red Cross. For the warm up activity, students had to come up with as many words that they could make from the letters in Aerodynamics with only five minutes of time. The affective lesson focused on people who demonstrated all five characteristics of successful people. Each student had an opportunity to write about someone they felt demonstrated all five characteristics. In Crystal Pond Woods, students had an opportunity to complete a few double logic elimination grid puzzles. The final activity was to complete science experiments about the four basic principles of flight.

Wednesday, October 16, 2019

2nd Grade - Our vocabulary word for this week was Evaporation which means to change from a liquid or solid state into vapor. The future thinker was Martin Van Buren who presented his first case as a lawyer at age 15. Mr. Van Buren was also our eighth President. For the warm up activity, students had to figure out what time four pilots got to the airport but their watches were not showing the correct time. We also completed a logic grid puzzle together. The affective lesson focused on working toward intrinsic positive motivators instead of having to have an external motivator. There were a couple of students who had to finish a logic puzzle with our friends from Crystal Pond Woods that was started last week. Experiments about the properties of flight were completed. There was time to build a stealth airplane that we will test and measure next week.

Tuesday, October 15, 2019

3rd Grade - Today's learning began with the vocabulary word Reef which means a ridge of rocks or sand, often of coral debris, at or near the surface of the water. The forward thinker was Harriet Tubman who helped the Union army during the Civil War but did not receive any money for her services. Students had two puzzles to complete for the warm up activity: one was a logic grid puzzle, the other was a math puzzle. We covered the final characteristic of successful people. Students had to evaluate different scenarios and determine how the people demonstrated caring. In Crystal Pond Woods, students applied their Convergent thinking skills by playing a game similar to Master Mind.

Monday, October 14, 2019

5th Grade - We learned that Solicitous means attentive, concerned. Luther Burbank, our forward thinker, developed the Idaho potato due to potato blight that was causing people to leave their homes and starvation. For the warm up activity students complete a logic grid puzzle. Students had to picture themselves on the cover of a magazine for the affective/leadership lesson. We put our principles of flight to the test by building paper stealth airplanes and testing them against a regular paper airplane.

Friday, October 11, 2019

2nd Grade - Today I met with the half of the class that had been on the field trip Wednesday. The vocabulary word was Forecast which means prediction, especially as to the weather. Andrew Jackson, our 7th President, was our Future Thinker. Mr. Jackson was shot in the chest but decided to leave the bullet next to his heart. Students completed Wuzzles (formerly Plexers) for the warm up activity today. Task Commitment/Goal Setting was the focus of the affective lesson. In Crystal Pond Woods, students analyzed different items, sorted and classified them, then completed a logic elimination grid about the items.

Thursday, October 10, 2019

4th Grade - Today's learning began with the vocabulary word Infallible. Infallible means a person who never makes a mistake. The Future Thinker was Judy Garland who struggled in real life but provided much joy and happiness to others. Students worked together to solve the Wuzzle (formerly Plexers) puzzles for the warm up activity. For the affective lesson, students worked to complete their ABC slideshows about themselves. As the year progresses, we will have students share their presentations with the class. The final activity was to review the principles of flight so we can do some activities about aviation with some background information about the topic.

Wednesday, October 9, 2019

2nd Grade - Half of the class was on a field trip today. Those students will make up class on Friday. The vocabulary word was Forecast which means prediction, especially as to the weather. Andrew Jackson, our 7th President, was our Future Thinker. Mr. Jackson was shot in the chest but decided to leave the bullet next to his heart. Students completed Wuzzles (formerly Plexers) for the warm up activity today. Task Commitment/Goal Setting was the focus of the affective lesson. In Crystal Pond Woods, students analyzed different items, sorted and classified them, then completed a logic elimination grid about the items.

Tuesday, October 8, 2019

3rd Grade - Today's vocabulary word was Confidence which means belief in oneself and one's powers or abilities. Our Future Thinker was Sacagawea who was an interpreter for Lewis and Clark even though she could not speak English. Students completed Wuzzles (formerly Plexers) for the warm up activity The focus of the affective lesson was Courage. To demonstrate courage, each student had to give a one minute impromptu speech. We reviewed some logic grid puzzles in Crystal Pond Woods. The final activity was to complete a few experiments about the principles of flight.

Monday, October 7, 2019

5th Grade - Pejorative was our vocabulary word for today. It means Disparaging. The Forward Thinker was Levi Strauss who immigrated to the USA during the Gold Rush. Instead of mining gold, he invented pants out of canvas which later came to be known as Blue Jeans. For the warm up activity, students completed Wuzzles. In the past these have been called Plexers which are common words or phrases put into picture form. The focus of the leadership lesson was teamwork and communication. The rest of class time was spent working on their Flight Career projects.

Friday, October 4, 2019

2nd Grade - This group did not have class Wednesday because I was attending a conference. Fortunately we were able to meet today. Our learning began with the vocabulary word Predict which means to declare or tell in advance. The Future Thinker was John Quincy Adams who put the good of the nation ahead of his party. For the warm up activity, students had to write a sentence using the letters of the word FLYING. Each letter of the sentence had to begin with a letter from the word flying and the words had to be arranged in the order of the word flying. The affective lesson focused on the generalization that giftedness means different things to different people. In Crystal Pond Woods, students analyzed, sorted and classified different shapes into a Venn diagram. Our final activity was to learn and complete experiments about the different principles of flight.

Thursday, October 3, 2019

4th Grade - Today's learning began with the vocabulary word Benign which means something that is harmless. The future thinker was Morgan Freeman who made his stage debut as a dancer. For the warm up activity, students were given the letters to the word FLYING. Each student then had to write at least one sentence using a word that began with the letters of flying and the words had to be in that order. ABCs of Our Lives (getting to know me) was the focus of the affective lesson, Students are creating an ABC "book" slide show about themselves. Finally, students completed science experiments about the four principles of flight.

Tuesday, October 1, 2019

3rd Grade - We learned that a Cannibal is a person who eats human flesh. The future was Emily Geiger who swallowed a secret for George Washington's army so the British wouldn't get it. Students had to write a sentence using the letters f-l-y-i-n-g as the beginning letters of the words to the sentence. The responses were very creative. Task Commitment was the focus of the affective lesson. In Crystal Pond Woods, students learned how to solve a logic elimination grid puzzle.