Wednesday, May 11, 2022

4th Grade - Today's learning began with a logic elimination grid puzzle. Students then worked on their state WeVideos to get them ready for submission. The final activity was to begin planning their tiny house.

Tuesday, May 10, 2022

 Classes were a little shorter today due to make-up testing. Here are some thing we did today:

3rd Grade - Students started with a logic grid puzzle for the warm up activity. In Crystal Pond Woods they continued learning about the evaluation process by developing criteria to help them choose the best option. Finally we learned about cattle brands.

Friday, May 6, 2022

 My third grade classes from Chisholm enjoyed a trip to the zoo today. I spent my time finishing up testing so I can meet with my students again next week.

Thursday, May 5, 2022

State testing continued today. We should be finished tomorrow and resume classes for a few days before the end of this school year.

Wednesday, May 4, 2022

State testing continued today. 

Tuesday, May 3, 2022

State testing continued today. I was able to take both 3rd grade groups for approximately 30 minutes this afternoon. Each group built bridges out of K'Nex to go along with their science unit on bridges.

Monday, May 2, j2022

State testing continued this morning canceling that class.

2nd Grade - Their learning began with a Dropquote puzzle. The affective thinking lesson focused on ways to reduce stress. In Crystal Pond Woods, students developed criteria and then used an evaluation matrix to complete the decision making process. The final activity was to watch a couple of videos about different types of erosion.

Friday, April 29, 2022

3rd Grade - Today's learning began with a Quizzle or Logic Grid Puzzle. From there we moved right to our Oklahoma Road Trip lessons. We began by learning about personalized plates. Students then got to create their own license plate and tell what vehicle they would most want with the plate. We the worked together to complete a commodity in Oklahoma scavenger hunt. Students received small samples of several Oklahoma commodities.

Thursday, April 28, 2022

 State testing continued today cancelling GATE classes.

Wednesday, April 27, 2022

 Classes were canceled today due to state testing.

Tuesday, April 26, 2022

 State achievement testing continued today. Therefore there were no GATE classes.

Monday, April 25, 2022

1st Grade - These students were unable to have class this morning due to state testing.

2nd Grade - This group was able to meet for a short amount of time. We started with a logic grid puzzle. The affective lesson focused on the qualities of friends. In Crystal Pond Woods we started evaluative thinking by learning to develop measurable, observable criteria for making a decision.

Friday, April 21, 2022

3rd Grade - Today we started our learning activities with a Cryptoquote puzzle. In Crystal Pond Woods students solved Max's Fanciful Phrases which are common words or phrases put into a picture. The final activity was to build a wind powered car since we have a lot of wind in Oklahoma. 

Thursday, April 21, 2022

 5th Grade - There was no class today due to OSTP testing.

Wednesday, April 20, 2022

 4th Grade - State achievement testing began today so there was no GATE for this group.

Tuesday, April 19, 2022

3rd Grade - Students started their learning activities with a Surprise in the Middle drawing. In Crystal Pond Woods we continued Visual Thinking with a game called Numerical Quadrominoes. Our Oklahoma Road Trip had students looking for counties where certain commodities are grown. Students also received actual samples of some commodities grown in Oklahoma.

Monday, April 18, 2022

1st Grade - Today's learning activities started with a Surprise in the Middle drawing. Students have to follow verbal directions in order to reach the desired outcome. The weekly trip to Crystal Pond Woods had students sorting and using Venn diagrams again. We then started looking for patterns.

2nd Grade - This class also started with the Surprise in the Middle drawing. Their affective lesson focused on Anger. It is ok to get angry, but we have choices about how to deal with it. In Crystal Pond Woods, students were given cards with different shapes and had to sort the cards into eight groups. Once the groups were formed, they had to name the group. Our final activity was to learn about landslides and watch an experiment about landslides.

Thursday, April 14, 2022

Fifth Grade - Today students began with a Cryptogram puzzle for the warm up activity. They spent most of the rest of our time together sharing what they learned about E.coli and how to prevent it. Since this was possibly our last week together, they were able to play with Tangrams, Pentominoes, or make a bridge with K'Nex.

Wednesday, April 13, 2022

4th Grade - Students started their activities today by completing a Cryptoquotes puzzle. They spent the rest of their class time completing their WeVideo state projects.

Tuesday, April 12, 2022

3rd Grade - Students attempted to decipher a cryptogram for the warm up activity today. In Crystal Pond Woods, students solved Max's Fanciful Phrases or word winks. Students then created their own license plates for their cars. The final activity was to begin an agriculture commodities scavenger hunt where students searched for what is raised in Oklahoma

Monday, April 11, 2022

1st Grade - Today students got logged into Breakoutedu so they can play the daily lock puzzle. In Crystal Pond Woods, students sorted animals into a Venn diagram.

2nd Grade - These students also were logged into Breakoutedu and solved the daily lock puzzle. The affective lesson focused on the emotions that we feel every day. In Crystal Pond Woods students played a game similar to Dots and Boxes. The final activity was to learn some vocabulary about volcanoes.

Friday, April 8, 2022

3rd Grade - Our activities today began with a 20 Questions Mystery Object. It took some thoughtful detective work, but they figured it out. In Crystal Pond Woods, students had visual analogies to solve. The final activity was to work on their Oklahoma brochures.

Thursday, April 7, 2022

 5th Grade - Today's activities began with a Breakoutedu Lock of the Day activity. Students quickly solved today's puzzle. The leadership lesson focused on communication; both listening and giving clear instructions. The final activity was to finalize the source of the E.coli breakout, how it spread, and how to prevent it.

Wednesday, Aptil 6, 2022

4th Grade - Our activities started with a Breakoutedu Lock of the Day. Students then completed researching their states and started making videos to share what they learned.

Tuesday, April 5, 2022

3rd Grade - Today's learning began with 20 Questions and a Mystery Object which students were able to identify. In Crystal Pond Woods they used their visual thinking skills to play a game called Web Walkers. Their final activity was to build a wind powered car.

Monday, April 4, 2022

1st Grade - Today's activities started with learning how to play 20 questions to identify the Mystery Object. The affective lesson focused on helping us get to know each other. Students were to tell something about themselves for each letter of the alphabet.

2nd Grade - This class started with the Mystery Object. Then the school lost power and we had to cancel class for the day.

Friday, April 1, 2022

3rd Grade - Today's activities began with a Loosen Up lesson called Scribble Sculptures. In Crystal Pond Woods students worked with Pentominoes to complete puzzles by covering them with the different shapes. The final activity was to work on the Oklahoma Road Trip packet.

Thursday, March 31, 2022

5th Grade - Learning activities today started with a Loosen Up activity called Scribble Sculptures. The leadership lesson focused on speaking in from of others. The final activity was to work on determining the source of the E.coli for our Mystery Disease, how to stop the spread, and how to help a child that is dehydrated and has a rash from the E.coli.

Wednesday, March 30, 2022

4th Grade - Today the fourth graders received training in the WeVideo program. This provides another opportunity for students to demonstrate their knowledge about a topic.

Tuesday, March 29

3rd Grade - Today's learning began with a Loosen Up activity called Scribble Sculptures. Students scribbled on their paper then cut along some of the lines to make the longest sculpture possible. In Crystal Pond Woods students had to solve visual analogies. For the Oklahoma Road Trip, travel brochures were finished and students designed their wind powered cars.

Monday, March 28, 2022

1st Grade - These students started their learning activities with a visual thinking puzzle called Plexer or Word Wink. Each picture is a common word or phrase that students need to solve. They were logged in to Canvas this morning. Anytime they have free time they are welcome to look at the activities available and work through those. In Crystal Pond Woods, they continued to work on their detective thinking focusing on attributes today.

2nd Grade - These students also started with the Plexer puzzles. Their affective lesson focused on ways to reduce stress. In Crystal Pond Woods, they continued working on visual thinking. Today, students had to make a train of shape dominoes. The final activity was to learn a little bit about erosion.

Friday, March 25, 2022

 3rd Grade - Today's learning activities started with Plexer puzzles. These are common words or phrases put into picture form and students have to determine what the picture is saying. Students then started working on their visual thinking skills. Today's activity was to color a map using only four colors. The final activity was to complete as much of the Oklahoma Road Trip as possible

Thursday, March 24, 2022

5th Grade - These students started their activities with Plexer (common words or phrases in picture form) puzzles. The leadership lesson focused on anticipation as a leader. Finally, students acted as County Health Department inspectors trying to identify the source of the Ecoli outbreak in our made up town and how to keep it from spreading.

Wednesday, March 23, 2022

 4th Grade - These students started their GATE time by completing six Plexer puzzles together. We then got signed up for Wevideo. This is a new program the district is using to provide another option for demonstrating student work. Students will be using it more over the next few weeks. Each student then selected a state to research and spent time learning about their state.

Tuesday, March 22, 2022

3rd Grade - Today's learning activities started with Plexer puzzles. These are common words or phrases put into picture form and students have to determine what the picture is saying. We continued working on visual thinking puzzles in Crystal Pond Woods with Pentominoes. Students were given puzzles and had to cover the puzzles with pentomino pieces. The final activity was to complete any missing work in their Oklahoma Road Trip packet then work on their trip brochure.

Monday, March 21, 2022

1st Grade - This class started with a SET puzzle. Their social/emotional lesson focused on mistakes and the lessons we can learn from our mistakes. In Crystal Pond Woods, students practised detective thinking.

2nd Grade - This group also started with the game of SET. Several new students joined us this week and there were a few tasks that needed to be completed before we could move on to another lesson. The social/emotional lesson focused on stress and how to deal with it. In Crystal Pond Woods, students learned about coding/ciphering and deciphering codes. 

Thursday, March 10, 2022

5th Grade - Students started their learning activities with a game of SET. Their leadership lesson focused on active listening and how important it is especially for leaders to listen. They then built a robot from someone else's directions. Students then evaluated the directions they were given. Our final activity was to begin looking at information to discover the source of an E.coli outbreak.

Wednesday, March 9, 2022

4th Grade - After completing the game of SET for the warm up activity, students got to work on different projects for the various regions of the United States.

Tuesday, March 8, 2022

3rd Grade - This week's learning activities began with the Daily Set Puzzle. Students then started working on their visual thinking. Today's activity was to color a map using only four colors. The final activity was to complete as much of the Oklahoma Road Trip as possible so after Spring Break we can design a car for the trip.

Friday, March 4, 2022

3rd Grade - Today's learning started with a What In The World puzzle. Students were given close up views of eight items and a clue. Then had to determine the identity of each item. In Crystal Pond Woods, groups were given three sheets of 9x12" construction paper and approximately 40 inches of tape and had to build a structure that would hold a set of encyclopedias. The final activity was to spend more time on their road trip project. Today they identified what counties they will be visiting as well as the Native American territory of their cities.

Thursday, March 3, 2022

5th Grade - Learning activities today began with a Drop Quote puzzle which students quickly answered. The Leadership lesson focused on listening. Students had to close their eyes and count to a number greater than the number of students in the room without making a plan. Everyone then wrote the directions for making their robots which will be used by another class next week. The final activity was an introduction to a project based learning activity called Mystery Disease. Students today were county hospital nurses trying to determine the illness that was spreading through their town.

Wednesday, March 2, 2022

4th Grade - Today's learning began with a logic grid puzzle which students were able to solve. They completed the southeast region project and will select a region of their choice to complete for next week.

Tuesday, March 1, 2022

3rd Grade - Today's activities began with a Dropquote puzzle which students completed in quicktime. In Crystal Pond Woods, students learned to use webbing as a method of brainstorming. The rest of class time was spent working to complete the activities in the current Oklahoma Road Trip packet.

Monday, February 28, 2022

1st Grade - This class met for the first time today. Our activities began with a Dropquote puzzle which they completed very well. Students were then introduced to Dudley the Detective where they began working on Convergent thinking skills.

2nd Grade - These students also started with a Dropquote puzzle on which they did extremely well. The affective thinking lesson focused on saying kind things because successful people demonstrate kindness. In Crystal Pond Woods, students continued visual thinking with Yolanda the Yarnspinner turning nursery rhymes into figural puzzles. The final activity was to study erosion caused by volcanoes.

Tuesday, February 22, 2022

3rd Grade - Today's learning started with a What In The World puzzle. Students were given close up views of eight items and a clue. Then had to determine the identity of each item. In Crystal Pond Woods, groups were given three sheets of 9x12" construction paper and approximately 40 inches of tape and had to build a structure that would hold a set of encyclopedias. The final activity was to spend more time on their road trip project. Today they identified 10 items they would put into a suitcase, identify what they would spend with $100 for the trip, and figure how expensive their trip would be.

Friday, February 18, 2022

3rd Grade - Today's activities began with a logic elimination puzzle. In Crystal Pond Woods we continued working on Divergent Thinking. Students were given an answer and had to come up with the question. For the Oklahoma Road Trip project, students completed figuring the mileage of their trip and listed landmarks and/or landforms they would see along the way.

Thursday, February 17, 2022

5th Grade - Their activities began with a logic grid puzzle. The leadership lesson focused on the necessity of communication in leadership. Students finally had to opportunity to build their robots. Next week they will write the directions for building their robots.

Wednesday, February 16, 2022

4th Grade - There was no GATE today in order to complete 2nd Grade CoGAT makeup tests. Our normal schedule will resume next week.

Tuesday, February 15, 2022

3rd Grade - Today's activities began with a logic elimination puzzle. In Crystal Pond Woods we continued working on Divergent Thinking. Students were given an answer and had to come up with the question. For the Oklahoma Road Trip project, students listed landmarks and/or landforms they would see along the way, what counties they would be visiting, and what native american territories they would be visiting.

Monday, February 14, 2022

2nd Grade - Today's learning started with a logic elimination grid puzzle and a What In The World puzzle to solve. The What In The World puzzle was quickly solved, but we needed help with the logic puzzle today. The affective lesson focused on acts of kindness. In Crystal Pond Woods we started working on visual thinking skills with Tangrams. In our Erosion lesson we did an experiment about landslides and learned about volcanoes.

Friday, February 11, 2022

Third Grade - These students started today's activities with a Surprise in the Middle drawing. Students had to listen to oral directions in order to get the desired outcome.  For our divergent thinking lesson, we started with a couple of brainstorming topics. Students were then given simple drawings and had to brainstorm a caption for each drawing. Each student then created their own drawing and caption. Students learned about chain reaction contraptions, Rube Goldberg, watched a Rube Goldberg chain reaction contraption video, then designed and "built" a chain reaction contraption of their own that would crack open Isabel the Inventor's acorns. 

Thursday, February 10, 2022

5th Grade - Students' began their time in GATE with a Stories with Holes problem to solve. The leadership lesson focused on the understanding that leaders demonstrate kindness, caring and encouragement. Each student had to write a kind, encouraging note to the other students in class. For the Space unit, students completed their brochures or WeVideos of the made up planets. The final activity was to plan and design a robot or rover that they will build next week.

Wednesday, February 9, 2022

4th Grade - Today's learning activities began with a Stories with Holes problem. By asking 20 yes or no questions students were able to get the clues to solve the problem. Students then worked individually on a study of the Southeast Region of the USA.

Monday, February 7, 2022

 It was good to be back to school after an unexpected break due to the weather. Here's what we did today:

2nd Grade - Our activities began by solving a logic elimination puzzle. The affective lesson focused on the caring aspect of successful people. Today we studied the Pledge of Allegiance then wrote pledges we could keep. In Crystal Pond Woods we finished our Divergent Thinking lessons by taking a noun and a verb then inventing something from those two words. The final activity was to begin our study of Erosion. Today our focus was on the difference between quick and slow erosion.

Tuesday, February 1, 2022

 Third Grade - Student activities started with a Stories with Holes problem. First, students had to identify the key problem, then they could ask 20 yes or no questions until they reached a solution. In Crystal Pond Woods, students learned about chain reaction contraptions, Rube Goldberg, watched a Rube Goldberg chain reaction contraption video, then designed and "built" a chain reaction contraption of their own that would crack open Isabel the Inventor's acorns. The final activity was to figure the mileage between the towns they want to visit for their Oklahoma Road trip.

Monday, January 31, 2022

2nd Grade - Today's learning began with students trying to solve the Stories with Holes problem. They did discover the answer. The affective lesson focused on how we can demonstrate caring by including others. Today was the last day of the Exploravision project. Students completed their web pages and the abstract.

Friday, January 28, 2022

Third Grade - Today's activities began with a Cryptogram. We began learning about Divergent thinking and brainstorming in Crystal Pond Woods. For the Oklahoma Road Trip students found six places they would like to visit (one for each country of Oklahoma). They then put those places into an order that would make the quickest trip possible.

Thursday, January 27, 2022

Fifth Grade - Our activities today started with a Surprise in the Middle drawing. Students had to listen to verbal directions in order to gain the desired picture. This was also an exercise in creativity as students could add any details they wished when the instructions were complete. The Leadership lesson focused on making choices based on their values and gut instinct/intuition. Finally, students spent time completing their project about an imaginary planet they invented.

Wednesday, January 26, 2022

Fourth Grade - These students started today's activities with a Surprise in the Middle drawing. Students had to listen to oral directions in order to get the desired outcome. The rest of class time was spent learning and researching about the Southeast region of the United States.

Tuesday, January 25, 2022

Third Grade - These students started their activities with a Surprise in the Middle drawing. Students had to listen to oral directions in order to get the desired outcome. For our divergent thinking lesson, we started with a couple of brainstorming topics. Students were then given simple drawings and had to brainstorm a caption for each drawing. Each student then created their own drawing and caption. The final activity was to finalize six towns to visit in Oklahoma, one in each "country," then begin figuring the mileage of the trip.

Monday, January 24, 2022

2nd Grade - Today's activities began with a Surprise in the Middle drawing. Students had to listen to some verbal instructions in order to complete the picture. This helps develops a student's ability to listen and follow directions. The affective lesson focused on the generalization the successful people are caring and that it is OK to be different. Students drew pictures of themselves and how they are different from their classmates. The final activity was to focus on getting the written components of the Exploravision project completed. Next week we will complete the Exploravision project by developing a website for our invention.

Friday, January 21, 2022

Third Grade - These students started the day by identifying the Mystery Object for the warm up activity. The convergent thinking activity was to use manipulatives to complete the logic puzzles instead of the usual x's and o's. Students then researched  unusual symbols of Oklahoma. 

In order to catch up a little bit with the other third grade groups due to our unexpected day off last week, We revisited Crystal Pond Woods where we started working on Divergent thinking. In Divergent thinking students want to come up with as many ideas as possible so we practiced brainstorming different topics with a new game from our friend Isabel the Inventor.

Thursday, January 20, 2022

5th Grade - We started our learning activities today by completing a Cryptogram puzzle. The leadership lesson focused on leaving a good first impression, giving second chances, and not labeling others. The rest of class time was spent completing brochures for their made up planets.

Wednesday, January 19, 2022

 4th Grade - Students started today by completing a Cryptogram puzzle. We then worked to finish the 50 state Fun Facts. Our final activity was to complete the Northeast Region of the United States.

Tuesday, January 18, 2022

 Third Grade - Today's activities began with a Cryptogram. We began learning about Divergent thinking and brainstorming in Crystal Pond Woods. For the Oklahoma Road Trip students found six places they would like to visit (one for each country of Oklahoma). They then put those places into an order that would make the quickest trip possible.

Thursday, January 13, 2022

5th Grade - Students began their activities by identifying the Mystery Object. The leadership lesson focused on the idea that leaders provide encouragement to their followers. Most of the rest of our time was spent researching a planet. Then each student created their own planet and prepared to make a brochure that would convince others to visit their planet.

Wednesday, January 12, 2022

4th Grade - Students started their activities today by identifying the Mystery Object. As part of the Regions and Resources project students worked to find the state that matched an interesting fact then completed a breakout room about the 50 states and the different regions of our country.

Tuesday, January 11, 2022

Third Grade - These students started the day by identifying the Mystery Object for the warm up activity. The convergent thinking activity was to use manipulatives to complete the logic puzzles instead of the usual x's and o's. We then finished building the maps for our Oklahoma boxes and completed searching for unusual symbols of Oklahoma.

Monday, January 10, 2021

 2nd Grade - Our first activity today was the Mystery Object game. Students asked questions to identify an unusual object. The affective lesson focused on the generalization that successful people demonstrate courage. To illustrate this students drew a shield, colored it and added tincture just like the knights of old. In Crystal Pond Woods, students were given a common object and then had to SCAMPER it to invent something new. The final activity was to work on the Exploravision project completing three more sections today.

Friday, January 7, 2022

3rd Grade - We started our activities today with a Loosen Up drawing. Students then solved six other classmates' logic puzzles. Our study of Oklahoma began with a quick overview of the geography of Oklahoma, followed by students coloring the six countries of our state. Each student then put those countries onto an Oklahoma box. These boxes will help us as we look at different cities, commodities, and sites to visit around Oklahoma.

Thursday, January 6, 2022

 5th Grade - Students began their learning activities with a Loosen Up drawing. Verbal instructions and students had to follow them in order to complete the picture. This was an exercise in following the directions and creativity. The leadership lesson focused on the ideas of leadership vocabulary and communication. The final activity was the Space project. Students experimented with three different candy bars to determine their identity. With the remaining time they researched a planet and dwarf planet.

Wednesday, January 5, 2022

 4th Grade - These students started their learning activities with a Loosen Up drawing. This is an exercise in following directions as well as creativity. Students then spent time researching some fun facts about the fifty states. We will continue to work on this over the next few weeks. The final activity was to begin looking at the Northeast region of the United States as we started our Regions and Resources project.

Tuesday, January 4, 2022

 Welcome Back!

3rd Grade - We started our activities today with a Loosen Up drawing. Students then solved six other classmates' logic puzzles. Our study of Oklahoma began with students looking up five unusual symbols of Oklahoma: such as the state vegetable. There was a quick overview of the geography of Oklahoma, followed by students coloring the six countries of our state. Each student will then put those countries onto an Oklahoma box. These boxes will help us as we look at different cities, commodities, and sites to visit around Oklahoma.