The 1st graders started their morning with another round of brain teasers and visual puzzles. Several of the puzzles the students worked on dealt with identifying shapes and figures with mirror symmetry, which came into play later in the afternoon. We also talked about why it is good to try challenging things and how it feels in our heads and our hearts when we try something difficult. We want to practice feeling ambitious and tenacious when we face challenges, knowing it is okay to not be a professional right from the start.

In the afternoon, we started a mini-unit on Basque culture. Most of our students hadn't heard of the Basque culture before. We made a circle map of what types of elements make up a culture and generated a list of things we wonder about the Basque culture. We then checked out Day One from this slideshow to start learning some basics about Basque history. Students also began to learn about wool. They reverse engineered a piece of yarn and even got to look at it under a microscope to see how it is made of millions of tiny fibers.

At the end of the presentation, the students learned about the symbolism of the Basque flag. They then designed a flag to represent their values and practiced sewing pieces of felt together to create their personal flag. Some students created designs that incorporated mirror symmetry. Students were required to sew at least one shape onto their flag, and some students will finish their flags next week. I was really impressed with the tenacity the students practiced when trying the new skill of sewing. The more our GATE kiddos can practice challenging work in a safe environment, the more determination they will develop and be able to put to use when facing future challenges.