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1st Grade- Mar 24
1st Grade- Mar 24
Today was the first day of our STEM career unit! We were visited by Andrea Courtney, the hydro licensing lead at Idaho Power. She shared about her career as an environmental lawyer and a judge and introduced the students to how sometimes people need help solving environmental disputes. She did a fantastic job at connecting her work to a 1st grader's experiences. She then led a lab that showed how pollution can be tricky to detect, which connected to one of the case studies she shared. The students used their senses to see how "pollutants" such as vinegar, food coloring, and salt are detected in different ways.
In addition to Andrea's lesson, the students were also introduced to the word "watershed." They created miniature landscapes using craft paper, added colorful "snow", and watched the "spring melt" create rivers and lakes on their landscape. We talked about how pollutants at the top of a watershed can impact people and animals downstream.
After Andrea's visit, the students worked on group reflections at our stand whiteboards and made a visitor thank you note.
To finish the day, the students were introduced to a math game that we called pollution versus clean-up. The students had two dice and a number line stretching from -10 to 10. One person rolled the die representing positive integers (cleaning up) and the other rolled the die representing negative integers (pollutants). Starting at 0, they took turns rolling their die and adding or subtracting their roll. They used a marker or their finger to keep track of the number. If the marker reached -10, pollutants won. If the number reached +10, the cleaners won. We will try this game again next week.
5th Grade - Mar 25
5th Grade - Mar 25
This week, the 5th graders started the day with a very in depth discussion surround the Question of the Day: What do you do when you miss work in your regular class. The students discussed communication, self-advocacy, and time management strategies. Based on their discourse, I presented later in the day about some specific strategies they could test out to improve the GATE-regular class divide some of them are struggling with. We discussed proactive communication with teachers, creating a "missed work plan", and managing workload and responsibility. I also offered students the option to beta-test a Missed Work Plan to help them organize and prioritize missed learning from the regular classroom. I will keep copies of this document available for students to use as a tool, and regular teachers/parents are welcome to encourage their students to use it/adapt it as well!
The bulk of the day was spent continuing work on Genius Hour projects. The students were able to finish up the research stage of the projects today and will have the next 2-3 classes to put together their projects. I am completing regular check in with students, but check in at home are helpful as well. Questions to ask are: How are you ensuring that your project is putting you in the learning pit? How are you tracking your research progress on the Google Classroom slideshow assignment? Do you need to bring any materials or prep anything at home before the next class? How will you present your research and project in an engaging way? For students working with partners: how are you dividing the labor and ensuring your work is set to a high standard.
Self_Advocacy_for_Gifted_Students_v2.pptx4th Grade - Mar 26
4th Grade - Mar 26
Today the 4th graders started their day with academic discourse. Today's Question of the Day was "Which Habit of Mind is most helpful for the hero's journey project. The students talked a lot about the need of Persistence when working or such a huge undertaking. Several groups also argued the Striving for Accuracy was the most important Habit because you can always keep tweaking your work to make it more successful. I then shared some elements of George Lucas' Star Wars and we talked about how even the best storytellers have to revise, simplify, and feedback on their work.
The bulk of the day was spent continuing the hero's journey story crafting and revising. Most students received detailed feedback from me, and several students received a mini-lesson on punctuating dialogue. We will be finishing up these projects in the next week or two. The students have been remarkably on task throughout this project, which makes my job a lot of fun!
3rd Grade - Mar 27
3rd Grade - Mar 27
Today, the 3rd graders started a new unit on Light and Vision. The unit will have them exploring the electromagnetic spectrum, light physics, eye anatomy, and photography. The unit will culminate with an optional cow eyeball dissection!
Today we just work on wrapping our minds around what photons are and how they move. Students learned that electromagnetic radiation is everywhere but we can only see a small percentage of it. We can only see the visible light spectrum which is EM radiation that has a specific range of energy. That energy can be measured by observing the frequency of the wavelength the photons are traveling. They designed their own demonstrations to show how light travels in a straight line (while vibrating at its specific wave length.) They check out videos about the EM spectrum, pondered critical thinking problems about the nature of light, and built wave models with pipe cleaners and jump ropes.
Next week, they will build pinhole cameras that will get them thinking about how light moves and how the eye receives light.
2nd Grade - Mar 28
2nd Grade - Mar 28
Today was a bit of a chaotic catch-up day due to having to be flexible with Valentine's Day absences a few weeks back. Many students were able to finish their Wonders of the World agamograph art pieces today and complete the unit reflection in their digital portfolios linked below. Students who did not finish will have some time to work next week, but they may need to dedicate part of their Choice Time or work outside of class to finish it up.
Next week we will start our final unit of the year where students will be learning about how to create a professional slide show, compare and contrast Earth and Mars, and design a Mars habitation site using the LAUNCH Cycle.
Donation Link & Amazon Wishlist
Donation Link & Amazon Wishlist
If you would like to help fund our tech needs, supplies for students, brain puzzles, etc, please click on the link below to donate to my Boise Foundation Account. You can also check out our Amazon Wishlist.
Secure quick link to the class Foundation Account donation page
Parent Lending Library
Parent Lending Library
The Boise School District has a Parent Lending Library to help educate, inform, and support parents as they raise gifted children. If you are looking for my information related to parenting gifted children, please reach out to Helga Frankenstein, GATE Supervisor, (helga.frankenstein@boiseschools.org) for more information.
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