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6th Grade - Sep 30
6th Grade - Sep 30
Today in class, the 6th graders started off by giving the marshmallow tower challenge one more try, this time implementing some of the leadership strategies they have been learning about the last few weeks. All students completed Intro to Leadership unit reflects in their digital portfolios linked at the bottom of today's update.
While the Lowell students left for math class, the other student worked to help generate the Learning Goals and Success Criteria for their local leadership project. It was a bit like pulling teeth to get this sleepy crew to share out ideas, so we enlisted the educational AI platform Khanmigo to help us develop the requirements for the project. The project will involve each student sending a professional email to a local adult in an industry that interests them, interview that adult asking questions about their career and the role of leadership in their profession, create a presentation about the industry, and plan a field trip or two that help the class get a hands-on experience in several of the careers.
The class spent the afternoon learning how to format a professional email and drafting emails to their professionals. I will send the emails out on behalf of the students this week, so hopefully by next Monday they will have responses and be able to get started on their research and interview questions!
5th Grade - Oct 1
5th Grade - Oct 1
Today the 5th graders were able to start of their environmental PSA projects! We started by watching lots of sample PSA and taking notes on their length, background and sound effects, scripts, tone, copy, and calls to action. The class used those observations to create success guidelines for their PSAs.
Then the students worked with their teams to brainstorm PSA ideas for 10 different topics in order to expand their thinking. They eventually selected their favorite topic and got to work on brainstorming, script writing, and storyboarding their plans.
Next week, groups will start prop-making, filming, and editing their projects! We hope to get the PSA ready to be added to the school morning news show in the next few weeks!
Click through the photo carousel below or click the post to view directly on Instagram.
Click through the photo carousel below or click the post to view directly on Instagram.
4th Grade - Oct 2
4th Grade - Oct 2
Today the students started their final project to wrap up their into to ethics unit. Each student chose an activist/advocate to research. They will turn their research into a product to help teach their classmates about the person. Student were given some options on an Epic Books library or they could chose someone completely of their own choice. Research is being conducted on the district approved Epic Books and World Book Kids Encyclopedia. If a student requires information from a different source, I will help them find credible, safe sources.
Next week, students will finish, present their research, and add their projects to their digital portfolios. They will also complete their post-assessment to show growth on the depth of their thinking as they answer the question "What is 'fair'?"
We will study the human brain next, so if you have any expertise in brain science and would like to be a guest at any point before the new year, please let me know!
3rd Grade - Oct 3
3rd Grade - Oct 3
Question of the Day: How do you make a new friend?
Today, the 3rd graders continued plugging away at their Invention Convention work. Our plan was to move on to patent research today, but we still have about half of the class that is struggling to feel confident in their invention ideas. This is a BIG challenge for the perfectionists in our crew. A handful of students need to spend some time brainstorming this week and come to class next Thursday with a list of ideas, at least 3 of which they are interested in enough in to do patent research. Please ask your 3rd grader if they have a top 3 list of ideas. If not, here are some resources and ideas to help them brainstorm:
Use this site or something similar to inspire combination inventions. (ie if you roll a fork and a bracelet, maybe the student thinks of a slap bracelet form for when you have to eat on the go.)
Brainstorm a list of people in their life and struggles they have. How could they create something to help.
The Jules Verne category at Invention Convention is usually lacking in entries... Can they think of something super futuristic or space-related to invent that helps people survive on Mars? A low-gravity game for astronauts to play?
The Games and Gadgets category is also often lacking entries... Do they have an idea for a fun car, yard, or tabletop game?
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2nd Grade - Oct 4
2nd Grade - Oct 4
This week, the 2nd graders dove back into their work with patterns and fractals. We analyzed Pascal's Triangle from a few weeks ago and discovered that the Fibonacci sequence is embedded into the mathmatical pattern! Oddly enough, if you color in all of the odd numbers in Pascal's triangle, it create the Sierpinski Triangle pattern (see below.) The students watched a fascinating video on the Chaos Game, which tied in even more awe inspiring connections to nature and math.
We then broke out some rulers and tried our hand at drawing our own Sierpinski Triangles. This was a big challenge for most of the students, but they tried, failed, tried again, and ended up with a pretty mesmerizing group art piece at the end.
The next time we meet (October 25th) we will finish up our Intro to Wonder unit by attempting to build a Sierpinski Tetrahedron!
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.
A Special Note
A Special Note
Some of the district's other pull out GATE programs serve higher-need communities and aren't able to secure many funds for their programs due to the nature of voluntary donation systems. These teachers regularly pay for project supplies out of their own pockets. If you feel led to donate, please consider blessing these deserving students and teachers by giving to their programs. A few Lowell families donated to these programs last year, and they made a huge difference! Lowell family donations were actually the ONLY donations Garfield received last year. Thank you so much!
The programs most in need are [GARFIELD/GATE/TUCKER,KATIE], [PIERCEPARK/GATE/ALEXANDER,LEONA], and [MOUNTAINVIEW/GATE/WELLER,LYNNETTE]
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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