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4th Grade - Sep 4
4th Grade - Sep 4
This week, the 4th graders started their day with their Question of the Day: Is it good or bad to be busy? The students had some really insightful things to share that I think would be invaluable for families to discuss with their children. Some of the points students brought up that stood out to me were that a sibling's busy schedule can negatively affect younger siblings, doing too many things they enjoy can make everything more stressful, and being too busy negatively affects their sleep and eating. We talked about how as they get older, they may need help examining their values with their family members and deciding what is most important.
Next, the students reviewed a dozen scenarios and decided if they were fair or unfair. They discussed with their tablemates and then as a whole class. Lastly, the students were introduced to our four main vocabulary words for the Ethics unit: ethics, morality, values, and dilemma. We will dive deeper into these words and their meanings next week.
3rd Grade - Sep 5
3rd Grade - Sep 5
This week was another orientation week to our theme of Transformation. We started with our Question of the Day: Is being busy good or bad? The students had a bit of trouble connecting the topic to their real lives at first, so they tried to remember a day or a weekend where they were super busy going from school to activities nonstop. They said that days like that can be fun, but if they happened over and over it would get stressful. They thought that when they get older and their siblings get older with busier schedules, that being busy could become very stressful and impact sleeping and eating. Right now, many of them enjoy being busy. 🙂
We also did a couple creativity challenges where students got to practice their creativity and teamwork. They used OuiSi photo cards to build webs and chains of connections between different objects, and they practiced transforming random squiggles into new drawings.
The students also established their Book Creator portfolios for the year and got refreshed on how to add and edit images, text, and videos. The portfolios are where students will reflect upon and share highlights of their GATE work. I recommend that you check their portfolios regularly or at least every quarter around report card time. Some families have their student go through the portfolios and show and explain their work and reflections as a sort of student-led conference, which is a great way for children to take ownership of their work!
Since we had indoor recess today, the 3rd graders got a lot of time to socialize and try out classroom materials. Several students did some exploratory sewing projects, a group invented their own new game, and some students played a new classroom game called MonDRAWsity, which was purchased from our Classroom Amazon Wishlist! Thank you so much to the parent that got it for us! It has been a huge hit so far.
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.
2nd Grade - Sep 6
2nd Grade - Sep 6
Today the 2nd graders dove into their wonder (hey, that's this year's theme!) by exploring patterns in nature. We started by checking out a video on the Fibonacci sequence and the golden ratio and reading Mysterious Patterns: Finding Fractals in Nature. Then, we headed outside to the school garden to find examples of fractals, Fibonacci numbers, spirals, and repeating patterns. The students learned that the Fibonacci numbers show up so often due to plant stems generally being circular and leaves and petals organizing to maximize their exposure to the sun's light.
After lunch, students had a refresher lesson on how to edit their Book Creator portfolios. The portfolios are where students will reflect upon and share highlights of their GATE work. I recommend that you check their portfolios regularly or at least every quarter around report card time. Some families have their student go through the portfolios and show and explain their work and reflections as a sort of student-led conference, which is a great way for children to take ownership of their work! I will share the portfolios next week after the students add their most recent Fibonacci work to their books.
A fractal is a
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]
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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