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6th Grade - Sep 9
6th Grade - Sep 9
This week, the 6th graders continued their Leadership Introductory Unit. Today's main leadership challenge was to work with a team to create a team flag, mascot, and chant. They then learned about the Powerful Youth 5 Practices of Exemplary Leadership. They practiced identifying known figures in their lives that exhibit these practices and then created a personal leadership profile where they identified an area or two that comes naturally to them. They also recognized some of there practices in their classmates and provided feedback and evidence to support the information they shared. This evidence and feedback will continue to be bolstered for the next couple weeks as they recognize these practices in themselves and others. At the end of the unit, they will have clear data to support their personal leadership strengths and places to work on.
While the Lowell students were at math class, the other students discussed the Question of the Day: Is being busy good or bad? The 6th graders mostly thought that as long as you are mindful to schedule regular rest days and centering activities and family time, life is more fun when you are busy. They agreed that weekends are the best time for rest but that many of them have very full weekend schedules. As sports become more involved and school becomes more challenging, students and mentors will need to be more mindful to plan rest into busy schedules. It's easy for ambitious, talented kids to get in over their head and fall into the trap of burnout.
Examples of Leadership Profiles in Progress
5th Grade - Sep 10
5th Grade - Sep 10
This week, the 5th graders started with the Question of the Day: What are the pros and cons of working with different types of people? Most students agreed that it is best to work with friends sometimes and unfamiliar students other times.
Next they critiqued and edited the professional emails they wrote last class. A couple students volunteered for their emails to be edited by the whole class, which takes a lot of courage! The students also analyzed the responses that some of their previous email received and discussed why some people might use professional email formatting and some people disregard (or don't know) the conventions.
They then crafted responses to the messages they received from local professionals, and some tried their hand at a check-in email if their initial message didn't receive a response.
The students finished the day by brainstorming with their environmental PSA film teams and creating a triple or quadruple bubble map comparing and contrasting the interests of their teammates.
Next week, students will select their PSA topics and begin the research and script writing process.
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 - Sep 11
4th Grade - Sep 11
Today the 4th graders continued their Ethics study. To start, the Question of the Day was: How do you decide what to do when you have an ethical dilemma? The students needed the term "ethical dilemma" clarified mid conversation. They realized that a dilemma is when you are having a hard time making a decision ("Do I play soccer or basketball at recess?? I love them both!") but an ethical dilemma deals with right/wrong and fair/unfair. ("I really want to play soccer but I promised my friend that I would play basketball with her. What should I do?")
After Question of the Day, we touched back to the vocabulary words of ethics, morality, values, and dilemma. The students created a practice tool with the words' definitions and drawings to represent the words.
The students then learned about or built upon their prior knowledge of multi-flow thinking maps, which show cause and effect relationships graphically. They used a multi-flow map to think through the effects of making an ethical versus and unethical choice in a randomly assigned ethical dilemma. They then used their maps as a guide to act out their scenario for the class. Here is the full list of ethical dilemmas if you would like to practice thinking through more scenarios at home.
3rd Grade - Sep 12
3rd Grade - Sep 12
This week, the 3rd graders did their final introductory day and got a refresher on the Learning Pit. We dove deep into this analogy that serves as a district-wide set of language for discussing the relationship between challenge and learning. The Question of the Day discussion asked about what comes naturally and what is challenging for students and the emotions and process surrounding these areas of life. The students thought that practice is best way to get better at something challenging. They also thought that it isn't realistic to try to be perfect, but that improving makes you feel good about yourself.
The students really connected with this video about overcoming obstacles. They recognized some of their visible obstacles (ie. being small in stature) and invisible obstacles (suffering from anxiety) and thought that with the right tools and practice, they can overcome them and prove negative voices wrong.
The students created a new page in their portfolios explaining the difference between the Learning Puddle, The Learning Pit, and the Learning Abyss. We talked about how this year they will practice choosing appropriately challenging work for their abilities. The goal isn't to get done first or to create a mind-bending manifesto, but to be challenged and use the majority of the time provided. You can check out their portfolios linked below.
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 13
2nd Grade - Sep 13
Today the 2nd graders started their day with a pine cone hunt. We walked around the school yard and picked out the best pine cones we could find. Back at the classroom, students traced the spiraling petals on the cones and discovered that they all had a Fibonacci number of spirals no matter which direction they were traced! Next the students were given a blank Pascal's Sierpinski Triangle. They completed increasingly difficult addition problems to fill in the triangle. Several students were so excited about this math that they took their work to recess on clipboards! Next week, we will continue to analyze the triangle to discover even more wonders, specifically on the Sierpinsky side of things...
We finished the day with a portfolio reflection and Choice Time. You can check out your 2nd grader's reflection videos at the Portfolio Library Link at the bottom of this post. At Choice Time, many students enjoyed two new activities purchased by a parent from our classroom Amazon Wishlist, Cat Crimes and a rubber band loom set. Thank you!
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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