The 4th graders started their day with some time to update and polish their digital portfolios. The portfolios will be available to share with parents and guardians after next week's class when they complete their reflections and goals. The portfolios will focus on their work with the brain and their study of ethics.
Later in the morning, the students had some time to challenge their brains with some awesome visual and geometric puzzles and games. I was super impressed by the tenacity the students showed when working on some pretty difficult challenges!
To finish the day, students were introduced to a poetry memorization challenge. They were given 7 diverse poets' biographies and used their interest in the poets' stories to chose their favorite writer. Then, they chose their favorite of that poet's poems (from a selection I curated) and will work to memorize it. This will be a practice that we circle back to over their last semester in GATE in ensure the poem is in the students' long term memory. We will also examine the merits or poetry memorization, poetry interpretation, and poetry creation. To check out the poets and poems the students chose from, click here.
**I will add more photos later. For some reason my phone and computer are having trouble communicating today!
Thank you so much to everyone that has donated to the GATE classroom! There have been several anonymous donors who don't get to receive a fun thank you card in the mail, so please know how much we appreciate your generosity. We have already been able to get power tools, craft supplies, and TONS of Lego bricks! Two new drones will also be added to our fleet in time for the 5th/6th grade drone programming project!
As we begin our school year and face new challenges, we are seeking new ways to enrich your child's education both in person and virtually. Our current wish list includes a set of classroom cameras, a Tello drone kit, Rubiks Cubes, graphic novels, and more enriching art and tech! Please click on the link below to donate to my Boise Foundation Account.
(I'll start posting as soon as I have confirmed which students from each school are on the No Photo List. Thanks for your patience!)