Welcome to our Newest Kinder GT LEADers!

KINDERGARTEN - THEME: RELATIONSHIPS

On the first day of Kinder GT LEAD, students got to know each other through a Name Game. They also learned about Point of View (Multiple Perspectives) through a book titled, Duck! Rabbit! by Rosenthal and Lictencheld. Lastly, they engaged in a creative thinking activity of looking at pictures/illusions that could be two different things. They are continuing to practice multiple perspectives and learn about ethics with the book Where the Wild Things , as well as looking at things from a bird's eye view.

KAPLAN'S DEPTH & COMPLEXITY ICONS -- All grade levels are using the icons below to add deeper thinking and new discoveries.

1ST GRADE - THEME: CONTRIBUTION

First Graders have been practicing adding and subtracting through an activity called Math Paths as a warm-up activity. Some are using manipulatives as the problems get harder. Students are also learning about soil, earthworms, and layers of soil, and by doing so, students are taking observational notes (DETAILS) and drawing conclusions (BIG IDEAS). They also continue to code through Code.org. Lastly, students practiced probability with a story called Caps for Sale. They tried to find as many possibilities for the order of different colors of caps. The most was 24 possibilities.

Collaborating to Find the Most Possibilities of the Order of Colors of Caps

2ND GRADE LEADERS - SYSTEMS

Second Graders have been learning about endangered species/extinction, the causes of extinction, and the implications of a creature that is endangered. They also looked at sample of disarticulated bones to see if they could figure out what type of creature it was from the layout of the bones (Bottlenose Dolphin, Harpy Eagle, and a squirrel). Then, they engaged in a Creative Problem Solving (CPS) challenge pretending to be archeologists that have discovered a new creature that is extinct. They collaborated with a partner to determine the if the creature was a mammal, amphibian, bird, reptile, or fish. They decided what the unique characteristics were for this creature, as well as its name, and habitat. Lastly, they came up with a reason why it became extinct...what caused a life source to be eliminated and why that creature needed that lifesource.

The next step in the CPS challenge was designing and building it with a partner. The final step will be presenting their creature to the class and putting this into Seesaw Slides.

3RD GRADE - POWER

Third Grade LEADers have been engaged learning about codes, specifically encoding and decoding to solve a mystery. Specifically, students are divided into teams where each received a secret message to encode using either a Cypher Wheel, Number Code, or Secret Word Codes. Next, they tried to solve other teams codes in order to solve a mystery. They asked yes/no questions to deduce and break codes, and they had learn about letter frequency and which words to try to tackle first in cracking codes. By focusing in on details and strategies, they became successful code crackers. They will also learn about other types of code, Morse and Navajo Language that were used in times of war. They also made connections with the importance of secret passwords for technology, as well as writing code using Code.org.

4TH GRADE - EXPLORATIONS

For the last month, Fourth Grade Leaders have been learning about Rube Goldberg and his complex contraptions /designs to complete simple tasks. Students also learned that colleges today still have Rube competitions in their STEM/Engineering studies. We also see Rube thinking in commercials and videos. People are fascinated with cause and effect and how things work.

Students learned about the Honda Cog Commercial and how many "takes" and tweaks it took to complete over several years. This supports our theme of exploration, as students explore the many possibilities in designing and building Marble Run Contraptions that perform simple tasks. It also supports our Cause and Effect thinking we have been exploring through personal attributes in past projects to tangible machines. Students thoroughly enjoyed designing, building, tweaking over and over again, and presenting their Marble Runs made out of recyclable materials. They learned Force and Motion Vocabulary, as well as applied Newton's 3 Laws of Motion when presenting their marble runs.

This project brought lessons in perseverance, teamwork, working under a time crunch, and the realization that one may never be finished, as the possibilities are endless.

5TH GRADE - CHANGE

5th Graders researched and presented their SPARK Talks on topics about which they were passionate or had a high interest. Each student completed a mini research on a topic, and they built Google Slides that had the following components: Intro/Hook, Personal Connection, Heart of Talk (why), Points of Most Significance, Statistics/Quotes/Charts to support argument, Ways to Help or How it relates to one's future, and Charities/Organizations that provide us ways to help or to learn more.

The purpose of the talks was to bring awareness, show us how to help, persuade us why it's necessary to care about a topic, and/or to tell us how this topic leads to a personal goal for the future (i.e. being a doctor, interested in pursuing a career in design, wanting a future career that relates to a topic).

Then, students practiced using their google slides and presenting to reach a goal of a 3 to 5 minute presentation. They knew during the research period that they needed enough information to get to this time limit. So during the practice period, if they did not hit 3 minutes, it was a sign to gather more information. Some students took it to the next level and practiced at home in front of a mirror and/or in front of parents to gain confidence, to know their topics, and to feel prepared. This is the lesson in a nutshell and one I hope they take with them to middle school.

On the actual day of the presentation, students used the large universal display to share their slides while using their own chromebook to look at slides and speaker notes. The audience wrote compliment cards and shared those.

Lastly, students watched their own presentations and graded themselves using a rubric on Content, Visual Aid, and Presentation. They then compared it to my rubric to see if our scores matched. Lastly, students wrote reflections about their strengths, favorite compliments, struggles, and future presentation goals.

Next ,students will use Depth and Complexity Icons to analyze sports/games and probability.