News Features
Mrs. Russell's Friends
December 2023
What does practicing the 4 C's
~Communication, Collaboration, Critical Thinking & Creativity~
look like in the GT Classroom?
1ST GRADE
Students will use imagination and creativity to construct a collaborative Lego dream playground and replicate the Watts Towers, a National Landmark.
How can my dreams and ideas leave a legacy?
Students will enter the project phase of the Dream Something Big Unit. After being introduced to Simon Rodia, a real life immigrant who built the Watts Towers with his own hands out of randomly collected materials, students build their own creations from various materials, too.
Dream Playground Under Construction
Watts Towers Replicas Under Construction
2ND GRADE
Students will discuss results and trends from the garbage car testing phase of the engineering process.
How can I better solve future challenges by reflecting on the engineering process?
Students document Garbage Car "trends" as they reflect on what worked and what didn't work in the line of completed and tested cars. Students also prepare for 2 upcoming events: Guest speaker Chad Cormack, a civil engineer and their very own speaking panel of mechanical and automotive engineers.
Testing the Car for
Functionality and Safety
Student Project Reflections
2nd Grade Parents will soon receive an invite to hear more about the results right from the little engineers' mouths! :)
3RD GRADE
Students will develop a mystery mindset by asking questions and being curious about odd situations.
How can critical thinking skills help me discover the answer to a mystery?
Students will utilize their critical thinking skills to think like a detective. Students will work and collaborate with a partner to solve a mysteries. The end product will be a mystery box designed by each student containing 5 clues to a famous person.
Getting in the Mystery Mindset
Students Solve Brain Teasers:
Mystery Pictures, Which One Doesn't Belong? & Analogies
Missing Information Problem
(The Bowel Was Not Visible to Students):
Your teacher brings a candy bowl into class.
How many pieces of candy are in the bowl?
What questions does this problem bring to mind?
Is it important to ask good questions when solving a mystery?
Practice your questioning skills.
What open & closed questions can you come up with to help solve this problem?
4TH GRADE
Students will collaborate with others on an imaginative and inventive idea.
How can I use my imagination to collaborate with others on a new invention?
Students will research a famous cartoonist named Rube Goldberg who many said had an incredible mind with impossible ideas. Students will plan and engineer a Rube Goldberg-type machine and attempt to bring it to life using simple machines and various other recycled products to create a chain reaction of crazy combinations and events!
Rube Goldberg
Famous Cartoonist, Sculptor, Author & Engineer
Brain Break Time
Genius Star Game
5TH GRADE
Students will demonstrate their creativity, uniqueness and understanding of worldly responsibilities during the innovation of a new civilization.
What responsibilities do I have, when sharing my ideas with the world?
Students will work with a team to create a civilization that includes a language, transportation, sports, agriculture, shelter, and economics. The story, Weslandia, provides inspiration for this project.
Literature Inspiration
Weslandia Poster Book Summary
Congratulations to our uil participants and winners!
CONGRATULATIONS TO OUR SPELLING BEE CLASSROOM WINNERS & CAMPUS COMPETITORS!
I LOVE SEEING YOU ALL TAKE THE LEAD IN THESE ACADEMIC COMPETITIONS!
