3-5 Parent Meeting

GT Students Are…

At least according to our parents!

Wow, what a terrific turn out!  A big thank you to all of the parents that were able to take time from your busy schedule to come to the GT parent meeting.  As I mentioned it is important that we are a community working together for your children.  I feel blessed to work with so many wonderful students.  Thank you for allowing me to share in their lives.

I know that it was impossible for many parents to come this morning and a few of you had to leave early, so below you will find my presentation.  Please go through it and contact me with any questions.

What’s Your Opinion?

In 5th grade we are about to start our first novel, The Giver.  As a pre-reading activity, we would love for you to take a moment to fill out the survey below.  We are interested in comparing the data. We look forward to seeing the similarities and differences in how adults and children respond.  It is anonymous.  Thank you for your input.

WHAT’S YOUR OPINION SURVEY?

Perfect Worlds

Utopia is defined as: An imagined place or state of things in which everything is perfect. 

Over the last few weeks the students have listened to the lyrics of World by Five for Fighting and thinking about Ghandi’s quote, “You must be the change you wish to see in the world.”  This led the kids to think about what would make a perfect world.  The kids worked in groups to brainstorm what they think is neccessary to a Utopian Society.  After working as a group and discussing the similarities and differences between the groups, the children chose their top 10 and ranked them.  They then used Wordle to create a word cloud of the characteristics that would make their world a PERFECT place.  Enjoy the Animoto below with the 5th graders Wordles.

What’s the Big Idea of Intelligence?

I hope that the fifth graders enjoyed their first day of GT as much as I did.  I was wowed by their projects based on Rumi’s poem.  The level of effort that went into demonstrating their understanding had me really excited for the year to come.  I was also quite impressed with the kids presentation skills.  They were pros, so comfortable and composed. 

 Throughout the day we focused discussing our understanding of  the BIG IDEA of intelligence.  The kids started with a challenging, but fun logic puzzle called Ken Ken.  I was proud to see the kids pushing through, despite the difficulty level.  We then read and discussed what Rumi was saying with his poem.  We were only able to get through 9 of the presentations, so we will finish sharing next week.  After organizing our Interactive Notebooks the children reflected on their understanding of intelligence based on our dialogue and presentations.  Below are some examples of their reflections.

By AdamBy Parker

By Ilianna

The kids also responded to the importance of challenges in learning.  Please enjoy reading through the comments made by the kids using Edmodo.  Click the link below to read the kids thoughts.

http://neisd.edmodo.com/post/31520872

Friendship

Can you describe or define a friendship in six words or less?  Can you give a clear picture of a special friend using such few words?  Here is an Animoto created by a 5th grader that does just that.

Challenge: Think of a special friendship you have and share that friendship with 6 or fewer words.  See the power of words!

Create your own video slideshow at animoto.com.

Mandalas

We were lucky to have Molly Nunnely, a docent at San Antonio Museum of Art, come to speak to the fifth graders about Mandalas.  The Tibetan Monks came to San Antonio several years ago and spent a week creating a gorgeous sand Mandala.  The kids were awed by the focus, dedication and patience that went into the final creation.  They were equally amazed at the level of detail.  After seeing this beautiful work of art created, imagine the children’s gasp of horror when they realized that it would be destroyed so that the Monks could send the healing powers out into the universe via the water cycle. 

The kids will begin creating their own Mandala that reflects their personal philosophy in the coming weeks.  They are already brainstorming the symbols, colors, numbers that represent who they are.

Mandalas on PhotoPeach

Questions…Lead to Powerful Thinking

This weekend I read a terrific article on the importance of questions in learning.  Click here to read the article.  As I read the article I reflected on the ways learning occurs in my classroom.  In looking more closely at the role questions play in teaching,  I started to wonder what questions my students have, what questions I have, what questions my friends have.  So, let’s share our questions. 

unanswered questions

I would love to hear from you.  What questions do you have?  You can list questions related to school, work, play, relationships, etc.

Friendship

What is friendship?  We explored this question and compared our ideas to those of Aristotle.  The 5th graders created word pictures of 5 different friendships in their lives.  They used Animoto to create a movie showcasing these friendships.  Click on the videos below to see their thoughts. 

What do you think friendship is?  Are there different types of frienships?  How do you know who your friends are?  Can you create a word picture for an important friendship in your life?  A word picture is a quick 5 word statement.  Let’s here from you!  We look forward to your comments.

What Are You Willing To Give Up?

In 5th grade we are reading The Giver.  In this novel, the society has chosen to give up many things in their efforts to create an ideal world.  What would you be willing to give up in order to live in a so called Utopian Society?  Feel free to add a sticky note to our wall below, or comment on the ideas we have listed.