The McNay

I was thrilled to be able to take the 4th graders on a field trip to the McNay Museum.  It was my first time taking my GT students on a field trip, but it certainly won’t be my last.  We went on the field trip with other 4th Grade GT students from Northern Hills, Redland, and Thousand Oaks.  It was great to meet other students that are investigating the same topics as we are.  All of the children were excited, engaged, and well-mannered.  Very few of the kids had been to the McNay before, so it was neat to see their faces as they realized they were seeing pieces created by the Picaso, Monet, Calder, etc.  They kept asking, “That is the real thing? Not a Copy?”

Enjoy a slide show of our day…

 

Some Comments on why they want to visit again with family…

One thing I want my friends and family to see is the Andy Warhol part with his pieces because they have life and death, sadness and happiness.  Arianna

I want my friends and family to see my favorite painting of a Fall Tree because all of my family’s birthdays are in the fall.  Kevin

I would take my family because almost everyone in my family loves art, so I am pretty sure they would love it.  Sydney

I’d like my friends and family to be there to admire the paintings. Mia

Why would I like to go again with others…I would like to see more art there.  Emily

One thing I want my friends and family to see is the Monet painting because it’as a really good piece of art.  Kaleb

To see the Monet painting because it made me feel like I was actually at the pond listening.  Madison

One thing I want my friends and family to see is the Andy Warhol exhibit.  Madelyn

One thing I want my friends and family to see is all the abstract, wonderful art that is in the museum.  And also the sculptures and 3-D stuff.  Surya

 

Intelligence

A couple of weeks ago we looked at a quote by Howard Gardner, “It’s not how smart you are, it’s how you are smart.”  We had a discussion about what this quote might mean and how it relates to understanding who we are, our gifts and talents.  As we discussed, it became evident that most of the children saw SMART and INTELLIGENCE as interchangeable words and ideas.  It was also apparent that smart and intelligent meant good grades in school…according to the kids. 

This week I wanted to think more carefully about the concept of intelligence.  Can you be intelligent if you do not know how to read?  If you fail a subject in school, does that mean you are not intelligent?  I challenged the kids to think about all the things that come to mind when they hear the word intelligence.  Below you will see a wordle of all the different words that the children came up with.  We all quickly realized that intelligence can mean many different things in many different situations.

Following our discussion we all had the opportunity to participate in a survey to find out  HOW WE ARE SMART…our MULTIPLE INTELLIGENCES.  It was exciting to see our results.  In the coming weeks we will research each intelligence to help us better understand what our results mean.  Enjoy our results below.

 

CLICK HERE TO TAKE THE

MULTIPLE INTELLIGENCE SURVEY!

 

Wordle…What a Wonder!

This week the 3rd graders were introduced to an exciting new web tool called Wordle.  Essentially Wordle is a way that kids can create a word cloud.  I use it in many varied ways with all of my students.  This week the children used Wordle to share a little about who they are.  They started by typing their name 4 times (the more you type a word, the larger it is), then they typed each of their vocabulary words twice, and finally they typed 4 tidbits about themselves one time each.  They were all amazed after clicking GO and seeing their Word Art displayed.  I also taught the kids to use Print Screen to get a picture of their Wordle and paste it into PowerPoint.  Once there, they learned to crop their image and save their slide as a jpeg.  WOW!  So much learning from one activity.  Enjoy the kids Wordles in the Photopeach below.

Getting to Know Us on PhotoPeach

Sidenote:  Wordle can be a great way to practice spelling words, word families (or patterns), word choice, etc.  It is a free tool.  Click HERE to play.

We also did an activity called The Impossible Notecard.  The kids were asked to cut a 3×5 postcard in a way that they could fit it over their head without it breaking.  Of course the kids were certain I was crazy and that it was an impossible task.  When they reached a level of frustration I gave them a quote by Ford, “If you think you can do a thing or not, you are right.”  It was a great discussion that led us to the idea that a certain about of risk-taking is important for success.  Click on the link below and share why you think taking a risk has helped you in your life or someone who has accomplished greatness through taking risks.

Taking Risks

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