I was thrilled to finally be done with testing so that I could actually work with my awesome kindergarteners.  It is always fun to have the opportunity to get to know the kids, which is hard to do during the testing process.

We had a great first class.  We spent some time talking and getting know each other.  We talked about the need to feel safe in GT, so that we can take the academic risks that will stretch our thinking in new ways.

The kids had a chance to learn a little bit about coding, using a great app called Hopscotch.  Enjoy.

I can hardly believe that I have had the awesome pleasure of working with my kindergarteners for four weeks already.  They are an energetic, amazingly bright bunch of kiddos.  I know we will have a lot of fun this year and in the years to come.

One of my goals in GT is to help develop stronger vocabularies for my students.  In Kindergarten we have a word of the week.  I am working to get the kids to use their word outside of our classroom, too.

Word of the Week:

Week 2: ELIMINATE

This word connected to convergent thinking, working to eliminate clues and wrong answers to get to the ONE right answer.

Week 3: INQUISITIVE

In life it is important to know that we should always be curious and excited to learn new things.  This word connects to our goal to have inquisitive minds.

Week 4: ELATED

We are obviously ELATED to be at GT on Fridays. 🙂

In Kinder GT we will be working on developing our convergent, divergent, and visual thinking skills each week.

Convergent Thinking: We use clues to help us find the ONE right answer.

We have worked on X-Tiles, finding mystery numbers.  We have solved some logic puzzles. We used clues to help discover Mystery Creatures.  The kindergarteners then researched an animal they did not know a lot about, wrote their own clues and used a great app called Educreations to share their clues with us.  Enjoy their work below.

By Miles:

By Ellison:

By Aubrie:

By Mila:

By Sayuri:

By: Tristan

Visual Thinking: The kids are learning to look for patterns to find ONE SOLUTION that works.

 They have enjoyed playing with pentominoes to build different size rectangles. They have also used pentominoes to solve different shaped puzzles.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Divergent Thinking: Learning to brainstorm to find LOTS and LOTS of answers.

 We haven’t done much with this type of thinking…YET!  But I did have the kids participate in an activity called Turn Over.  They were given a squiggle and a noun.  They had to turn their squiggle into that object. We will be working more on this type of thinking in the coming weeks. 

I was thrilled to finally get my kinder kids back after having 2 Fridays off, of course our day was shortened for Fiesta Fun and following our Early Dismissal schedule.  None the less we managed to squeeze in some GT Fun.  

This week we focused on the idea that artists communicate through their art.  They tell stories, make us feel, share their feelings all through their work.  We looked through a series of paintings and discussed how they made up feel and why.  The kids enjoyed debating their answers and were surprised that a painting that could make someone feel scared could make someone else feel happy.

Word of the Week:

Feeble

In GT the kindergartners reviewed what they remembered about our discussion on communication.  They recorded ways that we communicate on their brainstorming sheet.  Many of the kids recorded ideas that we had previously discussed, but I also saw many new ideas, which was great.   Some of the ideas: Sign Language, numbers, exit signs, labels, logos, body language, phones, etc.  After we shared the many ways we could communicate the kids showed 4 ways they personally communicate with the world around them.  

We also read a fun story called Tomorrow’s Alphabet. It is  an ABC book with an unusual twist.  Tomorrow’s Alphabet starts with A is for seed, tomorrow’s apple and the pattern continues throughout the story.  The kindergartners picked out the pattern right away and did a fantastic job predicting what the Tomorrow piece would be for each letter.  We are working on creating our own version titled Tomorrow’s Kindergarten GT.  This week we focused on brainstorming words for each letter in KINDERGARTEN GT.  On Friday each student will create a page of our book.

We have also been working on our convergent thinking skills through X-Tiles.  The kids have to work through a series of clues to help uncover our mystery number.  This week they learned odd and even, between, and what NOT means in theses clues. The kids write the digits 0-9 on their desks, yes their desks. I did remind them that they shouldn’t use the tables at home to play X-Tiles, so hopefully your tables will stay marker free. 🙂

Word of the Week: February 21

Colossal-Enormous

Jordan T. told us he created a new gamed based on the word colossal.  I love how he made a school to home connection to our new word.  To play the game: You roll a dice and you get that many blocks to help build your tower.  You continue around until one person has built the most colossal tower, without it falling over.  I love his inventiveness.  Thanks for sharing, Jordan T.

Word of the Week: February 28

Pungent-Strong Smell

Things that the kindergartners consider pungent: onions cooking, fire, skunks, garlic, vinegar, feet, morning breath, armpits and many others.  I look forward to hearing what the kids have to say after discussing our new word at home.