Kinder Works on Visual/Spatial Logic Puzzles

We still had a couple of students who were finishing up their books on Scribble Press, so I had the remaining students “play” with two activities – “Zoologic” and “GoGetter 1”. Both of these require you to use logic and visual thinking to solve the puzzles, which get increasingly harder. Although I haven’t formally introduced our Magician Thinking unit, these would fall under that category. They seem to be just the right level of challenge for these students, so I think we will continue with them next week – as well as some others.

If you are interested in other challenging games and puzzles, feel free to visit my Pinterest board for some suggestions: http://pinterest.com/terrieichholz/games-and-toys-for-gifted-students/

Kinder Publishes a Couple of Books

Two out of five books have been completed in Kinder GT. Below are links to the two we have so far. I think the others will finish on Friday so that we can continue on to Magician Thinking.

Speaking of Magician Thinking (which is also known as Visual/Spatial Thinking), I downloaded an app today called Patterns Match Basic, which you might want to try at home. It is free today, but it is usually $1.99. It seems to be good practice for our next unit.

The Time that I Got a New Puppy
Brody’s Carnival

Kinder Works on their “That’s Good, That’s Bad” Books

The Kinders made great progress on their new books that they are writing. They all finished their rough drafts, and are working on creating their final products using the Scribble Press app on the iPads. We just got some new iPads for GT, so they are now each able to work on one without me supplementing with my personal one! Since we have a longer class on Monday, I anticipate that some of them will be completed next class.

Kinder Finds New Uses for Umbrellas and Soccer Balls

I thought I would give the Kinders a chance to use their Inventor Thinking skills today by asking them to think of a different use for an umbrella other than the obvious. However, I guess I did not make the instructions clear because a couple of the students thought that they would design a different use for soccer balls. That’s okay, because they came up with some creative ideas, and that’s what it’s all about, right?

We also worked some more on their new stories, and I love the interesting words that they are adding. Most are done with their rough drafts, and will be ready to start creating their virtual books on Friday (correction – Monday. Friday is a holiday!).

Kinder Learns About a “Thesaurus”

They loved picking interesting words from this book!

We had a short class today, due to the Kinder field trip. We continued with Yarnspinner thinking, and I read a story to the students called, That’s Good, That’s Bad. They will be writing their own stories based on that pattern. To get started, they brainstormed places for settings, and I gave them Class Dojo points if they could think of one that wasn’t one of the original examples. Then, I showed them how they could find some interesting words using a thesaurus, and they chose some to include in their stories. We will continue with that on Monday. After that, the students will think of some good and bad events that could happen in those settings, and hopefully begin their rough drafts.

Kinder Publishes Their Books!

Well, I decided to do this the old-fashioned way since our iPads are still not cooperating, and refuse to send e-mail. All of the Kinders finished their first books in the Scribble Press app, and they are eager to share.

For these books, the students chose from templates within the app, and filled in the blanks. Then they illustrated them. Their next pieces will be completely their own.

Brody – My Babysitter is a Zombie
Eliza – Me and the Mermaid
Caleb – All About Me
Jackson – My Dog Ate My Homework
Audrey – The First Mermaid I Ever Saw

Please let me know if your links don’t work, and I will see what I can do.

Also, for some reason my browser is not showing their pictures that should be on the “back cover”. I am not sure why, but will look into it.

Kinder Works on Yarnspinner Thinking

Yarnspinner Thinking, the ability to tell interesting stories, has been our focus this week. The students practiced adding details to boring sentences, and then we made a class book using the Scribble Press app. Now, the students are working on their own Scribble Press books. As soon as I solve some technical problems on the district’s part, I will share the books they have created.

Kinder Analyzes More Analogies!

After introducing analogies earlier this week for our Scientist Thinking unit, I wanted the students to get more practice, so we worked on some different types of analogies today. Some seemed easy to them, but for some it was difficult to get a consensus. For example, if hat is to head, then shoe is ___________? Two of the choices were “foot” and sock. The answer is foot, since it is a body part like head, but you can certainly see why some of them chose “sock” instead. Another thing the students learned was that the order is important in completing analogies. For example, if bird is to nest, then you need to put dog in front of doghouse, not the other way around.

Kinder Uses the Microscope

I finally got our digital microscope working, so the students were able to see all kinds of images close-up and personal today. We saw slides ranging from a plant louse to a sponge. Then, I took out some packets of sand from all over the world, and we compared them. I included a picture in our gallery of one of the sand samples. Can you guess where it’s from? Your child might be able to tell you.

We also talked about analogies. We read a book with animal analogies, and then the students practiced completing analogies with a free app called “Kids iHelp Analogy“. We did the 1.0 and 2.0 versions (not the Word one). Of course, the free versions only allow you to do one level, and then you have to pay .99 to get more. I would talk with your child about the free version before making that decision. (I promise I don’t get a commission for app purchases!)

Spelling City offers analogy practice here (but it requires reading). You can find some other analogy links here, but I would try the links before introducing the games to your child.

Kinder Studies Ladybugs

To my surprise, last night’s cold weather did not eliminate the ladybugs in our field, and the Kinder students were able to find plenty for us to examine in the classroom this afternoon.  We used Scientist Thinking to try to identify the species of ladybug, and made observations with a giant magnifying glass.  Unfortunately, my digital microscope refused to cooperate, or we would have had some great close up pictures!

 

The students wanted me to share with you this great video of slow-motion ladybugs.

If my embedded version doesn’t work, you can find it here:  http://youtu.be/87iV4ISAY5U