1st Grade Practices Divergent and Convergent Thinking

The first graders continued to practice Divergent Thinking this week by brainstorming topics such as, “Things We are Thankful for That We Cannot See.”  Today, they thought of “Things We Should Say More Often.”  I embedded our brainstorming wall below, or you can click on this link.  To accompany this activity, I showed them a Kid President video called, “20 Things We Should Say More Often.” I promised them I would include it in this blog post, so it is also embedded (or you can click here).

I wanted the kids to start thinking about how important it is to let other people know that they matter – just like the parent videos that they watched on Tuesday made them feel loved and important.  Thanks, again, to all of you parents who contributed!

We also started learning about Convergent Thinking today, and practiced by doing some Thanksgiving Sudoku puzzles.  I was really proud of the group who correctly completed their 2nd puzzles individually and then worked together at our interactive white board on a difficult puzzle.  They had great synergy!

Happy Thanksgiving to all of you.  Enjoy your holiday!   Don’t forget about the 1st Grade GT Parent Orientation on December 3rd at 5:30 in my classroom.

5th Grade Blasts Off into Genius Hour

We spent a lot of time preparing for 5th grade Genius Hour – going over online safety and research skills, brainstorming ideas, and planning.

Today, the students finally got to dig into their various topics.  It was so exciting to see them so engaged in their projects!  Some are collaborating, and some are working on their own.  Some are using technology, and some are going “old school.”  The variety in the projects, and their planned presentations is just as diverse as the students in our class.

Being the first day, I don’t have any final projects to share, yet.  But one group has given me permission to post one of their practice Lego Stop Motion videos, created with the free Lego Movie Making app on the iPad.  Enjoy!

(If the video below does not appear, you can also view it by clicking on this link.

Project Wrap-Up and New Beginnings

This is our final week of the Global Cardboard Challenge.  The students in 2nd-5th were able to share their projects with their classmates during recess this week (5th will do this tomorrow), and are now taking the projects home.  If your child has a super large project, please make arrangements for transporting it by next Friday.

I know that I keep gushing about the creativity that the students have shown during this process, but I must say one more time that they have really astounded me with their ideas!  I am so glad this was an overall success, and I can’t wait to do it again next year.  It was definitely a productive use of our time.  I posted some more pictures of projects on my professional blog last week because I really want to encourage others to participate next year as well.  Here is the link.

As we say good-bye to our cardboard creations, we are embarking on new journeys in GT.  One of them involves computer programming.  I am planning to weave a programming piece into all of the grade levels this year because I think it is such a valuable skill.  Today the 4th graders got an unexpected introduction to this when I learned of a brand new augmented reality app that allows the user to program a 3-d robot to perform certain movements.  One pair of students even got their robot to perform a ballet move!

I just wrote a post on my professional blog about the gender bias that is still very evident in fields like programming and engineering.  I am determined to work very hard this year on persuading the girls in my classes that boys are not the only ones who can develop skills in these areas, and that they might even find it interesting!  I hope parents will join me in making an effort to eliminate the stereotypes that are often attached to these subjects.

Using the iPad to program the Atlas robot

Happy July!

I hope that everyone enjoys the 4th of July holiday this week.  It’s difficult to believe we are already beginning the 7th month of this year!  I’ve collected a few nuggets over the past week that might interest you as you look for ways to spend your time this month.  First of all, if you happen to be looking for a special gift for a young person in your life, you might want to check out this blog post that I did last Friday on my professional blog.

Also, if you want a great resource for educational videos, you might want to head over here to “The Kid Should See This,” where a mom posts a collection of videos that she finds for her own children from all over the internet.

You can click on the infographic above for some ideas to “Exercise Your Noodle” this summer from Kids Discover.

And, finally, I’ve embedded a very cute “Dog Goldberg” video below.  It’s a commercial, but definitely shows the joy of creativity and invention.  For more about Rube Goldberg machines, you can visit this post on my professional blog.

1st Grade Prepares for the Summer!

In our last class for this school year, the 1st graders practiced doing some “Animal Sudoku” puzzles. I plan to include some in a summer packet that will be in their report cards, and I wanted to go over strategies with them before they get their packets. They seemed to enjoy solving them, but I warned them that they will get harder on the packet pages!

I forgot to do some editing on some of the projects I included in our last post. Cristian’s Germany project and favorite memory have been changed, so I have included them in today’s post again.

5th Grade Rocks!

Gosh, it was so hard telling the 5th graders, “Goodbye,” today! We have had such a wonderful year, and I think that all of us have grown and learned from each other. This is a very special group of students, and I will definitely miss them next year.

We finished up our year by sharing a couple more Genius Hour projects (Sierra did a great presentation on html, and a sample webpage, but, unfortunately, I am unable to embed it), and finalizing our music video. We also took some class photos. Since no one seemed to be able to agree on the best one, I decided to share all of the ones we took this morning!

4th Grade’s Last Day for the Year

4th grade was busy today: finishing up projects, reflecting on the year, and participating in a virtual scavenger hunt.  I made sure I fit in a class photo in the morning before everyone went their separate ways.  I have a few projects to share with you that are embedded below. I hope that everyone has an awesome summer and comes back energized for 5th grade GT!

1st Grade Shares GT Memories

We have one more 1st grade GT class, and almost all of the students have completed their country presentations. I have posted a couple more below for your viewing pleasure!

Also, I took a picture of the class, and videotaped them telling me their favorite activity in GT this year. If you roll over the picture below, you will see dots that are links to each of the videos. Just click on a dot, and it should take you to the student’s video. It’s interesting to hear the different perspectives they each have of what we have done in class!

2nd Grade Shares Some GT Memories

I am so sad that today was my last class with 2nd grade! We spent the morning talking about what they had learned, doing some QR code reflections, and “playing” with some of the structure manipulatives. I also recorded each of them sharing a favorite GT memory, and linked the videos to a picture of the class. If you roll your mouse over the picture, you will see little dots on each person, and you can click the dot to watch his or her short video.

In addition, I have included the final batch of Powerpoint presentations created by the kids about their bridges. I am so proud of everyone’s hard work this year!