1st Grade Does a Mystery Twitter Chat

On Tuesday, the 1st grade students prepared for meeting their first class of Twitter friends.  They were assigned tasks with iPads and laptops so they could do research as our friends gave us clues about where they live.

We tweeted them a picture the students took of our playground, and the mystery class responded that they were jealous because it looks like we can go out for recess.  That gave the students the clue that the other class must live somewhere cold.

After a lot of research and deductions based on the clues, we finally discovered that the mystery class is in Illinois.  That really surprised our students!

We are hoping to “Tweet Up” with the class, 1st Grade Dragons, again next week.  In addition, we just signed up two more classes, and one of them is outside the United States!  We will be mapping all of the locations of our Twitter friends, and hopefully learning a lot more about the diversity of our world.

You can read more about our experience here, on my professional blog.

1st Grade Prepares to “Tweet” Up!

As we are studying different countries and geography this year, I thought it might be fun for the 1st graders to connect with classes in different regions to learn more. So, the students brainstormed some names for our class Twitter account on Tuesday, and I have reached out to some other teachers to see if they would be interested in joining our class on Twitter.

This Twitter account is private, and no student names or pictures will be posted on this account.  We will be using it as a class to communicate with students in other parts of the world in order to find out about their traditions and culture.  We will, hopefully, meet our first class this coming Tuesday.  We are going to do a “Mystery Chat” so each class can try to figure out where the other is located!  (You can get more information about where I learned about this idea from this article on my professional blog.)

In addition to coming up with a Twitter name and brainstorming questions, the students did a little research on some Olympic athletes from the countries they are studying.  They also worked on putting together some continent puzzles on our interactive white board.

 

1st Grade Works on Analogies and Divergent Thinking

On Tuesday, the 1st graders were introduced to analogies, and used their research books to complete some analogies about their countries.  One of the analogies was about unique things they might be able to touch in the country they are researching, and I passed around a lava rock from Mt. Fuji, Japan, for them to feel. They were amazed at how light it was!

They also did centers, and I’ve added a Math Analogy center to their choices.  There was also a Valentine math logic center on the interactive board.  In addition, one of the students brought a robotic arm that he had built, and generously allowed students to come over during center time to try it out.  You can see some video of the robotic arm being demonstrated below (or click here if the embedded video does not show).

On Friday, we worked more on divergent thinking, and the students were challenged to brainstorm different ways to use a heart shape in a picture.  Then they chose from their lists, trying to create a unique drawing no one else in the class would have imagined.  I posted some of their pictures below.  Remember, you can click on the images to get a bigger view.

1st Grade Learns About Chinese New Year

The 1st graders are researching countries, and one of the countries a group chose to learn more about is China.  Since today happens to be the Chinese New Year, we spent our GT hour learning about this celebration and some of the associated traditions.  The students also got to work on a special augmented reality sheet for the Year of the Horse, and played with tangram puzzles (invented by the Chinese).

Earlier this week, the students refined their knowledge about the 7 continents by watching a BrainPop video and doing the quiz that followed.  They learned about the relative sizes of the continents.  I then asked them to guess how the populations of their countries were related to each other.  They lined up based on how big they predicted their country’s population is.  Then, they learned how to find the information in their reference books to see if they were right.

The students also worked on different centers – including a “Chocolate Fix” logic puzzle and sudoku puzzle center. I introduced a new way to keep track of their centers using the iPads, and they did a fabulous job!

1st Grade Begins Researching Countries

Following along with our discussion of multiple perspectives, the students are now beginning to learn about different countries.  They began class on Tuesday by removing their shoes.  They learned that this was something that is done in Japan before one enters homes or schools.  Of course, in Japan, you can usually don slippers to replace the shoes.  But the students were happy enough to spend the class time in socks!

They were assigned partners, and each pair got to choose a country to study from some books that had been checked out from the library.  They learned how to find information in their books by using the Table of Contents, and looked for an unusual tradition in their countries.

I told the students that they could bring in something from another country from home, if they have an object they would like to share (with parent permission).  One of the students brought in a “Hello Kitty” that was from Japan.  It even had a cherry blossom kimono!

On Friday, they also learned about “currency”, and were able to look at real Japanese yen of different values.  Then they looked up the currency that is used in their chosen countries.  In addition, they located their countries on a map, and had to tell which continent they were located in.  We found that everyone was studying a country in Europe, except for one group who is studying a country in Asia!

1st Grade Makes their Pix Chatter!

We have been talking about multiple perspectives in 1st grade GT.  On Tuesday, I read, Who is Melvin Bubble? to the class. Different characters in the story, including Santa Claus and the Tooth Fairy, give their views of a young boy named Melvin Bubble. (Santa says that he is good, and the Tooth Fairy thinks Melvin’s head is too big.)

The students drew four pictures of their own: a self-portrait, a picture of a character from their favorite holiday, a character from their favorite book, and their favorite animal.  Then they used the ChatterPix app to make their pictures talk about them.  We just, hopefully, finished them today.  I am going to compile the videos so we can send the pictures home, and parents can see the videos if they scan them with a smartphone or tablet.  It’s kind of a hard concept for 1st graders to put themselves into others’ shoes, so I am proud of their hard work!

Some of the 1st graders also got to try out a new tangram game we are testing for an app developer named “Tangible Play.”  I think I can safely say that it was a big hit!

1st Grade Learns About Multiple Perspectives

On Tuesday, the 1st graders hunted for the Scholar Bag again.  This time, they were looking for “Multiple Perspectives” and found the bag in our library.  Inside the bag were small cans of play dough.  Each child got one.  When we returned to class, they took out the play-dough.  I asked them to make sculptures using different perspectives.  For example, they sculpted what a child might think of when the word “school” is mentioned.  Then they sculpted what a teacher might think of.  We did various perspectives of the zoo as well.  Then, we watched a short video called, “The Bear and the Hare.”  The hare gives the bear a gift of an alarm clock so he will wake up from his hibernation in time to celebrate Christmas with his friend.  I asked the students to draw ideas for gifts that the bear could give the hare.

Also on Tuesday, one of the students had a tooth pop out right on top of her GT folder!  It was her very first tooth!  So, it was the first time that I had a first grader lose her first tooth in GT 🙂

On Friday, the students were able to choose from different holiday activities that included logic puzzles and some coloring sheets. There was something special about the sheets, but I did not tell the students.  I wanted to see who would choose the “easy” assignment over the tougher sheets.  To my surprise, all of them chose the logic puzzles first – which is great!  Some of them completed those fairly quickly, and then chose the coloring sheets.  What was so special about those coloring sheets? Well, when you scan them with a special iPad app, colAR Mix, the pictures become 3-D.  Some of them even move!  You can see a couple of examples below.  If you are interested in doing this at home, you can print the sheets from here.  The app is free (though there is a paid version).

1st Grade Learns About Rules and Multiple Perspectives

On Tuesday, the 1st graders went on a scavenger hunt for the “Scholar Bag.”  We will be using the Scholar Bag to introduce different concepts of “Depth and Complexity.”  The first concept was “Rules.”  The students found the bag on the playground.  (Fortunately, it was a beautiful day on Tuesday!)  We sat outside and talked about the rules of the playground.  Then the students got to play for 5 minutes. (It seemed cruel to have them on the playground and not let them have some play time!)  After that, I asked them to write down some of the rules for GT.  I loved what some of them said.  One of them wrote, “Stop at the end of the rail,” because I always ask them to wait when we are leaving the classroom! A couple of them wrote versions of “Keep trying even when it’s hard!”  And, a few of them wrote, “Be creative!” or “Go above and beyond!” That last one warmed my heart to see!

We also watched a short video about a city in a snow globe, and talked about how the rules might be different if you lived in a place where you might find yourself being shaken around at unpredictable moments!

Today, we talked more about the snow globe video (BumbleVille).  I introduced the idea of multiple perspectives, and asked the students to brainstorm what they might see if they were in a snow globe looking out.  After brainstorming, they each chose something to elaborate on, and wrote a description.  I used an app called “iSnowdome” to take their pictures inside snow globes.  We will be combining their descriptions and pictures for a display in the classroom.  They also learned what a “thesaurus” is, so they could use other words for “big” in their descriptions 🙂

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.

1st Grade Practices Divergent Thinking


Last year, the GT Kinders learned about “Inventor Thinking.” This year, the 1st grade GT students learned that this is also called “Divergent Thinking.” On Tuesday, they practiced using the first tool in S.C.A.M.P.E.R., which is “Substitute”, to think creatively. They had to think of how they would build a scarecrow if they did not have any hay. I’ve included a couple of examples in the photos.

Today, we practiced brainstorming using the iPads and a website called “Padlet.” (Some of the above photos show the students scanning a QR code to quickly get to the website, so they don’t have to type in the URL.)  Since we are close to Thanksgiving, I wanted the students to brainstorm things they were thankful for. To make it a bit more challenging, though, I narrowed things down. The first wall showed things that they were thankful for that were round. (Earth and pretty much every kind of ball!) After they seemed pretty proficient with using Padlet, I asked them to brainstorm on a 2nd wall. This one is things, or people, they are thankful for at school.

I am going to attempt to embed the Padlet below.  But, if you are unable to view it, you can also go to this link to see what the kids came up with. (I abbreviated names of students who do not currently have permission to have their names on the internet.)