The 5th graders have been doing a lot of self-reflection this year, and determining what character traits and values are important to them. This week, they used the Canva website to design their own “manifestos.” Basically, these are the strong beliefs they have or, as Oprah says, “What I Know for Sure.” These are some of their first drafts. (Of course, I couldn’t resist doing one myself!)
Since we are looking at character traits right now, the 5th graders took a self-assessment through Thrively online to determine what their main interests and passions are currently. What is nice about this is that the students felt, for the most part, that the Thrively assessment was pretty accurate. In addition to listing the top traits of each individual, Thrively offers suggestions for activities to pursue their interests. It also gives “Pathways” to different careers so students can learn more about them. By identifying certain strengths in each student, Thrively will allow them to explore activities and ideas that will support their interests – giving them even more opportunities to experience our world in different ways.
My Own Thrively Profile!
The 5th graders watched a short video about the “Science of Character.” It talks about how we need to recognize our own strengths as well as those of others – but that we can also develop strengths that we admire.
The students then answered some questions in Google Classroom based on the “Periodical Table of Strengths” to determine what character traits define them, the people in their lives, and the people they see as heroes. They also thought about the traits that they would like to work on in the future to become who they want to be.
image from: letitripple.org
After reviewing the character traits of the main character in The Giver, the students chose ones that represent themselves. We also read about the lack of color in the book’s dystopian community and reflected on the reasons it might be taken away. The students had a lively discussion about “disruptive innovation” and what it means to be a voice for change instead of one who consistently complains. They also brainstormed possible Genius Hour topics. Here are some of their reflections on today:
| Katie R. | I think freedom is important because it gives us choices and differences. |
| Katie C. | Today’s lesson about disruptive innovators makes me wonder how people in charge react to people who recommend changes. |
| Nathan | From what I learned today about color, I can infer that many people who read The Giver become more grateful for color. |
| Elizabeth | Some changes that I would recommend for The Giver community would be to bring back weather because they can’t enjoy it right now. |
| Adriel | Learning about character traits reminded me of something I did at my old school where we had to share how we were at our other schools and what we liked. |
The 5th graders created Character Floor plans, and chose either Thinglink or a video creation tool on the iPads to explain their designs. If the student created a video, I have linked it to Aurasma so that the floor plan can be scanned at home in order to see the video. I have included links to their explanations below:
Anna (also linked in Aurasma)
Paige (also linked in Aurasma)
This blog post, by Aubrie, is for last Thursday, April 17th.
Today in G.T. we spent a lot of time on our “Leadership Trait Home”. We are focusing on adding little online titles and explanations for why we put the rooms where we did.
We were able to do Genius Hour, and Lainey and Anna are going to present next time!
We also watched a lot of videos about engineering and chain reactions. *(attached below!)*
We also have contacted a G.T. class in Minnesota, and have learned a word from them. We agreed to try and use “Uffdah” 5 times this week if they use “Ya’ll” 5 times. *( Uffdah is used as a complaint, exclamation etc.)*
Lastly, we got to do Maker’s studio, and we have discovered even more things to do with the Makey Makey.
America’s Got Talent 2013 – Sprice Engineering an Extreme …
This is Your Brain on Engineering (GoldieBlox Easter PSA …
This post is brought to you by Aubrie. I also included some pictures from last week’s Rackspace field trip.
Today in G.T. we talked a lot about character, and what traits you have. We all did an activity where we wrote down five traits we have, and then we made a floor plan, with the traits as rooms.
We got to do Genius Hour, and the evil challenges as well. Kris and Connor did their Genius Hour presentation about airplanes, and several people will present in the next few weeks.
We also did Maker’s Studio, and Mrs. Eichholz gained another cool gadget, called the “Makey Makey”. The Makey Makey can make anything into a computer arrow, piano, or bongo. We experimented with Playdoh, bananas, and even people. *(There is a video of the tutorial attached below)*
Come back next week!
MaKey MaKey – An Invention Kit for Everyone – YouTube
