Monday, March 18, 2024

Capturing Creativity Through Characters in a Story

We're on an exciting journey in our 5th/6th DEB grade classroom, focusing on a skill called divergent thinking. It's all about being flexible and open-minded when we tackle problems, helping us become more creative thinkers.

The skills the students are learning are: 

  • Generating Ideas
  • Changing Perspectives
  • Elaborating 
  • Innovating 
  • Giving Ideas a Purpose 

Right now, we're diving into a story called The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind. It is an exciting adventure story that takes us on a journey to rural Malawi, where a young boy named William Kamkwamba dreams of bringing electricity to his village. And even better, it is a true story! We're thinking hard about how the main character uses divergent thinking to solve tough problems. His resilience and determination are inspiring, and we're learning valuable lessons about the power of creativity in overcoming obstacles.

To capture our thoughts and reflections as we move through the story, we've turned to digital notebooks. Here, the students document the ways William applies divergent thinking to conquer adversity, including ways he generates ideas, changes perspectives, elaborates, innovates, and gives ideas a purpose. The students have shared some of their reflections below.







Friday, March 15, 2024

Buildings

 Buildings

Ms. Kilkenny’s class is learning all about Buildings.  Why investigate buildings?  Children are very curious about buildings.  They want to know about how they are constructed and what people do inside of them.  Buildings are everywhere in our community and this week we took a walk around the Goodrich neighborhood to look at all of the different kinds of houses. 



We were trying to answer 2 questions.  Are all window rectangles, like in our classroom or could they be other shapes?  And the 2nd question- can houses have more than one door?



The answer is yes!  Windows can be ovals…


Or semi-circles…



 and we even found octagon shaped windows on a house with 2 doors!  



The students recorded their answers.


We also saw other interesting features of houses like balconies…


The students went back to the classroom to draw their favorite house.  I think there are some future architects in the class!


Thursday, March 14, 2024

Celebrating Pi Day!

We had some fun in 5th grade today celebrating Pi Day (3/14)! Pi (π) is a mathematical constant representing the ratio of a circle's circumference to its diameter. It's an irrational number, meaning it cannot be expressed as a simple fraction, and its decimal representation goes on infinitely without repeating. Typically, pi is rounded to 3.14, hence why Pi Day is celebrated on March 14th (3/14).

We introduced the idea of Pi through a fictional read aloud of Sir Cumference and the Dragon of Pi. This story fit right into our Fantasy genre study in reading! In this story, a potion changes Sir Cumference into a fire-breathing dragon. Radius sets out on a quest through the castle to solve a riddle that may reveal the cure. It lies in discovering the magic number that is the same for all circles: Pi! 




We also did other fun activities like measuring circular items around the classroom! Students measured the diameter and circumference of several circular objects in the classroom using string. Students worked in pairs to calculate the ratio of the circumference to the diameter for each object they measured. They quickly noticed that this ratio was close to, but not exactly, 3.14. Pi! 




Another hands-on experience that the students enjoyed today was Buffon's Needle Challenge! In the 1700s, a French nobleman named Count Buffon observed that a popular game of chance could help calculate the value of pi. The students tossed some toothpicks on a sheet of lined paper. Next, they had to count how many toothpicks they tossed, as well as how many of those touch a line on the paper. By dividing these two numbers, you get an answer close to pi! It was amazing!





Pi Day is not only a fun celebration but also an opportunity to deepen students' understanding of mathematical concepts. By engaging in hands-on activities and discussions, 5th graders can develop a greater appreciation for the beauty and significance of pi in the world around them. So, let's embrace the spirit of Pi Day and celebrate the magic of mathematics together!

Wednesday, March 13, 2024

Spreading Joy

We were excited to participate in SEL Day on March 8th. It began in 2020 as a global campaign for social emotional learning. It has since grown with representation in 87 countries and all 50 states. For the past few years, we have completed a variety of activities that allow students to reflect on their emotions and the emotions of others. We have tried to find ways of spreading joy to those around us. Each year, including this year, we have painted rocks and set up rock gardens in the community. We are eager to continue this tradition and look forward to planning where we will share our kindergarten kindness garden this year.

While we have enjoyed our SEL Days each year, we decided to spread joy inside our building as well! We connected the idea of spreading joy with our SEL curriculum. We reviewed the Other People Mindset: Cheering Other's Successes. In kindergarten and throughout Goodrich School, we learn fun and silly cheers to give each other compliments for hard work and participation. This is where our Kindergarten Kindness Parade was conceived. The three kindergarten classrooms came together to pick our favorite cheers. We then paraded through each classroom spreading joy and smiles with our favorite cheers. We hope the rest of the school loved the cheers as much as we did and maybe they will start to use some of our favorites in their classrooms!






Tuesday, March 12, 2024

The Rise of Teen Activism

Our current writing unit in 6th grade is informational writing. Students have been gathering facts and information by researching a teen activist or topic of their choice. Teen activist research writing can cover all kinds of important issues, like bullying, animal rights, or even making sure everyone has access to clean water and education. Students chose something they were passionate about to begin their research writing.

We started the unit by talking about teen activist Malala Yousafzai. When she was a teenager, Malala spoke out about the importance of girls' education in Pakistan, even though it was dangerous to do so. She wrote articles, gave speeches, and started a blog to share her message with the world. She inspired people everywhere to stand up for what they believe in.

Students are now applying the information they found from their research into an app called book creator. They are using informational writing skills to teach others about their research.







Monday, March 11, 2024

March = Basketball!!

March is officially upon us and that means basketball!!  The kids have been asking ALL year when we will start Basketball and when March Madness is... I always giggle and tell them that they answered their own question! Haha!

During the basketball unit, we play so many lead up games and activities where we are working on our dribbling, passing and shooting skills.  We will even incorporate some offensive and defensive strategies at the older grade levels.  Playing a full-blown 5 on 5 game is not something I ever do in PE because I would have more kids sitting out than playing and in a 25-minute class I want the kids moving as much as possible.  So Modified Games or quicker rotations through mini games works best in my classes.

Next week we will dive into the March Madness brackets and follow the tournaments together before and after spring break!

GO HAWKEYES!!


        


Friday, March 8, 2024

SEL Day

Today, March 8th, our classroom, school, and entire district participated in International SEL Day.  This is a global-wide day which emphasizes the importance of social emotional learning not only in our students and teachers, but beyond our school as well. We began our day with an engaging read-aloud of I Am Peace by Susan Verde, a beautifully illustrated book that introduces mindfulness and emotional awareness. We focused on the "here and now" and the importance of understanding our own emotions. We asked the students to give a name and a color to their current feeling.  They had to focus on that exact moment, not how they were feeling a few minutes before.








Another focus for our day was on gratitude.  We did an activity called, "What if we Didn't Have this?" The students identified objects in the classroom that they were grateful for by imagining what their day would be like without them. By imagining a world without these small yet significant "benefits," it provided the students with the perspective they needed. It was refreshing to hear the conversations taking place and the realization of all they had to be grateful for.

To continue our exploration of gratitude, we thought about things that make us feel thankful. We realized that it could be someone doing something nice for us, stuff we own that we love, or the awesome people in our lives. Whether it's a random act of kindness, our favorite possessions, amazing friends and family, or the world we have around us, each of these things gives us a reason to be grateful. It really was a powerful activity.










While we focus on SEL everyday, it means a little bit more when we dedicate a day to the importance.  I feel fortunate to play a role in promoting the significance of social-emotional learning and its positive impact on my students.


Thursday, March 7, 2024

Breaking the Code

 Kindergarten students have been learning holiday poems learned a poems. As a way to practice writing some of the words from the poem, students had to crack the secret word codes.

Working with a partner, students took turns determining what letters from the Alphabet Code chart to use to figure out their word. Each pair was given 1 pencil, 1 code packet and 1 alphabet chart.  When Partner A tried to match the symbol with the corresponding letter, Partner B helped them find the letter if they got stuck by offering hints (i.e., the beginning sound of the symbol). Once they broke the code, partners switched roles. 

Later, students created their own word walls to get more practice reading and writing the words. They were encouraged to include a picture that would help them remember the word, should they get stuck trying to read it. 

As you can see, much cooperation and teamwork was required to complete this task. They had a lot of fun figuring out the words and practicing writing. 

Wednesday, March 6, 2024

Match My Fraction!

Right now in third grade our unit focus is all about fractions. We just learned about how to plot fractions on a number line, and what better way to practice our skills than to match mine! Match mine is similar to the game of Battleship in the way both students are facing each other and cannot see the other person’s board. We had pre-made points labeled with letters on the number lines, where one student would pick a point and need to describe it to their partner.


Using math vocabulary of greater than, less than, equal to, denominator, and numerator, students were tasked with describing their fraction point to their partner without saying what the numerator or denominator are. So for example, if plot A was on the fraction ¼, their partner might give clues such as “My fraction is on the number line with four equal parts and is less than ½.” This clue told the partner which fraction number line it was on and narrowed it down to a fraction on that line less than ½. Once they think they got it, players tell them what plot letter they thought it was and removed the privacy folder to check. 


Tuesday, March 5, 2024

Exploring the World of Shapes

6th graders have just started a new Geometry unit in math. It started by applying knowledge of how to find area of rectangles to finding the area of parallelograms. Students then moved on to finding the area of all types of triangles. Students are learning to differentiate between types of lines (straight, parallel, perpendicular) and understanding the significance of angles from acute to obtuse to right angles. Through hands-on activities, discussions, and visual aids, students are developing a deeper understanding of these concepts.



Next we are going to build on this knowledge to find the area of complex shapes that can be broken into multiple shapes to find the total area. Later in the unit, students will explore three dimensional shapes and how to find the surface area of these shapes, as well as identifying nets that match each shape.