Goodrich Medical Team Hard at Work!

 After weeks of diving deep into the body's most important systems—skeletal, muscular, nervous, respiratory, circulatory, and digestive—my 3rd and 4th-grade students were ready to put their medical expertise to the test! Instead of a traditional quiz, we had something much more exciting in store… real patients!

Parents of the students called in with mysterious ailments, hoping that the students part of Goodrich Medical School could diagnose their symptoms and prescribe a treatment plan. The moment students saw their own parents on the screen, the room exploded with excitement—laughter, gasps, and plenty of squeals!

The "doctors-in-training" are responsible for carefully listening to and analyzing their patients' symptoms to identify which body systems are affected. They also have been conducting a bit of research to confirm their diagnoses. Each group of doctors is responsible for crafting a video response to their patients, explaining their diagnosis and offering a thoughtful treatment plan to help them on the road to recovery.

The students will continue this fun problem solving activity when we come back from spring break! 

Spring is Here-Where?

 Spring is Here at Goodrich!

Despite the recent snow, cold, windy weather, Spring is officially here.   Ms. Kilkenny’s Preschool Class went on a Spring Scavenger Hunt to look for signs of Spring all around Goodrich.  

Everyone has their own sheet to record their findings.

And we are off!

We found buds on the bushes.

We see some plants sprouting.

We recorded our observations on our sheet.

Mission Complete!  We found some signs of Spring by just walking around Goodrich.  There were a few items we did not find, and the students are going to take their sheets home to see if they can find the missing Signs of Spring around their house and neighborhood.  

Neurodiversity Celebration Week

    2nd grade just completed their Service Learning Project for the year, and it might be our favorite one yet! Each grade level at Goodrich completes a Service Learning Project, which is a project that is hands-on and connects community needs to classroom learning. This year, our project is about celebrating and educating others about neurodiversity. 

    For a few weeks now, 2nd grade has been learning all about what neurodiversity is, and how we can help others understand it. The main phrase we’ve been working on is, “all brains are different!” We've watched videos, done research, read books, and talked to teacher experts about how we can help. We've learned that everyone has unique strengths, and everyone has different ways that their brain works. This might mean that some people have different needs than us, and that's ok!

    After we finished reseraching and learning for ourselves, it was time for us to come up with a project. Students came up with a lot of different ideas, and we were able to incorporate many of them! We discovered that a worldwide initiative called Neurodiversity Celebration Week was coming up in March, and this would tie in perfectly. Our goal was to promote acceptance and appreciation for students that are neurodiverse. After hearing all of the ideas, we created committees so each 2nd grader had a project to work on. We had a video group, book group, sensory group, announcements group, posters group, and finally, mural group. Each group had very specific tasks to help our celebration week come to life. 

    The whole school watched our introduction video, many books featuring neurodiverse characters were checked out from the library, our posters were hung throughout the school for all to see, eight brave students made morning announcements, students convinced Dr. Scaletta to purchase sensory tools for each classroom, everyone wore rainbow colors on Friday to celebrate, and finally, every student in the school made a handprint and our mural group helped hang them up in a beautiful display. Our project made a lasting impact on students and staff at school. We are SO proud!

Exploring Curiosity Through Genius Hour

Excitement is in the air as our sixth graders embark on an incredible journey of discovery, creativity, and innovation through Genius Hour! This project empowers students to take ownership of their learning by researching a topic they are passionate about, becoming experts in their chosen fields, and ultimately creating something to showcase their knowledge to the entire school at the end of the year.

Genius Hour is a student-driven research and passion project designed to ignite curiosity and foster a love for learning. Each student will dedicate at least one hour per week to researching a topic that genuinely excites them, something they can explore and develop independently during class time. The beauty of Genius Hour is that it gives students the freedom to dive deep into subjects they’ve always wanted to learn more about while honing essential skills like critical thinking, problem-solving, and self-direction.

To help our students find a topic that truly resonates with them, they’ve been engaging with an AI-powered chatbot through SchoolAI, which acts as their research assistant. This tool guides them in refining their interests, generating relevant questions, and organizing their initial ideas. By providing instant feedback and thought-provoking prompts, the chatbot supports students in selecting a topic that is both meaningful and feasible within the classroom setting.

Once students settle on their topics, the real magic begins! Throughout the coming months, they will:

• Conduct in-depth research using a variety of credible sources.

• Take notes and organize their findings to deepen their understanding.

• Create something original to demonstrate their expertise. This can be a model, experiment, website, documentary, presentation, or another innovative format.

• Share their final projects with the school community in an exciting showcase event!

This project goes beyond traditional learning, it teaches students how to be self-motivated, independent learners who take initiative in their education. By exploring their passions, students develop a growth mindset, improve their research and communication skills, and gain confidence in their ability to pursue knowledge outside of the classroom. Plus, it’s fun!

We can’t wait to see the incredible projects our sixth graders will bring to life!

Shoes About Us!

With IAR last week, we did some extra classbuilding when we had the time. After playing a fun "Cross the River" game, where students cross to the other side of the classroom if something applies to them, they discovered all the cool things they had in common (like loving pizza and having pets!). Following that, we dove into a really creative activity. I wanted the kids to show off all the awesome things that make them unique. So, I challenged them to design a shoe that told their story! Each student got a paper shoe template, and then the magic started. We talked about how shoes can say a lot about who we are, like what sports we play or what colors we like. Then, they got to work, decorating their shoes with their birth year, favorite subject in school, and their favorite color.

The results were amazing! We had shoes covered in bright, multiple colors, shoes with drawings of all sorts of things. It was like a little art gallery of all the things that make my students so special. Each shoe was a mini-biography, a colorful explosion of their personalities. And, best of all, they had so much fun sharing their creations and learning even more about each other. It was a perfect way to celebrate our differences and see how cool it is to be yourself!

Music Marketing

 How do companies bring a new product to market? From product brainstorming to catchy names, jingles, ad copies and more, the fifth graders are bringing their fresh new ideas to a store near you soon!

Students in 5th grade have been brainstorming their new products and are now ready for the next phase. Huge companies team up with musicians to create their background music for their commercials all the time. Depending on their needs, they also create jingles to get that product name stuck in your head urging you to buy. 

I can't wait to see how these final project commercials turn out. They are doing some fantastic work. Below you see two images of the students coming up with their catchy rhyhmic jingles to hook their target audience.

Exploring Fantasy

Our classroom has been buzzing with excitement as we dive deeper into our fantasy unit. The students are flying through their book club books and loving our mentor text, Thief of Always by Clive Barker. This eerie story full of illusions has sparked some amazing discussions and pushed us to think more deeply about the fantasy genre.

This week, the students tackled a big challenge: comparing their book club novels with Thief of Always. Using double bubble maps, they explored connections in setting, character development, overall tone, and the characters’ quests. It was awesome to see them notice how fantasy worlds are built differently, how characters grow through their struggles, and how authors use tone to shape the story’s mood.                     

The double bubble maps were filled with thoughtful ideas, and I was so impressed by the creative connections they made. Their ability to compare texts at this level shows just how much their analytical skills are growing.

4th Graders Tackle Erosion

4th grade scientists have been exploring the powerful forces causing Lake Michigan's erosion. We started by understanding the basic concept: erosion is the wearing away of land by natural forces such as water and wind from the lake.

We focused on real-world examples. We explored images and videos showcasing the visible impact of Lake Michigan's waves and wind on our shoreline. We discussed how strong waves carve away bluffs, how wind carries sand, and how these processes alter our beaches and coastlines over time.

We are now shifting our focus to solutions. We will be learning about the various methods already used to combat erosion along Lake Michigan as well as engineering new solutions. 

Overall, 4th graders are gaining a deeper understanding of the natural forces shaping our environment and the importance of conservation efforts.

The Week of St. Patrick's Day

In kindergarten, we have been thinking green for St. Patrick's Day!

On Monday, we had a visit from the leprechaun in the classrooms. The sneaky leprechaun left the students a festive write-the-room where they were able to hunt for words around the room and practice their writing skills. They were also able to practice their number identification by finding a coin from the leprechaun's pot of gold. 

After having all of that fun, we were able to listen to our focus story be read aloud by our very own Dr. Scaletta, who made the story come alive with fun voices and engagement for the students. The kids talked about how special it was that our principal was able to come and read to us. 

Fast forward to today, the kindergarteners were able to meet up with their buddies to have their very own leprechaun hunt throughout the school. By looking at clues, they were able to find their way around and get coins on their journey. They had so much fun and were able to continue the holiday fun with their buddies. 

Teacher Swap Day

Recently, the Goodrich Gators earned a school wide reward for earning 500 gamechangers.  Gamechangers are shout outs that are given to students from either a staff member or fellow student for demonstrating an act of kindness.  The staff were very proud that our students earned so many gamechangers!  The school wide reward was a teacher swap day.  Students were notified less than 24 hours before getting "new teachers" for one lesson.  5th graders in Ms. Zych's class welcomed Dr. Scaletta and myself into their classroom.  We did a teambuilder with the students called the ABC/grocery store game.  A great time was had by all and memories were made!