SAGE: Day 2 and we are getting closer to knowing what we are doing...

Rotation D students had a great second day/week of SAGE.  They worked really hard today!  I was really impressed with their efforts and accomplishments!

At the start of our day, we discussed our SAGE class rules and expectations. I shared with the students that SAGE is somewhat like brain aerobics class (minus the sweat- LOL.) The work they do here should challenge them and hopefully, frustrate them from time to time. It is not supposed to be painful, but it is intended to stretch their abilities, take them out of their comfort zone and test the way they handle frustration. The safety net is close, although sometimes camouflaged. I need to know what they can handle and so do they.

Each week, the work they do in our room should be hard enough that they are missing at least one or two problems/questions. If they are getting everything correct, I will bump up the level of difficulty until they are missing some. I want to get them to their individual, instructional levels. All of our work (particularly in math and critical thinking) is done over until it is correct. I give small hints if they ask. If I feel like they are becoming too frustrated, I will set down with them and work through the problem. I've told them our classroom is a safe place to try something new and a safe place to fail. I try very hard to watch that a student is not getting too stressed, but I sometimes miss the signs. If your child expresses that SAGE is too hard, please contact me so we can talk about it with him or her.

This week, the students began the rough draft paragraph about their aspirations for the future. We discussed indenting, the position and purpose of a topic sentence, supporting details and a conclusion sentence. All of the students finished this draft. They also finished their picture of what they would like to be when they grow up as well as their construction paper head.  (Yes, that sounds weird, but they are oh so cute!)  Next week, they will begin typing the written explanation of their goals. We hope to have this completed by our October 6th Open House.

Next, we discussed Bloom's Levels of Thinking and what each level might look like. I introduced our Exploratory centers and the students had an opportunity to look through the choices and list their top three picks. Each student met with me to be sure their first choice center is a good fit for them. Ask your child which center he/she will be beginning on our next SAGE day?

Our time flies by, but I feel like they accomplished a lot.