Meet Rosie, the Newest Member or Our Class!

This week, we started our day by meeting, Rosie.  Rosie is a Chilean Rose or Rose-hair tarantula, Grammostola rose, donated to our class by the family of a former student, Samantha.  Samantha knew that in the past, I had two tarantulas as class pets.  When her great Uncle decided to reduce his collection, she suggested we might make good caretakers for one of his tarantulas.   I'm glad she thought of us!  Rosie is definitely an exciting addition to our classes.  Ask your child to tell you a little about what he/she learned about tarantulas today.  If you or your child would like to learn more about Rosie, check out this link on tarantulas.

 










In math, the students were introduced to the strategy: Use or make a picture or diagram. We had to read the clues carefully, but we were successful using the strategy.

 Next the students worked at their Exploratory centers.

Next, the students worked on our second Creative Problem Solving lesson.  This week, they were given 20 minutes to complete the "squiggle" below.

In this task, students are asked to create a single, cohesive picture that includes all of the given squiggle figures and lines.  This exercise focuses on the students' flexibility and elaboration.

Flexibility is the ability to change your way of thinking about a problem or situation.  It is the ability to think of alternative ideas and to adapt to different situations  

• You are flexible in your thinking when you approach a complicated math problem you missed in a different way.
• You are flexible in your thinking when you can think of indoor games to play when your birthday swim party is rained out.

Elaboration is the process of expanding an idea by adding detail.  To elaborate, you must understand the original idea and see a way to clarify or improve it by adding specific details.  

• You are elaborating when you add to, enlarge, enrich, or expand descriptions, designs, drawings, explanations, instructions, reports or  stories. 
• You are using elaboration when you edit your stories and add more descriptive vocabulary and more details.

We ended our day meeting our newest Quirkle scientist: Density Dan.

Ask your child to tell you about our experiment to see which solution has a greater density, fresh water or salt water?

Have a great week!

Color & Creativity

Last week, we read the book Scaredy Squirrel.  It may be our new favorite book!  Scaredy lived in a nut tree and felt very safe and comfortable there.  He was not very flexible and he was NOT a risk-taker! He worried about what might happen if he left the safety of his nut tree, so he had a very specific plan and an emergency kit in case disaster ever struck.  One day, a “killer bee” showed up and Scaredy’s emergency kit fell out of the tree.  As he dove for it, he discovered he was actually a flying squirrel!  He discovered that nothing bad happened to him in the “unknown.”  We related Scaredy’s anxiety to events in our own lives and drew the conclusion that “It is through our experiences that we gain courage to become a successful risk-taker.”  As a personal reflection, each student created their own mobile about a fear they overcame with support.  We explored how this would help us face future challenges and and become better risk-takers.

For more about Scaredy Squirrel, visit this website: scaredysquirrel.com

This week, we started our day by revisiting the math problem solving strategy “Use Logical Reasoning.”  Today's problems were in a different format than last time.  It really required us to do some very careful reading.  After our strategy lesson, we worked individually in TOPS math.

Today, the students met our newest Quirkle, Colorful Caroline.  We learned about primary and secondary colors and had a lot of fun with our experiment.  The students

discovered black marker ink is made from a combination of several different colored inks.  Have your child tell you about their hypothesis and observations.  We also sent the materials with the students to conduct and share the experiment with you too!

Next, the students were introduced to the Components of Creativity:

• Fluency- to brainstorm many ideas
• Flexibility- to redirect and approach a problem from a new angle
• Originality- to generate unique ideas
• Elaboration- expand on ideas by adding details

They also learned/reviewed the Rules for Brainstorming: 

• Accept the unusual
• Never criticize or compliment
• Piggyback when possible
• Never stop too soon.

They individually brainstormed "things you might find in a pocket."  Quinn thought of a Brown Recluse's spider web, Anastasia thought of a hand in your pocket, Giles thought of a lost button and Mia thought of lint.  We judged their ideas for their fluency and originality and if they were relevant to the problem.  Have your child tell you more about their list.  They are a very creative class and had several unique ideas!  

At the end of our day, each student evaluated his/her first quarter in SAGE.  I will have your child's self evaluation along with his/her progress report to share with you at our Fall Conference.

Have a great week!

Learning About Plants With Botanist Bert & the Briarcliff Garden

This week the boys and girls were introduced to Botanist Bert and the study of botany.  We started our day by brainstorming what we already knew about plants and what we wondered about them.  We were very excited and fortunate to have Mrs. Garrett and Mrs. Poole, Briarcliff's Community Garden mentors, give us a tour of our school garden.   They answered many of our questions, shared their knowledge and expertise with us and inspired a whole new round of questions.  

Today, we learned:

• Briarcliff does three plantings a year; our spring planting in late March, our summer planting in June and our fall planting in mid to late August.
• Our garden currently has several herbs growing as well as lettuce, radishes, swiss chard, kale, sweet potatoes, celery, carrots, bush beans and beats.
• In some vegetables, we eat the root, some the stem, and some the leaves.
• Some vegetables grow slowly all summer, while lettuce and radishes grow pretty quickly in the spring.
• Some of the garden plants have really long, leafy vines that take over the garden bed.
• Briarcliff's community garden is organic.  That means they use no chemicals like fertilizers or pesticides on it.

Mrs. Garrett and Mrs. Poole also asked for our help.  They need garden markers to show everyone what each plant is that is growing in our beds.  Our K/1st grade SAGE students are creating new plant stakes to mark the fall garden.  We are glad we are able to help with the garden.

In the afternoon, the students worked on "Making an Organized List" in the Problem Solver and then continued their work in TOPS Math.  They also worked on their individual Exploratory tasks.

We hope to see you at our fall Open House Tuesday, October 2nd from 6:00-7:00 in our classroom.