Week of May 21st

SOL testing is finished at last!  It’s been a bit hit or miss with the 3rd and 4th graders these past two weeks.  I’ve had to see kids in spits and spurts, and whenever I could get them.  For those I WAS able to see, here’s what we’ve been doing…

Fourth graders have been working on critical thinking with a set of activities called “Directive Detectives”.  They require that you really pay close attention to detail and truly process step by step what are reading.  They’ve also been doing some math “Perplexors”, Kakuros, and Quizzles.  Phew!

Third graders continued their word play…  Some finished up pangrams, others got started on Tom Swifties.  They also had fun deciphering sentences like “D D-R S N D I-V”  (the deer is in the ivy!)

Some second graders were finishing up their work with the Babylonian number system, others started looking at the method used to create numbers in Ancient Greece.  Because Ancient Greek numbers and letters are the same, we started by checking out the Greek alphabet.

GT Plan

We’ve been working all year to craft a plan outlining services for the gifted in FCCPS.  It is now posted at the following site:

 http://www.fccps.org/cia/index.html

If you are interested in reading it and providing feedback, please do so!

 

Week of May 7th

Some of the fourth graders have Quizzle fever!  I’ve been spending every spare minute lately checking Quizzles, handing out new Quizzles, and helping kids through some of the trickier problems.  Added to the logic puzzle mix this week:  Kakuros.  Many of the fourth graders were introduced to these puzzles which require a bit of math and a lot of reasoning.  Those who didn’t learn about them this week, will get them next week.

In third grade, the focus was on Pangrams — sentences which use every letter of the alphabet (like “The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog”).  To write a really great pangram takes a lot of creativity and persistence!

Second graders continued exploring different math systems.  Ms. Romer’s and Ms. Lander’s classes finished up with the Mayan system and Mrs. Plata’s and Ms. Murphy’s got a start on the base 60 math system used in Mesopotamia.

 

Week of April 30th

It’s hard to believe, but May has arrived!  This time of year gets really busy with meetings, guest speakers, field trips, and other special events so, unfortunately, I don’t always get to see all my groups.  That was definitely the case with fourth grade this week.   I’m certainly glad to have been there when NBC meteorologist Tom Kierein told the story of how he chose his future career path, and I’m glad the fourth graders were given a glimpse into their own future at Mary Ellen Henderson when the counselors, the principal, and some current MEH students came to tell them about what they can expect! 

The fourth graders I was fortunate enough to see were introduced to the Quizzle Club.  Quizzles are logic puzzles to which some kids quickly become addicted.  You’ll no doubt see the grid puzzles floating about your house in the coming weeks. 

Third graders continued with a bit of “word play” in the form of lipograms.  Lipograms are pieces of writing which are created with some sort of constraint.  For example, try rewriting Mary Had a Little Lamb without the letter “l”.  It might look something like:  Mary had a diminutive sheep…  It gets trickier the further you go because the rhyme scheme and rhythm of the poem must be maintained. 

In second grade we delved further into our study of math from different cultures by taking a look at the Mayan system.  Their system was based on the number 20 and many of the kids were able to see how it was a lot like our system (they had places and a zero), but also quite different (they had a 20′s place, not a 10′s place!). 

Week of April 16th

This week included the final Word Masters challenge for third and fourth grade TAAP screening pool students. After completing their tests, the third graders continued working with sesquipedalian expressions.   Some tried to decipher the expressions I provided, while others tried their hand at crafting a multi-syllabic version of their favorite idioms.   Among the masterpieces created by third graders:  “It is is ill-advised to cast your opinion about a tome based on the appearance of its casing” and “It is fruitless to recite numbers identifying your barnyard birds before they emerge from their protective shells.” 

Fourth graders followed their Word Masters Challenge tests with a look at a complex math problem.  Some of their efforts are still works in progress, but the ultimate goal is for the kids to learn about factorials.  (One more week should do the trick!)  Be on the look out next Friday for information about Word Masters results.

My students have all been invited to participate in a Beta group for the VMath program.  I started introducing the second graders to the website and some of its features.  I’ll be giving them a few minutes here and there to explore different aspects of the program in class.  In the meantime, if anyone wants login information for their child, just ask!  I’ll send it to you so they can check things out at home.

Week of April 9th

Welcome back, everybody!  I hope you found plenty of time to relax over Spring Break.  For about 1/2 the TAAP Screening Pool population, the first day of the break meant the Odyssey of the Mind Regional competition.  The kids were all in clearly good hands throughout their OM experience, because all day long I saw kids who were happy and excited and had learned a great deal about cooperation and teamwork.

A special hurrah for the “Ooh-Motional Vehicles” team of James, Kurt, Felix, Parrish, Daniel, and Colson who will be heading on to the Virginia state finals this weekend!!  I wish them all the luck in the world!

This week was busy (as usual!).  The 2nd graders started their new unit by taking a glimpse at the Egyptian number system.  Third graders found themselves experimenting with sesquipedalian expressions… just ask a third grader if you want to understand what “Neophyte’s serendipity” means!  Fourth graders put their final touches on their research. 

Just a reminder that next week is the Word Masters Challenge for 3rd and 4th grade!

Week of March 19th

Assemblies + field trips + OM preparation + testing + meetings at the Central Office = forgotten blog post last week!  Sorry about that!

For third and fourth graders, the last two weeks have been all about Word Masters.  They all have their new word lists and have been creating original analogies (harder than it might seem!).

Second graders wrapped up the Babylonian numeration system, based on the number 60, and started an exploration of the system used in ancient Greece.  The ancient Greeks used their alphabet as numbers, so we had some fun learning the Greek alphabet.  If your child is in Ms. Raezler’s or Mrs. Smith’s class, ask them about Yoda wearing a cap while surrounded by lambs…  Mrs. Custer’s class will be finding out about the ancient Greek system next Monday.

Week of March 5th

Judges training for Odyssey of the Mind takes place tomorrow.  Just a reminder!!

In second grade news, an exploration of the Mayan number system continued.  A couple of classes were able to start moving into the Babylonian system.  Sadly, I missed Ms. Raezler’s kids because I was substituting (!) today.  (It seems like just about everyone is sick this week).

Third graders either finished up their “See-Saw” problems, taking into consideration how equations need to balance OR launched into “Linking Circle” problems.

Fourth graders continued their fascinating look at the time period from 1776-1876.  The goal is to find the interesting stories behind the facts on their charts.  Sometimes that’s gotten pretty tough, but for those who have been persistent, their efforts have been rewarded with some fascinating information!

Word Masters words will be coming out next week for both 3rd and 4th grade.  Be on the lookout!  Each child should have a list given to them on their regularly scheduled TAAP day.    Also, I’ve now received a list of the top schools on the February contest.  The scores of the third grade top ten ranged from 164-182.  Our team score was 159.    Fourth grade top scores ranged from 191-199.  Our team score was well below that at 176.

Week of February 20th

Field trips, assemblies, and holidays hit the TAAP program this week.  For those 2nd grade classes I DID see, we continued our work with the Mayan number system.  The system is a base 20 system, so the kids had a lot of fun moving the dots (ones), bars (fives), and shells (zeroes) into the ones place, twenties place, and four hundreds place using the SmartBoard. 

Third graders continued an exploration of algebraic thinking.  This week, we tackled the notion that sides of an equation need to balance.  On the SmartBoard we looked at several problems using shapes.  The kids had some great discussions surrounding the problems.  Ideas such as “if a circle and two rectangles weigh the same as a circle and a triangle, then the triangle must weigh the same as the two rectangles” were explored.

Fourth graders started mapping the concepts from their research project  using the program “Inspiration”.  More research to come….!

Week of February 13th

A little something for everyone…  Pieces of Learning publishes a lot of materials used in the world of gifted education.  They sent out this article yesterday and I thought some of you might enjoy reading it:  9 Essential Skills Kids Should Learn .

It was Word Masters week for 3rd and 4th graders.  The final group took their test at 12:30, so I won’t get final results out to you until next week, but the kids should all know how they did! 

After the WM test was finished up, third graders continued working on their algebraic reasoning.  They focused on unraveling problems where one piece of concrete information helped them to get the next piece of information needed to solve the problem which led them to the next piece and so on!

For fourth grade, the focus was on building conceptual categories about the time period from 1776-1876.  The goal was to find something that spanned multiple continents — for example, war was raging on 5 of the continents at the time.

Second graders in Mrs. Smith’s and Mrs. Custer’s classes finished up their work on the Egyptian number system, while Ms. Raezler’s kids started looking at the system used by the Mayans.