"Wrapping" Up Our Semester

It was a little quiet today.  We missed Lily and Sofie.  (I know Lily was enjoying her school festivities and we hope Sofie is traveling safely.  We can't wait to here about her South American adventures!)

The students worked so hard all morning!  I was really surprised, delighted and impressed by their focus so close to our winter break.  We started our day working on our math problem solving skills in the TOPS Math program.  They are very good problem solvers as a group.

Next, the students used the snowman cards we have received to gather data about the average high temperature on December 15th in each city.  After lunch, we learned to use Microsoft Excel to graph their data.  Here are three of the student graphs (Brianna's, Scott's and Charles'.)

We ended our day with Spanish.  Ask your child to sing their Spanish Jingle Bells!

Have a fun and relaxing winter break!  We will look forward to seeing the students in January!

Building Our Research Skills

So for me, blogging and preparing for the holidays are not tremendously compatible.  My posts for the past two weeks and probably the next two will be a bit less elaborative.  Hopefully things will settle down after that.


The second grade SAGE students have been working on their research skills the past several weeks.  We have reviewed and confirmed our ability to locate a topic in alphabetical order with the help of guide words.  The students have knowledge of how to use the table of contents and index as well headings and sub-headings to locate a specific topic or information.  We have also learned how a traditional, bound encyclopedia is organized and when and why it might be necessary to cross-reference a topic with the index.  We have discussed the importance of using current sources as well as a variety of sources when  researching a topic.


Additionally, the students completed a pretest on goal setting.  Over the next few SAGE days, we will be discussing the importance of goal setting, learning to evaluate a goal to be sure it is realistic, creating a plan of action and discovering how our effort impacts our success.


This past week, the students finished their snowman cards and wrote the final draft of their winter poems.  They made a second copy of their poem for you.  I will send them home right before winter break.   Today, each student made a mini-podcast of their poem that you will find in the previous post.  They did a great job on their poems and their first audio presentation!


All of our cards were mailed out this week.  We ended up making and mailing 62 cards. Thank you so much for your donations of stamps to assist us with the postage costs.  We have received 21 cards so far.  It is kind of exciting to check my box in the office now.  

Today, the students worked in their individual, exploratory area.  Ask your child about their current task and progress.
 

Have a great week!
In the afternoon, the students continued our discussion on endangered animals in
preparation of our research unit.  They completed their pretest this past week.  Today,
they went to www.arkive.org to learn more about the threats that are bringing some species near the point of extinction.  If your child has the time, encourage him/her to explore some of the video and  photos to become more aware of the variety of animals that are endangered.

Wishing Each of You Wet, Wonderful, Snowman Snow!

2011 Global Snowman Card Exchange

UPDATE!  We Get to Participate in Two Groups!  (Remind me of how excited I was when we get closer to December 9th and I start to panic...)

I am very excited to share information with you on our newest project.  All five rotations of students are going to work together to participate in a global card exchange between 59 classes from across the United States and Canada.   Over 750 classrooms have registered and been organized in groups of 30 for this project.  This collaboration was organized by a teacher in California named Jennifer Wagner.  She has successfully encouraged teachers since 1999 to use online projects in their Pre K-6 classrooms.  This is the first time I have participated in one of her projects and I am very excited about having an opportunity to connect our students to others from across our country and around the world.  

Through this real world platform, we will be working on our research, problems solving, writing and technology skills.  We are responsible for making one, snowman themed, card for each of the fifty-eight other classrooms.  Below is a Google Map I made in Batch Geo to show the locations of all of our partners.

View 2011 Global Snowman Holiday Card Exchange in a full screen map

Our 2nd grade SAGE students are learning to use a traditional USA and World Atlas and coordinates on a grid this week so the skills tied nicely to this new adventure.  We will be working with Google Maps and Google Earth to learn more about the locations of each school. 

Both K/1st and 2nd grade SAGE students will be introduced to using a Thesaurus in the next week or so.  We will use the synonyms we find to help us write winter swirl poems  for the cards.  The cards we create must be mailed by December 9th.  Once we receive all of the cards from the other schools, we will be graphing some of the information we learn about the other students, schools and locations.  I am hoping we can Skype with one or two of our partners so the students have a chance to connect face-to-face.  We will have to see! 

A Little Outrage & an Ah Ha Moment!

The boys and girls were enthusiastic learners today! In the computer lab, the students are beginning to apply and synthesize their skills with Microsoft Power Point.  Today, they used basic figures (shapes) and began to create a winter snowman scene. By formatting their figures for color, size and position, they were able to design the background for their picture.  The students learned to format the outer line on a figure for style, thickness and color.  In most cases, for this task, they needed to remove it completely.  They also learned to "lasso" objects to select several at one time and to group them, so they move as one figure.   

We will be using this scene for our winter swirl poems we are writing over the next few SAGE days. If you have Power Point at home, encourage your child to practice and explore some of its possibilities.  

In the afternoon, the students were introduced to using a USA and World Atlas.  We discussed the purpose of the table of contents and index and practiced using them to locate a map for a particular city.  Next, we learned to use coordinates on a grid to locate a point on a map.  It's amazing what you can do without a smart phone!  LOL   Ask your child about the activity.

Today, in Spanish with Senora Gates, we learned about:

1.     Greetings.  Hola, Buenos días. 

2.     Names- Me llamo…¿Cómo te llamas? Mucho gusto.

3.     Colors-rojo, azul, blanco, negro, amarillo, verde, anaranjado, rosado, morado,         gris, azul cielo, café o marrón.  

4.     Numbers 1-20 Los números 1 hasta 20

5.     Calendar –El Calendario

6.     Days and Dates-Días y fechas

Our day ended with more than a little personal outrage.  We hung the students' "Squiggle" designs up on the bulletin board along with a name tag at the base of their illustration-- but we mixed up the names and papers to be sure none of the names matched with he appropriate student work.  It took a little while or them to notice, but when they did, they let me know that an error had been made and they didn't like having someone else's name on their own work.

After leading the conversation in a few circles, I pointed out that I believe this must be how authors, illustrators and photographers feel when someone takes their ideas, designs or photographs and uses them in their projects without giving them proper credit.  "Plagiarism" is an academic vocabulary word for our second grade SAGE students. In the end,I think the students gained an understanding of the importance of citing our sources.

Have a great week!

Hola, Señora Gates has Begun Our Spanish Instruction!

We a very busy day!  In the computer lab, the students are learning to use Microsoft Power Point.  Today, we learned to set up a new Power Point presentation.  The students learned to add and format a text box, rectangle and oval.  The students can now add a new text box and format it for color, size, style of font and location on the page.  After today, they can also insert a rectangle, square, circle and oval.  They can format their figures for color, size and position.  They are able to fill the shape with a single color, gradient colors, a pattern or a picture.  Today we practiced layering objects and how to change the position of an object by using the send forward and backward tools.  If you have Power Point at home, I would encourage you to let your child explore some of its possibilities.  It is a great application for writing a report, making a card or doing a book report.  It is user friendly and very adaptable for inserting photos and video.

The students completed their first full page "Squiggle" as a part of our creative problem solving.  These exercises teach students to be more flexible in their thinking and elaborative in their projects as they combine the squiggle marks to create a single, cohesive picture.

In the afternoon, the students worked at their individual Exploratory Centers.  We have robotic models being built, original castle plans being designed, origami figures being folded, illustrations of the Titanic striking the iceberg, a coded message written with coordinates on a grid, a butterfly puppet under construction, a student compiling a Monet timeline and more.  Ask your child about their work.

Today was also our first day of Spanish with Senora Gates!  Each of the students selected an optional Spanish name.  We also learned about:

1.     Greetings.  Hola, Buenos días. 

2.     Names- Me llamo…¿Cómo te llamas? Mucho gusto.

3.     Friends-Amigos- Pablo, Livia, Antonio, Rosa

4.     Colors-rojo, azul, blanco, negro, amarillo, verde, anaranjado, rosado, morado, gris, azul cielo, café o marrón.  Game-Levántense- Siéntense

5.     Numbers 1-20 Los números 1 hasta 20

6.     Calendar –El Calendario

Days and Dates-Días y fechas

With the additions of several new students, we are looking like a complete class!  The boys and girls are doing a nice job welcoming new classmates and our new students are settling in to our routine and expectations.  They are a great group!

Have a great week!

Taking Our Creativity to New "Heights"

We started our day working individually on their first "hands-on" problem solving challenge. Using only one pair scissors, a one inch cube of clay, an 8.5x11 inch sheet of paper, two drinking straws, two folder labels and six popsicle sticks the students had to create the tallest, free standing structure possible. The base of the structure also had to fit within a five inch tape square on their table. They began by brainstorming designs on their planning form and they then were given twelve minutes to actually construct their tower. It is fun to see the room go completely silent as each student's brain is fully engaged in the task. The students used a variety of designs for their towers and, for the most part, were very successful. Our tallest tower, for this first attempt was over 70 cm!  They ended the task by evaluating their designs, construction and finished structure on their hands-on planning form.

To be successful, students must be fluent, flexible thinkers. They need a steady stream of ideas and they must be able to adapt and change direction or strategy as new problems arise. These tasks develop the skills needed to solve real world problems and provide wonderful opportunities for affective conversations. We discussed how individuals handle frustration and challenge, why some students quit and others persevere and how their classmates that struggle academically might feel on a regular basis. For some it is the "Ah Ha!" moment that enables them to empathize with their peers and avoid hurtful bragging.  Having said that, it takes a great deal of maturity and wisdom for an individual to celebrate their academic success in a way that does not make someone else feel less and so, the conversation continues...

Growing up in a culture where athletic, theatrical, musical and artistic "winners" are hailed with attention, applause, trophies and recognition it is only natural that students with academic gifts will initially seek that same response when they achieve a level of success. Although I find it to be hypocritical that is how the world is. I think it is our job as parents, teachers and advocates for bright children to guide them, model an appropriate level of humility and provide them opportunities to celebrate their success and receive genuine praise.


Next, we learned more about staying safe on the Internet while exploring the "Think U Know" website.  After our discussion, each student selected a different safety rule to illustrate to teach others about Internet safety.  These are on display outside of our classroom.

The students ended their day working on their individual problem solving work in the Math Rules program.

Have a great week!

Some Frustration, but Lots of Fun!

See Our Possibilities

First Quarter Down & Our Confidence is Up!

We started our day working in TOPS Math and Math Rules.
 

 "Tips and Tricks" for Successful Math Problem Solving

(aka Surviving TOPS Math & Math Rules--

and maybe even learning to enjoy them)

• Begin by reading the problem carefully.
• What is the question being asked?
• What relevant information is provided in the text of the problem?
• Is there unnecessary information to distract you or throw you off?
• Look at the illustration or chart shown with the problem.
• What relevant information is found in the graphics?
• Is there unnecessary information to distract you or throw you off?
• Look back at the question being asked.
• What mathematical operation will you need to use to solve this problem?
• What strategies could you use to solve it?
• What is the most efficient strategy that will get me to an accurate answer?
• Complete the problem.
• Show your work in the space provided and double check your computation.
• Look again at the question being asked and write your answer in a complete sentence.
• Did you start with a capital letter?
• Did you end with proper punctuation?
• Did you answer the question that was asked?
• Did you include the proper label for your answer?

I would also like to encourage all of my 2nd graders to begin working to memorize their basic addition and subtraction facts.  (Try to make this a low stress activity.  --Yes, I know, easier said than done, but I do have some ideas for you if you have trouble working on math facts.)  Memorization of these facts will help your child make mind leaps more quickly as they work on problem solving skills.  

After working in TOPS Math, we went to the library to continue our work on research skills. We quickly reviewed how the Briarcliff library is arranged and how to read the call number on the spine of a fictional book.  Next, we looked at how the call number is organized on for a non-fiction book. The students practiced locating fictional and nonfictional book by their call number.  Next, the students went to an interactive site to practice their ABC orders skills, sorting books to the second and third letter.  They also completed library shelf challenges that were interactive to locate or return books to their proper virtual shelf location.

In the afternoon, we completed a creative thinking exercise to work on our flexible thinking, originality and elaboration skills. The students were each given a paper with a partial design repeated four times. (The design is below.) Each repeat of the design was rotated a quarter turn to create a different perspective and new picture possibilities.  They had to use the existing design components and integrate them into their new picture.  Each design had to be used to make a very different picture. I challenged them to see if they could come up with something no one else in their class created and to be as elaborative as possible.  These drawing exercises strengthen the skills (fluency, flexibility, originality and elaboration) that will help the children in their problem solving.

Next the students worked in their individual Exploratory centers.  Ask your child about their current tasks and progress!The students also completed their first quarter self-evaluation.  I will share it with you at our parent/teacher conferences next week.  Please call or email me if you have not set up a fall conference.  I still have spaces available!

Have a beautiful, warm, fall week!

***As the seasons change, please remind your child to watch the weather and bring a warm coat, hat and gloves when necessary.  Our playground sits just high enough to catch the wind and recess can be pretty chilly.  It is hard to adjust to early, "wintery" days!

Creative Thinkers and Beginning Researchers

As an "academic blog," I am encouraging the student to avoid using it as a social network.  I don't want the students spending large amounts of time just socializing here. 

I want them to post comments on their learning and "Ah Ha!" moments.  The source of their learning and revelations can be from within or outside of school.  Ideally, I would like to see students post a comment from home once or twice a week.  In the beginning, their comments may not be very sophisticated.  With instruction, practice and encouragement, your child will gain a desire to share their ideas and opinions with others and the skills to do it through our blog.  Blogging provides a real world platform for students to improve not only their reading and writing skills, but also the technology skills 21st Century Learners will need.  

Please encourage your child to share their enthusiasm and experiences from rich learning moments.  At this age, they will need your support and assistance with proof reading their comments prior to clicking that "publish" button.  In the next week or so, I will try to get a screen cast tutorial made on how to post a comment to our blog for those parents and grandparents that would like directions.  By all means, please encourage your child's grandparents, aunts, uncles and other interested adults to post comments about your child's projects and learning on our blog too!   I am looking forward to hearing from you all!

The students continued their individual work in the Math Rules program and in their Exploratory center today.  Ask your child about their current task.  I think almost everyone is now past the Knowledge and Comprehension level tasks.  Now they can choose any other task from this same center to complete. 

Currently, a person is reading about the Titanic and another about ancient castles, a butterfly puppet is in the design stages, a second robotic vehicle is being constructed, one student is gathering facts about Monet's life for a timeline, origami figures are being folded, a bird call is being designed, and after beating Mrs. Koch in Battleship, (an Application level task at Gridville) one student is designing a coded message using coordinates on a grid.  This is an exciting place to be in the afternoon!  I will continue to encourage them to take their time for their personal best effort.  

In the afternoon, they 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."  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!


We went to the library to begin work on our research skills.  We discussed how the Briarcliff library is arranged, the difference between fiction and non-fiction books, how to read the call number on the spine of the book, what the numbers and/or letters mean in the call number, how the books are arranged on the shelves and the importance of being sure we put books back in their correct location and order.  It is empowering to students to learn to locate books on their own.  Mastery of these skills frees them to select books on topics of interest and locate specific books without having to wait for adult assistance.  This is monumental for early readers and for students interested in unusual or "hard to locate" topics and information.  We will continue to focus on research skills over the next several weeks.

We ended our day working on our critical thinking skills.  The students were given a variety of tasks working on analytical thinking, problem solving and elaboration. 


Have a good week!

Our First Commenting Challenge!

Boys and Girls,
It is supposed to be a really beautiful weekend.  We are going to southern Missouri to visit some relatives.  I am excited to be out in the country and I am hoping we will see some of the trees that are changing with the new season.

Keeping in mind our discussion on cyber safety, using appropriate netiquette and what we learned from Mrs. Yollis' video,  How to Compose a Quality Comment, http://vimeo.com/15695021 ,try posting a comment here about your weekend plans and activities.  I am looking forward to hearing from you all!

Each Student Posted a Blog Comment Today!

We started our day discussing how to post a comment on a blog and what makes a quality comment.  The students each posted a comment today!  If you have the time, take a look!  They did a great job.  I am encouraging them to begin to post comments from home.

We have struggled with problems between Internet Explorer and Blogger.  From my own research, Safari and FireFox seem to be a good match to Blogger, but IE has had problems working it.  Many of you may have tried to post a comment only to have it erased, without your post going through.  Thanks to our IT department, I think we have finally found a "fix."  Please let me know if you are ever having difficulties with the blog.  A lot of this is new for me too, so in some cases, the kids and I are learning together.  (I hope you don't mind being dragged along with us!)  If you have a working knowledge of blogs and have any suggestions or ideas, please pass them along to me!


The students continued their individual work in Math Rules, TOPS Math and Exploratory today.  We had a pretty long Exploratory block of time and they really made some progress!  Ask your child about their current task. 

The students were also introduced to the Components of Creativity:

• Fluency
• Flexibility
• Originality
• Elaboration

Some questions have only one answer:  Who was our 16th President of the the United States?

Some questions have many answers:  What are all of the ways you might have come to school today?

When I asked our students this second question, they came up with car, bus, and walking and then moved onto more creative and original ideas.  Charlie, thought of a jet pack,  Scott suggested you ride in an ice cream truck!  These ideas really helped us become more divergent in our thinking!  Cady thought of riding on a giraffe.  Xander suggested flying through the air after being launched from the catapult!  Ashley thought of a big bunch of helium balloons and Corrina thought of flying on a hang glider.  Lily suggested an ambulance and Theo thought we might bounce here on a big trampoline.  We came up with a long list of many more. Wow! A pretty creative list for our first brainstorm of the year.  Ask your child to brainstorm more ideas for you.

We ended our day discussing what it means to be "gifted" and why students come to SAGE.  We discussed that there are other gifted students in their classroom, who will never need to come to SAGE.  There are other gifts and talents that students might have and they would have other types of "gifted" teachers.   Ask your child to tell you more about our conversations.

It was wonderful to see so many families at our Open House last night!  If you have not signed up for a parent conference, please call or email me

Have a wonderful weekend!

Starting Our Exploratory Centers

Create your own video slideshow at animoto.com.

Our Busy B's

The B day students worked hard today.  We started our day with an introduction to a Web 2.0 application Tagxedo.  As a part of our affective investigation to learn more about ourselves and our classmates, we spent some time reflecting on our interests, influences and personality traits.  We used our computer lab time to create an electronic word cloud that tells others about us.  These will also be on display at our Open House next Thursday, October 6th.  Although the students are anxious to share their work with you, you will have to wait until Open House.  To give you an idea of what a word cloud is, and to give you some more information about me, my personal word cloud is below.  I'm sure you will enjoy what your child created! 

After recess and lunch, the students were introduced to our Exploratory centers and 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.  They filled out their individual contracts and began working in their Exploratory area on the Knowledge level task.  Ask your child to tell you about their center work and a fact or two they learned about their topic.  


Next, the last few students completed typing their paragraph from last week.  Everyone was then introduced to/reviewed our procedures for using the TOPS Math Problem Solving Program.  We are focusing on finding the important information in the word problem and in the illustration.  We also discussed the key words that tell us if we need to add or subtract and ways we can show our thinking.


We had a busy day, but they got a lot done too.  Have a wonderful weekend!

Our Second Day of SAGE; the Fast & Furious Version...

Rotation B students were FABULOUS today!  They came in excited but focused in on the tasks at hand. Having missed them last week, due to our half day, I was feeling some pressure to move them along toward catching up with the other classes.  They are settling in and becoming more comfortable with each other too.

This week 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.

For our affective, future goals project, the students began the rough draft paragraph about their aspirations. We discussed indenting, the position and purpose of a topic sentence, supporting details and a wrap-up or conclusion sentence.  Although we had not had time to finish this draft, everyone had gotten a good start by our computer lab time. 

In the lab, we reviewed the parts of the computer and the related vocabulary words.  We also practiced how to locate their personal folders on the shared drive.  They really listened well and jumped right into their typing.  Using Microsoft Word as our tool, everyone was able to type what they had written on their rough draft and most were able to compose as they typed to finish the rest of their paragraph.  Along the way, we learned to use the "tab" key to indent, the space bar to space appropriately between words and after punctuation, to format the font for style, to right click to correct spelling errors and to save and print our documents.  Bravo boys and girls! 

After a beautiful outside recess and our lunch, they finished drawing a picture of what they would like to be when they grow up.  The students also worked to finish their construction paper head. They are excited to share them with you at our Open House on October 6th.

At the end of the day, we discussed Bloom's Levels of Thinking and what each level might look like.  Next week I will introduce our Exploratory centers and the students will have an opportunity to look through the choices and choose their first center of the year. 

Wow, what a busy day!  Your children should sleep well tonight!  I know I will!

Our First Week of SAGE

Awesome First Day of SAGE

Today was our very first Rotation B SAGE class.  It was fun to see my returning students and exciting to meet our newest classmates.

We started our day with the other students from Briarcliff as they gathered around the flag pole to remember those who died ten years ago on September 11th.  Our custodian, Mr. Wes, explained the proper way to handle the flag and the reasons and procedures for flying our flag at half staff.  Mrs. Place, our principal, shared the appropriate etiquette for an audience when our national anthem is performed.  She briefly reminded us all of the events of 9/11 and talked to the students about why we remember and honor those who lost their lives on that tragic morning and those who serve in our armed forces.  We then listened as Mr. Wes beautifully sang our national anthem.

Back in our classroom, we briefly discussed their questions, the sadness I feel when I remember the events of that day, the news coverage that will preoccupy this weekend and the importance of celebrating our human spirit and compassion.

After an unusually somber start, we relaxed and did a Skittles activity to get to know our classmates.  We learned of swim teams, fishing trips, boy scout camps, adventures in amusement parks, trips to the top of tall mountains, camping weekends and fun days with family and friends.  I learned that some of my students value recess above all else, (not a huge surprise...) we have several people who love reading, art and science and all of them were getting hungry an hour before it was time for our lunch!  I was also repeatedly told they hoped we were starting centers today, (which sadly, we weren't.)  Most importantly, we learned that we have many things in common.

Next, it was their turn to get to know me a little better.  I passes around my purse and each student retrieved an item from its contents.  I told them they needed to put on their detective hats and look for clues about me in the item they had chosen.

Brianna shared that she believed I liked the color pink and that my middle name is Anne (with an "e.")  This she deduced from the fact my wallet is pink and my driver's license gave away my full name.  Xander discovered I had a dog named Elsie, who was due for two shots when he found a postcard from my veterinarian.  Charlie, who pulled my iPhone from the purse,  proved to be a definite digital native as he perused my iTunes library, discussed my most recent text message and carefully assessed the groups of apps and games I had downloaded.  I kept looking over his way to be sure he wasn't purchasing something off of Amazon. com!  I don't think we have time to list his observations of me and I'm not sure I really want you to know all of them!

Theo found my latest tech tool, a teeny, tiny video camera I purchased this summer.  Not surprising, he knew I liked new technologies.  The students were excited to learn how easy it is to use and that my plan is for them to make some videos with it this year in our classroom.  Cady found an orange and figured I liked them and wanted it for a snack today.  From a promotional card from a gallery gift shop, Scott reported that I must like jewelry and pottery.

Lily discovered my throat lozenges and noted my scratchy voice.  She accurately inferred I had a sore throat and my allergies were bothering me.  Ashley retrieved a piece of Bazooka bubble gum and figured I must like to read comics.  In this case, she was only partly right.  The real draw was a good, original bubble gum.   They are great detectives and had no idea they were doing higher order, analytical thinking.  I wonder what your wallet or purse would say about you?

We had a fun recess, learned our way around Briarcliff, met the principal, secretary and nurse, discussed general school rules and figured out the lunch routine in the Bear cafe.  We also tried out a critical thinking program called Logic Links and began the Math Rules problem solving program.

We ended our day by starting an affective project where the students will share some of their aspirations and dreams for their future.   They drew a picture of what they would like to be when they grow up.  Next week, they will continue working on this project and begin their written explanation of their goals.  We hope to have this completed by our Oct. 6th Open House.

Our day came and went before we knew it.  I know we are going to enjoy our time together!  We hope you will follow our adventures here.  Feel free to share your thoughts by posting comments.  You are also welcome to email me with questions and/or concerns.

You have probably deduced, I am lacking in the art of being succinct.  As you and your child become more familiar with our program, I will try to focus my posts on the high lights of our day!  Please sign your child's Take Home Folder and encourage them to return it next week.  Have a wonderful weekend!