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!