Our First Week of Exploratory...

At the start of our SAGE day, the boys and girls wrote the rough draft for their "Take a Closer Look at Me" poem.  We took a very fun photo of each student to display with with their poems. Next, they took turns typing them on their own.  Their projects are great!  They will be display at our Oct. 2nd Fall Open House.

During our morning, we discussed Bloom's Levels of Thinking and what each level might look like.  I introduced our Exploratory centers and the procedures we follow to select and complete a center.  The students had an opportunity to look through the choices and list their top three picks.  The boys and girls met with me individually to be sure their first choice center is a good fit for them.  We have students studying Color, Capsela robotics, Volcanoes, Puppets, Birding, Insects, Titanic and more!  Ask your child which center he/she chose and what drew him/her to that center. 

Discovering Our Exploratory Topics on PhotoPeach

The first step in beginning any center is to fill out their Exploratory Contract.  This helps me keep track of their individualized work and it empowers the children to become more independent in their learning.  After filling out their contracts, they had about 45 minutes to begin the Knowledge Level reading at their chosen center.  A couple of students even had time to finish their Comprehension Level task!

Next week, they will have time to continue their center work.  (The Knowledge Level and Comprehension Level tasks  usually takes 2-3 SAGE days to complete.)

In the afternoon, we worked together in the Problem Solver series.  This week's focus was on the strategy, “Use Logical Reasoning.”  Our problems were not very hard, but we will be ready to apply this to more difficult problems soon!

To reinforce this strategy, I introduced the students to the Logic Links program.  This is a challenging, self-paced logical thinking program.  Ask your child to tell you a little about more about the problems he/she solved.

Have a great weekend!