High Ability Update

I am implementing a new approach to assigning/choosing students' partners. Being assigned partners to work with and having the freedom to choose partners usually leaves some students feeling happy and some feeling not so happy. To be fair and to give everyone a chance to have a meeting of the minds with everyone in our group, students will draw chips to determine partners. Students reach into a container without looking and grab a colored chip. If you draw a red chip, then you are partners with whoever else draws a red chip. The students seem receptive to this approach:)

Students finished creating their personal shields of connections! We moved on to the presentation aspect of the project. I explained the grading rubric for the presentations. Students were given time to practice presenting their shields of connections. They will present to our class next week. It is a big project that involves understanding the concept of connections, public speaking, and following multi-step directions. It's a lot to ask from first graders, but not too much for this group! They’re rightfully proud of their work:)

After reviewing the definitions of polygon, hexagon, pentagon, quadrilateral, and triangle, we went on a polygon hunt. The kids were totally into it! They were focused and on task. It was an amazing experience for them. We had less than ten minutes to hunt on Wednesday, so we continued our polygon hunt on Thursday. We realized that there are more quadrilaterals than any other type of polygon in our school. There are also a lot of shapes that are not polygons. Since the activity was such a hit with the kids and such a worthy activity, I sent home blank polygon scavenger hunt record sheets. You might find your student going on a polygon hunt at home. It isn't homework, just an idea.

"The Walrus and the Carpenter" is a poem written by Lewis Carroll that appears in his book Through the Looking-Glass. You may remember Tweedledee & Tweedledum reciting the poem to Alice. This poem from the late 1800’s is another profound poem the students worked to comprehend by filling in a reading analyzer graphic organizer. This is only the second time this group used a reading analyzer this year, and they already seem more comfortable with it:) According to the students, the poem seemed confusing and a little funny at first. By the end of the lesson, some decided it was sad and some decided it was funny. All of them saw the trickery. What a great lesson! To celebrate their success, I showed them some old video clips of the poem. One of the clips was from 1933. They were all amazed that there's more to Alice than the version(s) they were familiar with before this lesson.

Working as a group, independently, and with partners, we analyzed equations to see if they were equal or not. I encouraged the students to write down their work instead of doing mental math. We will continually address the value of showing work. I also explained why they shouldn't erase their work when they realize they get an answer wrong. We also worked individually and as a whole group to solve some challenging word problems. These kids were up for the challenge. They were engaged and determined. Such great behavior and qualities exhibited this week! The particular word problems were an excellent lesson in interpreting the questions/problems. This led to a great discussion on what checking our work means. For example, if the problem asked how many legs 6 horses have, it would not make sense for the answer to be 12. If a student checks their work by only checking the math they wrote down, their answer may look correct. In this case, a student may have written down 2+2+2+2+2+2=12. To properly solve the problem, students need to understand that each horse has four legs not two. If they go back to check their work by reading and interpreting the problem, they may catch their error. Between the math content and the study skills, this group had a pretty packed HA week. Good stuff that will need to be expanded upon in upcoming lessons.

After finishing our retelling story map on the Native American myth about the creation of butterflies, students retold the myth to a partner without looking at the graphic organizer. Each pair told me they were successful at retelling the story! We moved on to do a little writing. We pretended we have an incoming Jackson student. Each student wrote a letter telling the incoming student what to expect in their homeroom and HA. I will be hanging onto these letters as an initial writing sample. I will have the students do the same thing a time or two later in the year. The students will be able to compare their work to see their growth.

We had such a nice week! Using an organized list and a think frame graphic organizer, students answered a math problem that pertained to money. What are all the combinations of dimes and pennies to make 77 cents? How many dimes and pennies would you need to make those combinations at the same time? They also had to explain the value of an organized list in a sentence or two. I was so impressed with the students. After that, we switched gears and played a game with a focus on place value. I'm proud of this group for being more focused this week than last.

We continued looking at how words change. Students worked in their small groups to find the definitions of words that were derived from Latin and Greek. The students switched papers to read over and make corrections. I'm sure some were inspired to see the work of others. I'm sure some felt accomplished to identify some needed corrections. These students have long known what prefixes and suffixes are, but they definitely broadened their horizons to the plethora of prefixes and suffixes we use. During our second language arts class, students used their resource packets, dictionaries, and our prefix wall to define words that contain prefixes and suffixes that are new to them.

Slow and steady wins the race. All good things come to those who wait. You can't build a strong building on a weak foundation. We continue to take our time learning the language of algebra. I can tell the lightbulb has gone on for some. We've had some absences, so we repeated last week's lessons with different examples. As I said before, there is great value in knowing "why" algebra makes sense. If I simply teach these students "how," then they won't have a solid foundation. Learning the language of algebra involves understanding what a variable is and assigning variables based on word problems. We are on our way to greatness:)

We are running low on boxes of tissues and quart & gallon size ziplocs, if you would like to send some in. Thank you so much for asking:)

Email: kapeterson@duneland.k12.in.us
Location: Jackson Elementary School, North 400 East, Valparaiso, IN, USA
Phone: 219-983-3680