Thursdays are always filled with energy and excitement in our 4th grade Target class!

Critical and Divergent thinking:
Our movie making is going along well.  The kids made great progress today!  They finally feel like things are coming together during the post-production phase.  They're editing their movies to get read for our Premiere Party on March 17th, 8-8:45am.  Parents are invited!  More details to come!
Affective:
We worked to build our focus, concentration, and ability to relax our minds with some mindfulness practice.  Check out the video!

We also worked more on developing a Growth Mindset.  We watched "The Incredible Power of Yet!" After the video, we discussed how thinking of "I don't know it yet" can really change the way we move ahead in life and how we feel about it.  The kids created a Power of Yet poster with examples from their own lives.  Check it out on the 4th grade display outside our classroom.

Our novel reading touched on several affective topics today too!  We discussed how it's hard when you can't do an activity or hobby that you really love, something you're really talented in because of somebody else's rules.  We enjoyed hearing some music by Thelonius Monk that was mentioned in our book.

Algebraic Thinking:
We continued our application of Hands On Equations with more word problems.  About half of the class is really catching on, with the rest needing more support.  We'll continue the same type of problems next week to provide more opportunity to master this type of problem.  Students are welcome to visit during Chalker Morning Enrichment, any day of the week, for more help with algebra and Hands On Equations.

Convergent thinking:
We took a break from paper/pencil logic puzzles to test our convergent thinking skills with a card game called "Set".  The kids enjoyed this!

HW:  Edmodo-Movie Project Update & Optional Padlet for extra credit!

Until Next Week,
​Dr. Kraeger

Our day started with some "Catch-Up" work for those students who had missing classwork or homework assignments.  While they tackled assignments, the rest of the class worked on critical and convergent thinking activities like Code.org and Gamestar Mechanic.

Once the kids got started, they seemed to make good progress today.  We are trying to work more on planning for remaining video and photo footage needed.  The kids are also starting to work on choosing a movie theme, creating scene titles, and a storyboard.  We will work on movies for two more Target classes and then host a Premiere Party on March 10th, 8:00-8:30.  We hope you'll join us!

Convergent & Divergent Thinking:
We worked on logical & divergent thinking with our station activities-a Logic puzzle and a "Star Bright" creative problem solving task.  The station activities also included some reading in our novel and a critical thinking reader response.

Algebraic thinking:
We used our algebraic thinking and Hands On Equations skills to apply this learning to word problems.  It was a bit tricky at first, but most of the kids made the transition to this applied knowledge pretty well.  We'll continue this in our next class to reinforce this understanding.

Affective:
We continued our work on Growth Mindset with another ''Big Ideas" video.  It led to a good discussion about Mistakes, Learning, and Real Life.  Check out the kids' responses by clicking each topic.

We also discussed pressure, anxiety, and following your talents during our novel reading today.  

HW:  Edmodo Movie Project Update

Enjoy your February Break!
Dr. Kraeger

Our movie making got off to a great start this morning!  The kids are really starting to understand the importance of writing good interview questions and creating a Task List for the project.  I think next week, teams will be even more organized.  The creative layout, theme, and editing haven't begun yet, but will interesting parts of the project!

"Bubblegum, bubblegum in a dish...How many pieces do you wish?"  Do you remember that old jump rope song?  I do!  What a great big fun time the kids had today with our BubbleGum Day!  Thanks to all who sent in gum and/or donations to support the STEM Lab.  I think we raised about $15 today.  

Here's the details of our Bubble Gum Day challenges:
First, we worked on a Bubble Gum Trivia web quest to test our research and reading skills.  Check out the Bubble Gum Page for interesting facts!  The kids also worked their convergent/mathematical thinking with tasks from "Chew on This" activity sheet.  There were choices for Creative Activities too, to use their divergent thinking skills.  

Later in the afternoon, we had a "Chew-a-thon"!  We tested three different types of bubble gum to see which worked best to blow big bubbles.  We talked briefly about how to best measure the bubbles.  Several good ideas were proposed.  Most of the kids agreed to measure each others' faces and then estimate how big the bubbles were based on how much of the face was covered by the bubble.  Our Gum Blowing Experiment results showed that for most of us, Bubble Yum made the biggest bubbles.  Our Largest Bubble Champion of the Day was Quincy, who blew his biggest bubble while chewing Double Bubble brand gum.  This was a good test of our perseverance, patience, and good old "Stick-to-itiveness"!  I enjoyed hearing the kids encouraging each other, especially those that were just learning to blow bubbles today!  Check out the fun below:

We managed to squeeze in a little bit of Novel reading today.  We found out that Theo really likes the beach, learned to play piano when he was really little, and is excited to be Anabel's friend.  Wondering what will happen with the "Destiny Days" project about Baseball...seems a little mysterious!

HW:  Finish the Destiny F2OE

Bubbling over with excitement for next week's learning,
​Dr. Kraeger