We started off with a challenging math activity involving our problem-solving skills and algebraic thinking: "Earth Day Math Mystery".  The kids LOVED the group challenge and did some great math work!

Novel Study:
We read another chapter of the book and then used our divergent thinking skills to create an illustration for our Favorite Scene from the novel.  These will be going up out in the hall.  Hope you can stop by and see them!

Stations:
We challenged our divergent thinking skills again with a May F2OE.  The responses were super creative!  We also used our evaluative thinking skills to rank items in a survival pack.  The kids had some good discussion about this at their tables.  We also used our convergent thinking to play Q-Bitz and solve 9 Square Puzzles.

Unit Study:
We ended our day talking about our field trip, so the kids will be ready for our big adventure!

We also worked on a Survivor Matrix, where the kids are learning about survivors from different tragedies.  They are asking some really insightful questions!  We'll continue this next week.

HW:  Get ready for the Field Trip!
Until next time,
​Dr. Kraeger

We packed a ton of great learning into today!

We started our day by compiling our Survival Books.  It will be fun to take a look through the finished books and see how we did!

Next up was Hands On Equations to stretch our algebraic thinking skills.  The kids did VERY well jumping in with familiar concepts from our last lesson.  Mason even shared how he used the -x in helping his OLDER sister with her algebra homework.  That's so awesome!

We continued our work on collaboration with a lesson called "Magic Carpet Ride".  Each group came up with a good plan to solve the challenge, but the kids got a little too excited, so we had to shelve the activity to try again another day--perhaps outside.  I liked the creative solution and leadership that I saw.  I hope to see more collaboration next time combined with careful listening to each other.  

We read more of our book.  Sam learned a lot about the winter, the weather, and vitamins and so did we!  We're getting close to the end of this book.  The kids can't wait to find out what happens at the end!  We ended our time with a reflection on what was important about what Sam learned.  

We used our mathematical and critical thinking skills to create bar graphs from the data we gathered last week, as we observed the plant and animal life in the Chalker Garden.  The graphs turned out well.  It looks like the kids have a better understanding of how to create a bar graph now.

During Stations, we used our convergent thinking to solve a grid-style logic puzzle, our divergent and critical thinking skills to complete several different puzzles and riddles, and also completed an experiment about acceleration using our Marble Run Extreme Kit.  The kids had a fantastic time working together to create the fastest acceleration using the given pieces.

We ended our day with a few extra minutes outside to enjoy the beautiful weather.  These kids earned it with their hard work!

HW:  Edmodo

Until next time, 
Dr. Kraeger

What a quick busy day we had!

After lunch, we read another chapter in our novel.  Ohh...it was SOOO good we didn't want to stop!  We had a good discussion about several of the key points.  

After that, we stretched our convergent and evaluative thinking skills with some great classroom games like Chess.  

We ended our day with a fun outside activity to observe and tally the plants and animals in and around our school garden.  The kids will be creating bar graphs from this data next week.  

Look for the Field Trip Form coming home today.  Please return by April 20th.

HW:  Edmodo

Until next time,
​Dr. Kraeger