Our Fifth Grade Target kiddos went out with a BANG!  Lots of great learning and fun times this week!

We saw some wonderful and AMAZING Frog Projects during our Gallery Walk.  

Later, we participated in another Breakout.  This one was about how to save the Earth from destruction.  Kudos to Ethan's Group and Mayuri's Group for working EXTRA hard to make the Breakout successful!  Great job!

We also heard quite a few of our "Alternate Endings" to our novel, Ungifted. Many were humorous, and several were just wonderfully creative!

It's been quite a year!  Things sure won't be the same around here next year without this group! 

All My Best,
​Dr. Kraeger

We had a fantastic time at our Frog Dissection on May 12th!  Check out the photos below:

The kids accomplished quite a bit today, even with a Performing Arts Special Event (James & the Giant Peach Play) this morning.

Frog Projects are mostly finished!  They will be presented Gallery Walk style in the Target rooms from 8-9 next Tuesday.  You're welcome to stop by and see all the great work.

Our Dissection Day is this Friday.  To prepare, we watched 2 dissection videos and worked on labeling diagrams of different body systems of the Frog Anatomy.  We will be grading those next Tuesday in class.  Also due next Tuesday is our Frog Vocabulary list.  Many students have finished this already.

We also started a creative writing task where the kids rewrite a chapter,  create a new ending, or write an epilogue for the novel.  They will finish these next week, so they can share with the class.  

HW:  Frog Project and Frog Anatomy Diagrams

Until next time,
​Dr. Kraeger

The kids had a marvelous day of learning!  We started with excellent progress on the Frog Projects.  Many of the kids are nearing the conclusion of their projects.  We checked for at least 2 "Thick" Research Questions today and took a look at their notes (just to make sure they were paraphrasing, not plagiarizing!).  We'll check the remaining kiddos next week.  The projects will be presented on May 16th in a Gallery Walk.  Details to come next week.

The kids worked hard using their divergent thinking for a May F2OE filled with LOTS of creativity!  They enlisted their best convergent thinking skills to solve grid style logic puzzles.  Later they combined convergent thinking with algebraic thinking to tackle some Ken-Ken puzzles.  Very challenging and free to try at KenKenPuzzle. 

We also finished our novel today.  What a great ending!

The kids were SO very excited to do our first Breakout activity!  They solved all the riddles, codes, and puzzles to break out of the Locked Box with only 44 seconds to spare!  Take a look at a few of the tasks they faced:

Thanks to Mrs. Pradhan for sending in locks and a tool box for our Breakout today!  We're so glad we could borrow them for all the challenging fun!

HW:  Edmodo

Until next week,
Dr. Kraeger

Our day got off to a late start because of Milestones Testing.  Once we finally got the kids, we were able to tackle some of our novel.  They enjoyed a snack treat and listening to some of the story.  Next we worked on convergent thinking with some number pattern puzzles.  These were REALLY challenging, and the kids enjoyed them very much!  

We spent a good chunk of time finishing up Frog research and starting projects.  I'm looking forward to some FANTASTIC projects!

Before we knew it, time to go to lunch!  After that we had recess and finished up with more reading in our novel.  Wow!  What excitement in the book--the two arch-rival Robotics teams had the ultimate face-off with both getting disqualified.  If that weren't enough, the main character's sister went into labor right in the middle of the Robotics Mayhem and they all had to leave to take her to the hospital!  

Remember, 5th Grade Target is on Monday next week because of the Chattanooga Trip.

HW:  Edmodo
Until next time,
​Dr. Kraeger
  

Whew!  What a day!  We kept the kids moving ALL day long, which was good because they were pretty squirrelly with Milestones starting this week.  
We started off with Frog Activities including a Frog SCAMPER (using our divergent thinking), A Pond of Your Own (visual problem solving), and "Chattahoochee Zoo" (logic puzzle-convergent thinking).  We also spent a good chunk of time finishing up Frog research and starting projects.  I'm looking forward to some FANTASTIC projects!

We worked one last time on our Hands On Equations to stretch those skills with our various word problems.  Hopefully, a little of it sinks in!

Finally, we worked on our novel.  We created a poster with our favorite quotes from the book and then read a couple of chapters.  For the first chapter, we played a Kahoot "Ghost Game" against last year's 5th grade class.  That class led the game for the first 2 questions, but finally we had 3 kiddos break into the top 5 scores.  Way to go!

We'll pick the kids up for Target after testing next Tuesday.

HW: Edmodo
Until next week, 
Dr. Kraeger

The kids were ready to get back to work today!  We started with a Frog Logic Puzzle, followed by reviewing our Frog Project Rubric to clarify expectations for this project.  You can take a look at the details on Frog Project Rubric.  The Project is due on May 16th, with a Gallery Walk that day.  More details about that to come!  We also spent time researching our frogs with a several finishing and moving on to creating the project.

The kids continued sharpening their algebraic thinking skills by solving word problems.  Even though most won't master these word problems, the exposure and practice are valuable as the kids delve more deeply in to algebra later on.

We read a few chapters in our novel, including a "Ghost Game" of Kahoot.  The Ghost Game requires not only critical thinking, but also speed of response, since this year's class is trying to beat the scores of last year's Fifth Grade Target students.  Last year's class was in the lead for the first two questions, but this year's class finally pulled in front on the final question!  We also used our divergent thinking skills to invent a "Wake-Up Machine" in our creative problem solving task.  The kids had to create a device that would wake up the main character from our book.  Check out their clever ideas outside our classroom!

HW:  Edmodo-Frog Project Choice
Until Next Time,
Dr. Kraeger

Thank you for being patient about this blog update!  I was sick last week and am finally on the mend.  

We have worked our way through MANY of the Genius Hour Presentations.  We've seen some AMAZING ideas and compelling projects!  There are still a few more to go after the Break.  Can't wait to see those!

Unit Study:
We've started our Frog Research.  The kids have each chosen a frog and are researching basic information about it.  They will be using their research to create a Frog Presentation to share with the class.  For more information about the project, check the Frog Glog.  

Look for a Permission Slip after the Break for our In-House Dissection Field Trip.  High Touch, High Tech will run our dissections--providing all necessary tools and the dissection specimen.  

Because of "Career Day" we had to send the kids back early agin this week, limiting what we could accomplish in Target.  It will be great to have the kids for a full class after the Break!  We will be having half day Target during Milestones Testing, so we can at least get a few hours of great learning for the kids!

HW:  Edmodo- 3 Frog Facts

Enjoy the Break!
Dr. Kraeger

Our 5th grade teams did an excellent job at the 2017 GaTech InVenture Challenge! I'm so proud of their hard work!

Mrs. Lobello reports that the kids had a good day in Target! She was flying solo with fifth grade Target today because I was presenting about our wonderful gifted kiddos at the annual Georgia Association for Gifted Children Conference. Thank you to the kids for working hard today! :)

We stuck to the basics today! We had our last work session to finish the Genius Hour Projects. We will be sharing Presentations next week and the following week. Parents are invited to attend, 8-9am in Room 227 (next to the music room).

Presenters for March 21st:
Sasha & Colin, Will & Patrick, Olivia, Claire, Melanie, Joey, Lina T, Analice, Sanaa, and Jeremiah.

Presenters for March 28th:
Zavie & Lily, Brandon & Gabe, Ethan & Niko, Sophia & Noah, Andrew & Quincy, Gaurav & Owen, Kofi, Lina B, Mayuri, and Venya.

The kids also worked on some math problem solving to hone their critical thinking skills.

Finally, we read some of our novel and did some creative thinking activities with it.

Until next week,
Dr. Kraeger