Milestone Testing took the kids right up to Specials, then it was time for lunch. So, we got right to business after that!

Unit Study:
The kids got so much accomplished during their Project Time! They are almost ready! We’ll have one more work session next week before Presentations are shared on May 16.

Frog Dissection is next Wednesday, 10:45-12:15. We’ll pick the kids up from their regular classes for the Dissection , and then bring them back to class afterwards.

Novel Study:
We listened to a few exemplary samples from past years, and then got busy creating our own Advice Letter to a character from our book.  It's marvelous to see how the kids have developed such great voice, humor, and insight in their writing over the years.  Some of them have a real talent in this area!  Overall, the letters were highly engaging and very humorous.  Exactly what we needed to go along with this extremely funny novel!

HW:  Work on Frog Project!

Until next time,
​Dr. Kraeger

Our day started with some critical thinking warm-up when the kids completed their analysis of our novel: whether Abigail helped Donovan cheat on the gifted test.

Stations:
Convergent thinking had quite a workout with a visual logic puzzle-"Chattahoochee Zoo".  The kids also played convergent thinking games like chess and the Rubik's Cube.

Affective Skills:
We worked on short term goals to help us reach our long term goals.  The kids came up with an incredible list of the ABCs of Dreams for encouragement on their path to reaching their dreams.  Check it out in the photos below!

Algebraic Thinking:
We played a fun strategy game called "Bacon".  The kids roll a die that has the digits 2-6 and a pig.  They earn varying amounts each round, but lose all their points if they roll a Pig--unless, they've sat down to bank their points before the next roll.  They had a blast!  Lots of good mental math practice on multiplication, squaring numbers, and addition.

Unit Study:
We worked more on our Frog Research today.  The kids labelled more of the frog's anatomy to become more familiar before our May 8th Dissection.  Then we had work time for our Frog Projects, which will be shared May 16th.  

Novel Study:
We read a couple more chapters in our novel, finding out some interesting information about who may have helped Donovan cheat.  The kids can't wait to see how it all turns out!

HW:  Edmodo-Next steps on frog project

Until next time,
​Dr. Kraeger

Whew!  This class goes a hundred miles per hour and we do our best to keep up!  They came in ready to learn, so we jumped right in!

Stations:
We finished up our Logic Puzzle and Frog SCAMPER from last week.  We also finished up our Math Mosaic.  Some who were finished early, had a chance to use their evaluative thinking to play a game, "The Great Snowball Battle."  They really enjoyed it!

Unit Study:
We tackled our next set of Frog Vocabulary-main body parts, as we continue to research and learn about our topic.  The kids also viewed our dissection videos to familiarize themselves with exactly what the inside of the frog will look like.  They had some great questions during our video!

We also reviewed "The Worst Presentation Ever" to get ideas about what NOT to do for our Frog Projects!  After that, we worked on our Frog Projects today.  The kids will have a couple more work sessions in class and will present on May 16th, our last Target Class.

Affective Skills:
We reviewed our goal from last week and created a Ladder of steps to get us to our goals.  The kids did a good job thoughtfully considering how they might accomplish what they want to do.

Novel Study:
We read a bit more of our book.  Today we read a couple of "Cheating Investigation Interviews" from the book.  The kids had to evaluate the evidence presented in the book to determine whether one of the characters actually helped Donovan to cheat.  They cited evidence from the text to defend their reasoning.

HW:  Edmodo-Bad Presentation Evaluation

Until next time,
​Dr. Kraeger

We started off with some convergent thinking in a few chess games.  After testing, the kids came back to get started with our day.

Stations:
We challenged our convergent thinking with "Freddy's Frog"-a logic puzzle.  It was challenging for many of our kids, which is a good thing!  We also used our math problem solving and creativity to complete a Math Mosaic.  The results are beautiful!  Love it when math and art combine!  Some of the kids had the chance to learn a new strategy game, "The Great Snowball Battle".  It uses many critical thinking skills.  We'll continue to teach/play this game for the rest of the year, so all of the kids have a chance to learn it.

Unit Study:
The kids continued their Frog Research.  They are coming along nicely and should be ready to begin creating their projects.  

Novel Study:
We read a couple of chapters in our novel.  The kids enjoyed a Kahoot game to challenge their critical thinking skills from our reading!

HW:  Edmodo-What are next steps with your Frog Research?

Until next time,
​Dr. Kraeger

We used a challenging math Versatiles to warm up our brains.

Stations:
We used our divergent thinking  to SCAMPER a frog.  The results were pretty incredible!  We also used Sketchnoting to add meaning to the frog vocabulary for the Frog's Mouth.  

Unit Study:
We continued our Frog Research today.  The kids are finding some fascinating information about their species.  We'll continue our research for a couple more class periods and then work on creating our Frog Projects to share in May.

Affective Skills:
We reviewed some key points from our Dreams book.  Then we took this information to create SMART goals to think about reaching our Dreams.

Novel Study:
We started our reading with a Poster Response.  Then we read "Untested".  The students used text evidence to think critically about "Whodunnit"?

No Homework!  Enjoy your Spring Break!

Until next time,
​Dr. Kraeger

We started our day by working on Pi Projects.  The kids did a great job on their Pi Skylines and Pi-ku poems!
We were very pleased to see a few more Genius Hour Projects this week.  They were well done and such a pleasure to watch!

Unit Study:
We reviewed a Brainpop video on Paraphrasing to help kids understand how to take the ideas they need without copying word for word.  Then, we got into the research!  The kids are doing a great job in finding out some really interesting facts!  We will continue research and project work through the end of April.  Projects will be presented May 9th.

Stations:
The kids stretched their divergent thinking with a March F2OE.  Their fluency, flexibility, Originality, and Elaboration are AMAZING!  Check out some of their work in the photos below!  We also played some fun games to challenge convergent (logical) thinking:  Rubik's Race, Rubik's Flip, GoGetter, and chess!  

Algebraic Thinking:
We went back to our regular Hands On Equations lessons for this week.  The kids did well with it, some finishing up, others need a bit more time for this tough stuff.  

Novel Study:
We read a bit more of our novel, testing our critical thinking with some questions on Kahoot.  They always LOVE this game because they are incredibly competitive!  And...they do pretty well with the answers, too! 

HW:  Edmodo-Frog Question

Until next time,
​Dr. Kraeger

We started our day by getting ready for our Genius Hour Presentations.  The room was buzzing with excitement!

Unit Study:
We kicked off our new unit-Frogs with a research project!  The kids learned why it's important to study frogs and why they're called an indicator species.  Next, the kids looked on our Target Glog to check out different frogs/toads and choose one to research.  The choices are incredibly varied, which makes the project even more fun!  We will continue to spend class time to research our frogs, find answers to our "Thick" Research Questions, and finally prepare a project to share our learning.  Project ideas and rubric can also be found on the Target Glog.  

Genius Hour:
Wow!  The projects we saw were incredible!  We had everything from electric circuits to jello brains, to holograms, to homemade pie to a rocket launch to a handmade upcycled hoodie to many other interesting projects!  We were super impressed with the depth of learning in these projects!  The evaluative thinking the kids did on their Project Evaluations was very insightful.  They also did a wonderful job using their reflective thinking to examine their own efforts, learning, and possible changes that could be made.  We love this unit because the project involves almost all of our gifted standards!  It's so engaging for the kids, as well! A few kids didn't get to present this week, so they will present next week.

Pi Day!
We used our mathematical and critical thnking to measure circles and calculate Pi.  We also read, Sir Cumference and the Dragon of Pi" to explain about how Pi is calculated.  This Pi song helps the kids remember the digits of Pi to wow their friends and family.  We also created Pi Skylines using the digits of Pi and "Pi-Ku" poems with 3 syllables, 1 syllable, and 4 syllables.  Finally, we measured, poured, mixed, and chilled our chocolate and banana pudding pies.  The kids were very excited to enjoy their delicious creations later!  YUM!

You may have seen a payment envelope and permission slip for our In-House Frog Dissection on May 8th.  Please return both within the next week or two.

HW: Edmodo-"Thick" Question about your frog

Until next time,
​Dr. Kraeger

We started off with a math Versatiles.  The kids are getting really good at these or maybe this one was too easy!  

Unit Study:
We spent time working on projects, including preparing what to say when presenting.  Later, the kids shared their project with a partner and provided each other feedback.  The session concluded with a reflection on what they learned, next steps, and any questions still remaining.  Projects will be presented at 12:05 next Thursday. We selected this time, so Ms. Rhone could join us to head on of our three presentation groups.  This will allow each to have a turn to share.  You're welcome to join us if you'd like to see any of the presentations.  

Algebraic Thinking:  
It's not easy going, but these kiddos stuck with our word problems today.  We're going to work another session or two, and then jump back to regular Hands On Equations Lessons.  It's tough stuff for them, yet they persevere!  

Novel Study:
We read another couple of chapters and enjoyed a rousing game of Kahoot to challenge our critical thinking!

HW:  Edmodo-Project Update

Until next time,
​Dr. Kraeger

We started our day by finishing our Dream Poems & Visuals. Those already finished, challenged their convergent thinking with Chess.

Unit Study:
Today during Genius Hour, we were either working on our Genius Hour project, or studying for it. We used self reflection to see what we need, what we need to study, and other things involving our projects. We also were self directed learners because we were the ones deciding what to study, or what to work on. By Julia F.

Stations:
Today we used convergent and divergent thinking while doing a logic puzzle and a SCAMPER. By Joshua P. & Trace D.
Novel Study:

Algebraic Thinking:
Today in math we used standard G2, algebraic thinking. We we went back to do word problems, and learned how to convert the word problem into an equation. We also got a Problems sheet to do. It was pretty hard, but we managed to do it. By CJ

Novel Study:
Today we read two chapters of a book called Ungifted. We read as a group in the first chapter that we read, and we read with a partner on the second chapter that we read. We used communication with each other to try and figure out a question we were given was to find an example of irony in the chapter we read with a partner. We also used Evaluation Thinking to evaluate the different types of irony and what the best example of irony was in that chapter. By Julia F.

Affective Skills:
We listened to a portion of a podcast with Billy Jean King describing how she first became interested in tennis at the age of 10 and knew she wanted to become a professional tennis player. The kids shared their Dreams Poems and artwork.

HW: Edmodo-Project Update

Until next time,
Dr. Kraeger

We started our day with some fun convergent thinking games like chess, Unblock Me, and checkers.  

Unit Study:
Our Genius Hour research is going well with many kids nearly done with their research.  Projects will be shared in class on March 14th, so we have 2 class periods left to work.  

Divergent and Mathematical Thinking:
We combined our creativity and math abilities to create beautiful Math Mosaics for Valentine's Day.  Check them out below!

Affective Skills:
We used our divergent thinking and communication skills to create our Dreams Poems and a visual to go along with the poem.  These will be displayed in our classroom after the Break.  I'll send along some pictures!

Finally, we had a very interesting guest speaker today, Mr. Rick Parker, Gifted Lead Teacher from Daniell Middle School.  He does an amazing job giving a thorough overview of what Middle School is like for our gifted kids.  They learned a lot, asked some great questions, and seem very excited to check it out next year!  Here's his Presentation, which includes his contact information.  Feel free to reach out to him with questions, even if your child isn't going to Daniell.  He's very knowledgeable and helpful!

No HW!  Enjoy the Break!
Dr. Kraeger