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

We had an interesting and productive day!  

Convergent Thinking:
We stretched ourselves again with logic puzzles, Perplexors for one group and both types of puzzles for another group.  They continue to make good progress, despite the level of difficulty rising each week!

Algebraic Thinking:
We learned about word problems today.  This is how to apply the algebra skills we've learned into solving equations we write based on word problems.  This is pretty tough stuff, and the kids did a great job with it!

Affective Skills:
Our work on Mission Statements continued with a summary of what constitutes a mission statement.  We also practiced by writing a mission statement for a famous person.
Later, we looked at the difference mindfulness can make, especially when things go wrong in Nelly's Day.  We followed that with some relaxation breathing in 2 Minute Ocean Waves.

Unit Study:
We are coming to a close for Genius Hour Projects.  The kids worked on a Peer Coaching session to provide one last round of feedback on the projects.  Next week, we'll finish up last minute details and work on presentations--creating and practicing.  We'll also choose presentation days, with half the group on March 21st, the other half on March 28th.  

Novel Study:
We played Kahoot to check our critical thinking and reading skills during our novel study today.  The kids were surprised by some of the answers, especially the ones with 2 correct choices!

HW:  Genius Hour Project Update

Until next week,
​Dr. Kraeger