We had a wonderfully productive, busy, learning-filled day!

Algebraic Thinking:
After our pretest, we knew that some extra time with Hands-On-Equations was in order.  So, we started our HOE double sessions this week.  This meant a regular HOE lesson in the morning and verbal (word problems) lesson in the afternoon.  All the kids stayed with it during our "twice-a-days"!  You may remember those from high school sports--two practices a day at the beginning of the season?  Killer sometimes, but a great way to get back in shape fast!  That's our goal too!  Because not everyone started at the same level on our pretest, we grouped according to readiness.  Groups will continue to change as the kids start to pick up the pace and learn the new skills at different rates.  Our highest group is pretty excited about tackling the hard problems that are coming up in later lessons.  I can tell you this, they involve trains traveling in different directions, at different speeds... Does that bring back memories?  It did for me, and they weren't good!  With Hands-On-Equations though, those impossible to solve algebra problems are almost EASY!

Focus Unit:
We read more of our novel, The Gollywhopper Games.  More of the backstory is being revealed, letting us know how Gil got into this situation to begin with.  From there, we watched a video called, "The Game that Can Give You 10 Extra Years of Life".  It's a Ted talk of video game creator Jane McGonigal explaining how gaming and simple techniques can increase emotional, physical, social, and intellectual resilience, leading to a longer life.  Check it out, if you like.  There is a short section in the middle that we skipped over because it talks about a pretty serious time for Jane, but rest of the video is pretty extraordinary!  We learned so much about the main reasons that games make us happy.  

Convergent Thinking:
The kids knocked the figural analogies and logic puzzles out of the park!  Great work on this!

Affective:
We watched a video about "Seizing the Day" and setting goals.  It lead to an interesting, thought-provoking discussion.  

HW:  Complete the "What if...?" scene from our novel.

Ready for learning--always!
Dr. Kraeger

We had a fantastic second week of Target!  We finished up our Target Notebooks with Class Rules, Procedures, Class Norms, and Goals.  We made these goals by examining our strengths and weaknesses and creating SMART goals.  We also added strategies that will be "Tickets to Success" with our goals!  

We continued our mindfulness practice with this old favorite about the Amygdala, the part of the brain that responds in "Flight or Fight" situations.
Calm Down video
This mindfulness is helping the kids learn to calm themselves and focus their attention.  It also relieves stress and creates feelings of peace.  

We continued with our reading of the Gollywhopper Games.  The kids are enjoying the book very much.  Thanks to those of you who've already purchased the book.  If you haven't yet and are able, it would be a huge help for your child to have the book in the next couple of weeks.

We jumped into algebraic thinking with a preassessment on Hands-On-Equations.  This will not count toward the Target grades, but will help  us individualize the instruction to meet your child's learning needs.  We plan to jump right back into HOE next week.  There is a great HOE app for both iOS and Android devices.  Check out more information here, if you're interested in this to support your child's math learning.

Our creative problem solvers did their best with a new Marshmallow Challenge this week.  All groups achieved better success this time.  Check out the fun below:

HW: Edmodo-Paragraph to answer a question about our novel.

Eagerly Awaiting Next Week!
Dr. Kraeger

It is wonderful to see the kids back again after Summer Break!  I've been looking forward to these amazing kids all summer long!

We've had such fun catching up with each other and reviewing the expectations for Target this year.  We've spent some time assembling our Target Notebooks, complete with a section for Basics like class rules, procedures, and goals for this year.  We also took a Multiple Intelligence survey, which revealed some interesting surprises for the talents and learning preferences in this group.  This information helps the children choose learning activities that suit them and also helps me to find ways for them to best show what they know!

We had such a good time collaborating on "The Marshmallow Challenge".
Here's a link with an interesting TED talk about how businesses use this activity to build teamwork and problem solving: Marshmallow Challenge
Check out these photos of the kids at work:

HW: Create a Word Cloud

Until Next Week!
Dr. Kraeger