Tuesday was our field trip to the Georgia Bar Association.  The day began with unrelenting fun learning about the legalities of free speech.  Who would have thought that our fifth graders would participate in their own "Bar Exam?"  They were an unparalleled in their reasoning and evaluation skills!

The morning session was followed by a lunch break and preparation for the unexpected roles assigned to our willing participants for the Mock Trial.

The Mock Trial was "Curly Pig vs. Mr. B.B. Wolf."  The students were unprepared for the wacky hijinks that ensued during the trial!  After the case was presented, the student jurors had to use their uncommonly sharp reasoning skills to determine a verdict.  The children who acted as participants in the trial were unbelievably convincing in their portrayals of the witnesses and litigants.  Unfortunately, none of the juries were able to come to agreement, ending up in a "hung jury."  After declaring a mistrial, the students learned that mistrials are unusual in the real justice system because of the costs of a new trial. 

The students unleashed their best thinking skills in discussion about legal terms and real life situations!  We were so proud of their unwavering dedication and excitement for our law study!

HW; "Thank You Letter" to the wonderful folks at the Georgia Bar Association-Write two thank you letters – one to Deborah Craytor and Shannon Jenkins combined for the excellent experience, and the second to the parent to whom you were assigned. The return address for your “proper” thank you letter is …
State Bar of Georgia
104 Marietta Street, NW, Suite 100
 Atlanta, GA    30303-2743


Uniquely Yours,
Mrs. Kraeger

Forgive this late blog post!  On Friday, I was unbelievably busy sitting for my Comprehensive Exam.  So glad to have accomplished that!

For 10-24-13
Stations: We stretched our brains to unprecedented levels in our creative & divergent thinking activities with a Halloween Scamper.  We also tackled our convergent thinking with a unsurpisingly Halloween themed logic puzzle--much harder than unusual.

Focus Study-We expanded our knowledge of law words by using them in a unexpected way--"Twisted Mother Goose-Kid Crimes."  Lots of fun!

Novel Study-We read a bit more of Theodore Boone.  It's unusually difficult to put it down each time!

HW: Get ready for the field trip!

Unconditionally yours,
Mrs. Kraeger

We got off to a good start today with a schedule that was a bit unusual!  Since we hadn't met in a couple of weeks, we had some work that was unfinished.  So, the time constraints were undone, and the kids continued unfettered to get all their work completed.

Stations: We tried a new activity for convergent thinking-"Word Winks."  The kids thought these visual word puzzles were unbelievably fun.  They also pushed their creativity and collaboration to unexplored heights by finishing their "UN" word cloud and favorite scene comics from our Novel, Ungifted.  We further extended our creativity by writing letters recognizing our servicemen and women for their unselfish dedication to protecting the safety of people around the world.

Algebraic Thinking: Since the weather was uncooperative, we combined indoor recess with math and enjoyed an uninterrupted session of all sorts of logical and evaluative thinking games.  

Novel Study:  We unveiled even more creativity with a writing activity about times when something we did took an undeniably  wrong turn.  After that, staying away from the book was unbearable, so we jumped back in to read some of chapter 5.  

As you can guess, today was an unparalleled success!  What else would I expect from my group of uncommonly talented kiddos!

HW: Definitions of Law words

Unequivocally Yours,
Mrs. Kraeger