Our day followed a Thanksgiving Theme with Logic puzzles to test our convergent thinking skills and a creative thinking activity, SCAMPER, to build our divergent thinking.  We also had a Thanksgiving Webquest with fun facts about turkeys, Thanksgiving related accidents, and other little known strange goings-on associated with the holiday.

We worked STEM Challenge-"Random Robot".  The kids chose their own groups, followed directions, and then built their robots.  The robots were supposed to drag a marker to create an abstract art drawing.  Well...that's not what happened.  The rubber band "motor" didn't work as we though it would.  In fact, it didn't drive the robot at all.  We did learn a lot about the design process and how to persevere in the face of obstacles.

We finally finished our Ungifted timeline.  If you're around Chalker, come on down and check it out.  The kids did a great job collaborating and using their divergent thinking to create some amazing interactive displays!

Because of Gifted Eligibility Testing for students not yet in Target, we will not have class on December 4th.  I'll see the kids the following week on December 11th.

HW:  Enjoy Thanksgiving Break!

See you December 11th,
Mrs. Kraeger

Convergent thinking:
We started off with more analogies and some logical reasoning charts.  These were new for the kids, so we'll see how it goes.  It's a bit of a precursor to the work they'll do in geometry with truth tables.  In any case, it should help with the more difficult logic puzzles that will be coming soon!

Algebraic thinking:
This was the brain-straining part!  Some finished up "Convenient Zero" lessons from Hands-On-Equations.  It can get a bit complicated, but sticking with it brings success!  The others moved on to tackle a tough math problem solving Exemplar:  Would you rather have 75 cents per day for 15 days or start with a penny which doubles and adds up each day for 15 days?  On what day does one choice become better than the other?  Tough stuff!

Novel Study:  
We dug into our Ungifted books to look at character change and create a poem about one of the main characters.  With all this work on character, the kids will be experts soon!

Divergent Thinking;
We got busy creating the events for our Interactive Timeline of Ungifted.  I can't wait to see how the finished product turns out next week.  Look for photos of it soon!

HW:  Create a Diamonte poem of yourself.


Until next time!
Mrs. Kraeger

The kids carried on without me this week!  I was presenting and attending the Georgia Educational Technology Conference.  I learned about some very cool ways to infuse technology into our classroom.  I was also able to brag about the great ways the kids are using Edmodo to transform their own learning!  I love it when the kids take control of their own learning!

Convergent thinking:
They stepped up to some challenging logic puzzles and analogies.  I can just see their brains working!

Divergent thinking:
The wheels continued to turn, but in creative ways this time!  I can't wait to take a look at their fluency and flexibility with our task this week!

Algebraic Thinking:
We reviewed Order of Operations, still an important concept for math--especially in our algebraic equations!  We also practiced with some word problems.

Novel Study:
We read a couple more chapters and just couldn't put the book down!  Things are getting pretty dicey now for Donovan!

Vocabulary:
We tackled some homophone work combined with humor.  The kids had to solve homophone riddles.  They did a great job with this, due to their highly developed senses of humor.  Ha-ha-ha!  

HW:  Create a homophone riddle or an illustration of a homophone pair.


Until next week,
Mrs. Kraeger