We started our day hearing the results of our "I Wonder" Projects! These kids blow my mind with their curiosity! Some of the big questions today: Why can't we hear animals talking? Do bees have positive emotions? Is there life on other planets? Who made the creator? What is unique about each planet in our Solar System? 

Unit Study:
We started recording our Mystery Stories today. A few finished up their writing and will record next week.
We also did some research about Fingerprints. Later in the day, we took our own fingerprints and analyzed them. 

Algebraic Thinking:
We used our algebraic and convergent thinking to solve a problem involving area of a room. The kids did great with this challenge!

Novel Study:
We started our new book, Benjamin Pratt & the Keepers of the School: We The Children. The kids are definitely hooked on this story!

Affective Skills:
We continued our Mindfulness Practice with "2 Minute Mindful Breath". The kids are doing better at getting focused for their breathing. It's a good transition after lunch.

Until next time,
Dr. Kraeger

We had a jam packed day of learning in Target!

Algebraic Thinking:
We used our critical and algebraic thinking to solve a Math Mystery about money. The kids worked hard to figure out the challenging problems!

Unit Study:
We continued our work on the Mystery Stories with a couple of kids finishing up and reading their stories on Flipgrid for our Mystery Story Theater. We can't wait to share that later in October!

Affective Skills:
We heard a wonderful story, The Boy Who was Raised by Librarians, to explore one of our character traits-"Love of Learning".  The kids completed an "I Wonder" organizer and chose a topic to research for homework. They will research their topic to share for a Mini Project next Tuesday, October 12th. Kids can create something to share their learning or can just talk about what they learned. Possible ideas of ways to share: Poster, picture, chart, simple Powerpoint, short video, puppet, poem or other idea. 
We continued our Mindfulness practice with Progressive Relaxation. The kids enjoyed the first part. We'll work on the next part next week.

Stations:
We stretched our convergent thinking skills with a Missing Candy Logic puzzle. The kids used their divergent thinking to create a Magnifying Transformation. Love their clever ideas!

Until next time,
Dr. Kraeger

We started out strong with collaboration and learning! The kids enjoyed using blocks to explore patterns, symmetry and balance.

Algebraic Thinking:
The kids solved a Mini Math Mystery-"The Missing Cookies". They used algebraic, convergent, and evaluative thinking to solve the mystery!

Stations:
We read another couple of words in Weighty Word-Juxtapose and Kleptomaniac. The kids chose excellent images to share the meaning of their word. 

Unit Study:
We worked on our Mystery Stories today. We have one more week to write stories, then we'll be recording them for our "Mystery Story Theater". We started a new mystery book, The Mystery at Kill Devil Hills. The kids are already suspicious of one of the characters. Looks like the mystery will be revealed soon!

Have a wonderful Fall Break!
​Dr. Kraeger

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We got started as soon as we could after IOWA testing ended this morning!

Affective Skills:
We learned about how creativity can help us solve problems, invent things, create new ideas, and make wonderful creations! The kids got a chance to create a new invention from a toilet paper roll. They had such clever ideas!
We continued our Mindfulness Practice with "Mindful Minute". The kids had a chance to focus on listening to a bell as a way to clear their minds. It worked well!

Stations:
The kids finished up their Math Stars, worked on their Mystery Stories, and used convergent thinking to solve a challenging Versatiles activity. Lots of good thinking going on!

Novel Study:
We finished our book, Big, Bad Detective Agency. The kids correctly guessed the culprit before it was revealed at the end! Great detective skills!  We'll be starting a new mystery next week.

Until next time,
​Dr. Kraeger

What a fantastic way to start our week-Target with 3rd Grade!

Unit Study:
The kids worked on their Mystery Stories. Some of the kids are connecting their stories to other stories. It should be interesting!
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Stations:
We read a couple more words from our Weighty Word book, "Heresy" and "Ingratiate". The kids did a great job visualizing their words today! We also used our convergent thinking to solve a Versatiles puzzle. The kids finished up with a Math Stars to challenge their algebraic thinking with a variety of math problems.

Novel Study:
We read chapter 5 of our mystery book. The kids are hot on the trail of the criminal! 

Affective Skills:
We learned about "Curiosity is a Super Power" and "PBS Kids Talk Curiosity". The kids synthesized their learning by completing this simile, ""Creativity is like...". The responses were interesting and creative! 
We continued our Mindfulness Practice with "66 Second Story". The kids can see the difference mindfulness and slow, steady breathing can make in their day. 

Until next time,
Dr. Kraeger

We had a busy day with so much good learning!

Unit Study:
We continued to work on our Mystery stories. Most of the kids have completed their Story Map and are writing their stories.

Stations:
We used our algebraic thinking skills to solve a Math Puzzle. It was tricky, but the kids solved it!  Then, they used their convergent thinking to solve two different logic puzzles, a grid style and a Perplexor. Too easy again! I'll have to bump it up for next time! Finally, we continued our Weighty Word book with "Felicity" and "Geriatric". The kids did a marvelous job showing their creativity in finding images to illustrate their word. 

Novel Study:
We read another chapter of our book and now have a suspect list. Things are getting mysterious now! 

Affective Skills:
We continued our Mindfulness Practice with "Fear vs. Anxiety" to help the kids tell the difference between real threats and anxiety. We also discussed strategies to help us calm anxiety. 
We discussed an overview of our Character Traits and then dug in a bit to learn about Courage. 

Until next time,
​Dr. Kraeger

So good to have time with these wonderful kiddos for Target!

Unit Study:
We planned our Mystery Stories by completing our Story Maps, including clues and solution to the mystery.  The kids will start writing next week.

​Affective Skills:
We did a group task sorting character traits into categories. It was a good warm-up to introduce vocabulary for our Affective work this year. We also read a book, Too Many Tamales, and discussed the character traits we saw in the characters. 
We continued our Mindfulness practice with "Why Humans Experience Anxiety?". The kids enjoyed doing a couple moments of mindful breathing. 

Stations:
We used our convergent and evaluative thinking to solve logic puzzles and visual thinking problems with our Versatiles. The kids did a great job!  Then they used their communication skills and divergent thinking to create visual vocabulary for two more Weighty Words, Dogmatic and Expedient. Ask your child what those words mean. 

Novel Study:
We read another chapter in Big Bad Detective Agency. The kids are keeping track of clues and suspects.

Until next time,
​Dr. Kraeger

We had a good day of learning in Target!

We learned how to draw people, especially faces to help with Sketchnoting our ideas and learning. The kids giggled a lot when drawing the different faces. Here's the video, "Drawing Peeps", for those who weren't with us today. Give it a try! Lots of fun!

Divergent Thinking:
We learned two more words from Weighty Word, Bifurcate and Coruscate. The kids did a great job creating visual images of the words!

Later, we worked on all four aspects of creativity with the August F2OE. That includes: Fluency, Flexibility, Originality, and Elaboration. The kids got their ideas flowing and did an especially good job on the Fluency! So many excellent ideas!

Unit Study:
We watched another video about Harris Burdick. The kids each chose an illustration from the book as the basis for their own mystery story. We'll be writing these stories for the next few weeks, then we'll record videos of the kids reading their stories. Stay tuned for more news about our "Mystery Story Theater"!  We also learned about the parts of a mystery story: an unknown (crime, something or someone missing, etc), a detective, clues, suspect(s), and a solution. 

Novel Study:
We read another chapter of our book. The Big Bad Wolf met another little pig who offered to help him solve the case. Their first suspects are Hansel and Gretel. 

Affective Skills:
We continued our Mindfulness Practice with "4-7-8 Breathing". The kids liked this one. We'll practice this again next time.

Until next time,
Dr. Kraeger 

What a wonderful first Target day with these kiddos!

Algebraic Thinking:
We learned a new math game called BACON. It's a combination of luck and strategy to see who has the most points at the end of 5 turns (BACON). The kids use mental math to calculate their total for each turn (+10, x10, +100, +1000, x100). The teacher chooses the math operations, so it's a new game each time. Love the way they encouraged each other and helped check each others' totals at the end of the game. 

Convergent Thinking:
These kids used their strong skills to solve a logic puzzle and Synonym Analogies. They crushed both! I'll have a bigger challenge for them next week! They're ready for it! 

Communication Skills:
We started our Weighty Word  book. The book uses funny stories about animals to teach kids the meaning of hard vocabulary, like abasement. Each week, the kids will hear a couple of stories. They'll choose one word, write the part of speech and the definition. Then they'll search Brittanica Image Quest for an image to represent the meaning of the word. We'll print them out, so the kids can add some color. The best ones will be part of our classroom Visual Vocabulary Wall. I love their divergent thinking in choosing their images!

Unit Study:
We started our Mystery Unit with a short video about the Mystery Of Harris Burdick. We'll read the book next week. The kids are excited to be detectives and figure out mysteries!

Affective Skills:
We started our Mindfulness Practice with "Still, Quiet Place". The kids enjoyed these moments of calm in the middle of a busy and active day.

Novel Study:
We started our first mystery novel, Big Bad Detective Agency. The kids love the fairytale setting of this mystery. They already have theories about the suspects!

Until next time,
​Dr. Kraeger

It was a wonderful year in Target!

Unit Study:
We finished our Robot Missions with "Mission 10-Reconnaissance".  The kids programmed their robots to record information as secret spies in the classroom.  It was a blast!

We enjoyed an End of the Year Kahoot game.  After only 2 Kahoot games, these kids are pros!

Stations:
I loved the creativity the kids showed in their Robot Costumes.  Check them out in photos below!  The kids used their convergent thinking skills to solve their hardest logic puzzle ever!  They crushed it!

Later on we had lots of fun playing convergent or divergent thinking games.  What a great way to end our Target year!

Have a marvelous summer!
Until next year,
​Dr. Kraeger