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