Persistence Puzzles, Capacity Conversions, and Meaningful Monlogues

Jumpstart:  Content and Vocabulary Building

Today's Jumpstart cycled back to studying more Greek and Latin Roots as a tool for decoding and extending vocabulary.  Students considered the following roots and clues to make deeper vocabulary connections.  Give them a try!

 

Pentomino Persistence Puzzles:  Confidence Building, Critical Thinking, and Growth Mindset

We wrapped up our series on "The Dip" and having a reflecting attitude.  We also worked through a persistence activity with critical thinking pentomino puzzles.  Students were asked to create a 6 in. x 10 in. rectangle using all of their pentomino puzzle pieces.  Several configurations were possible. 

Capacity Conversions:  Content, Critical Thinking, & Collaboration

In math we viewed this video to serve as an animated resource for our customary capacity conversions. Students then worked in groups on our "Party Time" challenge problem.  With the prompt of serving two cups of lemonade to each of their 36 guests, they came up with as many ways as possible to create the 72 cups needed with different combinations of capacity units. We didn't get to test our "cup combinations" today, but we will pick up with the experimental portion of our lesson during our next class.

Meaningful Monologues:  Content, Creativity, & Communication

Monologues was the theme of the day for our ELA content.  Students continued with their Reader's Theater experience and focused on solo performances using expression to highlight the feelings of their character.  Students will perform their selected monologue during our next class.  A monologue from the perspective of a medieval character will also be one of their choices when creating their own scripts for our project.

Word Scrambles, Coat of Arms, and Volume (not for your ears)

Critical Thinking:  Jumpstart
Our Jumpstart was a classic word scramble.  Students used their prior knowledge together with some decoding skills to uncover our mystery vegetable names.  How well can you solve our scrambles?

Creative Innovation:  Medieval Times Project- Coat of Arms
Students were hard at work on our medieval times projects.  Students continued their investigation of knights, armor, and weapons.  They then chose symbols of heraldry to represent themselves on the battlefield by creating their own Coat of Arms.  Next week they will also choose between writing their own minstrel song or creating an advertisement for the medieval equipment they studied.

Work in Progress- Coat of Arms

Content, Communication, and Confidence:  Reader's TheaterStudents experienced yet another format of "Reader's Theater" today.  Teams practiced  and performed different "To Tell The Truth" game show scripts and presented them to the class.  We are focused on fluency and projection and also learned some interesting facts about Harriet Tubman, Lewis and Clark, and J.K. Rowling!  Students may select from several formats, including "To Tell The Truth",  when creating their own Medieval Times reader's theater script and production. 

Check out a sneak peek of our "To Tell the Truth- Harriet Tubman" performers in action! 

Content:  m3 Math
We also continued our discovery of M3 Math- Measurement for Me by introducing Volume.  Of course, we discussed the specific volume used for measuring how much something can hold as Capacity.:)  Students chose one of the two graphic organizers to serve as a resource throughout the next few lessons.  Today we began "Let's Make Lemonade" and quickly learned that a classroom full of students and a few adults would drink many cupfuls of lemonade.  Next week, we will look more deeply into capacity conversions.

Word Nerd and Area Adventures

Today we began by helping decode some of the Word Nerd's fancy sentences using our knowledge of Greek and Latin roots.  Next week we will concentrate on creating some of our own word misadventures.

For math, we embarked on Chapter 2 and a deeper study of area.  We looked at irregular shapes and strategies for calculating the space they cover.  Students traced their "fried eggs" and estimated the surface area, piecing together fragments to make whole square units, finding larger regular rectangles within the shape to use the formula for finding area, A= length x width,  as a short cut, and counting the remaining whole squares for the total area.

Our Class Model

'SPARK'ling beginnings at Conder!

Medieval Times Project Based Learning Kick Off!

 This week was bursting with excitement and engaging activities!  We began with a word ladder for  our morning Jumpstart.  Our word work and vocabulary connections are growing with each Jumpstart activity we complete.  Next, I introduced our new Medieval Times projects and we got in the spirit with some middle ages activities!  First, students created their own Knight helmets with aluminum foil which provided challenges in problem solving and creativity.  There were definitely some creative thinkers at work!  Then we 'mounted our horses' to compete in a jousting tournament.  We had some pretty impressive lance wielders!  We began our discovery and discussion of the types of transportation and protection used in the Middle Ages.  Wrapping up the day, students navigated an online investigations of castles through Nearpod, chose their knightly names, and began their Chess sketchbooks by completing 'The Pawn' entry.    

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Temperature Check, Measurement Masterminds, and Cheerful Chess Players!

 Last week, we embarked on a quest for a deeper understanding of our own Mindset Temperature.  Students assessed their current mindset temperature to discover if they currently operate under a Fixed Mindset, Growth Mindset, or an Uncertain Mindset showing characteristics of the two. We then completed a Growth vs. Fixed Mindset "Language Sort" to make ourselves more aware of the ways we use "self-talk" and the direct influence it can have on our Mindset.

During our first two SPARK meetings at Conder, we were able to get to know a lot about the program, goals, our classmates, and even ourselves.  During our first meeting we focused on the "C" of collaboration by completing a word ladder and classroom scavenger hunt for brain puzzle pieces. The class worked together in two groups to identify the correct word on the word ladder and locate the corresponding clue and puzzle piece throughout the room before combining efforts as a whole group to assemble the puzzle.  We then shared the book A Walk in the Rain with a Brain to discuss the importance and functions of the brain as it relates to our learning, emotions, and overall well-being.  Way to go TEAM!