Trading Cards

The third and fourth graders started out the year with a mini-research project.  Imagining they were employed by a firm that created educational trading cards, the students brainstormed topic ideas for a new line of cards.  Each student created a sample card that included a picture, caption, facts and resources.  The topics included birds, dinosaurs, dogs, ancient cultures, first ladies, money, and volcanoes.  The students gave a persuasive presentation to the company executives to have their ideas chosen for development.  Which line will Cards of Knowledge, Inc. choose?? 

Affective unit

What is gifted?  Is it who you are? What you do? Or how you think?  E.L. students in third through fifth grade shared their responses to these questions.  We talked about how students are identified for Enhanced Learning and how gifted students all have different abilities.  Students thought about their strengths and weaknesses and made a graph charting their abilities in various areas.  The students also took a survey to identify their favorite learning styles.  Throughout the year, we will address other topics that are pertinent to gifted kids such as perfectionism, risk-taking and stress.

The Wright 3

During the first semester, the fifth graders are doing a literature study on The Wright 3 by Blue Balliett.  The book is a mystery surrounding The Robie House, built in Chicago by Frank Lloyd Wright.  The students read chapters every week and then answer questions posted on our blog site.  In class they have done mini-lessons on Frank Lloyd Wright, museums that are mentioned in the book, and stained glass created by Frank Lloyd Wright. We also watched part of the movie Rear Window, played a game with Fibonacci numbers, considered the question “What is art?”, and learned about types of codes.

Voyage of the Mimi

The third and fourth grade students have been setting sail every week on the Mimi to study whales.  They have learned about American Sign Language, adaptations of marine mammals, parts of a boat, how maps of the ocean floor are made, ocean pollution, different marine environments and the creatures that live there, whale “songs”, tracking whales, a deaf college – Gallaudet, surviving a storm at sea and about the Mt. Washington Observatory, which has the worst weather in the world.

Dream Cars

The fifth and sixth grade E.L. students are planning for the future.  Imagining that they had graduated from college and had their first jobs, the kids made plans to purchase their first car: the car of their dreams!  The students researched cars, prices, and accessories.  They added on the cost of sales tax and license plate, and investigated interest rates.  The students were lucky that they had a wealthy relative who would loan them the principal and charge them only the lowest interest rate they could find.  Able to repay only $500 per month, some students with expensive tastes found that it would take them eight or more years to pay off their loan plus interest.  Other students found used cars they liked which could be paid off in two or three years.  Even though the process was somewhat simplified, it gave the students valuable experience in real world finances.