Thank you families for helping with our white elephant holiday book exchange. The kids were able to sort through a number of terrific titles and best of all, everyone has something to read during the vacation.
Tag: gomm
Parent Welcome Package, 2017-2018 Version
Welcome families! Use the links below to retrieve documents from the 2017-2018 Parent Welcome Package. Each item was mailed to you but if you lose track of something or need additional copies, this page can help. Moreover, feel free to share this link with other caregivers who might be curious or need need to what…
Last Auction for this Cohort of Students
Students got to finally spend down all of their earnings with our last auction of the school year. Thanks to dozens of donations from local, national and multinational companies, students had plenty to bid on. Moreover, students who demonstrated a willingness to save money over the year were awarded with items like a Camelbak backpack,…
Zooming In
Today we completed a Zoom In. In this case we took a careful look at Edward Hicks’ Peaceable Kingdom. This is an instructional strategy first introduced to me by Angela Orr which she describes as follows: The Zoom-In Strategy is an excellent way for you to have students participate in document analysis in a new way….
Investigating the Earth and the Sun
Our investigation of the Earth and the Sun began today with this focus question: How and why does your shadow change during the day. This is the launch for our studies that include a survey of the solar system, a look at our atmosphere, a focus on the Earth’s surface and defining characteristics of the…
Socratic Seminar: A Game of Catch
This week we completed our first Socratic Seminar. We used the text A Game of Catch to reinforce the habit of buttressing claims with evidence from text. In this case, students had to build their case and answer the questions, Why did Scho fall from the tree? Our Socratic Seminar followed the structure listed at http://www.ProjectTahoe.org…
Using Pro/Con to get ready for our next SAC
We started the week reading about the pros and cons of recycling to get ready for our next Structured Academic Controversy (SAC). We continue to use this method so that students develop perspective taking and civic responsibility. We are also using text annotating to go with our reading. This will help facilitate the process of making claims…
Starting our Google Classroom
Today we set-up our Google Classroom. Our first project involved using Google Docs to help us with taking our draft pieces of writing through the writing process and into publishing. Google Classroom also helped us with greater classroom flexibility and differentiation. Students all have secure usernames and passwords and can continue working on their writing at any…
Learning through Inquiry with Saving Sam
In a scenario titled Saving Sam, students worked individually and with partners to develop strategies and solutions to a problem. In this case, Sam (the candy worm) was drowning and his only chance of survival involved placing a life preserver (Life Saver) over his body with nothing but two paper clips. Working individually, two students…
