For the past month we have been amping up our work on thinking, reasoning, and problem solving. Each of our math warm ups has had students justifying their thinking along with demonstrating their numeric abilities. In addition, we have continued to explore legal moves in our Hands-On Equations curriculum, with most 4th and 5th grade students now on Lesson 5 or 6. In practical terms this means they can solve algebraic equations such as 5x + 3 = 3x + 9 by simplifying: removing a blue pawn (x) from each side of the equation, allowing them to maintain balance (to keep the values equal). To further simplify, they are learning how to remove numerals of equal value from each side of the equation, allowing the equation to remain in balance. These are sophisticated concepts for young learners. We used the free program educreations to capture our thinking and reasoning, in our own words:
Remington's Equation (4th grade):Emma's Equation (3rd grade):Eric's Equation (4th Grade)Jose's Equation (4th Grade)Ella's Equation (5th Grade)
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This week we were learning how to make videos on Animoto. Check out some of these awesome creations! Encourage your child to explore the features of Animoto, Glogster, and Google Drive!!
We are so lucky and super excited about the arrival of our Chromebooks in GT! We have enough that each student will get to use their own individual unit while in GT class. Thanks so much to Mr. Metcalfe for supporting our work in GT in this way! Today we introduced Google Drive, where each child has their own folder to keep any and all work, whether that be for GT or any other class. This includes Goggle Docs, presentations, photos, drawings, and other media. Students are encouraged to spend some time experimenting with Google Drive, remembering the ground rules we discussed in class today:
We also experimented with Animoto--a free video creation site that is super simple to use and makes some pretty amazing presentations. The goal today was to explore the site, learn how to find images, download them, upload them into the program, create a short video with images and text, produce the video, download it and place it in their Google Drive folders. It was a skill building day to allow us the tools and knowledge to apply to more formal projects as the year continues.
Ask your child to share what they learned today, and encourage them to continue to explore both Drive and Animoto to build their confidence with these platforms. There are many exciting learning projects they can do, both for GT and their regular classroom with these free resources! Both have free apps you can download to smart phones, tablets, iPads, etc. If your child forgot the password to any of the sites, they are posted in teh course section of Schoology. Thanks for sharing your children with me, and let me know if you have questions. :) Winter Break has arrived and we are hoping to keep kids thinking and practicing and learning over the holiday. There are four ways we are doing this. 1) Schoology: This is our main learning portal and it is kid-safe and teacher-moderated. I post learning experiences, educational games, and reading activities for the kids to allow me to continue to work with them even when we are not in class--even when we are on vacation! Schoology is an important part of our GT learning program at Holm, and students are encouraged to go to the site often to see new activities and discussions. 2) Holm Coding Club: Students are encouraged to continue learning to code with FREE games and activities at this site (free game downloads as prizes while supplies last!): To join the class: http://learn.code.org/join Class entrance code: FQJLIR; To sign in: http://learn.code.org/ All Holm GT kids are invited to participate and are encouraged to advance to higher levels of challenge. Contact me if you have another child who would like to get invovled! 3) Winter Math Challenge: Greg Tang is offering a free math challenge to keep kids thinking and learning over the winter break. Your child is coming home with a game board to complete over the break for a chance to win prizes if they bring it back, completed. Check out http://winterchallenge.gregtangmath.com for details and resources.
Greg Tang is offering a free math challenge to keep kids thinking and learning over the winter break. Check out http://winterchallenge.gregtangmath.com/ for details and resources. All Holm GT kids are invited to participate and are encouraged to advance to higher levels of challenge. 4) ScootPad: Have your child continue the math and reading activities on ScootPad over the Break! They can earn lots of MPES! |