Wrapping Things Up!
And just like that another school year has come and gone! We have so much fun learning in the GATE room that it flies by! In just a small amount of time the students completed their weather reports and presented them to the class. After each group presented we (the audience) gave two praises and an area for improvement. The students compliments were very heartfelt and really lifted each other up!
Seeing that we have been working on RELATIONSHIPS all year long it seemed only fitting that we finish the year off with some more analogy work. The students actually begged to do this! They loved searching for the connection between seemingly abstract words!
A fun/easy game that you could play during a car ride to vacation or waiting on an appointment is to ask your child to give your child two seemingly unrelated words and have them identify the RELATIONSHIP between them.
I wish you all a safe and happy summer! I hope to see you all in September!
Seeing that we have been working on RELATIONSHIPS all year long it seemed only fitting that we finish the year off with some more analogy work. The students actually begged to do this! They loved searching for the connection between seemingly abstract words!
A fun/easy game that you could play during a car ride to vacation or waiting on an appointment is to ask your child to give your child two seemingly unrelated words and have them identify the RELATIONSHIP between them.
I wish you all a safe and happy summer! I hope to see you all in September!
Finishing Touches to Weather Reports
This week and possibly next week the students will wrap up their weather reports. Some groups are brushing up on last minute finishing touches, while others are starting to film and get used to the TouchCast app. It is an exciting time in the GATE classroom!
.....To Accomplish a Goal
The students have accomplished A LOT this week! I think that Mrs. Smith's lesson about teamwork is really paying off! The students have completed their research, most are finishing up their graphic, and almost all students are working on the scripts that they will share in their "weather report." It was a great week in the GATE classroom!
Working Together......
This week we took a short break from our weather task to focus on working together. The GATE space is such an amazing place for like-minded students to come together and share their amazing ideas. It is through brainstorming and collaboration that the best ideas arise! This is sometimes a hard thing for students to grasp....that someone may be able to add to an idea, or someone else's idea may trump theirs so I asked Mrs. Smith, our school counselor, if she would be available to work with us on team work and collaboration.
Are you familiar with "Escape Rooms?" This week the students experienced an "Escape Room" situation in which they had to work together in teams in order to "escape" the GATE room! The students absolutely LOVED the lesson and we were able to be VERY reflective and identify areas that we, as a class, need to work on as well as some of our strengths. Through it all, we realized that COMMUNICATION is KEY to completing a task when working with a group. We were also able to discuss the difference between leaders and bosses. Do you know any great leaders that make sure that everyone has a voice and a task to do? Unfortunately, you probably also know some bosses who dominate a task, are outspoken, and overlook others just because they may have a different idea. We are working hard to use our communication skills to be leaders and not bosses in the GATE room.
The students also participated in a whole group activity in which they needed to use communication and collaboration to untangle a large section of yarn. After all of that we used our new knowledge of communication, collaboration, and leadership skills to continue our small group work on weather. It was evident the next day that the students were paying attention as there was a lot of collaboration and happy groups working together to complete a task!
Are you familiar with "Escape Rooms?" This week the students experienced an "Escape Room" situation in which they had to work together in teams in order to "escape" the GATE room! The students absolutely LOVED the lesson and we were able to be VERY reflective and identify areas that we, as a class, need to work on as well as some of our strengths. Through it all, we realized that COMMUNICATION is KEY to completing a task when working with a group. We were also able to discuss the difference between leaders and bosses. Do you know any great leaders that make sure that everyone has a voice and a task to do? Unfortunately, you probably also know some bosses who dominate a task, are outspoken, and overlook others just because they may have a different idea. We are working hard to use our communication skills to be leaders and not bosses in the GATE room.
The students also participated in a whole group activity in which they needed to use communication and collaboration to untangle a large section of yarn. After all of that we used our new knowledge of communication, collaboration, and leadership skills to continue our small group work on weather. It was evident the next day that the students were paying attention as there was a lot of collaboration and happy groups working together to complete a task!
Happy Spring Break!
Weather/Climate Task
This week the students were introduced to their weather/climate task! Students will be working in groups of 2 or 3 to create a weather forecast for a self-selected area. As an "expert meteorological" team they must first research the climate of their area and then focus on the day to day weather that they will be reporting....As the students have found out, there is a STRONG RELATIONSHIP between the climate zone that a country is located and the day to day weather! It was so great to see students selecting different areas of the world that interest them or that they have ties to. Some of the areas that groups have decided to research are Brazil, Albania, Mexico, and the U.S. West Coast! Check out these pictures of the students in action from last week and this week (sorry they didn't load last week).
Learning About Weather
Happy first day of Spring Break! Hopefully the Spring-like weather will find its way to us soon! While the weather outside may have been frightful, the students have not let missed days interrupt their excitement and learning while working on a weather task. I had hoped to finish this task prior to break, but Mother Nature had alternate plans so we will continue to work on creating a weather report and and looking for RELATIONSHIPS between weather and climate after break. Wishing you all a safe, happy, and relaxing break!
These past few weeks have been a great example of the sharp contrast between weather and climate and the kids have loved learning and discussing the RELATIONSHIP between the two. This week the students viewed a short clip about what meteorologist do in order to give their forecasts. This will set them up to create their own forecast for a given climate region using an app called Touchcast! Some of the students were able to get into the app on Thursday however with our weather related day off on Friday about half of the class still needs to get into the app. Touchcast allows the students to work in front of a virtual green screen, import pictures, graphics, or videos, and record themselves. I know that we are all looking forward to this task!
All About Climate
Our GATE meeting times/days have changed. In an effort to best meet the needs of the students and to interfere as little as possible with classroom instruction our GATE days have shifted. We will now meet Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. Due to the change and other events in the calendar/building we were only able to meet once this week, but we certainly covered ALOT of ground!
Based on our lessons from last week it is evident that the students have more knowledge on weather (the day to day conditions) than climate (the conditions over a period of time) so climate was our focus this week! The students are very eager to learn more and share their prior knowledge on these two topics. One student posed the question "How come cold air isn't moist or humid like hot air?" To demonstrate this I positioned two groups of students in the room; one group was tightly packed together where the other group was spaced far apart. This was a visual representation to show that hot air had more space to pick up the water molecules whereas colder air was more tightly compacted and therefore did not have room to pick up the water molecules in the air. This was a BIG "ah-ha" moment for the students. Check out the pictures below and see if you can tell which group is "full of hot air" and which group is cold air!
We also discussed the fact that the earth rotates on its axis and where the sun hits. The sun hits directly on the equator and the rays spread from there. We demonstrated this by turning the lights off and shining a flashlight on the equator of a globe. The students could see that the equator was brightly lit and the beam faded as it reached the poles. We also looked at temperature and precipitation information for various cities/countries around the globe and the students had to determine which climate they were in; polar, temperate, or tropical. After going through a few cities the students were able to easily pick up on patterns such as cold temperatures in the summer and winter with little annual precipitation means that is a polar climate. Whereas a difference in temperatures in the summer and winter with moderate precipitation means a temperate climate and hot or warm temperatures in the summer and winter with a lot of precipitation means a tropical climate. To go along with this students had different parts of the globe (unlabeled climate zones) which were cut apart. The students were challenged to put them together to see the progression of the climate zones!
Based on our lessons from last week it is evident that the students have more knowledge on weather (the day to day conditions) than climate (the conditions over a period of time) so climate was our focus this week! The students are very eager to learn more and share their prior knowledge on these two topics. One student posed the question "How come cold air isn't moist or humid like hot air?" To demonstrate this I positioned two groups of students in the room; one group was tightly packed together where the other group was spaced far apart. This was a visual representation to show that hot air had more space to pick up the water molecules whereas colder air was more tightly compacted and therefore did not have room to pick up the water molecules in the air. This was a BIG "ah-ha" moment for the students. Check out the pictures below and see if you can tell which group is "full of hot air" and which group is cold air!
We also discussed the fact that the earth rotates on its axis and where the sun hits. The sun hits directly on the equator and the rays spread from there. We demonstrated this by turning the lights off and shining a flashlight on the equator of a globe. The students could see that the equator was brightly lit and the beam faded as it reached the poles. We also looked at temperature and precipitation information for various cities/countries around the globe and the students had to determine which climate they were in; polar, temperate, or tropical. After going through a few cities the students were able to easily pick up on patterns such as cold temperatures in the summer and winter with little annual precipitation means that is a polar climate. Whereas a difference in temperatures in the summer and winter with moderate precipitation means a temperate climate and hot or warm temperatures in the summer and winter with a lot of precipitation means a tropical climate. To go along with this students had different parts of the globe (unlabeled climate zones) which were cut apart. The students were challenged to put them together to see the progression of the climate zones!
Climate V.S. Weather??
This week the students participated in a visual thinking protocol that will help us look into their prior knowledge on weather and climate. At first glance we seem to know more about weather than climate, and that makes sense seeing that weather affects us differently on a daily basis (this week was a great example with 70 degree weather one day and just two days later snow). The students watched some videos and took notes about climate and weather and thought about the two concepts in terms of relationships! While watching the video we had so many break out spontaneous discussions! They are definitely excited to learn more about weather and climate!
Extending our Thinking
What a crazy week this has been! Two snow/ice days in one week! Even though the weather outside has been frightful, the environment inside the GATE space has been lovely. Last week the students learned the thinking behind making a claim and practiced with a piece of visual art. This week the students took it a step further by making a claim related to a piece of text that they read. The students read the story "The North Wind and the Sun," participated in a discussion or Socratic Seminar, and then worked together (or alone) to support their claim about power and persuasion with evidence from the text. The students were making connections left and right about evidence from the text and evidence from a painting as well as remembering that every part of the claim MUST be connected! Great job guys!
Learning About Claims
This week the students focused on learning the art of thinking behind making a valid claim. Claims consist of 3 pieces; the initial claim, the evidence, and reasoning. To help students understand the thinking that must first go into claims we first analyzed a Norman Rockwell's "Tough Call" painting. The students did a great job making a claim, identifying evidence from the painting and then explaining why the evidence proved the claim! Some students even took it a step farther and tied their claim to relationships!
We also read a fable about the North Wind and the Sun and discussed the relationship between power and persuasion. Students started making a claim about persuasion/power and will complete it next week. We will then begin to look at relationships in climate and weather.
We also read a fable about the North Wind and the Sun and discussed the relationship between power and persuasion. Students started making a claim about persuasion/power and will complete it next week. We will then begin to look at relationships in climate and weather.
Wrapping up and Moving On!
The past two weeks have been a little crazy in the GATE space as we have had days off, delays, and testing. In the time that we did have together the students completed their written response for the book "100 Dresses" and engaged in a mid-year concept development protocol. The students were able to add two new generalizations to our Big Ideas poster about Relationships. We will be focusing our attention on relationships that we see in weather and climate for the second half of the year!
Editing
This week the students re-examined their responses, graded some peer responses, and began editing their response to make it great! Check in next week to see what's new!
Responding to Texts
This first week of the New Year the third grade students were busy in the GATE classroom. The students completed a text, held an academic discussion or Socratic Seminar, and learned the basics of how to write a response. After completing the text "The 100 Dresses" by Elenor Estes the students participated in a Socratic Seminar to discuss their ideas and verbally respond to the text. Then students were given a response question, exposed to an exemplar, and were given the opportunity to be the "teacher" and grade some sample responses. On Thursday the students had to opportunity to transfer this learning and write their own response. Next week we will work on some editing and move on with our next topic in our unit about Relationships.
Looking at the POWER of relationships
This week students finished reading the story "The 100 Dresses" by Elenor Estes. Prior to completing the story we held a Socratic Seminar in order to discuss part of the story. Both the students and I love Socratic Seminars or discussions for many reasons. One is that the students have ownership of the conversation. This is a time when I sit back and listen to what they are thinking. I may guide the discussion back on track if necessary but other than that all questions and comments are authentic to the students. Another reason is that the students are really both teaching and learning at the same time. This was the first "real" discussion or seminar that we had this school year but there will be more to come!
Some students may still have a few pages to go in order to complete the story. If your child brought the book home please make sure that they finish read the story by the end of Winter Break.
Wishing you all a very safe, fun, and relaxing break filled with love and family! See you next year!
Some students may still have a few pages to go in order to complete the story. If your child brought the book home please make sure that they finish read the story by the end of Winter Break.
Wishing you all a very safe, fun, and relaxing break filled with love and family! See you next year!
Book Study!
The students completed their "games" project, presented their games to their classmates and even got to play each other's games. Through this work the students were able to use some inductive thinking to determine that rules are necessary to keep us safe, to provide order, to keep our democracy in place, and to ensure fairness for everyone.
The students will now begin to look at different perspectives and relationships as they study the book "The 100 Dresses" By Eleanor Estes. The following is a description from amazon.com
"At the heart of the story is Wanda Petronski, a Polish girl in a Connecticut school who is ridiculed by her classmates for wearing the same faded blue dress every day. Wanda claims she has one hundred dresses at home, but everyone knows she doesn’t and bullies her mercilessly. The class feels terrible when Wanda is pulled out of the school, but by that time it’s too late for apologies. Maddie, one of Wanda’s classmates, ultimately decides that she is "never going to stand by and say nothing again." This powerful, timeless story has been reissued with a new letter from the author’s daughter Helena Estes, and with the Caldecott artist Louis Slobodkin’s original artwork in beautifully restored color."
Prior to reading the story the students held a discussion expressing what it may be like to "fit in" or "not fit in" in order to prepare for the story. While reading the first two chapters the students studied the details of the author's words as she described what Wanda looked like and sounds like and then created generalizations about Wanda. As we work through the book the we will hold academic discussions in the form of Socratic Seminars in order examine relationships through different perspectives.
The students will now begin to look at different perspectives and relationships as they study the book "The 100 Dresses" By Eleanor Estes. The following is a description from amazon.com
"At the heart of the story is Wanda Petronski, a Polish girl in a Connecticut school who is ridiculed by her classmates for wearing the same faded blue dress every day. Wanda claims she has one hundred dresses at home, but everyone knows she doesn’t and bullies her mercilessly. The class feels terrible when Wanda is pulled out of the school, but by that time it’s too late for apologies. Maddie, one of Wanda’s classmates, ultimately decides that she is "never going to stand by and say nothing again." This powerful, timeless story has been reissued with a new letter from the author’s daughter Helena Estes, and with the Caldecott artist Louis Slobodkin’s original artwork in beautifully restored color."
Prior to reading the story the students held a discussion expressing what it may be like to "fit in" or "not fit in" in order to prepare for the story. While reading the first two chapters the students studied the details of the author's words as she described what Wanda looked like and sounds like and then created generalizations about Wanda. As we work through the book the we will hold academic discussions in the form of Socratic Seminars in order examine relationships through different perspectives.
Analogies & Games....who could ask for more!
Seeing that the concept that we will be working with this year is Relationships the students have been starting each meeting off by going through some analogies exercises. Analogies are great brain activities that require students to ANALYZE a set of words and then TRANSFER their RELATIONSHIP to a new set of words. Yeah, that's pretty heavy duty stuff! Through our daily exercises students have been able to confirm and see some of our BIG IDEAS about Relationships such as "Relationships show how things are related" and "Relationships show us similarities and differences!"
The students have also been working hard on creating a new game with a partner or in a team. The students completed their games and shared them with the class. We were running low on time this week so the students will have an opportunity to play the games next week! They can't wait!
The students have also been working hard on creating a new game with a partner or in a team. The students completed their games and shared them with the class. We were running low on time this week so the students will have an opportunity to play the games next week! They can't wait!
Our own Game Store!
The students will continue to have a "daily analogy" to work on to get their brains warmed up. This week I saw a lot of break through "ah-ha" moments where students are beginning to uncover, for themselves, some generalizations/big ideas about relationships! It has been really great watching them process this....and all through daily analogies!
This week the students began to work on their toy challenge. The students were challenged to work as a team (of 2-3) and create an ORIGINAL game. They had to think of on objective for the game, if they would have rules, and then create the game. The students had fun combining elements of different games to create their own and then determining the RULES for the game. They are now working on game construction which is always a great time! When all is said and done, the students will present their games to the class and we will play them!
This week the students began to work on their toy challenge. The students were challenged to work as a team (of 2-3) and create an ORIGINAL game. They had to think of on objective for the game, if they would have rules, and then create the game. The students had fun combining elements of different games to create their own and then determining the RULES for the game. They are now working on game construction which is always a great time! When all is said and done, the students will present their games to the class and we will play them!
Opinions Anyone?
This week the students worked through some different analogies so that they can really see the different word relationships. They also worked on writing an opinion piece about rules. Do you think that we should have rules? Ask your child their thoughts!
We will get creative after Fall Break and the students will be challenged to create a completely original game in which they must decide the rules...if any!
We will get creative after Fall Break and the students will be challenged to create a completely original game in which they must decide the rules...if any!
Analogies and Democracy??
This week the students learned about analogies. Analogies are a great way to get students thinking about words and word relationships. Students were introduced to analogies and will work through quick daily analogies as a warm-up for the next few weeks to get their brains ready!
We also learned a bit more about how our democracy was formed! Did you know that the colonists came to America to escape European oppression? The students found it interesting that once the colonists arrived they realized that they, themselves, had to create a fair way to rule their new land. This newfound knowledge led us to create our own classroom rules and have a discussion as to what our roles in our Classroom Democracy are. The students are currently working on a short opinion piece in which they will express their thoughts on if we need to have rules and laws and why.
We also learned a bit more about how our democracy was formed! Did you know that the colonists came to America to escape European oppression? The students found it interesting that once the colonists arrived they realized that they, themselves, had to create a fair way to rule their new land. This newfound knowledge led us to create our own classroom rules and have a discussion as to what our roles in our Classroom Democracy are. The students are currently working on a short opinion piece in which they will express their thoughts on if we need to have rules and laws and why.
What is a Democracy and What Does it Have to do with Relationships?
This week the students began learning about a democracy. We will be doing a lot of group work and sharing a lot of ideas so this principal is of the upmost importance in the GATE classroom. All ideas will be heard, but it is ok if the class disagrees with an idea or decides not to use an idea as long as it was voted on fairly.
To introduce the students to this concept the students read a Reader's Theater script about a barn with no rules! Reader's Theaters are a great way to help students with their fluency and expression. The students were even invited to preform the Reader's Theater for their homeroom classes! After reading through the play a few times and discussing the main ideas the students were worked in small groups with a single icon from our Depth and Complexity Icons to really think critically and see the play through a new lens. Then we participated in our first Socratic Seminar (or meeting of the minds) to discuss our ideas! It was a hit! For more information about Depth and Complexity click on the button. For more information on Socratic Seminars please click on the button below. (Our meetings and content are modified with third grader content)
To introduce the students to this concept the students read a Reader's Theater script about a barn with no rules! Reader's Theaters are a great way to help students with their fluency and expression. The students were even invited to preform the Reader's Theater for their homeroom classes! After reading through the play a few times and discussing the main ideas the students were worked in small groups with a single icon from our Depth and Complexity Icons to really think critically and see the play through a new lens. Then we participated in our first Socratic Seminar (or meeting of the minds) to discuss our ideas! It was a hit! For more information about Depth and Complexity click on the button. For more information on Socratic Seminars please click on the button below. (Our meetings and content are modified with third grader content)
Concept Development
This week the students used critical thinking skills to work through the Taba Model of Concept Development. This model was created by Hilda Taba and focuses on inductive thinking. The model walks children through the creation of generalizations from a student-created list about the concept.
Third grade students will be working with the concept of Relationships. Using the Taba method is such a powerful way for students to take ownership of their learning because the generalizations are based off of their own ideas! We will keep these generalizations posted in our room and adjust them as we explore different content areas through the lens of Relationships!
Third grade students will be working with the concept of Relationships. Using the Taba method is such a powerful way for students to take ownership of their learning because the generalizations are based off of their own ideas! We will keep these generalizations posted in our room and adjust them as we explore different content areas through the lens of Relationships!
Establishing Our Beliefs
This was the first full week of GATE. Your children will be visiting the GATE room 3 times a week on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays for approximately an hour each day. Seeing that this was our first full week of GATE we established our belief system with a little help from Lou Holtz. The students watched a short inspirational speech that Lou Holtz made to a group of college graduates in which he talks about how to be successful in life by keeping things simple and doing the right thing. He talked about how "There is never a wrong time to the right thing and never a right time to the wrong thing," how we dictate where our life goes by the choices that we make and that we should love, honor, and commit to the things that we do. The students were asked to write down thoughts or ideas that resonated within them and these became our beliefs for the year. Now when we may have a day when we struggle we can look at our beliefs and re-commit ourselves! To view the video click on the button below.
This week also brought about a lot of pre-assessment so that I can meet the needs of the students where they are rather than re-teach or teach material that is over their heads. I look forward to our sessions next week when we will dive into our concept for the year!
Remember that we do not have school on Friday, October, 20th 2017 due to Association Day. Enjoy your time off.
This week also brought about a lot of pre-assessment so that I can meet the needs of the students where they are rather than re-teach or teach material that is over their heads. I look forward to our sessions next week when we will dive into our concept for the year!
Remember that we do not have school on Friday, October, 20th 2017 due to Association Day. Enjoy your time off.
What's Happening This Year in Third Grade GATE??
This year the third grade students will be working through an integrated yearlong unit about Relationships. Students will analyze different relationships in literature, government, weather, and ecosystems. Each learning seed/lesson will require students to use factual information learned in the classroom to form generalizations about relationships. We will focus on the following generalizations this year.
- Relationships demonstrate that everything is related.
- Relationships are powerful.
- Relationships change over time.
- Relationships often follow rules.