Excellence in Reading - An Enrichment Opportunity!

The Mensa Foundation recognizes and encourages education, gifted youth, and lifelong learning. 

To encourage the joy of reading, the Mensa Foundation has developed the Mensa for Kids Excellence in Reading Program. Students of all ages can participate and it's FREE!  Membership in Mensa is not required.

To participate, students select a book list on the Mensa for Kids website. Students are encouraged to read at the level of their ability and interest, regardless of age or grade level.

Students track the books they read on a recording sheet. (No reading response required!!)  Once finished, students send the completed form to Mensa. Students can earn a commemorative certificate in recognition of their outstanding achievement and get a free Excellence in Reading T-shirt, too!


The books may be read aloud. Readers can also listen to audio books or read the books online. Teachers may also read to their classes.


To learn more about this free program and see the book lists, visit the Mensa for Kids website here.

If your child decides to participate, please let me know! I would love to encourage his/her efforts!

Science Fair!

There's still time to enter the Bradley Creek Science Fair! 

Don't miss out on all the fun!  

Contact me with questions. :-) christen.howe@nhcs.net

Animal Soup

Students in 1st grade are working with Isabel the Inventor.  When we think like Isabel, we are using our imagination to see ordinary things in new ways.  One of our whole group activities includes making "Animal Soup," a fun, lift-the-flap book written by Paul Doodler.

Let's check out how it works!  Below are two sample pages from the book.  After considering the question, students can lift the flap to see the 3rd page.  Give it a try:

What would you be if you had wings to fly like a bird . . .

and walked slowly like a turtle?

A BiRdLe! 

Seriously, this book cracks me up every year!  My favorite combination is the flamingo and monkey. (A flamonkey :-)  

Once we read the story as a class, students use their imagination to create their own animal.  Each student selects two animal cards.  

Students then glue the cards to the activity sheet below.

From here, students combine elements of each animal's name to create a new animal species.  Some examples might include:

alligator + gorilla = gorillagator

lion + dinosaur = linosaur

monkey + kangaroo = monkaroo

puppy + hippopotamus = puppyotamus

Because the goal is to develop divergent thinking skills, I frequently remind students that there is more than one correct answer. For example, if you were part alligator and part octopus, you could be an allipus, an octigator, or a gatorpus.  The possibilities are endless.

Then they draw a picture to illustrate their animal soup creation.  Here are a few examples from one of my first grade nurturing lessons:

Oftentimes, I compile the student pictures and make it into a class book.  Most times, the kids are too eager to take them home right away to share :-)

If you have a specific topic or grade level that you would like me to address on the blog, please leave a comment and let me know.  I'd love to hear from you :-)
Christy

Science Fair 2016!

The Bradley Creek science fair, open to all 3rd-5th graders, will take place on Friday, January 8, 2016.  Information about the school fair and how to register will be sent home shortly.  For a sneak peak, on the letter coming home, click here.  If you have any questions, please let me know.

Stay tuned for more information and updates!

Think Lab!

Woo hoo! 1st and 2nd grade students began THINK LAB this week!

Think Lab provides an extension to the activities we do in our whole group nurturing lessons.  (To learn more about whole group lessons and the K-2 nurturing program, click here :-)  EVERY K-2 student has the opportunity to participate in Think Lab. Classrooms are divided in half and the two small groups visit the Think Lab on different days.

During Think Lab students play nonverbal games that enrich the higher order thinking skills we've been working on in class.  This session of Think Lab focuses on convergent thinking or Dudley the Detective.  Dudley the Detective teaches us how to analyze the clues to reach one correct answer.

In whole group nurturing lessons, students learn to organize clues and eliminate options to reach the one correct answer.  During Think Lab, students practice these skills with hands-on games.

Some of the games we play include Sudoku . . . 

Castle Logic . . . 

Rush Hour . . . 

And many more! 

Check out one of our 5th grade mentors assisting below :-)

Be sure to ask your 1st or 2nd grader what they are working on in Think Lab!  Students will participate this week and all of next!  Let me know if you have any questions! Thanks for checking in to the BC AIG blog!

Kindergarten News!

The K-2 AIG program is designed to help students develop higher order thinking skills. 

Students are introduced to Dudley the Detective, Yolanda the Yarnspinner, Isabel the Inventor, Max the Magician, Sybil the Scientist,and Jordan the Judge. Each character represents a higher order thinking skill used in his or her job. Each character guides students series of activities to introduce and reinforce their type of thinking. 

In the first nine weeks, students met Isabel the Inventor (Divergent Thinking).  She helps us to use our imagination to see ordinary things in new ways.

Below you will see our "Brainfocals!"  When use these special glasses to help us see ordinary things in new ways!

  

After reading Not a Stick, by Antoinette Portis, students used their imagination to brainstorm new uses for this everyday object.

 a swingset

 a unicorn

a  straw

the letter "e" for Edwin

Students also turned ordinary bubbles into extraordinary creations and used polygons to devise an invention that could move and help people.  Be sure to ask your child about the Isabel the Inventor projects we are working on in class! 

To learn more about the K-2 nurturing program, visit the BC AIG web site here. :-)

GIS Day!!!!

Geographic Information Systems Day! 11.19.14

On Wednesday of this week, Mike Arkinson and Eliza Baldwin came to Bradley Creek to introduce and celebrate GIS Day with our 4th and 5th grade AIG students.  Let me tell you . . . It was amazing! 

Our presenters shared a series of short videos about maps, including their history, uses, and global applications. Students learned that maps not only provide information about our geographic location, but also about our climate, economy, and humanitarian needs and efforts - just to name a few.  Below are links to the videos shared.  Each one is under 4 minutes and totally worth watching!

What is GIS?

Dr. Richard Alley - Using GIS to teach the world about Global Warming & Climate Change

Geospatial Revolution - Food Deserts

Then students were given guidance to explore maps using an interactive tool designed by National Geographic.  You can check it out here!

Using GIS, students were asked to make a map.  They could select from the a series of choices, such as, map the human "footprint" in North Carolina, or design their own challenge.

As you can see from the photos, no one was interested in the assignment :-)

It was an eye opening experience for the students (and their teacher)!  The visual power of GIS is astounding, on a personal, local, and global level!  Be sure to ask your child more about this great presentation and effective ways to use the software provided.

Thank you so much to Ms. Baldwin and Mr. Arkinson for sharing their expertise with our class!!  Can we put you on the schedule for next year, please? :-)