Pyramid Puzzlers

Oh my goodness!  4th grade is hooked on pyramid puzzles!  Below, you will see two of our 4th graders who wrote the puzzle on their hands so they could work on it at lunch!  LOVE IT!

The enthusiasm was clearly contagious because, by the end of the week, look at all of the students who had solved the 10-tiered puzzle!

Students are now energetically attacking the 15 pyramid puzzle!  Below you will find both the 10 and 15 pyramid puzzles, (along with an example), for those of you who'd like to try it at home!

Click here to download

For those of you who are ready for the next challenge . . . The activity can be further extended with an exploration into "Triangle Numbers."  I pose the following open-ended questions to my students to encourage further, critical thinking:

• Consider the numbers we used to create the first four pyramid puzzles: 3, 6, 10, and 15.  
• In what way are these numbers alike?
• How would you describe the relationship between these numbers?
• Write a rule to describe the relationship.
• What other numbers could be used to create a pyramid puzzle?  Explain how you know.
• What patterns do you notice about the numbers in this list?

K-2 Nurturing

The scope and sequence of the K-2 program is grounded in Primary Education Thinking Skills (P.E.T.S.).Primary Education Thinking Skills (PETS) is a systematic enrichment thinking skills program for K-3 students. Its purpose is to help primary aged students develop higher level thinking skills. PETS follows the taxonomy of thinking skills outlined by Benjamin Bloom, presenting lessons in analysis, synthesis, and evaluation. Students are introduced to Dudley the Detective - Deductive Logic, Yolanda the Yarnspinner - Creative Thinking, Isabel the Inventor - Inventive Thinking, Max the Magician - Mental Manipulation of Shapes, Sybil the Scientist - Analytic Thinking, and Jordan the Judge - Evaluative Thinking. Each character introduces a higher level thinking skill used in his or her job. Each character guides students through a story and a series of activities to introduce and reinforce their type of thinking. Imaginative memory triggers are included with each introductory lesson. 

Schedule: The service delivery schedule rotates to best meet the needs of our students.  The three rotations are described below:

• Rotation One  (push-in, whole class nurturing): 4 sessions for each class.  All four lessons focus on one character or higher oder thinking skill.
• Rotation Two (small group pull-out): Based on the data collected during the whole group nurturing, a small group of students are pulled for further extension and/or enrichment.  Pull-out sessions are approximately 3-5 classes long.  Classroom teachers and the Gifted Education Specialist gather data using the TOPS tool -Teachers Observation of Potential in Students.  TOPS is a research-based tool organized around nine domains: 
• learns easily; 
• shows advanced skills; 
• displays curiosity and creativity; 
• has strong interests; 
• shows advanced reasoning and problem solving; 
• displays spatial abilities; 
• shows motivation; 
• shows social perceptiveness; and 
• displays leadership.

Under each domain are examples of behavior that can be used to indicate potential.  The tool includes both teacher-pleasing and non-teacher-pleasing behaviors. 

• Rotation Three (observation, coaching, and planning) : During the final rotation, I push-in to each classroom again, this time to observe students and provide instructional resources and coaching for our teachers.  This is an opportunity for classroom teachers and I to work together to ensure that students are being appropriately and actively challenged. The rotation then begins again, this time with a new character and higher order thinking skill.

Qwerty cool!

Below are pictures from the 3rd grade TECHNOLOGY ACADEMY.  The focus of our first session was keyboarding.  Students examined the qwerty keyboard and then worked in teams to complete a blank keyboard map.  After learning about "home position," Academy members practiced typing using Power Typing  Our academy presenter, Patrick Murphy, also recommends Type-Fu as well, for anyone who is interested in learning or brushing up on their keyboarding skills.

Leadership Matters

Today was the first of four sessions of Leadership Academy, led by Dr. Sherry Pinto, principal of Holly Shelter Middle School.  Students explored the characteristics they value in themselves and others and discussed how these valued traits contribute to positive leadership.  Next week, students will examine the first practice shown below: Model the Way.  Stay tuned!

3rd grade nurturing

In the first semester, 3rd graders participate in a nurturing program that involves weekly A.I.G. push-in lessons to each classroom.  Activities and units are designed to explore talent and nurture potential.  Each activity will also yield student work samples to be saved in individual student A.I.G. portfolios. 

            The collection of standard work samples across the grade level is to ensure that:

·        every 3^rd grader has an equal opportunity to complete high quality, open-ended work samples that demonstrate advanced thought.

·        every 3rd grader has equal exposure to modeling, guided support and scaffolding from the A.I.G. teacher.

           

            Nurturing lessons include math, language arts, and non-verbal activities. We will begin our program with nurturing lessons in math.  All lessons are aligned with the Common Core Standards.  Be sure to ask your child about the projects we are doing in class!

Followers Rock!

You can now follow the AIG blog two ways!  You can sign up through Bloglovin (see link on the right) or you can enter your e-mail address at the top of the screen.

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Hydraulic What??

Sebastian Irby, a senior at John T. Hoggard High School, joined us for our first 5th grade Academy!  The focus of this three week seminar is hydrolic fracking.  Today students examined resources we use from our environment and ways we protect those resources. Students watched two short video clips to learn more and created divided circle maps to organize the information.  Next week, students will particpate in an interactive demonstration to help them learn more about the process of fracking.

Stay tuned to learn more about the Academies at Bradley Creek.  Upcoming Academies include:
3rd grade: technology
4th grade: leadership
5th grade: video game design

5th Grade Service Delivery

In addition to collaborative planning and team teaching, I will also be pulling small groups of students for enrichment in reading and math.  Prior to each unit of instruction, the 5th grade teachers provide a pre-test to determine students' initial understanding of the material.  Students who demonstrate mastery (approx 95% or above) or a strong grasp of material (approx 80% or above) not yet taught are pulled in a small group for advanced instruction.  When the unit of study changes, a new preassessment is given and that data is used to create the next small group.  The data will determine which small groups a child participates in throughout the year.

In math, I am currently working with a small group of students on an algebra extension unit. Our objectives for the unit include:

• I can use parentheses, brackets, or braces to create numerical expressions; I can evaluate expressions with these symbols.
• I can write and interpret numerical expressions without evaluating them.  (For example, express the calculation “add 8 and 7, then multiply by 2” as 2 × (8 + 7).)

5th graders will take their next math pre-test on Friday, October 4th; the topic is fractions.  The first ELA pre-test will take place on Monday, October 7th.  Stay tuned to learn about our units of study!

4th Grade Math Quest

Back by popular demand . . . Math Quest!  Math Quest, which is set up like a game to engage and motivate, is designed to help students become competent, confident, and creative problem solvers.  Throughout the unit, students explore six problem solving strategies:

            · Guess and check

            · Look for a pattern

            · Work backwards

            · Make a picture or a diagram

            · Use Logical Reasoning

            · Make a table or a chart

            In collaborative teams and on their own, students use the problem solving strategies to solve problems.  Once a problem solving strategy is mastered, students use this strategy to create original problems.  By solving and creating problems, students can earn “travel dots,” which move them forward on our game board. 

            In addition to developing a repertoire of meaningful problem solving strategies, this unit also aims to help students:

            · understand, analyze, and answer word problems effectively

            · organize and illustrate their thinking

            · collaborate in positive and effective ways with their peers

            · apply a systematic process for problem solving 

As a class, we built the problem solving rubric you see below.  We discussed how both process and precision are essential to effective problem solving.  Students tried to create a rubric that valued both process and product.  Like any rubric, it is a living document and may evolve as we use it.  Stay tuned :-)

Ooh La La!

Our first round of Academies began today!  Many thanks to Marie Field for sharing her time and talents with some of our 3rd graders.  The focus of the first 3rd grade academy is learning French.  The kids had a terrific time!  (I am basing this on the big smiles throughout and the audible groans emitted when I said it was time to leave :-)  They learned colors, numbers, food names, body parts, sang songs, and more!

Students were selected to participate in the Academy based on an interest inventory completed at the beginning of the year and classroom data demonstrating a need for enrichment.  4th and 5th grade Academies will begin in October.  4th grade's focus will be leadership and 5th will be doing video game design.  Visit my web page to learn more about Academies at Bradley Creek.

Let's give it a go!

Let me start with a disclaimer - (just what you want from your child's teacher, right? :-)  I have never done a blog before, so bear with me!  If I can make it work (and my husband doesn't divorce me for taking on yet another endeavor), I think it will be a super cool way for me to show you some of the fabulous work your children are doing in AIG.

In 4th grade, we began with a hands-on activity to help us build a collective understanding of team work.  We were guided by the essential question: What makes a team successful?  Students were randomly put in groups and asked to use only 4 strings and a rubber band to create a pyramid out of Solo cups.  (Thank you Science Gal for the great idea!) They loved it! You can see from the pictures below just how seriously they took the task and how proud they were once they accomplished their goal!
    

We then used our experiences to generate a list of expectations for group work  Here's what the class came up with:

1. everyone participates
2. share your ideas
3. practice makes perfect
4. stay on task - concentrate
5. communicate - talk to each other

This list, as I explained to the kids, is a "living document," meaning that it will evolve as we work together and learn more.  Stay tuned!