Finding the X Tile, Tunnels, Robotic Arm, Hopping Hindsight, 

                            First Graders

 The first graders had fun searching for the value of X by eliminating those digits which could not be X. Emphasis was on the utilization of mathematics vocabulary to determine which of the ten digits is the number X. After a few tries, the students seem to grasp the idea and enjoyed playing.  

The students enjoyed turning and tumbling the block to form a puzzle. It was trickier than it looked. 

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2nd Graders

Second graders are studying tunnels. We began the unit by looking at a video on the Euro Train. The students were fascinated by all the interesting facts on the construction of the 7 year long project.  From there they began building their own tunnels made of clay. Next week the tunnel engineers will create a tunnel through the clay mountain and test its strength. Stay tuned for more pictures. 

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3rd graders

"In GT we started the day by beginning to build the Robot Arm that Mrs.Mock gave us, then we went out to the hallway, Mrs.Horan gave us a big scroll of paper, told us to spread out along the edges then she gave us each two different colored crayons to draw ourselves a box and then she gave us math vocabulary for the up coming Math Benchmark, told us to describe what that word meant and after she gave us about twenty words told us to walk around the paper like a gallery walk. When we got inside the classroom she told us that we should sit down on the carpet and read the Phantom Tollbooth, when we had settled down we began reading and after we had read about a chapter we realized we were running out of pages and time so we decided that we should leave the rest for next week. We played a game where you had to act out one of the character from the book and the class had to guess who it was according to the words you used. At lunch  went over the homework that we didn't finish checking last week, then it started to rain so we had inside recess. We played with all her games and some people read, then when our recess time was up we did some Algebra. Mrs.Horan said that we should do it on our own because we were getting better, she checked out work to make sure we were doing it correctly, and we were!   After  we finished that we started to go on to the Chromebooks to do some research for our Brain Project, when we did that we got our things and went to our classrooms to leave for home."

Brendon, Dario,Jathan, and Reid spent hours trying to assemble the Robotic Arm. 

    William enjoying indoor recess by playing Chairs

 Rachel contributing to the making of the Robotic Arm. 

   

Students were to pick one of the Characters in Phantom Tollbooth and act it out for the class. The class was to guess what they were doing by the words and actions of the player. A fun time was had by all.

Students are reviewing  some of their math vocabulary  through words and illustrations.  When through, they had a "walk around", where the students had the opportunity to see how their classmates interpreted the words. 

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4th graders

Our very own talented Carson, playing "Let It Be".  We have been studying the 60's, so this tied in perfectly with the music. 

Pluto, Brain Research, Puns, Graphing, 

1st graders practicing deductive thinking through Venn diagrams. 

3rd grade

"Last week in  GT we started the day by doing some more graphing. Then we went to the computer lab to work on our research for our brain projects, we did that for about 15 minutes then for another 15 minutes we worked on the memory games that Mrs.Horan had attached to a link in google classroom, even though one of the games didn't work all of us had  lots of fun. When we got back to the classroom we read a chapter of the Phantom Tollbooth. 

Then Mrs.Horan told us to go to our seats and ask ourselves a hard question;which sense would you give up and which would you not then she told us to write a paragraph about which one and why and when we were done go up on the board and put a tally next to which sense we would give up and which we wouldn't everyone thought that was a difficult question but we ended up finishing around 20 minutes. When we got finished with that we checked our homework while eating our lunch, but only a few people got to read their stories because the tray people took a while to get to the classroom because they're all in different classes. Mrs. Horan decided that we hadn't worked on coding enough so we spent the rest of the day doing that, first we watched a Brain Pop on coding, then we watched a Youtube video clip on a coding guy. His story started when a coder saw him on his way to his job, he saw that the man had made many things out of otherwise junk that was on the street and thought "This guy is really smart he shouldn't be on the street!" But he knew that he was going to be late for work so he kept on walking. The next day however he walked to work early, he asked the guy if you would rather have $100 or a laptop and coding lessons from him, The man said he would rather have the laptop and the lessons so they began the next day, the man learned to code and eventually made his own app that was similar to Uber but was a carpooling service, you would get on and tell the app where you wanted to go and then it would seewho else in your area wanted to go to the same place so you would walk to the same place then split the cost  for a taxi scince it was New York City almost nobody had a car, the guy was offered to live with the man who gave him lessons but refuse because he thought that it was very important to keep the earth healthy.  When he finished with that video clip we started coding on paper, we partnered up, Mrs.Horan gave us a grid, and we had to give our partners directions to go either ⬆️⬇️⬅️➡️ or color in to form the pattern we were thinking of on the grid. When we finished that we did a few minutes of Lightbot then got our things and left for our classrooms."

  Writing postcards of advice to students from another school asking for help on understanding The Seven Habits.

Lydia and Miranda designing their Comic Maker using ideas from the story they wrote. 

Algebra!!!!!

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Graphing and plotting designs

"During GT last week we started the day by doing a little bit less algebra than usual but the reason for that is we started graphing. Graphing (also known as x, y) is when you have a grid and you make across be x and up be y, each square across the edges has a number. If you have a 6 by 6 grid and x and y are both 3 you would go 3 across and then go 3 up and you would be in the middle of the grid (try it!!!)  We then finished our writing assignment in which we had to write a chapter about a new city we discovered ,like Milo does in the Phantom Tollbooth. We used the app Comic Maker and make a comic similar to our story. Then we went to the 5th grade computer lab to work on our Scratch computer games. When we came back to the classroom we decided what we were going to do the brain project Mrs.Horan had told us about earlier on, our options were brain injuries, memory, sleep and dreams, careers, optical illusions, Epilepsy, Alzheimer's, the skull, intelligence, nervous system, aging, Einstein's brain, the five senses, Right vs. Left, creativity, brain health, brain scans, drugs and alcohol, Phobias, Boy vs. Girl, animal brains, exercise, Dyslexia, music, Seizures, Strokes, Autism, and ADHD. 

When we were done the beginning stages of our research we read a chapter of the Phantom Tollbooth. After that we did a postcard for a girl named Kylie. Her school just started the Leader in Me program and the needed advise to Put First Things First, we had 4 postcards so we did one for each table. When we had finished that we got our things and headed back to our classrooms to pack up and leave." By Mariana 

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   5th grade

 Our school-wide spelling bee winner, Gloria! As a joke we had this on the board before she entered the room. 

 Nicolette with her Plato quote on her artistic painting. 

This week in G.T,we started off our wonderful day by writing about :Which is more secure - a key or - a lock? Why? Then,we talked about philosophy books and how we would be making our own. After that, we read a bit of our new book: The Boy in the Striped Pajamas, it was very interesting! Next, we finished painting our quotes while listening to some of our favorite songs. Later, we typed some of our philosophies. Finally, we talked more about positive and negative numbers and did some algebra. I can't wait for next week!!!! By Gloria

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

 WELCOME 2016

First Grade

Ice Tunnels- Students observed the scientific property of salt and how it lowers the freezing point of water. The salt created tunnels in the ice as it caused the ice to melt. The food coloring helped them see the tunnels better and make it more fun.

Students were introduced to analogies and had fun using the iPad apps This is To, and Analogies. 

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Second Graders

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Third Graders

Last week in GT we started by going over the standards for our Scratch computer games we were going to start since we finished our Holiday cards. (We have to have a clever title, a scoreboard, a screen change, sounds, and to make it an active game) Then we did some algebra and went to the computer lab to code our computer games. When we got back we read some Phantom Tollbooth and then did some of the logic problems that Mrs. Horan had given us. Then Mrs. Horan told us what our homework would be for the next week while we ate our lunch. Th We later learned about strokes,  while we took notes as we listened to a video about a woman who had had a stroke. Some of the facts that we got how are 80% of strokes are preventable, a stroke happens when your brain suddenly stops getting blood or gets too much blood and we learned that there are two types of strokes, the first kind is when a blood vessel pops and your brain is suddenly flooded with blood, the second type is when there is a clump of sugar and fat that is clogging up one of your blood vessels so your brain doesn't get enough blood. Sometimes strokes are fairly small and people get to the hospital soon enough, but sometimes a stroke is simply too big and the person in question may have to have several years or possibly decades in rehabilitation, when you have a big stroke but sometimes you won't be able to talk correctly or perceive sound correctly. After we did that we saw optical illusions and tried to draw them but we were interrupted by a fire drill so didn't have as much time. Most of us did finish them but a few people hadn't. When we finished that we got our things and went to my room to pack up and leave. By Mariana

Brendon starting his optical illusion design. 

Students wrote a KWL chart with all the information they had learned about strokes.

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4th graders

The beginning of a new book, Wednesday Wars. Lots of laughter could be heard, and we are only on Chapter 1. 

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                                      5th Graders

This week in G.T, we had to answer the thought provoking  question:Which is quieter moonlight or embarrassment? Why? Then, we had to make a bucket list. After that, we sat on the carpet shared our answers, and said the thing on our bucket list that we wanted to  accomplish the most. Later, Mrs.Horan taught us about positive and negative numbers. Next, went to the Computer Lab and answered questions about the truth and lies. Later, we played the game "Two Truths and  a Lie".Then, we learned about Plato's Cave and answered questions about it. Finally, we picked our favorite quote said by Plato,and painted a background to go with it. I can't wait for next week! By Gloria. 

The class playing,   Two truths, one false.

Working as a group answering questions about Plato's Cave.