I have finished up students' ALP's. They will be coming your way in Friday Folders either this week or next (5th grade should receive them this week & everyone else next week.) Within the stapled packet look for:
I don't have much to report on what went on in my classroom this week because I was only there on Wednesday. It was a less than ideal week from that standpoint, but they were in great hands with Mrs. Beck as the sub all week. On Monday, the math kids all worked in their TenMarks accounts. This is an online practice tool that is good for math review and practice. The environment is formatted similar to PARCC testing. It has not only multiple choice but fill-in the blank, drag and drop, number lines, true/false, and more. TenMarks is completely free and lessons are tied directly to the math standards. I like it because I make the assignments for kids to work on so I am able to tailor it to what we are working on in class. If the students get less than 75% of the questions correct, I can also reassign so they get more practice. There are videos and hints that can help kids too. The kids like it a little more than other online learning programs because for every assignment they complete, they earn points which they can spend in the "store" for games. If you would like to check it out, ask your child for their login (or email me and I will provide it.) The program is district approved and has no personal information about the kids except their first name and last initial. It randomly generates a username and password for them. If you want to see what the 3rd grade looks like, login as me and feel free to click on an assignment and try it out (they are actually rather hard!): User Name: traceb42621 Password: bus340jar This week I was gone because I was at the Colorado Gifted Conference on Monday and Tuesday. I had a chance to attend some great sessions. One of those was parenting advice that I thought I would pass on to you. Lisa Van Gemert (GT teacher/administrator) and Dr. Dan Peters (psychologist) shared "The Delicate Balance of Boundaries with the Gifted." They shared the challenges of setting rules in a house with GT kids, and then suggested using the metaphor of fences to negotiate rules with your child/children. First the challenges (stereotypically):
Van Gemert and Dr. Peters suggest sitting down to talk to your GT child/children to make sure that they know that the rules in your house are based on what your family values. GT kids also love to learn something new all the time so you could even share with them information about their brain: that their pre-frontal cortex is still developing and that is the part of the brain that can look ahead and see consequences. Therefore, tell them they will need to outsource some of their decision making - to you, of course! - until their brains are done growing. :) Then sit down and talk fence rules (you should actually share the metaphors and refer to them later as you have to set new rules or adjust old ones): Prison Fences - These are the rules that children CANNOT ARGUE with. These are the rules that affect life and safety. DON'T set a lot of these rules. For example, no friends at the house when an adult isn't home. Privacy Fences - These are rules dealing with technology in your house (texting rules, etc.) Example of this might be determining appropriate social media they can use and mom/dad having access to all passwords. Chainlink Fences - General rules of your house that can have exceptions within reason. This fence "gives" slightly when you lean on it - small things can get through occasionally. That way you won't look like a "liar" when you change the rule. Screen time might be a chainlink discussion - set a reasonable time for school days but adjust on weekends or if students have a project on the computer. This is where you can allow your GT kid's negotiation skills to play out. Ranch Fence - These rules allow you to build a relationship with your child and nothing critical is at stake if these rules get broken. Yet these rules allow life to flow. (Think expansive, wooden fences that keep the cows in, but might need occasional repair and upkeep.) Examples of these might be how you establish chores getting done in your house. Van Gemert and Peter suggest that by having your child join in the conversation with rule setting, they can feel like they have some control, and they begin to gain the independence that they value. And I would add this makes it so that when they fail (and they will!) they will still be within the safe boundaries of those combined fences to pick up and try again.
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Tracey BeanWerner Elementary Archives
May 2018
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