Welcome (or welcome back to returning families) to the 2015-2016 version of Three for Thursday - providing you with updates on Mrs. Bean's gifted and talented classes. Fourth and fifth grade are off to a great start. Third grade will be beginning their studies with me later in September after we complete the identification process. Please make sure to add Tuesday, September 22nd, to your calendars. I would love to see you at GT Back-to-School night in the media center at 6:30. If your child is newly identified, I will be sharing information about that process and how the ALP (Advanced Learning Plan) process works. If you are returning, I'll be sharing specifics about how my classroom works (homework, expectations, and learning outcomes.) Please come! Fourth and fifth grade math students have both been hard at work for over a week already. Both classes have been doing very similar work thanks to Dr. Jo Boaler from Stanford University. Dr. Boaler created the "Week of Inspiration" for grades 3-8 to begin the year with lessons that teach them about how their brains work and learn math, and her lessons encourage problem solving and pattern-finding in math class. What I love about her message, that has always been a key message in my class, is that making mistakes is a GOOD thing! A lot of GT kids are perfectionists, and many of them don't even like to try something if success is not guaranteed. Another message these first two weeks has been that we value different ways of looking at a problem - both different solutions and different solution methods. Mathematically, we have looked at patterns in the 100's charts, patterns in visual representations of numbers, patterns in Pascal's triangle, patterns using Fibonacci's sequence, and more. Fourth graders have persevered to solve these challenging tasks and worked on their partner and group problem solving skills. Fifth graders have had a chance to learn some very high level math. Examples include learning what a factorial operation is (ask them about problem solving using 4-4's) and learning to apply algebra to solving quadratic function (ask them about the "cases" problem.) Below is a quick video of Dr. Boaler sharing some of the brain science behind mistake making (this is the adult version - the students saw much more kid-friendly version.) As for fourth and fifth language arts students, we have kicked off the year with some great reading already. Fifth graders are working on their first novel for literature circles. Everyone is reading a book by Carl Hiassen. All of Hiassen's books are set in Florida and share the same "kids saving the environment" theme. Whether the characters are saving alligators, owls, or fish, my students have a chance to learn about how kids can make a difference in the world in a year where much of their science learning will be about ecology, with a culminating trip to Eco Week. They also learn how to lead and be part of a group discussion about quality literature through our lit circles. Fourth graders have taken on the challenge of reading a short story by O. Henry called "The Ransom of Red Chief." Vocabulary and language make this story a great challenge for gifted students. We will to look at the use of irony through this and other O. Henry stories. We are also looking at how perspectives affect a story. We'll continue to look at how authors use perspective to tell a story from a certain character, how our perspective shapes our understanding of a story, and how they can use perspective to make their own writing better and more interesting. I am looking forward to a great year of learning and growing with your students this year. Hope to see you on the 22nd!
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May 2018
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