SAGE UPDATE FOR OCTOBER 28, 2011

Weekly Brainteasers

A few weeks back, I began regularly offering students an OPTIONAL online brainteaser/puzzle/challenge activity to take on during the week.  It provides them an opportunity to stimulate their brains in a fun and engaging way, and it also allows them an opportunity for a little friendly competition during the week as well as throughout the year.  Students can send in their results via the forms below the weekly link.  The student who tries the most activities by the end of the year will earn a small trophy.  My plan is to put a new challenge on the blog every week or two.  Students can find them on the Interesting Sites and other "Stuff" page.


3rd Grade

In our second week of the Mr.  Bear Mystery,  we spent about an hour in each class drawing our whole group mystery scene maps.  This was no easy feat . . . it took a great deal of cooperation, communication, spatial problem solving, and compromise.  With nearly a dozen different investigators in each class, we found that agreeing on what we observed at the scene.  We're also getting better and better at realizing that some of what we thought were facts actually turned out to be our opinions. 

This week, we got to hear the story of the mysterious happenings that took place among the members of the Stuffed Animal Adventure Club. The story contains dozens of details, so it is a huge challenge (actually impossible) for any one student to record them all as he/she listened.  When the story was over, we collaborated to compile all the details into one form.   Below is the form we used on the ActivBoard to help us compile and track them.

4th Grade

4th graders are in the process of deciding the top 30 buildings of this year's Polyhedraville city.  The two classes began their exploration by brainstorming as many possibilities as they could in one 20 minute sitting.  I showed you one class's list last time. 

After generating huge lists, teams eliminated duplicates and combined those that made sense to do so.  This week, each class finalized their three criteria they'd agreed upon to use to determine each building's worthiness to be included in the city.  You can see them below.  Individual teams determined their top 30 buildings by scoring each building (1-5) for each of the 3 criteria.  In the video below, you can peek into a conversation one team had about scoring one of the buildings on their list. 

Top 30 Polyhedraville Buildings - Grand Ridge
Criteria #1	Will it have a positive effect on our community?
Criteria #2	Will it help our economy; will it serve enough people to stay in business?
Criteria #3	Does it cover our needs and wants?

Top 30 Polyhedraville Buildings - Creekside
Criteria #1	Is it important for our community?  Do we need it?
Criteria #2	Is it most useful to help us?  Is it good for us?
Criteria #3	Will we have it in 2211?



5th Grade

Our 5th graders are beginning to do the prep work for helping the consumers of the world make a thoughtful choice about which brand of paper towel is the best value.  After spending several weeks investigation the variety of techniques ad-makers use to get unsuspecting consumers to fall prey to their subtle ways and thoughtlessly buy their products, we are ready to begin the hard work to scientifically test one of those products - paper towel brands - to determine which would be the best buy.  Caveat Emptor!!!  We're here to help you!

This week's work was primarily to investigate the ads of yester-year to find the strategies and claims that the product makers used to get their paper towels into the hands of consumers.  A few of them are linked below.  Maybe you remember one or two of them.

Scott Towel - 1972  Can you find any misdirection? How about exaggeration?

Bounty - 1971  Do you remember this slogan?  Is there any misdirection in this one?

I'm pretty sure we can do a better job of testing the major paper towel brands than these guys!  Stay tuned!

Week 3 Update.


3rd Grade

To begin our Mr. Bear Mystery unit, third Grade visited the scene of a mystery this week.  Before heading off to the scene, we discussed a variety of terms related to mysteries:  mystery, crime, suspect, and evidence were just a few.  We also talked about the thinking skills that detectives need to use to solve crimes or mysteries.  Here's a list.  We'll be using all of these thinking skills and more as we work to solve our mystery.

•Observing

•Comparing & Contrasting

•Fact & Opinion

•Sequencing

•Cause and Effect

•Summarizing

•Inferring

•Analyzing



4th Grade
4th graders spent a good portion of the week brainstorming buildings that would be in Polyhedrville.  They first spent time on their own listing ideas, and then they came together as a whole class to do so. (Here's a sample from one of the classes.) 

In the upcoming week, they'll narrow their search to a manageable number so they can go through the subsequent steps to narrow their list to the top 30 buildings. 

The next step will be to create a criteria by which we judge each of the buildings on our list to determine if it would deserve to be on the top 30 list.  After that, we'll give each building a score, and find out how they all stack up against each other.

5th Grade
CAVEAT EMPTOR!   That's the cry that can be heard from the far reaches of the 5th Grade SAGE empire these days!  Well, that might be a little dramatic, but it is our motto as we've been evaluating magazine ads as a mini-unit leading up to our paper towel unit. We spent a few class periods examining some of the techniques admakers use to create their tempting messages - one student described it as a trap that they set to entice you into buying their products.  Over the next several weeks, we'll be scientifically investigating one specific product - paper towels - to see if we can create a good set of investigations to really determine which product is the best value.  It is our goal to help the buyers out there be more thoughtful consumers.

By the way, keep your eyes peeled for CAVEAT EMPTOR MAN.  He may be coming to a theater - or maybe just a  computer screen - near you in the upcoming weeks.  (That is, if the 5th graders  at Creekside have their way . . .)  You can check out some fun ads below.

SAGE: Week 2 Review

Here's what we did in our second week of SAGE.


3rd Grade

This week, we did a few interesting activities.  Each 3rd grade group spent time analyzing the poem below.  Can you figure out why I had them go through the exercise?  You might ask your child the meaning of the poem.

COME TO THE EDGE

by Christopher Logue

Come to the edge.
We might fall.
Come to the edge.
It's too high!
COME TO THE EDGE!
And they came
and he pushed
and they flew...

We also tried our hands at synergizing by building paper towers.  The task was simple; construct the tallest tower that you can in 18 minutes out of 3 pieces of 8.5 x 11 copy paper.  Here are a few of the entries.  Find out what went well with your child's tower, and what his/her team could have improved on.

4th Grade

Here's a poem the 4th graders began to analyze at Grand Ridge (we'll be doing it at Creekside next week.)  Each child takes time to read through the poem and pick out a phrase that speaks to him/her in some significant way.  After that, we read the poem as a class.  I read the entire poem, and the students read the phrase that they have selected.  Sometimes I'm reading my myself; sometimes I'm reading with one other student; and, sometimes I'm reading with several students.  It is quite a powerful activity.  After reading the poem together, we go back and share why we've selected the passages we have.  We learn a lot about courage and about each other through the activity.  Here's the poem.

COURAGE, Author Unknown

Courage is the strength to stand up
When it's easier to fall down and lose hold.

It is the conviction to explore new horizons
When it's easier to believe what we've been told.

Courage is the desire to maintain our integrity
When it's easier to look the other way.

It is feeling happy and alive, and moving forward
When it's easier to feel sorry for ourselves and stay.

Courage is the will to shape our world
When it's easier to let someone else do it for us.

It is the recognition that none of us are perfect
When it's easier to criticize others and fuss.

Courage is the power to step forward and lead
When it's easier to follow the crowd; their pleas resound.

It is the spirit that places you on top of the mountain
When it's easier to never leave the ground.

The foundation of courage is solid,
The rock that doesn't roll.

Courage is the freedom
Of our mind, body, and soul.

5th Grade

Every 5th grader participated on a team that took part in The Marshmallow Challenge.  Interestingly enough, we learned afterward that it was actually quite helpful to be successful in the challenge to think like a kindergartner.  As it turns out, kindergartners are more successful at the challenge than most other age groups - even adults.  To find out why, ask your child, then watch the video for Marshmallow Challenge video.  It might not be for the reason you think it is. 

P.S.  You may be interested to know that 1 of our 8 teams ended the challenge with a tower that was standing. 

Here are a few photos of our efforts.