September 12, 2013- Friday's Fabulous First Graders!

Don't forget about this Wednesday's PAGS (Parents of Academically Gifted Students) Event, (I've got my ice cream scoop ready!)

This week, we have two guest bloggers.  Harper helped record what we did during our math problem solving lesson and Sydney shared her thoughts about our creative problem solving activity.  I appreciate their contributions!

We began with our math problem solving work.  

"Today we worked on learning strategies.  It was hard to keep up when we were counting in our head.  We made a table and a list.  The list worked best."
-Harper, 1st Grade

We discussed problem solving strategies we use regularly such as using objects and drawing a picture.  

Then I explained I needed to figure out how many pencils, ink pens and markers I had in the containers on my desk.  They tried using their fingers to keep track, but as I called out, "Ink pen, ink pen, pencil, marker, marker, marker, pencil, pencil..." they quickly lost count.   The students talked about other strategies to help them keep track so they could determine how many I had of each.  They tried the strategy of drawing pictures, but it was quickly ruled out as it was too slow.  They also tried making a table, but tables were new to the students and some recorded two or more items in the same cell.  This messed up their totals, but using a table was still better than the other strategies they tried. 

They finally settled on making an organized list.  With the three headings on their paper, they started again.  This time the tally marks or "X's" had each student with a perfect count.  This was definitely an appropriate strategy for solving a problem like this.  The students finished their math time working independently in our SAGE Math program. 

In the computer lab, the students worked on typing information about themselves for our SAGE Profile.  They shared about their outside interests and activities as well as academic strengths and weaknesses.  This will help me get to know each of them as a learner and as an individual.

 We also worked independently in our Exploratory Centers.  We are learning some interesting facts about insects, horses, seashells, armadillos and two and three dimensional shapes and figures.  Most of the students have finished their knowledge level task and are currently working on the comprehension worksheet to show their understanding of the topic.  Ask your child about his/her current Exploratory work.

We ended our day by discussing our K/1st grade academic vocabulary:

• Brainstorming- a tool we use to generate our ideas
• Fluency-  the ability to generate many ideas
• Flexibility- the ability to adapt, change direction and approach a problem in a new way
• Originality- the ability to think of unique ideas
• Elaboration- the ability to add lots of details to our ideas, writing and drawings

The students then finished their creative problem solving "Squiggles."   They had to create four very different cohesive pictures or scenes that incorporated the squiggle marks they were given.  In this task, we focused on their flexibility of thought and elaboration skills.

"Today we did a squiggle for creative problem solving.  We learned to add details to our pictures.  I liked my first picture the best.  Harper and Noah liked their third picture best and Delaney and Jamie liked their last picture the most.  It was hard and fun too!"
-Sydney, 1st Grade

They are a hard working, very creative group!   Have a great week!