GT LEADers in Action!

October 23, 2015 edition

First of all, special thanks to Spring Creek Barbecue for hosting family dinner night in Grapevine.  It was so great to see the kids and pass out hot rolls.  I took home a dozen for my hungry family, too!  
SCB is very generous to schools and teachers, so I am truly grateful to them!

ATTENTION KINDERGARTEN PARENTS:  Next Thursday, October 29 at 6:00 pm is the Kindergarten LEAD Identification Informational Meeting at the Panther Den of the Professional Development Education Center on Colleyville Boulevard.  Please join us to learn of the referral and identification process in LEAD.  


Guess what we've been up to this week?

1st grade got their creative juices flowing by using SCAMPER strategies. Successful businesses employ these ideas to improve, adapt, adjust, minimize or maximize their products, based on market trends or needs.  It is an essential part of product development and customer service.  First graders used SCAMPER strategies to modify and improve a pumpkin image.  Bravo on the masterpieces! We also brainstormed, and then exercised problem solving skills with grid logic challenges. 

2nd grade began a fascinating study on the brain.  We made predictions about what the brain looked like and observed a short film showing how our brains compared to other species' brains.  Clearly our brains are not the largest on earth, but they are, by far, the most complex, with the ability to empathize and understand fairness, perseverance and courage.  Research will continue next week, as we look at short-term memory and functionality of the brain.

Orange you glad we wore orange today?

3rd grade worked on grid logic challenges and completed the final missing piece in the Think Like a Disciplinarian unit, by importing "selfies" into images of adults doing the profession they selected. Who knew Dr. Seuss could be a girl???  We will present our discipline research projects next week.  Time to stand on the stage and practice our presentation skills.  Dress for success on Tuesday!

4th grade using deductive logic to solve puzzles.

4th grade has been busy doing research for Texas Our Texas PBL. Students are working in small groups to develop a television commercial that brags about the resources, attractions and reasons for Texas pride in their assigned regions.  The 4th grade teachers are excited for our LEAD students to share their projects with the regular classroom, as it's a wonderful extension of what's going on in their social studies curriculum. Don't mess with Texas!

5th graders visiting Blendspace.com to SPARK ideas.

5th grade discussed TED Talks (Technology, Entertainment and Design) and how they motivate, inspire or educate their audiences.  The students were then told they would get to create speeches of their own, and we will call them SPARK Talks (speaking passionately about real-world problems....because Mrs. Gable doesn't have a multi-million dollar budget like TED does!)  We will work on these speeches for several weeks, focusing on the essential elements of an independent quality product:  research, technology, organization and giving a professional presentation.

Research is a lot more fun with friends on a comfy learning space!

Everyone, stay dry this weekend!  Looks like baseball, swim team, 2 birthday parties, cheerleading and choir tryouts will likely be on hold at my house!

Melanie Gable

Parents, here's the powerpoint notes from Curriculum Night for GT LEAD.   

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/19MRj9pAdmxR4XPNorz5E6t6qb_gsLuxrHT-mo-EqcK4/edit#slide=id.p4

Here is the survey link.  (The LEAD teachers across the district are looking for parents who are willing to serve as "experts" in different fields or professions for 5th grade students who are researching their individual passions or future careers.  The interviews could be in person, over the phone, through email or Skype.)

http://goo.gl/forms/HpWDoRL8PL

GT LEADers in Action

October 2nd edition

Our week was terrific with lots of brainstorming, fluency and original thinking!

1st grade showed their creativity through draw starts and brainstorming.  They were challenged to show originality in the ideas they could "see" on the draw start of their picture.  We evaluated each others, looking for ideas to spark our own imagination.  Brainstorming was about the color BLUE and all the various ideas we could generate. That's fluency!

2nd grade was involved in archeological teams that had to reconnect the "remains" of an extinct animal.  Their challenge was to create the species, name it and next week they will present the animal's story as a group.

2nd grade archeologists sharing resources.

3rd grade continued with their academic discipline research.  They focused on using the language of the discipline and began developing quality research questions, all the while, remembering what great thinkers do.  Finally, they set up Frayer Models to organize their notes for next week's career investigations.

4th grade had some deep thinking through logical number problems that included complex numeral thinking.  (Don't tell them, but it also had a little Algebra in it!  sshhhh.....)  The draw starts were remarkable as the students focused on adding details to elaborate their designs.  Finally, I conferenced with most of the students to look closely at their selected goal for this year.  

5th grade completed most of the Apps (which connected their Intellectual Trait to the App design model they created).  Students added details/descriptions and wrote three "personal" reviews from "users" of the App.  The completed Apps will be posted on our giant gPAD that is posted in the room.  Please feel invited to come see it any time.  They will present their App to the class next week in a convincing 1 minute power presentation, much like the show Shark Tank.  Let the bidding wars begin!

"Mark Cuban, do I hear $3 million for these Apps?"