SEM: Developing World-Class Talent: May 2013

Friday, May 24, 2013

Max the Magician

Throughout this year our kindergarten, first, second and third grade students have been taught a variety of thinking skills by either Ms. Ferriola or myself. We call these lessons PETS, which stands for Primary Education Thinking Skills. In these lessons, the student are introduced (or reintroduced) to the different characters that live in Crystal Pond Woods. Each friend has their own unique way of thinking. As the students advance through the grade levels, they learn more about how the variety of thinking works and how they work together. Here is list of the friends that live in Crystal Pond Woods and their type of thinking:

Convergent Thinkers:
Dudley the Detective (deductive thinking)
Sybil the Scientist (analytical thinking)

Divergent Thinkers:
Isabel the Inventor (divergent with ideas)
Yolanda the Yarn-spinner (divergent with words)

Visual Thinker:
Max the Magician

Evaluative Thinker:
Jordan the Judge

Recently in first grade, I taught several lesson about Max the Magician. Max is a visual thinker. In visual thinking, we use our eyes and brains together, we look at things in different ways and we visualize and manipulate objects in our head. Personally, visual thinking is hard for me. But as you can see in the pictures below from Mr. Gordon's class, our first graders have no problem with Max and his visual thinking.

The assignment was to recreate Max the Magician on the other side of the paper. The idea is to use grid to help guide in the reproduction. I was VERY impressed with the students' drawings and use of visual thinking.

Continuing the develop the whole child...

Monday, May 20, 2013

The Halls are Alive with the Sound of Music

This week Mrs. Hall's Hoppers were inspired by their interest in music to share their musical talents during E-slot. Students brought in a flute, violin, piano and guitars. The morning quickly turned into a "going global" activity as some students also brought in more unique instruments such as an African drum and an Australian Didgeridoo.

We heard the sounds that each instrument made, learned about how each instrument is played and enjoyed musical serenades from our Hopper musicians. The musicians also taught other Hoppers through hands-on experiences during the instrument fair portion of our time.

Our morning ended with a shout from the crowd, "Lets all form a band. Who's in?" All the Hoppers joined in playing their instruments adding in tambourines, rhythm sticks, xylophone and maracas. The diverse sounds of our eclectic musicians echoed down the first grade hall of Laurel Mountain. It was a sweet and energizing sound!

Continuing to develop the whole child....

Friday, May 10, 2013

Kindergarten and First Grade Showcase

Yesterday, we had our Enrichment Cluster Showcase for kindergarten and first grade. Thank you to all of the parents who came to see the students' work and progress during the six weeks of their cluster. If you were not able to make it, or want to relive the experience again, please check out the video below.

Continuing to develop the whole child...

K/1 Showcase

Wednesday, May 1, 2013

Kinder and 1st grade Enrichment Clusters Wrap-up

Our kindergartners and first graders have completed their enrichment clusters for this school year. We are looking forward to the Showcase on Thursday, May 9. 1st grade will tour the showcase from 8:15-8:45 am and kindergarten will tour from 9:00-9:30 am. We hope that you can join us and celebrate the journey that our students have taken over the past six weeks. Until then, please enjoy the pictures from the enrichment clusters!

Continuing to develop the whole child...

Just Dance!