Weekly Wrap Up 11/4-11/8

This week the scholars really rose to the challenge of the patriotic symbols research report.  This is a chance for them to investigate a part of the social studies curriculum more in depth and create a detailed report to share what they learn.  I am grateful to my GATE colleague Mrs. Rodermund for creating this fantastic project.  They are working together in table groups to research a different patriotic symbol that was chosen by their team.  I modeled the research techniques using Mount Rushmore.  The different topics chosen by the scholars were the White House, the Bald Eagle, the Great Seal of the United States (that group was very disappointed to discover that it was not the sea animal kind of seal!), the Star Spangled Banner, the Statue of Liberty, and the American Flag.
Using books I gathered from the public library, our school library, my personal collection, and internet research that I printed out ahead of time, the scholars took notes to answer important questions about their topic.  They had to determine why their symbol was significant, who chose/selected/built it and how that process was carried out, how their symbol may have changed over time, and to describe their symbol in detail.  In addition, they gave their personal opinion about their symbol and drew a cover illustration for their report.  Here are just a small sample of those illustrations:

The scholars were truly excited about the project and dove into the research eagerly.  I know you will be very impressed when you see their final reports.  I have some fantastic pictures to display in the classroom of the scholars collaborating on their research and literally putting their heads together to find the answers to some tough research questions.  I felt extremely proud of them all!!

In addition to our social studies project, we wrapped up our unit 4 addition strategies and took our test on Friday.  I hope to send the results home next week.  This week in math we will be reviewing and taking our Trimester 1 final exam.  Overall our class is very strong in math and your child does not need to worry.  However, I do ask that they make sure to get enough sleep and eat a healthy breakfast before big tests like this one.  Here are a few examples of our work with missing addends.  Yes, 1st graders are using variables now (and not just in GATE), oh how times have changed since we were 6 years old!

Here is some of our work from language arts.  We have been using the GATE icons to "frame" a story in a larger context.  Since it's still early in the year we have been consistently using the icons for Language of the Discipline (specialized vocabulary important for that story or topic), Big Idea (the author's message, the theme, or a generalization about the story that can be supported with evidence), and Unanswered Questions (things we still want to know about the story or topic that cannot be answered by looking at the book).  Here is how the scholars applied the GATE frame to a story we read called Seasons:

In addition, we have been practicing Multiple Perspectives, one of my personal favorites.  It helps the scholars to understand that there is more than one way of looking at a topic and that different viewpoints can provide insight.  For this assignment I asked the scholars to independently choose a season and tell me what they liked about the season.  Then they took the opposite viewpoint and explained what they did not like about the season.  I also asked them to highlight their evidence words.

I hope you enjoy seeing their work as much as I do!