Habit of a Scholar: Academic Humility

This week we discussed an important Habit of a Scholar that GATE students often struggle with: Academic Humility.  We discussed the difference between being proud of yourself and bragging meaning that it's good to be proud but not in a way that makes other people feel bad.  We also discussed that no one knows everything and we should all continue to learn new things every day.  It's important that our scholars recognize that they always have room to grow and keep learning.  If they believe that they are perfect and already know everything it can be crushing to them to make a mistake and it hinders their learning.  It's also important for them to realize that they can learn from their peers and that it's ok to change their mind after learning new information.  Academic Humility means being respectfully proud of what you know and understanding that there are always many new things to keep learning.

Autumn Artwork

This month we met with our Big Buddies to create a Thanksgiving Turkey craft.

We also created painted paper in the style of Eric Carle. We then traced and cut out leaves on our painted paper and traded leaves with friends to create autumn leaf art.

Sensory Details

We have been working a lot lately on one of the new Common Core reading standards for Craft and Structure.  This is a new area of focus that the scholars have been enjoying:

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.1.4
Identify words and phrases in stories or poems that suggest feelings or appeal to the senses.

We have read and analyzed multiple stories to identify sensory details.  Some of these stories are Two Bad Ants, Goldilocks and the Three Bears, Thundercake, and The Fox and the Falling Leaves.  I'm sure you have also seen our recent homework assignment where the scholars wrote about a place they visited using sensory details in their writing.  I assign this type of work because applying the skill is a deeper level of understanding than simply identifying the words in other authors' work.  This week we applied our understanding of sensory details by creating our own menus and advertisements for restaurants.  Please enjoy these photos of some of their excellent work!

Here's a look at how we identified words that appealed to our 5 senses:

Habits of a Scholar: Pondering and Perseverance

Last week we studied the habit of Pondering.  The scholars brainstormed the different ways that they ponder each day.  Some found it funny that they were "Pondering about pondering!"  Here are a few of the examples they came up with.

This week we discussed perseverance.  This is something we have discussed before and is one of the behaviors that I recognize positively on class dojo.  We remembered reading The Little Engine That Could at the beginning of the year and how the engine never gave up, no matter how hard things got.  We thought of many different times when we have had to keep trying in the face of obstacles.  This is such an important skill for GATE students to be comfortable with.  Often they can be such perfectionists that they want to give up if they make a mistake or don't understand something immediately.  I am so proud when I see my scholars persevering through difficult tasks!  Here are some of the examples the students came up with to show perseverance.

Just for fun :)

Since my son didn't get to attend the parade yesterday and many of you asked about him, here's a picture of Sebastian on Halloween.  He dressed as a train conductor because he LOVES trains!

Upcoming math tests

On Wednesday we will be taking the math Unit 2 test which covers addition and subtraction.  This is a test on strategies, not speed.  Based on our recent quiz and the students' performance in class I know that they are ready.  Following the Unit 2 test we will be preparing for our Trimester 1 math assessment, which will be given on Monday the 10th.  We have only studied two units of math this trimester, Unit 1 covered graphing and Unit 2 of course is addition and subtraction.  There's nothing extra your child needs to do to prepare other than sleep well, eat breakfast before the tests, and remember to CHECK THEIR WORK for every problem.  They all know how to solve these types of problems, the trouble comes when they become over confident and try to solve problems only with mental math instead of showing their work every time.  I will send the results of these tests home and we will review them further at conferences next month.

Happy Halloween!

Thank you to all the scholars and families for a fun Halloween celebration yesterday.  If you have any nice photos please send them to me at lgravessmith@ggusd.us so I can have a copy.  I do not post photos of students on this site but I do like to save photos for the end of the year slideshow and for the Allen yearbook.  Thank you so much!