First and Second Grade
Neurology- study of the brain and nervous system
Archaeology-study of past lives
Malacology-study of mollusks
Third Grade
Fourth grade
Robotics
Coming Soon
Gifted and Talented Program at Adolphus Elementary and Austin Elementary |
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Ologies- study of First and Second Grade Neurology- study of the brain and nervous system Archaeology-study of past lives Malacology-study of mollusks Biochemistry Third Grade CSI-Crime Scene Investigation Fourth grade Fifth Grade
Robotics Coming Soon
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Kindergarten GT is in full swing and we are learning all about our strengths. It is fun getting to know all of my students. They are also getting to know each other. We have lots of fun things in store. Tangrams have been a big hit with some of the students. In our upper grades this month we learned about the benefits of puzzles. Some of the things that puzzles do for us are mental exercise, greater attention to detail, improve memory and problem solving skills. We have explored jigsaw and sudoko puzzles after learning all about Katherine Johnson and Patrick Fissler. We learned all about the obstacles that Katherine faced as a young, smart black woman and her contributions to NASA. In our study of Patrick Fissler we learned that a balance of tasks like jigsaw puzzles, cards and exercise are better leisure activities than tv. Your students have been working hard. I was so happy to be back on a normal schedule pulling my students, then we had last week off due to crazy weather. If you had any damage, I feel for you and hope that you get back to normal soon. At the beginning of the semester, I had each student fill out a survey for popular topics to explore. Coding was the most popular choice. There are a lot of coding resources for students in LCISD. On classlink, they have a choice of code.org and scratch. In the LCISD Gifted and Talented Online Learning Canvas page there is a Coding Challenge using CSFirst. Students can pick challenges like Code your Hero, The Amazing World of Gumball and other coding challenges. Students that are interested need to contact me for the classcode, username and password. In class, we used our ipads and an app called Hopscotch. This is a free app available in the App store. They will need an account with an email address attached. It is a fairly simple app that is capable of many things. There is a Youtube channel with tutorials, pixel art and contests. We used a video to make a crossy road game, in the older grades we looked at two different videos before exploring on our own. Word of the day, person with a passion, puzzlers and spot the difference are fun warm ups to start class for these competitive kids. I am so glad that I was able to pull your children this week. Testing is a necessary part of my job but I love interacting with my GT students more. This week all of my students were asked to complete a questionnaire as well as complete a differentiated Valentine Escape Room. Some puzzles were easy to complete and others were harder. But every group managed to escape so in the words of a wise second grader "that shows growth". We also welcomed back to GT pullout our students that switched to F2F this nine weeks. I am excited that we are off to a great start this nine weeks! This week we wrapped up the 6 P's of Genius Hour with Presentation. We got to hear about celebrations with first and second grade, the best pet companion with third and fourth grade and finished off with our dream vacation with fifth grade. It was so nice to hear the different reasons that each group wanted and why. We also learned about Hojalata Tin Art from Mexico and tried our hand at making the perfect creation, even the virtual students that participated on Zoom. Have a great Thanksgiving! I can't wait for escape room activities while we work on our next project. I am really enjoying the fun activities for Genius Hour. I have planned celebrations with first and second grade. I have heard all about the perfect companion with third and fourth. I have planned my dream vacation with an unlimited budget with fifth grade. It has been a great time. I so love learning about a person with a passion each week. I am hoping that it will nudge students to turn their passion into a future career. I took these pictures during the Pitch process in week.
Some students will return to F2F this week and I can not wait to see them! You should have digital copies of these but if you do not, please let me know. We are working on Genius Hour. We have explored our passion and are starting to plan. First and Second grade are planning a celebration. Third and Fourth Grade are planning for a companion. Fifth grade is planning for a luxurious vacation.
Please have a wonderful break. Hopefully there will be no more interruptions to GT pullout when we get back.
Fourth grade is working hard on learning and testing out their knowledge of forensics. We have compared fingerprints and created a tooth impression to make a case against the most likely suspect. |
Saundra PletkaLoves learning right along with my students! Archives
April 2021
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