Have a Wonderful Break!

Have a safe and happy two weeks! I look forward to seeing everyone next year! To get some excitement going for our return in January, Claire (5/6 DEB) created a movie trailer with iMovie to show the work that we've been doing to research and inform about a Landmark Court Case. Check out the 5/6 DEB page after the break to see all of our Landmark Case movies!

December 11, 2014

We LOVE reading Flora and Ulysses by Kate DiCamillo! The 3rd and 4th Grade DEB class is studying how Kate DiCamillo writes from the perspectives of multiple characters in her book. The students begged me to assign reading homework! Here are some photos of students sneaking a peak to see what's ahead:

Authors in Action!

December 5th, 2014

Our 3rd and 4th DEB class has been working very hard on creating stories written from an animal's point of view. First, we chose animals that were new to us. Then, we conducted research, based on questions we created. We used that information to think about what the animal's life and perspective would be like on a daily basis. Finally, we created our own picture books from that animal's point of view (using Doreen Cronin's "Diary of a...." series as a model). Students worked so diligently this week to complete their books, that I wanted to share some photos. I can't wait to see the finished copies when we read them aloud on Monday!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Have a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday and stay warm! I'm thankful to work with the wonderful kids and staff of Meadowview! Se you next week!

Books! Books! Books!

One of my favorite events throughout the school year is the book fair! Luckily, we have it twice a year at Meadowview. Right now, we will have the Scholastic Book Fair from today until Monday. It's a great way to find new and interesting books for your young readers. With that in mind, I thought I'd post a link to a page with a lot of recommendations for advanced readers, such as book lists or organizations for gifted readers. Here is the link: http://www.hoagiesgifted.org/reading_lists.htm

Conferences Coming Up!

November 14, 2014

Thank you to all the families for returning your conference forms so quickly! I look forward to discussing your child's progress in math and/or DEB first quarter. Please feel free to bring along any questions or concerns you may have. See you the 24th and 25th!

Advanced Math Summative Retakes on Thursday and Friday!

Just a reminder to all the math students that we will have our retakes on our Ratios and Proportional Reasoning summative exam this Thursday and Friday. To get ready, please practice on www.ixl.com, watch review lessons at Learnzillion.com, or spend time reviewing your interactive notebooks today and tomorrow!

Examining Perspective in 3/4 DEB

Lately in 3/4 DEB, we have been examining how our perspective affects how we view the world. Today, students considered how authors can create non-human characters and write from their perspectives. Here are some pictures of our work, as we look for Doreen Cronin's "recipe" for her Diary of a _______ books. Next week we will research animals and write from their perspectives!

Survey about Social Emotional Presentation on Monday Night

Hello! Our gifted coordinator, Dr. Kelly Neylon, has requested that I share this link to a survey with all parents. Last Monday night, Michele Kane came to Edgewood and spoke about Social Emotional Issues that gifted students face. This survey is both for parents who attended the presentation and who weren't able to attend, in order to see how we might assist gifted families in the future.

Here is the link to the survey: http://goo.gl/forms/WkKxuou13z

Please take a few moments to share your feedback with us. Thank you!

Math Assessment on Ratios Tomorrow!

Tomorrow will be an assessment on Ratios, Unit Rates, and Proportions. We have reviewed major concepts today and I've asked students to bring home their notebooks to use as a study guide. They have several resources to review within their notebooks. In addition, the following website has review lessons and problems that students can complete on their own and check for understanding:

http://www.ohiorc.org/for/math/ratios/student/proportion/

I'm looking forward to seeing everyone persevere on their assessments tomorrow!

Upcoming Gifted Parent Night!

CHECK OUT OUR COMING ATTRACTIONS!

To find out what we will be studying this year, I've made a trailer for each class: 3/4 DEB, 5/6 DEB, and Advanced Math. Click on the pages to view the trailers!

Classroom Mission Statement Finished!

The students finally decided on our classroom mission statement. Here it is:

"Our classroom is like an ocean. We are like a school of fish learning, working, and growing together."

Congratulations to the 5/6 DEB class for creating our mission statement - it wasn't easy!

Curriculum Night Tomorrow

I hope to see everyone tomorrow at Curriculum Night. I will be in Room 17 with information on Gifted DEB and Advanced Math!

Class Room Expectations and Behavior

Yesterday, the 3/4 and 5/6 DEB classes finalized our community expectations for behavior in class. We broke the guidelines into three categories: student to student interactions, student to teacher interactions, and teacher to student interactions. We considered what kind of behavior we wanted to see from others and how we wanted to be treated. Here is the final "Askeland Code of Conduct":

Advance Math Team Building and Problem Solving

Today in 6th Grade Advanced Math, teams of 4 tried to build a pyramid of plastic cups, using only a contraption made of a rubber band and strings. Students had one minute to discuss strategies to use and then had to work completely silently for 6 minutes! I'm happy to say each team was successful at least once out of two tries! Great teamwork! Check out the Advanced Math page for pictures!

Gifted and Advanced Math Classes begin today!

September 8, 2014

A great welcome to all of the students I will be seeing today in either Advanced Math or gifted classes! Today will be the start to a great year of learning, and I am excited to see some new faces (as well as old) this year.

This year I have started a classroom twitter to provide updates from the classroom. You can follow us online at @MVGiftedClass.

Thoughts on ending the year

This week I was cleaning out some of the materials we had used during this year and came upon some novels that students read, full of post-it notes displaying their thinking as they read the book. As I was taking out all of the post-its and throwing them away, I was reminded of how thoughtful our students our when they interact with the text as hey read. I couldn't throw away such insightful comments and questions, and filed them away for the time being. Here's picture of this mass of post-its with questions, comments, and predictions (It's a little blurry because it was taken on my phone):

Math Review Blendspace

6th Grade Advanced Math has the Summative Assessment on Rational Numbers scheduled for tomorrow. To help students prepare, I've created this Blendspace, which includes links to review games and explanations of terminology. Access the Blendspace here: http://blnds.co/RXNAZu.

And here's a reminder of how we could graph problems relating to sea level with a vertical number line or coordinate plane from our recent lessons:

Hope to see you at Open House!

Tonight is Meadowview's Open House! Please feel free to stop by Room 17 :)

New Math Resource and IAGC Convention

We have an exciting new resource for Meadowview students! The district has purchased licenses so students in grades 2-6 can use the website, http://www.ixl.com/, to practice math facts and learn new content from school OR at home. Students have received User names and passwords, so they should be able to access this tool whenever they want! Some of my students have already logged as much as 14 hours!

On Monday and Tuesday of this week, the gifted specialists in District 68 had the opportunity to attend the Illinois Associate of Gifted Children convention in Naperville, IL. While it is always hard to be out of the classroom for two days, I appreciate viewing new resources and learning more about working with gifted students. At this year's convention, I attended some sessions on math for advanced students that will allow me to create more engaging and stimulating classroom experiences for students, so I am really excited to be able to show them some new math fluency games they can play together. Illinois Association of Gifted Children is a great local resource for teachers and parents of gifted students. They provide a scholarship each year to a promising student and advocate for gifted education for your children. Check out their Parent Academies listed on the events page: iagcgifted.org.

Wrapping Up 2nd Quarter

I can hardly believe it, but this Friday will mark the end of second quarter! This school year is moving by so fast! Don't forget to check the DEB and Math Class pages for updates and information that you may find useful:)