Franklin 10/1-10/2

Students in Team Pursuit are continuing to practice the process of giving and receiving feedback. Today students had time to develop their opinion/review pieces. They then partnered, shared their work, and used PQP to comment on each other's work.

Its great to see students in the younger grades become accustomed to this process. As students move into higher grades they will be equipped with the tools and skills needed to create their best work. We will be utilizing feedback protocols in all content areas as the year progresses.

Students in Team Enterprise who have mastered grade level content in place value, addition, and subtraction have begun to explore integers. Today we used the "elevator model" to picture what adding and subtracting of integers looks like. Students also used the strategy of looking at consecutive operators and signs to determine if they will be adding or subtracting integers. We discussed where we see integers in the real world (temperatures, seal level, money). Several students took part in a Stock Market challenge last year. They requested to repeat the activity. On Wednesday we discussed how the stock market works and important data to note when researching public companies. Students began choosing their 3-5 companies and how they would diversify their portfolio by investing $1000.00.

Team Resilience and Team Odyssey have been studying poetry. They've learned about what makes a poem a poem and also have been studying famous poets. Today students took part in a team poetry challenge. They were given a set of words (like magnetic poetry). Teams were challenged to create the best poem they could in 20 minutes utilizing the given words. Next week groups will present their poems, explaining inspiration, meaning, and reflecting on the process. The class will vote for the best poem. Students had to utilize the collaboration, communication, and knowledge of poetry as they completed this task.

Mr. Pollard and I had the opportunity to present at the annual WATG (Wisconsin Association for Talented and Gifted) conference on Thursday. We shared with teachers, administrators, and coordinators how we have used Project Based Learning to achieve Deeper Learning with our students. Attendees were excited about the approach and we have districts from across WI interested in sending teachers to observe our approach to teaching and learning. I will add pics when they are published!

Have a great weekend everyone!