Franklin 10/15-10/16

On Tuesday morning Team Pursuit began working on the public products they will be creating for their "Why West Allis" project. They have been writing opinion pieces, studying what makes our city special, speaking with community members, and are ready to share their findings. On November 7th they will be distributing items at the West Allis Farmer's Market that share why they feel people should visit West Allis. Last week the group voted on 3 possible products to make after narrowing down their brainstorm list. Final products will be posters, books, and commercials. Students were able to indicate their choice on a selection sheet as well as their preference for working independently or collaboratively. On Tuesday I worked with the students who chose to create a poster. We looked briefly at several posters from cities around the world and noted what those posters included. Students shared their ideas and began sketching. Some children are including notable West Allis landmarks like Miller Park, while others are highlighting schools and parks in our area. These are our very first drafts and next week we'll continue exploring exemplar posters as models.

On Tuesday afternoon Team Pursuit welcomed a Shark Tank Panel from the district. They pitched the panel for the funds to purchase a button making machine. The idea is that we can use pictures and images from our posters, books, and commercials to also make buttons. Buttons could be distributed at the Farmer's Market in November and also to local businesses so that Team Pursuit's Why West Allis message continues being heard. We find out Friday if their proposal will be accepted.

https://video.wixstatic.com/video/693f34_6f3e0f6bc68d4e2dbedf47db281d3f1b/1080p/mp4/file.mp4

On Tuesday Team Odyssey completed a collaboration challenge. We have a number projects approaching that involve teamwork and interdependent thinking. We felt that the group needed a chance to practice and develop collaboration skills. This process does not always come naturally to students and they need the opportunity to practice the skills and traits that make for successful collaboration!

The task was to arrange 8 images from least likely to most likely that would cause Franklin school to close the following day. The images depicted dinosaurs, aliens, and natural disasters. Students were asked to express their opinions, justify them, and establish an agreed upon order for their group. They then shared their decision with the class. We also had groups reflect on the process of collaborating, what went well and what was challenging. We will continue practicing collaboration in these low stakes scenarios so that students are prepared to work in teams for our upcoming PBL units.

In Team Enterprise students who have mastered the grade level content for this unit (multiplication and division) are moving on to 6th grade standards involving integers. On Tuesday and Wednesday we reviewed strategies for adding and subtracting integers. We also began looking at the rules for multiplying and dividing with integers. In the stock market project, students continued to track their selected companies to determine and record their portfolio performance. We are beginning to notice patterns and trends for different companies. Students are making observations about companies they would like to continue investing in and shares they would prefer to "sell or trade". After two weeks of tracking students will have the chance to reevaluate and switch companies if desired.

During reading this week, Team Enterprise started the novel, Tuck Everlasting by Natalie Babbitt. We read the prologue about three times in order for students to really grasp its meaning. This a challenging section of text that uses a wheel and hub metaphor to illustrate the interconnectedness of seemingly isolated events in the story. Our lesson focused on reading intensely and observing the work that the story and the author want us to do. We discussed how all pieces included in the book have a purpose. In order to read intensely students will utilize strategies such as reading as if you are IN the book, figuring out confusing parts, re-reading, and noting important points to talk about later. Students practiced stopping and jotting important points on post-its independently. Next week we will be launching the project that will accompany our Tuck Everlasting PBL unit. We will be visiting Central High School's theatre department for a tour. The students have not yet been informed of the project details but will find out where we are going with this next Wednesday.

Here are a couple of pics that were shared with me from our presentation at the WATG (Wisconsin Association for Gifted and Talented) conference earlier this month. Mr. Pollard and I presented how Deeper Learning Competencies can be fostered through Project Based Learning. You can read more about this in the district Newsletter sent out on October 15th.

Its been another busy and productive week here at Franklin. I'm looking forward to all the great projects and learning opportunities ahead! Have a great weekend!