January

Systems: We officially embarked on our journey as environmental detectives!  Students began the new year with a review of systems and a teamwork challenge to prepare themselves for their upcoming experiences. Students were introduced to the Gray Area and the mysterious fish kill that has been taking place there over the last five years.  They met some of the key players (suspects?!?!) in the region, looked at maps of the area to identify factors that may be at play, and studied the history of the area as they compiled a timeline of events and developments over the past 100 years.  Throughout this semester they will be acting as scientists, council members, reporters, and detectives as they conduct tests and research to uncover the reason behind the declining fish population.

Critical and Creative Thinking: This month students enjoyed practicing their critical thinking with Sudoku puzzles.  We also had a lesson on idioms to help us use flexible thinking and solve our plexer picture puzzles.

 

Habits of Mind: Our Habit of Mind focus has been on persisting and strategies to overcome “the dip” when faced with a challenge.  Our favorite activity was reading the book, Grandfather Tang’s Story and using the 7 piece Chinese tangrams to recreate pictures.  Students even used the pieces to create their own original designs!

November & December

Systems: We moved from the crime scene to the forensics lab as students looked at how evidence is processed.  We studied DNA and its role in the justice system.  Students made beaded sequence chains as they learned about genetics and the double helix.  We also looked at DNA as ‘the greatest code on Earth!” with a short look at cryptography. Students had the chance to decipher messages from the CIA and create their own codes with some of the techniques they discovered by looking at the history of secret messages in crime detection.

Our analysts also used ink chromatography and chemical property lab tests to solve the “Case of the Dognapping” and the “Case of the Crummy Cake”.

Our next systems stop was the courtroom and how evidence is presented in trial.  Students loved our morning “You Be the Jury” warm ups!  We spent time researching the elements of the courtroom and the progression of trials.  Students made some excellent presentations to share with the class and we finished with playing the role of opposing attorneys in the Make Your Case game.  Use this link to play at home! http://www.scholastic.com/americanjustice/makeyourcase/

Critical and Creative Thinking: Our brain stretch focus has been on word analogies as we built vocabulary and looked for relationships between ideas.  Students practiced writing bridge sentences to test for a consistent  link between terms.

Try this one for yourself:  tornado : scary :: ALERT: _________

A. boring

B. dull

C. green

D. FUN!

We also carried over into figural analogies where they had to apply relationship thinking to compare images.

Habits of Mind: Our main Habit of Mind focus has been on gathering data.  Students used crime scene observations to consider the distinction between evidence and inference and the role of both when investigating.  We also practiced metacognition as we set goals and reflected on our learning so far this year.

M^3 (Mentoring Mathematical Minds) Digging for Data:  In our Data unit, we are working out the kinks in our understanding of different measures of central tendency.  Our small group sessions have impressed me as students are using great  strategies for organizing their work and are building confidence in distinguishing between terms and processes.  We have made our way through our practice checklists and students have enjoyed using various sources for learning in our blended setting.