Challenge Independent Projects

The Challenge program provides opportunities for students to bring their passions into the classroom.  At ITAG, Dr. Sally Reis shared how many gifted adults recalled the projects they completed in TAG classrooms. Those early interests became later careers passions. This year I rededicated myself to interest-based investigations.  As a result, students wrote and directed plays, created origami worlds, and designed science experiments to teach science concepts.  I wanted students to be creative producers of ideas rather than reporting knowledge.  
Pictures below show students engaged in learning while completing investigations.  

3rd grade take a break for a last minute party:

4th grade yo-yo demonstration:

5th graders complete projects:

New Resource for Parents, Teachers, and Students

Here is the link to the google site Tena Nelson created called Fairfield TAG.  I especially like the resources page.  Be sure to check it out.  We will be adding new links and information in the future.

Guest Reader - 4th Grade

Ken Malloy read to 4th grade Challenge students during American Education Week. He looked and sounded like a teacher to me! The kids sat entranced while he read stories from William Bennett's The Children's Book of Virtues. After discussing the virtues, Mr. Malloy gave the students ideas for sharing compassion and love with friends or family. Thanks Mr. Malloy for a wonderful show. The kids loved the stories.

Prairie Field Trip - 5th Grade

5th graders harvested prairie grasses and forbs while hiking through the remaining prairie at Round Prairie Park last Friday. They later threw the seeds in barren patches along the road leading to the river. We witnessed a small controlled burn and saw the power of a small fire in the prairie grasses. Students used school cameras to take their own pictures and will create their version of the prairie story using the pictures.
I am only posting a few pictures for now. Enjoy!

3rd Grade Field Trip Slideshow

Parents,
Check out the picture of Therese with a hard hat! Then ask your child what animal has an adaptation that functions the same way as a hard hat.
In addition to seeing a woodpecker's long tongue that uncoils from his head, 3rd grade Challenge kids laughed and played fun games!

4th Grade Field Trip Slideshow

4th graders spent the afternoon at Jefferson County Park with Therese and the trees. Students identified 10 Iowa trees and then built a device to hold a pea using natural and man-made materials. They dropped their creations off a slide to see how long it took to land!
Check out the slideshow below.
Tree I.D. at Jefferson County Park -4th Grade on PhotoPeach

5th Grade Prairie Field Trip

When: Friday, Oct. 28, 2011
Bus leaves at 9:00 a.m. and returns at 2:30.
Where: Round Prairie Park
What: Restore the prairie: harvest seeds, clear brush, etc.
What to bring: Food. Kids need their lunch and plenty of water.
There are no drinking fountains at Round Prairie Park.
Also, bring garden gloves if possible.
Parents are welcome!
Please send me an email or call me at Pence to let me know.
Kids need to dress warmly. Can always leave coat on bus or at shelter if too warm.
See you Friday.

More Things To Do With Paper - 5th Grade

5th graders met the challenge to build a tall tower with just 2 pieces of newspaper. One girl said her first attempt was a disaster, but she learned she needed a stronger base. Voila. A free standing tall tower made from 2 pieces of newspaper. Way to go!

Origami - 5th Grade

In early October, Mrs. Lemlin came to our class and showed everyone how to fold origami paper cranes. She learned to fold cranes when she was a young girl living in Japan. All students enjoyed folding cranes because of the hands-on nature of the project. We were all grateful Mrs. Lemlin shared her knowledge of the culture of Japan! Thanks, Megumi!

Zippy Clippy 2011

3rd Grade Challenge students applied creative problem-solving skills to the following challenge: invent a new use for a paperclip.

I love their reflections at the end of the inventing process. Here is what they wrote:

"The best thing about making a Zippy Clippy is putting all the pieces together and watching how fast it comes along. I love seeing how our Zippy Clippy turned out in the end. I am an inventor because I love to build things at home."

"I am an inventor because I can make hard things. But I couldn't make hard things without my friends."

"The best thing about making a Zippy Clippy is using a paper clip because most people think that paper clips can't do much."

Please click below to see a slideshow of the Zippy Clippys.

Zippy Clippy 2011 on PhotoPeach

A Moment of Sharing in 4th Grade Challenge

Really. Why not have a moment of sharing? Especially when you can put a pink popper on a student's head and wait for it for pop. How delightful.




Seriously, 4th graders look forward to a field trip to Jefferson County Park next Thursday to identify Iowa trees Lewis and Clark saw on their expedition.

What's a Moebius Strip Anyway? - 5th Grade

5th graders know what to do to a piece of paper to make it have one side. Just ask your student.These 5th graders are all decked out in their Moebius strip loops.

Next week we study WWII and fold an origami crane. We are exploring all the ways to change a piece of paper to make it stronger, unusual, or artistic.

5th Grade to Study WWII

5th graders will be thinking about these questions when we study WWII:

• What can we learn from the past?
• Why do people fight?
• What is worth fighting for?

Our focus will be the end of WWII and the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. We will visit the Peace Memorials online and fold paper cranes for peace.
Here are a few links kids can use for research:

• Infoplease: The Bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki
• Kids Web Japan
• Sadako Sasaki
• America's Story from America's Library: Jump Back in Time
  

3rd Graders Arrive at Pence

3rd grade Challenge began with a paperclip and will continue next week to the Zippy Clippy invention!
We forgot to answer the question of the day: Why is space black?
New question of the day: What causes claustrophobia?

More next week about 4th and 5th grades.

Excited for Classes to Start!

Challenge classes begin next week! In the meantime, I discovered a wonderful way to introduce a topic using an online newspaper and web guide for children called DOGOnews. Just type engineering in the search box and the following articles appear: Engineering.
Better yet, here is an example of one of the articles from the engineering search:

DOGOnews also includes many excellent sites for kids like 27/7 Science from Lawrence Hall of Science.

That's all for now. Be back next week with news from the classroom.

Learning Culture

Hi Parents,

Welcome back to another year of school. My goal this year is to create a "learning culture" in my classroom where passion, questions, and curiosity are honored. I read a blog by David Warlick that gives suggestions for creating a learning culture.

Also, I just discovered a rich resource on the internet. This video makes the monarch migration come alive! Please enjoy!

Click to discover Outstanding Science Trade Books for Students K-12 by National Science Teachers Association. What a resource for parents and teachers!

Looking forward to a wonderful learning year for students, parents, and myself!

Mrs. Hektoen

4th Grade Wordles

Click on the picture above and then click on Slideshow to see 14 Wordles created from project scripts.

Independent Project Reflections

Wow! 4^th and 5^th graders are finally presenting information learned during their independent project. The project lasted months due to winter break and snow days. I am happy to report students stayed focused and engaged in learning for the following reasons:

· Independent projects respect the uniqueness of the learner.

· Enjoyment is part of the learning process.

Here are a few examples of comments by students:

• I chose the topic “Poetry” for my project because it’s one of my favorite hobbies and a form of self-expression where you can put all you ideas and words on that paper. Out of all the things I’ve done during my project I enjoyed learning how to use all the cool technology like Garage Band, Wordle and blogging.

• I picked therapy dogs as a topic because I love dogs and I like to learn about them. I also picked therapy dogs because they help people and I like helping people. I really enjoyed this topic.

I will say, learning to use web 2.0 tools like Wordle, Glogster, Prezi, and Kidblog is exciting when you have something exciting to communicate using the web 2.0 tool!!

I just noticed I wrote the same ideas about interest-based learning in an earlier post. I must really believe what I say or I must forget what I say! Ha!

Inventing - 3rd Grade

Enjoy pictures from the 3rd grade Zippy Clippy invention project.
I have included links to our favorite invention websites:
Inventive Kids
Enchanted Learning

Here are the names of the inventions: Paperclip Nunchucks, The Hippy Clippy Dance Floor,The Fly High, The Speed Clip, and The Skinny Clip.

Interest-Based Learning - 3rd Grade

My Wordle is created from text I wrote about interest-based learning. Ideas like
the following are contained in the Wordle:
• respects the uniqueness of the learner
• engages students’ curiosity and motivation
• promotes collaboration
• intrinsic motivation comes from students’ interests and satisfaction
• turns responsibility over to students
• choice in content and activities
• students contribute to planning of units and selection of topics for in-depth study
• reflection is essential

To complete the Wordle, I copied ideas students wrote on their Student Interest Inventory. Later this semester, we will share the results of projects based on choice and interest.