Kiker's Strength-Based Learning Cohort

Happy Friday! Phew! We made it!  It's been a busy week, and a great one! We've spent much of our time teambuilding and getting to know one another. Building trust and having them know this is a safe environment is essential for a great year of learning ahead. A few activities to ask them about: 3, 2, 1...check in! A way to take a pulse on the morning Town Meeting Blocks and switching WOW time 3, 2, 1...Blast off! If they are having a little trouble explaining it all to you, be patient. It's all new (or things have changed up a bit). It's a skill to be able to communicate these details, and also sometimes hard to remember. Some of the prompts you can use: When you did _____ activity, what did you do?   What is you favorite part of _____activity? As these become more part of the daily routine, they will open up more and remember more. As they do, talk about the purposes of them as well, and how they feel. We will explain these to you at Back to School Night, b...

We've officially launched into our new year together! Today was filled with smiles, sharing ideas, a bit of silliness, and lots of fun. After we discovered our book surprises, we played some games to get to know each other. Then we flexed some teambuilding muscles with a Space Station Challenge. We saw some great examples of what teamwork in the SBLC should look like! And here comes the silliness: the entire SBLC--including the teachers--participated in the Tooty Ta! It's become one of our most treasured traditions. Looking forward to making more memories with these spectacular kiddos!

Happy Summer, SBLC families! We hope you've enjoyed these first few weeks of vacation. Before we ended our school year, the super SBLC students came up with some ideas for Summer Choice Activities. Of course, it's summer, so these are optional...but if you'd like to choose a few (or more) to complete, go for it! You could even start a summer journal to keep everything together. We'd love to see yours when we meet again in August. :) Here are YOUR awesome ideas: *Make a chart to record how you're active and eating healthy every day. *Take or find pictures of different insect life cycles and name the stages and body parts. *Make a diagram of your favorite video game, including a picture/drawing and the rules of how to play it. *Write an exaggerated version of your vacation, then write the real version! *Create a Venn diagram to compare/contrast two or more activities you did this summer (rides at Schlitterbahn, for example).  *Try something n...

Use the links below to discover some important information about inventors. Read ALL directions and give your best effort! :) 1. What is an invention? http://www.42explore2.com/invent.htm 2. Thomas Edison http://www.nps.gov/edis/faqs.htm 3. Wright Brothers  http://www.eyewitnesstohistory.com/wright.htm 4. Steel Plow http://www.deere.com/wps/dcom/en_US/corporate/our_company/about_us/history/john_deere_plow/john_deere_plow.page 5. Cotton Gin http://havefunwithhistory.com/movies/cottonGin.html 6. Benjamin Franklin http://learn.fi.edu/franklin/ 7. Levi Strauss http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/telephone/sfeature/index.html#invent2 When you have completed your scavenger hunt, you may explore the links on the post below!

Explore the site below to learn more about inventions and the inventors who created them! http://www.kidskonnect.com/subjectindex/15-educational/science/86-inventors-a-inventions.html

Hello, astronomers! There are some cool things happening in the sky this week! We have a meteor shower, a rare chance to see Mercury, and our moon snuggling up to Venus. See the link below for more info. :) http://www.astronomy.com/observing/sky-this-week/2014/05/may-1625-2014 Use the link below to compare and contrast the rotations and orbits of the planets in our solar system. http://www.kidcyber.com.au/topics/planets.htm Then use the link below to observe our planets in orbit and learn more about their features and characteristics. http://www.kidsastronomy.com/solar_system.htm Enjoy exploring our universe! photo courtesy of National Geographic

third grade vo*cab*u*lar*y pa*rade   noun : event in which students display a collection of words : event in which third grade SBLC students exhibit maximum creativity Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious!