Kiker's Strength-Based Learning Cohort

April's nearly gone!  We wrapped up this month by sharing our last round of Monthly Homework. It was a great opportunity our learners to reflect on all of their accomplishments, their favorite assignments, and which choices challenged them the most. Short text, short text, short text! All three grade levels have been practicing our margin notes and signpost interpretations with a variety of text. It's amazing to see the deep thinking that occurs when we slow down to notice and note what is going on in literature. We've been writing narratives and expository to keep our writing muscles warmed up. In math this week 4th and 3rd graders used dry erase boards to review STAAR questions. They used the boards to explain their thinking and show an equation for solving the problems. Second graders practiced telling time. We used clocks to show the time and learn about the hour and minutes hands. We ended the week with Sunshine math. Fourth graders h...

Hello, historians! Click below to explore each of the sections of La Belle. http://www.texasbeyondhistory.net/belle/explore.html Explore some of the treasures found on Sieur La Salle's ship, the La Belle. http://www.texasbeyondhistory.net/belle/treasures.html

It's been a wild, wet week!  We have switched our project teacher and begun our second round of Earth Day/environmental awareness. In reading, we are honing our skills with nonfiction signposts. We are also working on short text with questions to prepare us for next month's STAAR. We continue our centers and responses as well. Second grade had a big week: we visited the Austin Nature & Science Center AND got recieved our Painted Lady larvae! We started our field trip by touring the Splash! Exhibit and learned a bit about the history of Barton Springs. Then, we learned how scientists classify arthropods and had some fun sorting them ourselves! We met (and even touched!) some live insects like this Madagascar Hissing Cockroach... ...and this Darkling Beetle! After learning about the stages of the life cycle, it was time to examine our own mealworm, the larva stage of the beetle. Our next station led us to some relat...

Use the link below to learn more about the three branches of US Government. https://kids.usa.gov/three-branches-of-government/index.shtml

This week we've been in product mode for our project time. We've been creating ways to share our learning -- Google Docs, tunnel books, Powtoon Presentations, and display boxes! Students' motivation has been sky-high, many asking to work on items at home! In reading and writing, we continue to work at digging deep into nonfiction with our signposts. We've been reading short articles, yet finding them complex because of all the information presented! It's hard work, and we are finding the payoff in how well we understand what we are reading! In writing, we continue our responses, editing, and spelling. We are also practicing bringing our written expression into project -- thinking about our audience, mechanics, and sentence structure! In science, fourth graders have continued their study of ecosystems. Our biologists are building their knowledge with nonfiction text, online resources, and ecocolumn observations.  Alfalfa was the first to grow, followed ...

This week brought some new change -- multiage projects, for one! Our afternoon hour and a half has been opportunity to research, create, discuss, and learn -- side by side with a new group. Each teacher is facilitating a slice of Environmentalism/Earth Day. The kids are independently working on an aspect for a product to be shared (more on that next week!) In reading, we have plunged into nonfiction with fury. When we use our signposts (Contrasts and Contradictions, Numbers and Statistics, Extreme Language, Quoted Words, and Word Gaps), we are forced (in a good way) to slow WAY down and really consider what the information means and what the author is wanting to convey. It also takes away the "read to memorize." Memorizing facts about the article tends to be temporary. If they really interact and think about the text, they will remember in a deeper, clearer way. We've reviewed the fiction signposts (Again and Again, Contrasts and Contradictions, Words of the Wiser, Ah...

Hello, third grade historians! Using the nonfiction signposts you've learned about, take notes in your social studies notebook about our State Capitol. http://www.senate.state.tx.us/kids/Tour.htm

After a restful (or maybe eventful) Easter weekend, we jumped right into this week. Third Grade enjoyed their field trip to the Capitol on Monday(more on that later),and Fourth took their Writing STAAR on Tuesday. On Wednesday, we held Breakfast and the Paper and a short Read In, which brought us to the end of the week before we had a "normal" schedule! All this to say that the kids have had authentic opportunities this week to practice flexibility, mindfulness, focus, and organization. We have been taking lots of mindful breaths to calm or energize ourselves as we have needed them, as well as using the Brain Gym exercises that our counselor, Ms. Bankston, has taught us in Morning Assembly. In reading and writing, we have been learning new ways to approach our nonfiction text. We have learned to keep 3 Big Questions in mind as we read nonfiction -- What surprises me? What did the author assume I knew? What challenged, changed, or confirmed my thinking? These are place...