Kiker's Strength-Based Learning Cohort

We are so proud of all that we've accomplished in these first 9 weeks! Thanks for making time to look through portfolios last weekend. SBLC scientists have been hard at work applying the scientific method to our study of force and motion. We have used the parts of this process through the year, but put all of the components together into a meaningful whole with our work this week. We know that the scientific method includes an observation about the world around us, framing our curiosities into a testable question, forming a thoughtful hypothesis, collecting results, then using our results to draw conclusions. After observing that different cars traveled different distances, we wondered how the mass of these cars affected the distance traveled. Teams of scientists designed ramps to answer this question, collecting data through multiple trials with pennies to add mass each time. Then we pooled our data to look for meaningful patterns. In math, we've been hard at work with mu...

This weekend your student is bringing home their body of work in their notebooks. They are excited to make an appointment with you this weekend to sit down and talk through each artifact. Students know how to be present and in the moment when they are reflecting here at school. Provide a quiet space and ample time for this.We know this will definitely connect you more to your child and with the exciting learning they are doing. Please fill out your portion of the portfolio reflection and send all notebooks back on Monday. We've explored the idea of acceptance and "widening our world" when we encounter people that are different than we are. We've talked about how noticing and judging are two separate things...and that, when we take the time to know and understand others better, they are oftentimes very much like us and not what we first thought.  We watched a short film, "The Present," where we found ourselves making judgments on first impressions...and the...

We've shown not only emotional agility, but flexibility this week! A short week, picture day, counselor visits...we've had quite a few schedule changes. Students and teachers alike are grateful too, that we had a few days at the end of the week to get out and enjoy the cooler temperatures! On Friday, we enjoyed our first Breakfast and the Paper. It's a unique way to build community by eating together and reading. We know that it creates a warm memory too. SBLC readers have been investing into Salva and Nya's lives. We've been surprised by the difficulties they have endured/faced...and that has caused us to have a new awareness of how others' experiences are so different than ours. We've practiced pausing in different ways to consider the text more deeply. That may mean jotting a note or or sketching an image. We are training ourselves to think past surface level understanding. Readers don't merely consume text, they absorb it and ...

This week, we've been keenly aware of how often discussion occurs in our daily routine! Our first week of Cliff Notes focused on the question: Describe a discussion in class today. What is something you learned from listening to a classmate's contribution? How did it push you to think? This reflection has us zeroing in on our thinking, both individually and as a community. A ten penny challenge energized our focused brain during FIT time on Thursday. We learned that our brains also have a diffuse mode too. We found that we can ping pong between the two to really absorb new information and find creative solutions to all kinds of problems. Ask them what diffuse mode activity they're thinking about employing when they need to take a break from focused mode! In reading and ELA (with social studies integration), we've read several types of text about the same topic. We've discovered that the different genres are just as important as different versions/perspectives. W...