Kiker's Strength-Based Learning Cohort

Families, Thanks so much for the generous gift cards and beautiful flowers for each of us. We feel the appreciation of what we do through your support every day, but this gift was truly something to show us how loved we are! 💗 This week, we have been so busy, we thought you'd want a glimpse...ask your kiddos to explain the events that correspond with these pictures! Happy Holidays -- we wish two weeks of fun, family, and relaxation -- see you in January! Best, Jewellyn and Jen

Wow. Our week has been full. As consumers, we enjoyed the Second Grade's annual Market Day. Great finds, and so much creativity! On Wednesday, Third Grade went to the Long Center for one act of The Nutcracker Ballet. They enjoyed dressing up and getting off campus to experience this artistic expression! Our signs received their final pieces -- THANK YOU Mr. Swearingen for your engineering and carpentry expertise and help! In our humanities, we've been analyzing poetry and researching for our Texas Heroes vignette that we are writing. We have been learning about all sorts of Texas History...and are excited to share that through the eyes of a famous Texas Oak! We also wrote thanks to Mr. Dodson, the man who made our Hands Across Kiker possible in November with his drone and to Mr. Swearingen for his Keyhole Garden help. Authentic reasons to write! SBLC mathematicians solved their first Match it puzzles this week! This 4-part experience challenges each studen...

It was another busy week! We started out by presenting our fabulous knowledge of Keyhole Gardens to our sidekick class and administration. It's exciting to know that our signs and voices will be a part of Kiker forever. We really appreciate Mr. Swearingen's help in building some fabulous stands -- once they are up, be sure to stop by and take a read/listen! Our Humanities blocks are beginning our inquiry into Texas history through some Texas Hero Oak Trees. We are examining point of view, poetry, and new vocabulary in order to create personal vignettes from the tree's eyes. More to come! As we wrap our keyhole garden project, we've zoomed out to consider the importance of plants for nourishment through the food chain, balancing the amount of carbon dioxide and oxygen in the atmosphere, etc. We reviewed plant structures and functions, then moved right into the scientific method. While we've used every part of the scientific method through the ye...

Another amazing week in the books! It was a combined effort, and we accomplished a lot! These student have gone from little to no knowledge of our Keyhole Garden Ecosystem to experts who can now TEACH others about it. They know the structure and functions, make up, and have determined rules for how the gardens are used. In this process, they have written letters, created prototypes, drafted, drafted, drafted again...and come up with some amazing products to share their knowledge. Pretty cool to hear a student tell another, "Hey, don't forget the comma to separate those sentences in front of the conjunction, because that joins them!" No rote memorization here -- they have owned this learning and are APPLYING it -- all on their own. Some groups recorded their signage so that others who weren't able to read it could listen with the help of a QR code. We even have some parent help in translating the information into different languages! Powerful! We've also ...

We explored more ways we connect with each other this week. We shared ideas and preferences where we found a lot of "me too" signs happening! Mrs. Bankston also led a lesson on teamwork, which gave us additional practice on working together. Ask your child about the softball players and the cup stacking! We have been asked to create signage for Kiker's Keyhole Gardens, so our work in ELA and reading has been about these special gardens. We have learned nonfiction signposts to help us dig into informational reading, we've learned and written letter form asking experts for help, and we are writing expository pieces to put together information explaining the function and uniqueness of those gardens. BIG WORK! SBLC third graders led the Kiker community in honor of our veterans -- such a fantastic performance! We've been "digging in" to the importance of compost and the many elements of soil. Students know that all of our food can...

We've had a busy week and thought you'd enjoy seeing pictures of our Amazing Race Wildflower Center field trip. There are also a few pics of us playing with our food as a celebration when we got back to campus. Have a fantastic weekend and stay warm!