Kiker's Strength-Based Learning Cohort

Even with a surprising ending, this week was packed with lots of learning! In ELA, we worked diligently to complete our expository text for our Time Capsule project. We outlined, drafted, sought out critical feedback, and drafted again. Our final steps were to edit, type and insert the photo we took. This project has asked us to TRANSFER our knowlege and APPLY it. We weren't just labelling and identifying text features (heading, captions, bylines and dates), we were CREATING them. That takes a depth of understanding to do. Having to think about an audience and what you as a writer want your  audience to gleam from your piece is big work. In math, we've created multiple drafts of our time capsule graphs. To elevate the quality of our work, we've listed criteria and noted essential features for each type of graph. Between drafts, students met with a "critical friend" for kind, specific, and helpful feedback. We're excited to publish our final drafts d...

We learned new rhythm and enjoyed the West African Djembe drums! It was exciting to learn how our hands (plus goat leather) make incredible sounds. Our field trip to the Bob Bullock proved to be another fabulous learning experience! Thanks to all the wonderful chaperones who helped us navigate the three floors of artifacts. Seeing pieces that Stephen F. Austin penned and actual cannons brought history to life. If you haven't been to the Bullock in a while, it's had some amazing renovations in the past few years -- worth it to go back!! We enjoyed a Keynotes concert that featured many of our 4th grade singers. Awesome job to all of our performers and soloists! Third graders learned about electricity with a presentation by Austin Energy. The Van de Graf generator was by far their favorite part...a truly hair-raising experience! We have been pursuing deep understanding of expository text by analyzing what makes an effective Introduction, Body (Example...