Fifth Grade Update: The Rise of Civilizations

Bit by bit throughout the year we've been inventing and developing our own civilizations by taking inspiration from real civilizations throughout history, both real and fictional. 

Most recently we've added two new attributes to our civilizations and both gave the opportunity to also practice our creative thinking skills of FFOE and SCAMPER.

Constellations

After studying constellations and their associated myths and legends from various cultures, students designed their own and then wrote a myth to accompany it. The myth needed to somehow form a piece of the mythology of their civilization and reflect something about their civilization's geography, resources, beliefs, etc.

Fruits

Every classic civilization has it's staple food crop. After watching a clip from the intriguing documentary The Fruit Hunters, we decided to make our staples fruits. We got inspiration from the adaptations of real life rare and exotic fruits and created our own. To call our fruits "exotic" would be a huge understatement!

Next up is the culmination of our civilization project in the form of a dynamic, reader-interactive story using the online site http://www.inklestudios.com/inklewriter/. Watch for those stories to be posted before the end of the year.

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Fourth Grade Update: Setting the Gold Standard

Our study of the novel The Wright Three has sent us on many wonderful tangents this year, but none have been as mathematically mysterious as the Golden Ratio. Used and observed by architects, artists and philosophers throughout history, the Golden Ratio is a number that seems to reflect the universe's natural desire to make things beautiful, or so many believe.


The ancient Greeks believed that humans who exhibited the golden ratio were naturally more beautiful and attractive. We decided to put ourselves to the test--could we be ancient Greek supermodels? First, we practiced measuring and calculating on a scale drawing of a real Greek sculpture that was designed with the golden ratio. Then, with the help of partners, we measured the dimensions of our own facial features and made several calculations. Let's just say there are few potential Ancient Greek Idols in our midst!

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Third Grade Update: A Cameras Handspring!

By the way, "A Cameras Handspring" is an anagram for "Ciphers and Anagrams!" That will make sense in a minute. :)

Benjamin Franklin's life of unending fascination and intrigue continues to be the launchpad for us to explore many exciting topics. This semester that topic has been ciphers. Franklin himself used ciphers during the Revolutionary War in his work as a spy.

First, we understood that there are two basic TYPES of ciphers: 1) Substitution ciphers, in which the letters of the message are replaced by other letters or symbols and, 2) Transposition ciphers, in which the letters aren't changed, but simply rearranged.

For substitution ciphers we started with the most classic of ciphers, the Caesar cipher, and also learned and used the pigpgen cipher. Students made their own cipher wheels to encipher and decipher messages.

To study and practice transposition ciphers we had a LOT of fun with anagrams. We got inspiration from the book Elvis Lives, a book of funny anagrams like "ASTRONOMER = MOONSTARER" and "SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA = HOT SUN, OR LIFE IN A CAR." Pretty amazing, huh?

We got out the letter tiles and students came up with their own hilarious zingers, such as:

"I'M HYSTERICALLY LAUGHING" = "TYLA HAS MY CHIN, GRILL GLEN!" BY TYLA

"ADRIAN IS NOT A CIPHER" = "TARI CAN RAID IPHONES" ADRIAN

"CONSTIPATED" = "COST TED PAIN!" BY ZOIE W. AND MYKAL

"I'M CRAZY VIKING" = "ANY CIG, MR. KIVIZ?" BY KIERAN

"NITISH AND YOSI" = "SIT IN A DISNY" BY NITISH AND YOSI

"MINECRAFT" = "RUN MATEY!" BY COREY 

"RAT OR COB" = "CAR ROBOT" BY RHEA

"INSPECT, OR..." = "INSPECTOR" BY BALA

"WET GOATS HAVE..." = "WE HAVE TOGAS!" BY SHREEYA

"BAD DAY" = "BAY DAD" BY SUMEDHA

"SHE SAT ON BEES!" = "NO BEETS, ASHES" BY OLIVIA

"ROB, IN HERE!" = "HEROBRINE" BY STEVEN

"RAISINS" = "RAIN, SIS!" BY RHEA

"FORWARD" = "FAR WORD" BY APOORVA

"POINTS" = "IN POTS" BY BALA

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Second Grade Update: Life's Ups and Downs

This semester has been all about roller coasters! In our last update post we told about some of the coaster research we'd done and how we'd explored some of the science behind coasters. Now, it was time to put all that knowledge into action and build our own mini-coasters.

Student groups were given miscellaneous supplies, such as wooden dowels, cardboard, paper cups, construction paper and tape and asked to create a roller coaster for a golf ball. There were different levels of challenges, including a basic drop, a hill, a double hill, and a loop.

This was true problem-solving and innovation! Were there lots of dead ends? Absolutely! What would be the point if it were all laid out for them? The successes felt so much better because the students had truly earned them.

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First Grade Update: Detective Work, Tangrams and Brainfocals!

This semester we've been meeting several different characters from the fictional "Crystal Pond Woods." Each of these characters represents a particular type of thinking. The students learn the uses of each type of thinking and practice using it to find solutions to problems and scenarios.

We started with Dudley the Detective, a dog who loves to solve mysteries using logical, or convergent thinking. Dudley inspired us to find solutions that required linear, logical, deductive reasoning. 

Next, we met Max the Magician, a rabbit who is totally passionate about visual/spatial reasoning! He loves puzzles, patterns and visual eye-teasers. After meeting Max we explored tangrams and other geometrical tools for thinking. We even made ourselves little Max the Magician hats. :)

Most recently, we met Isabel the Inventor--she is a master of divergent thinking (generating several possible solutions to a problem). We were introduced to brainstorming as a thinking tool and made our very own "brainfocals"--special glasses that help us see the world from new angles!

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Student Challenge: Triple Riddle Challenge

Answer all THREE of the following riddles for a blog point.

1. What 5-letter word becomes shorter when you add two letters to it?
   
2. What letter comes next in the following sequence? D R M F S L T_
   
3. What's full of holes but can still hold water?

Submit all three answers to Mr. Koch in an envelope!

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Student Challenge: The Wolf, the Goat, and the Sack of Grain

This marvelous mind-bending scenario was submitted by Borchardt 3rd grader Brian Zhou!

A man needs to cross a river to get home. He has with him a wolf, a goat and a sack of grain. However, his boat only has room for him to carry one of the three at a time. This is the dilemna: left unguarded, the wolf will eat the goat and the goat will eat the grain. How does the man get home (across the river) in way that ensures nothing will get eaten?

You know the routine: submit your answer to Mr. Koch in an envelope. Have you checked the blog points board lately? It's a tight race!

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