Thank you so much to all the families for the classroom donations. They are GREATLY appreciated. Yahoo!
Thursday, August 18, 2011
Monday, August 8, 2011
Welcome to our New School Year 11-12
School has started. I am happy to see all the students from last year and look forward to meeting new students. I hope everyone had time to see family, relax and maybe try something new this summer. I am looking forward to all the new things we will be doing this year.
Supply lists will go home today, and any time you want to drop the supplies in the classroom is fine. We will start classes for 4th and 5th the week of August 15th, and 3rd graders will start mid September.
Supply lists will go home today, and any time you want to drop the supplies in the classroom is fine. We will start classes for 4th and 5th the week of August 15th, and 3rd graders will start mid September.
Friday, May 6, 2011
Art Work on Exhibit
Our Dream Rocket Panel has been selected for two gallery shows. The first show is August 1, 2011 to September 1, 2011 at the New Britain Public Library in New Britain CT. The second show is September 15, 2011 to November 1, 2011 at the Educational Gallery Group in West Palm Beach, FL.
Way to go Fourth Grade SPACE students!
Way to go Fourth Grade SPACE students!
Thursday, May 5, 2011
Glad to be safe
I am thankful to have all family, friends and students safe after our bout with severe weather.
We are on the home stretch to the end of the school year. Third Grade had started doing our end of the year evaluations before the county lost power and school was canceled. Fourth and fifth had not started. Today one of the fourth grade groups did our notebook cleanup and metacognitive tags. The students pick work and comment on it using tags that have sentence stems. For the next two SPACE classes, we will complete as much of our report card as possible. There may be items that we don't get to, because we run out of time.
Fifth grade actually did run out of time to complete their evaluations. Because of the Camp McDowell trip and the fifth grade ceremony, I am not going to be able to meet with fifth grade this month. It is unfortunate not to be able to help the students bring closure to their elementary SPACE experience, but I will get to celebrate with them on awards day.
This severe weather experience has helped point out what is really important, and how some things are not in our control. We will complete what we can to finish the year, and all is good when we are safe and surrounded by the love of others.
We are on the home stretch to the end of the school year. Third Grade had started doing our end of the year evaluations before the county lost power and school was canceled. Fourth and fifth had not started. Today one of the fourth grade groups did our notebook cleanup and metacognitive tags. The students pick work and comment on it using tags that have sentence stems. For the next two SPACE classes, we will complete as much of our report card as possible. There may be items that we don't get to, because we run out of time.
Fifth grade actually did run out of time to complete their evaluations. Because of the Camp McDowell trip and the fifth grade ceremony, I am not going to be able to meet with fifth grade this month. It is unfortunate not to be able to help the students bring closure to their elementary SPACE experience, but I will get to celebrate with them on awards day.
This severe weather experience has helped point out what is really important, and how some things are not in our control. We will complete what we can to finish the year, and all is good when we are safe and surrounded by the love of others.
Tuesday, April 26, 2011
Self Evaluations
Today third grade conducted a self evaluation on their Creative Problem Solving packet. It was a very tough experience. They were very uncomfortable with not being able to reach the highest level. We had lots of discussion regarding why I would have a standard that they could not easily reach. We talked about how people need to know what they don't know so they can grow. We talked about the fact that successful people don't have report cards to measure their ability. Perfectionism was very apparent today.
The good part of perfectionism is that these students have high standards for themselves. The tough part of perfectionism is the highly self critical side where they feel badly about their performance when it is actually a good performance.
Parents you can support your child by having a talk about how to deal with self evaluation and looking at the growth they have achieved instead of the growth still possible.
The good part of perfectionism is that these students have high standards for themselves. The tough part of perfectionism is the highly self critical side where they feel badly about their performance when it is actually a good performance.
Parents you can support your child by having a talk about how to deal with self evaluation and looking at the growth they have achieved instead of the growth still possible.
Monday, April 18, 2011
Dream Rocket Panel
Our panel is up on the Dream Rocket website (http://www.dreamrocket.com/). It might be hard to find. Check under the theme Equality. You may also see our project on Flickr (www.flickr.com/x/t/0095009/photos/thedreamrocket/5629002128) or Facebook (www.facebook.com/pages/The-Dream-Rocket/114636921363?ref=ts). I hope the Facebook link works. We cannot check Facebook from school.
Monday, March 7, 2011
Are we creating achievers?
According to Sylvia Rimm (1995), children actually develop self-confidence through struggle and become achievers only if they learn to function in the face of challenge. Most of our elementary gifted students don't get the opportunity to face challenge in the general education situation. In their general education classroom, they already know up to 80% of what is being taught. They typically "catch on" quickly to that which is new, and rarely have to struggle.
At Chaffee students may get three or four years of not being challenged before they are placed in the gifted program. The first year in the program can be a source of discomfort for them. Suddenly they have to struggle. They may not understand the first time. They are given new and challenging tasks. Struggling with a problem and "failure" is a new experience. They haven't learned how to work through a problem, and how to try different methods.
What do parents do about this new sense of self, their child may be struggling with? Should parents protect their child from this very real sense of discomfort? Do we want our children to be upset and uncomfortable? Our immediate action is to remove the problem. Our protective instincts rise up. Unfortunately, our children will not grow without struggle. We need to be their support, but we need to help them address the challenges in life not run from them.
At Chaffee students may get three or four years of not being challenged before they are placed in the gifted program. The first year in the program can be a source of discomfort for them. Suddenly they have to struggle. They may not understand the first time. They are given new and challenging tasks. Struggling with a problem and "failure" is a new experience. They haven't learned how to work through a problem, and how to try different methods.
What do parents do about this new sense of self, their child may be struggling with? Should parents protect their child from this very real sense of discomfort? Do we want our children to be upset and uncomfortable? Our immediate action is to remove the problem. Our protective instincts rise up. Unfortunately, our children will not grow without struggle. We need to be their support, but we need to help them address the challenges in life not run from them.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
