Sudoku

During mentoring, our class helped younger students play Sudoku. These game boards involved pictures and numbers, some were "easy" and some were "difficult". 

Research shows that Sudoku improves memory, stimulates the brain, helps to train your brain to do work quickly, and increases your concentration power.

You got it! Nice job friends!

This is a hard one. Way to go!

Wow these are challenging!

Minute to Win it!

What a fun way to celebrate Valentine's Day by working on 21st century skill development by competing in Minute to Win it games!

Students used creative thinking and problem solving skills to achieve the highest score when completing a challenge for 1 minute. 

Two of the challenges were to stack as many candy hearts as you can. One type of heart candy was smaller than the other.

Another challenge was a race to get as many candy hearts to the cup as possible using a spoon.

The next challenge was to throw mini marshmallows into a bowl. 

The last challenge was to use chopsticks to move skittles into a cup.

Students completed these challenges twice and every child received a higher score the second time around. 

Creative thinking skills come in handy when solving these types of problems. Each child also has to think on the fly to solve the problem.

Thanksgiving Feast

Our class enjoyed creating our "fruit turkey" for the Thanksgiving Feast! The whole school comes together to express their gratitude. Each class brings a treat to share and we say what we are thankful for with a potluck style feast at the end. 

Making the "fruit turkey".

"These raspberries are too squishy!"

"This was so much fun! Can we do it again?"

The end result!

The school saying something they are thankful for.
This is some of what our class treasures:  friends & family; chickens; food; trees; paper; WiFi; oxygen; and books. Again and again, we also heard that they are thankful for Seabury School, their education, and their teachers. I am thankful for my incredible students and a community that supports our school in countless ways.

Artifact Building

Our class has been exploring ancient cultures and to understand them fully we have been learning about the cultural universals in each society. This includes food, clothing, shelter, religion, government, economics, etc. 

Along with learning about the cultures, students have been learning about artifacts from the time periods.

Each student was asked to draw an artifact and write a description telling why it was an artifact. Mrs. Maitlen and I noticed that most were on the right track, but we needed to revisit the definition of artifact to make sure each student understood what they were to create. 

What is an artifact? 

An artifact is an object made by a human being, typically an item of cultural or historical interest.

After drawing their artifacts, students were given the task to create a 3-D model to share as a museum exhibit. 

Here are some creating pictures:

"Creativity is intelligence having FUN!"

-Albert Einstein

Mentoring: Flying Flyers

 Today our class did a fantastic job being mentors! They guided our littlest kids in creating circles with paper and taping them to a straw. It was fun to see everyone work together to complete this task.

"How should we make the circle?"

"Let's use a small amount of tape!"

"Can you help make my circle?"

"Wow! You are doing a great job."

"Hey, look! I have my straw!"

Teamwork

"Hey, can you help me tape my circle?"

 Test runs of the flying flyers:

"3, 2, 1, fly!"

"In learning you will teach, and in teaching you will learn" -Phil Collins

Team Building

The Supernovas (3/4) and the Olympians (4/5) needed a brain break during those first long days of school, so we headed out to the playground for a little team building exercise. Students on opposing teams jumped a hula-hoop trail toward each other until they met, then did "Rock, Paper, Scissors" to see which team member would advance.

In the end, it didn't really matter who won. It was so much fun, that we all won! We sure know how to solve any decision-making dilemmas that come up in the future!!

Painting the Benches

Our class auction project is coming along! The theme is Harry Potter creatures. 

We are painting:

Fluffy-the three headed dog

Niffler-a creature with a long snout

Phoenix-large swan sized scarlet bird

Basilisk-giant serpent

Painting Fluffy

Painting Fluffy and the Phoenix

Painting Niffler