Boundary Breaker: Is giftedness right side up or upside down?
Today we had some fun using logic and probability to play Higher or Lower with cards and dominoes. Students drew a card and held it up to their partner without looking. The partner did the same and based on the other player's card students made guesses if theirs was higher or lower. We were able to play with single digit cards from 0-9 and then with dominoes numbering 0-12. Students discussed and wrote about their strategies, probabilities, cut-off numbers for their decision making, and how the strategy with the cards differed from the strategy they used with the dominoes.
Next up was our Habits of Mind Bonanza. We focused on three different habits today and then played a matching games to review. First, students worked on persisting by being challenged to recreate a paper model. It was a challenge indeed. As students worked, we took notes of their language and attitudes when faces with the task and discussed failure as a valuable learning experience, often more so than success. Next we practices Questioning and Posing Problems with our 20 questions mystery box game. Students were quick to pick on on quality questioning that helped the team to narrow down what could be hidden in the box. Finally we used the story of Beekle, the unimaginary friend, to spark our creativity and create our own perfectly whimsical companions.
As we head into our study of ancient civilizations, we took time today to read the book Westlandia, by Paul Fleischman. We looked at Wesley and his journey of creating his own civilization. This brought to light our nine cultural universals: geography, family, economics, communication, government, recreation, beliefs, education, and resources (food. clothing, shelter). Next week we will continue on this theme as students look at some specific cultures and get their feet wet with a little research.
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