October 14-18, 2013

Hello all,

Here is what's going on in the world of Gifted/Talented/Differentiation (GTD) Direct and Classroom Resource Services at Irving School.

Kindergarten:
Mr. Packer goes into the Kindergarten classrooms once a week for one half hour.  The past several times he has been working with the kids on positional words such as;  over, under, near, above, below, etc.).  The first session the kids had to connect cubes at put the white cube in the correct position.  The last time Mr. Packer was in, the kids did an activity with placing a diamond pattern block and plastic cup in positions related to each other (i.e. "the diamond is next to the cup").

1st Grade:
In first grade Thinking Skills, the kids have finished up with DOT's adventure at school and now are being introduced to Dudley the Detective.  Dudley teaches the kids to look for all of the clues, don't jump to conclusions (answers or endings), and that there is only one correct answer.  The kids will begin working on using their deductive reasoning skills and solve some logic problems.

2nd Grade:
2nd Grade students have been working on solving problems by drawing pictures.  We did an activity that was teacher directed, the students then completed a similar activity with Mr. Packer, and they have now begun to solve some problems on their own using this strategy.  After completing the activity on their own, they will then continue to work on their own or with partners (as necessary) to solve some more difficult problems.

3rd Grade Math:
Students who receive Direct GTD Resource services in Math have been working on solving logic problems and have been brushing up their math skills by playing "I've Got: Who Has" for speed.  We will begin working on our multiplication facts and strategies.

3rd Grade Reading:
Students have read "How the Camel Got Its Hump" by Rudyard Kipling and are turning the story into a skit. They will then be put into small groups to condense their individual scripts in to one, and then work on performing it for the group and their classes.

4th Grade Math:
Students continue to work on their "Average 4th Grader" drawings and will continue to work on studying averages and data.

4th Grade Reading:
Students continue to work on turning their summaries of Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves into storyboards using Google Drawings, which will then be turned into presentations.

5th Grade Math:
Students are working on CCSS in the area of Ratios and Proportions.  Having been assessed on CCSS in Number Sense, they will receive extra instruction and practice in division.

5th Grade Reading:
Students have read and discussed our first Edgar Allan Poe story "The Tell Tale Heart" and have begun to read "The Fall of the House of Usher" on their own.

Hope you are enjoying the cooler weather.  All my best,
Mr. Packer

September 30, 2013

Hello everyone,

Just a reminder that conferences are next week.  If your child receives Direct GTD Resource services (Grades 3-5) in Reading/Language Arts and/or Math, I will be coming to the conference that you have scheduled with our child's classroom teacher.  If I have overlapping conferences, and for some reason I do not meet with you, I will be in touch to discuss your child's progress.

Updates
5th Grade Math
Students working on 6th Grade CCSS in Math have been working on their Summative Assessment for the skills learned in Unit 1 (operations with fractions and decimals).  Our next unit will cover Ratios and Proportions

5th Grade Language Arts
Students have read up on the background of Edgar Allan Poe.  They have begun reading and discussing the classic tale "The Tell Tale Heart".  We have been discussing the use of various literary elements (repetition, simile, etc.).  The next story we will be reading is "The Fall of the House of Usher"

4th Grade Math
Students in Packer Math for 4th grade have been working on measurement and averages and finding the measurements of "The Average 4th Grader".  This is an introduction to data collection, averages, and measurement and the students will apply these skills on their own in a data collection project in the near future.

4th Grade Reading
4th Grade Packer Reading students have read the classic tale "Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves".  We are using our analytical skills and summarizing the important parts of the story into storyboards with which we are then going to create iMovies.  The students are using their D97 Google accounts to work on their drawings which will then save as jpegs and import into iMovie on Mr. Packer's MacBook and iPad.

3rd Grade Math
3rd Grade Math students have been practicing their estimating and rounding skills.  They had the challenge of creating the longest piece of paper from a single piece of 8 1/2 x 11 piece of paper, which we then estimated their lengths, and then measured their actual length.

2nd Grade Thinking Skills
We continued to work on our own to solve problems using manipulatives and "acting out" a problem in order to solve (i.e Bob had 6 apples, Mary had 12 apples.  How many did Mary give to Bob so they had the same number).  The important concept was EQUAL.  We are now learning to solve problems by using pictures to help us.

1st Grade Thinking Skills
First Graders continue to go along with DOT on DOT's adventure at school and use higher level thinking skills to solve problems encountered in the scenarios DOT find's itself throughout the course of the first day of school.

Kindergarten Thinking Skills
Mr. Packer introduced himself to Kindergarten classes last week and worked with the kids on identifying the 5 ways that the brain gets information (the 5 senses).  This week, we are working on POSITIONAL words and putting blocks in certain spatial relationship orders (ABOVE, BELOW, NEXT TO, etc.).

That's all for now.   Hope to see you during conferences next week.

All my best,
Mr. Packer