Getting a Good Workout

“Sit mens sana in corpore sano,” wrote the great Roman poet Juvenal. Or, to put it in its traditional English translation, “A sound mind in a sound body.” Well, we worked on both those things in room 19 today. And both our brains and our bodies are getting pretty strong!

We did a lot of what educators called “differentiated activities” in Language Arts today. That means allowing different students to pursue different activities in a structured environment with the teacher there mostly to guide and coach. It is an important element for gifted education, and it just plain makes for great classroom learning.We did our independent reading and our journals. The students worked again in Literature Circles. They were really reading and discussing their books carefully. It was fantastic to hear the using their reading strategies like predicting, connecting, and clarifying so explicitly. Many of the students finished a bit before recess and they worked on their writer’s workshop compositions – again, a classic differentiated activity.

After recess we corrected our math test. I did not collect this, so you can feel free to ask your child to bring it home. Scores are posted on the gradebook already. We then turned our attention to California history. We talked a bit about the Progressive Era and the reform movement which Governor Hiram Johnson spearheaded. We also read about and discussed the growth of the aviation industry and the movie business in Southern California in the 1920’s as well as the impact of that “horseless carriage.”

After lunch we corrected our math homework, and I went over the basic idea of area with the class. We then went out to the yard where the students worked with Akiko Morrison. First, as part of their general fitness testing and development, she had them do pull-ups. This was not always easy for the students, but, as you can see below, they give it their best.

Later, she put cones on the grassy area. Each cone told the students to do a movement on their way to the next cone. Some of these were pretty fun! One cone, for example, had them do the classic “army crawl.”

Another cone told them to leap frog over a partner.

And, towards the end, they had to grab a friend and do a wheelbarrow movement. They really loved that one!

Homework: (1) Complete the flow map for “Anne Frank” and the Theme Connections. (2) Do the history study guide for “Changing Times.” (3) Complete the Equivalent Fractions worksheet. (4) Do “Estimate and Find Area,” Math pages 500-503.