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Enrich, Extend, ExciteJanuary Newsletter

3rd Grade ELPWe �nished our light unitbefore winter break. We arebeginning Flip, Fold, Pull andPOP!: The Art and Science ofPaper Engineering. It hasbeen developed for ELPstudents in grades 3-5. Whilepaper engineering canencompass a very broadstudy, the emphasis here ison the design andconstruction of pop-ups. Theunit integrates mathematics,science and the arts, andalso provides room toexplore the historicaldevelopment and use ofpop-ups in our culture. Theunit is developed to supportthe competencies and habitsof mind compatible withNAGC ProgrammingStandards and Iowa Core’s

4th Grade ELPStudents are �nishing thearchitecture unit by creating3-D buildings usingSketchUp orTinkercadprogramming.Following this unit, studentswill begin stop-motionanimation. It is an incrediblemechanism that allowsstudents to developessential 21st-century skills.Students will be immersedthroughout the project increativity, teamwork,collaboration, criticalthinking, problem-solving,and technology learning.Throughout the project,students are challenged towork together, share ideasfrom different perspectives,revise original content, andultimately, choose strategies

5th Grade ELPStudents �nished theEngineering with Nature unitprior to winter break. Theyare, now, working on aforensics/crime-solving unit-Mystery Investigations. Thisunit will have studentsinvestigating, exploring, andconducting forensic scienceexperiments. The studentswill hone their sleuthingskills through readingmysteries and detectinghard evidence vs. redherrings beforeencountering the make-believe crime scene. Theymust rely on theirobservation and note-takingskills for future reference.Students will be engaged inten crime scene labs thatwill help them solve the

Curiosity - The Force Behind Our Learning"If you suspect that curious kids fare better in careers and life, you're right, and for a variety ofreasons. Research suggests that intellectual curiosity has as big of an effect on performance as hardwork. When put together, curiosity and hard work account for success just as much as intelligence.Another study found that people who were curious about a topic retained what they learned for longerperiods of time. And even more impressive, research has linked curiosity to a wide range of importantadaptive behaviors, including tolerance of anxiety and uncertainty, positive emotions, humor,playfulness, out-of-box thinking, and a noncritical attitude -- all attributes associated with healthysocial outcomes." If this sounds interesting, read more in this article on Edutopia.org -"Curiosity - The Force Within a Hungry Mind" by Marilyn Price-Mitchell, PhD.

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Universal Constructsdeemed necessary for 21st-century success.

and methods to succinctlycreate and share theircreative ideas. Students willexperience many practicalproblems and issues thatmust be addressed in orderto create their vision. Shakycameras, lighting issues,camera angles, and a hostof unexpected problemsnaturally arise during thestop-motion process.

mystery. Piecing togetherthe data the students are towrite a mystery from adetective, suspect, ornewspaper reporter’s point-of-view.

6th Grade ELPStudents continue todevelop virtual cities usingSimcity. In addition, they arewriting an essay or creatinga Google Slides presentationdocumenting thedevelopment of their city.The �nal project, beginningsoon, is to create acollaborative model city(using recyclable materialsand 3-D futuristic buildingcreations). Students will beengaged in creativity,collaboration, criticalthinking, problem-solving,technology, and presentationskills.

3rd & 4th Grade BookClub - ReadingEnrichmentWe are beginning ChasingVermeer by Blue Balliett.When a book ofunexplainable occurrencesbrings Petra Andalee andCalder Pillay together,

5th & 6th Grade BookClub - ReadingEnrichmentWe are beginning Listen! byStephanie Tolan. Learning towalk again is the easy part. For twelve-year-old Charley,recovering from the accident

Writing EnrichmentClubThe beginning of the yearcentered around mini-lessons of different genresof writing. During the nextfew lessons, we will befocusing on developingcharacters, setting, and plotin our writing.

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strange things start tohappen: seemingly unrelatedevents connect, an eccentricold woman seeks theircompany, and an invaluableVermeer paintingdisappears. Before theyknow it, the two �ndthemselves at the center ofan international art scandal,where no one — neighbors,parents, teachers — isspared from suspicion. AsPetra and Calder are drawnclue by clue into amysterious labyrinth, theymust draw on their powersof intuition, their problem-solving skills, and theirknowledge of Vermeer. Canthey decipher a crime thathas left even the FBI ba�ed?

that shattered her leg isnowhere near as di�cult asfacing the solitude of asummer without her bestfriend and with a father whodoes nothing, now, but work.Solitude means time tothink, time to hear for the�rst time the awful silenceleft in her world two yearsago by her mother's death. But the summer holds asurprise for Charley, in theform of a mysterious dogwho appears in the woodsacross the lake from herhome. In order to connectwith this wild spirit shenames Coyote, Charley willhave to do more than justwalk. She will have to followCoyote into the heart of hermemories: the woods hermother loved so much. Andshe will have to learn tolisten past the silence. This unsentimental,unforgettable story comesstraight from the heart ofNewbery Honor authorStephanie S. Tolan. As shedescribes Charley's di�cultemotional and physicaljourney, she weavestogether themes of nature,family, and love into acomplex and powerfulportrait of recovery.

TechnologyEnrichment ClubsStudents have beendesigning 3-D structuresusing Tinkercad. We willmove on to coding in ournext lessons.

3rd - 6th MathEnrichmentHigh ability learners in math,grades 3 - 6, meet once aweek to build their problem-solving skills. Currently, weare using Edward Zaccaro'sChallenge Math texts. 3rd &4th grade are focusing onproblem-solving strategies;5th grade is learningalgebraic strategies; and, 6thgrade is working withdecimals and fractions.

KindergartenVisual/SpatialEnrichmentI visited the kindergartenclassrooms in Decemberand conducted avisual/spatial lesson.Students were scored usinga rubric based on thecompletion of the activityand teacher information.Typically, 5-7% of the gradelevel (at each school)

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participate in thisenrichment.This begins January 14thand ends March 15th.Visual/Spatial Creativity isthe focus of theirenrichment lessons.Students will be involved inlessons that align withBloom's Taxonomy of higherlevel thinking skills. Creativethinking concepts such as�uency, �exibility, originality,and elaboration are taughtto aid students inresponding to challenges.Visual/spatial concepts willincorporate mentallymanipulating shapes andseeking patterns. Thelessons, also, include manyhands-on tasks thatreinforce the conceptsabove.

1st & 2nd Grade MathEnrichmentI visited the 1st and 2ndgrade classrooms inDecember and conducted amath lesson. Students werescored using a rubric basedon the completion of theword problem activity andteacher information.Typically, 5-7% of the gradelevel (at each school)participate in thisenrichment.This, too, begins January14th and ends March 15th.Math enrichment is thefocus of this session.Students will develop skillsassociated with:* creating and identifyingpatterns* interpreting pictographs,tables, and graphs* matching mathematicalrelationships presented in

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words with numericequations* balancing equations* basic algebraic equationsamong many others.

Lincoln & Mann ELP TeacherMrs. Diane Bradford

3155 Barrington Road, Iowa City… bradford.diane@iowacityschool…

319-688-1130 iowacityschools.org/Domain/2…