1st Grade P.E.T.S.

I’m excited to share the awesome learning experiences your children have been engaged in through our Primary Education Thinking Systems (P.E.T.S.) program! We’ve been working on developing our thinking skills in fun and innovative ways, finding areas of strength and identifying opportunities for growth. 

Mag the Magician: Visual-Spatial Intelligence
Our first focus was to enhance visual-spatial intelligence, with a variety of games and activities to develop this skill. Here’s a look at some of the games/activities we’ve explored:
Tangrams: This classic puzzle involves rearranging geometric shapes to form a specific image, helping students improve spatial reasoning and problem-solving. Click the picture above if your child would like to try tangrams at home. Students also have a paper set that we sent home for practice.


SET: A fast-paced card game that sharpens pattern recognition and logical thinking as students race to find sets of three cards with matching or contrasting characteristics. (Click the picture below if your child would like to play the game SET at home.)

QBitz: Players recreate patterns using cubes in a time-based challenge, which boosts spatial visualization and memory skills.


Blink: A quick card game where players must match shapes, colors, or numbers, promoting visual processing speed.

Katamino: is a versatile puzzle game that challenges players to fit geometric pieces into a grid, enhancing spatial reasoning, problem-solving, and critical thinking skills for all ages.


Quirkle: A tile-laying game that encourages strategic thinking as students match colors and shapes in rows and columns.
Kanoodle: A brain-teasing puzzle game that requires students to fit different shaped pieces into a grid, challenging their spatial logic and planning.


Dudley the Detective: Logical Thinking
We’ve also started thinking like Dudley the Detective, focusing on logic and critical thinking through a variety of puzzles and games:

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Mastermind: A code-breaking game where students must use deduction and logic to crack their partner's secret code.

Sudoku: The kids’ version of this classic number or picture puzzle helps students develop logical thinking by placing numbers or pictures in grids without repeating them in rows or columns.

              
Other games you can encourage your child to play that will help with Logical-Deductive Reasoning: Chess, Clue, Guess Who, Rush Hour, and Rubik's Cube.  

These games and activities allow us to strengthen our minds while having fun! I’m so proud of the growth I’m seeing in each student and look forward to continuing our learning journey.

 

4th Grade is SUBMERGED!

We are excited to dive into our First Lego League Challenge: Submerged Season! Our students are eagerly engaging in activities that not only enhance their STEM skills but also foster critical thinking, teamwork, and creativity. Here's what we've been working on...

 

 

Robot Mission Builds:
Students are constructing robot missions for the Robot Game Table. Many of our younger students have commented on how cool these look when they walk into our room! These missions are designed to solve challenges related to underwater exploration, where students practice programming and engineering skills using LEGO SPIKE Prime Robots that they are building. 


Robot Training Camp: 
Students have been building foundational skills in robotics and coding. They are learning about the gear systems, motors, and sensors for the SPIKE Prime Robot. Students are using code to make their robot move, turn, lift and drop objects. Students are learning to use loops and conditionals that will allow robots to make decisions and repeat tasks as needed. 

   Exploring Ocean Layers:
In our research, we are learning about the different layers of the ocean, from the sunlight zone, twilight zone, midnight zone, and even further into abyssal mysterious depths. We've created species in each layer to transform our classroom. 

Innovation Project:
Soon students will embark on the Innovation Project adventure where they will choose a problem to solve in the ocean's depths and create a solution with their teammates. 
Ways you can help:

• Encourage curiosity by asking your child about the Submerged season. 
• Reinforce teamwork by discussing how they’re collaborating with their peers to solve problems.
• Stay engaged with the season by checking our updates and photos from our projects!

We’re proud of all the hard work and excitement our students are showing, and we can't wait to see where their imagination takes them during the Submerged Season. Click HERE to learn more.

Save the date for our Challenge Event: DECEMBER 7th!

 

4th Grade Architecture Update

 Students have been very engaged in their architecture unit this quarter. 

After learning about many different architectural features, students taught their peers about a particular style of architecture in history and created a 3D model to represent their style.

Students had to note particular features, find buildings both in the world and around St. Louis in that style, and create a quiz for their peers to give at the end of the presentation.  

After learning about architectural features and styles, students learned that architects and engineers work together to create stable, safe structures.  Many different types of engineers work with architects.  Students tried their hand at civil engineering by planning a two-level parking garage that had to hold 8 toy cars safely, an on/off ramp, entrance, exit, and parking spaces.  

Our prototypes consisted of wooden Keva planks, but students learned that steel and concrete would most likely be used to hold the weight of many vehicles. Students learned about the requirements and constraints that many architects and engineers must face. 

Recently, students took a field trip to the Missouri History Museum and participated in a hands-on experience called Building Brick City. 

Students discussed the past and the present of St. Louis architecture with the guidance of history museum docents.

There were many interesting St. Louis artifacts to see and read about.

The students learned about the design process and the making of the St. Louis Arch. If our present design had not won the concept, see what might have been in place of the St. Louis Arch (below). Many agreed that we like the look of the present Arch and its symbolism the best.

We also saw and read about interesting trivia related to St. Louis architecture.  If this interests you, I highly suggest taking the family there for a visit.  It's free, and it's part of the Color STL exhibit which is also really fun for all ages.  

The second part of the field trip involved a hands-on experiment and design challenge.  
Challenge: Design a home that can withstand a common St. Louis problem (flooding). 
Experiment first with materials to find the best material for your home's design.  
Students worked in teams to complete the experiment first and then worked individually on a home design.  

We have really enjoyed learning about architecture.  As you take a drive around the St. Louis area, I hope the students take note of what we've learned and share their knowledge with you.  There are so many wonderful architectural features and styles in our city. 

Students also learned about some of the mathematic components of architectural design when having to design a bedroom, bathroom, closet of their dreams using specific area and perimeter design specifications.  
Students presented their dream rooms to their peers.

We are finding ourselves at the end of our unit! The semester has flown by!  Students are now working on their final architecture project.
The project includes designing an architectural structure for the future. Designs must include features for accessibility and sustainability. Presently, students are creating a 3D rendering using TinkerCad. They are also creating a 3D rendering of one interior room using a digital tool called Floorplanner.

 Seriously... look at these hard-working, curious kids! 

I will sincerely miss this group when they leave Spoede Elementary! 

1st Grade Update

 This quarter we've taken the opportunity to learn more about our earth's biomes after being exposed to biodiversity during our Green Schools Quest adventure. Students chose a biome to research, find out about the climate, flora, and fauna that is found there, and any other interesting facts that they wanted to share.  After researching, students tried to make biomes come to life by creating their own 3D versions.

We tried our hand at stop-motion animation and created videos that would teach others about our biomes. Stop motion animation is a filmmaking technique where objects are physically manipulated in small increments between photographed frames, creating the illusion of movement when the frames are played back.

Proud of the students' hard work! 
 It takes a steady hand and a lot of patience to try this technique. In addition to our scientific and film-making projects, we have continued to learn about the different types of thinking (like our P.E.T.S. characters). Students have become divergent thinkers and have immersed themselves in the creative process. A fun way we tried divergent thinking was to create our own memes to go with various photos. 
Thank you for your support in our Green Schools Quest project. We had such a good turn out at the culminating event. Students seemed ecstatic to be a part of the whole thing! 
We will continue to take care of our bird restoration area-- maybe even adding on in our future years in Idea Lab. If you are willing to come up and help feed the birds during the summer, please let me know. We can try and create a schedule of volunteers. 
Love seeing these first graders bloom!

This is a great group of curious, diligent kids. We have enjoyed our time together.

We will continue to learn about our P.E.T.S. characters from now until the end of the school year-- finishing up with some analytical thinking, evaluative thinking, and some fun games that will help us with both!