First Grade and Primary Education Thinking Skills

First graders have been hard at work in Idea Lab!  We began the year getting to know each other and talking about why we come to Idea Lab.  We read the book, Rosie Revere Engineer, a fun story about a girl who dreams of becoming a great engineer.  In the story, Rosie encounters many challenges when trying to create an invention.  A visit from her great-great-aunt Rose shows her that a first flop isn’t something to fear—it’s something to celebrate.  

Students were challenged to create something to represent themselves that no one else would make-- the catch was that they all received the same materials in a bag. How can you create something unique that no one else would make out of the same supplies? Students had fun creating, and we had fun getting to know each other through our creations! They came up with some very creative representations!
During our second week, students read the book, Grandfather Tang's Story. Grandfather Tang and his grandaughter, Little Soo, create a story using their tangrams (ancient Chinese puzzle pieces) about two fox fairies that have the ability to change themselves into the shapes of any animals they choose. After experimenting with tangram puzzles, students created their own tangram characters and wrote stories involving their characters.

In first grade, students are introduced to the P.E.T.S. specialists of Crystal Pond Woods. P.E.T.S. stands for Primary Education Thinking Skills. Dudley the Detective, Isabel the Inventor, Sybil the Scientist, Yolanda the Yarnspinner, Max the Magician, and Jordan the Judge will help us learn about each kind of thinking. The students will use convergent analysis, divergent synthesis, visual/spatial thinking, and evaluation skills during these different challenges. We will continue to ask ourselves: What areas of thinking come easily and naturally for me? What are some areas that I can work on improving?


We are beginning our thinking challenges with Dudley the (dog) Detective, convergent/deductive thinker who uses clues to find the right answers. Students will use a lot of logic and deductive reasoning for these activities. Students learn that it is ok if they do not see the answer right away. The students take time to reflect and learn to be patient and avoid jumping to incorrect conclusions.

The students are learning how to use clues and their deductive reasoning to eliminate possibilities and deduce the correct answers in a logic puzzle.


The students' work ethic and commitment is impressive in the first-grade Idea Lab group! I look forward to getting to know this group even better and continue to stretch our brains with different types of thinking!

We will update you on the different types of thinking and activities we encounter throughout the year!

Architecture

Why do people create buildings?  Why do buildings all over the world look different and how does culture play a role in design?  These are questions we hope students will be able to answer at the culmination of our architecture unit. 

We started with an exploration of architecture.  Students created a "Me Monument" that symbolizes who we are.   As we start to learn more about each other, we can teach one another about what is important to us through the design of our monument.  

We continued our exploration with some constraints.  We needed to pick a location in nature that we wanted to create a building.  We had to think about the location and what we might want to take into consideration when designing for that environment.  Nature affects design, and design affects nature.

We learned more about the elements of art and principles of design, and then we continued to explore architecture. Students learned some technical terms and received a glossary or architectural features. Students had to find famous buildings that showed certain architectural features. See if you recognize the famous building here in the Ladue School District shown as an example of a flying buttress!  

Then, we learned about some particular styles of architecture including the ancient Greek style, and we explored designing with columns and pediments.

We also learned about the engineering and architecture of the Romans and created either a Roman bridge or aqueduct. 

Click here to see actual footage of Joejoe's working aqueduct! 

Then, we explored some architecture on the continent of Asia. Students were able to choose a place to visit in China, Japan, the Middle East, or India, and pretend to visit a famous building there. We wrote a postcard to a friend including a drawing of the famous building and a message that included architectural features of the building. 

This past week, we explored some architecture on the continent of Africa. Like Asia, Africa is vast! There are 54 countries on the continent with many different architectural styles, features, and cultural influences. For this activity, we are focusing on one particular style, the Ndebele House in South Africa. Students are creating artistic designs in the style of the Ndebele painting, and we are creating a house in our choice of a rectangular prism base, cube base, or cylinder base. 

We are having so much fun with this unit!  Students are researching a style of architecture that they are interested in learning more about and will create a presentation to teach others about the style and architectural features.  We will continue to update you throughout the year.   Thank you for taking the time to read this post. 

South America

Idea Lab students have been learning about the continent of South America!  We started off the unit by learning about flags and symbolism, and we created flags to represent ourselves and get to know each other.  

Here are some of the flags that we made!

Then, we began our exploration of the South American continent. Students were able to explore freely on the continent while given some online resources with active links in various areas of South America. After exploring, students had to share their learning. 


To zoom in a bit more, each student chose a different country in South America to learn about and share some facts.

We zoomed in even more and started learning about the Amazon Rainforest! Students learned about the different layers of the rainforest and did some sorting and classifying of animals in the different layers.


After learning about the rainforest in general, we started to examine some of the exotic plants and animals carefully. Students had to choose plants and animals that they wanted to learn more about, create a smaller version of them, and tell us about them.

After learning about some of the plants and animals, students had to create a 3D model of the Amazon Rainforest demonstrating their knowledge of the different layers and the plants and animals that would be in that particular layer.

Students began learning about deforestation that is occurring and threatening this great ecosystem. Students shared many ways that deforestation of the Amazon Rainforest could be harmful to the plants, animals, and people living there, as well as beyond. After learning that deforestation harms us all-- not just the plants and animals living there, students were given the challenge to create an educational video teaching others about the harmful effects and consequences of rainforest deforestation. Students are still working on this project, and we will share your student's finished product with you upon completion.


Learning about South America has been interesting and fun for us! We will keep you posted on our continued learning this year. 

Parent Square

I’m so glad that you will be joining our community of learners in Idea Lab. I hope that your child will find his/her participation in the gifted program full of rich experiences that will inspire their love of learning—both inside and outside the classroom. Excited and looking forward to working closely with you in the years ahead! 

This year we will be using Parent Square for messages, updates, and even sharing our learning.  Please make sure that you have signed up for Parent Square and you have downloaded the Parent Square app for easy communication and messaging.  

I think we are going to love this new, stream-lined communication tool.  If you have any questions, or you are having difficulty signing up for Parent Square, please let me know.  I would be happy to help.