So excited to welcome our new 1st Graders to Idea Lab! We have had a lot of fun getting to know each other!
On our first day, we read a book called: Rosie Revere Engineer.
This book is about pursuing one's passions and learning that there will be setbacks along the way. All of those mishaps help us learn and grow. After reading this story, students were challenged to engineer their own creation of legos that represents who they are. The lego creations should be symbolic of their own interests, talents, or hobbies. The students would share their lego creations with the class so that we all could get to know each other better.
Then, students took their names and turned the letters into pictures that represented some things about themselves.
After getting to know each other, we were introduced to special P.E.T.S. characters from Crystal Pond Woods that will help us learn in new and different ways. 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 understand different kinds of thinking... like convergent analysis, divergent synthesis, visual/spatial, and evaluative thinking. 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 began practicing our different types of thinking with the character, Max the Magician, and visual/spatial thinking. Grandfather Tang's Story introduces a Chinese puzzle, 7 tangram pieces, to students through a story about a grandfather and his granddaughter who witness a fox change into many different characters represented by tangram pieces. Students tried making various animals with their tangram pieces.
Then, students tried making other tangram creations-- one being the very challenging tangram square, as well as other tangram puzzles. 
The students learned how to play two games that also help practice their visual-spatial intelligence: Blink and Set.
We continued our practice of visual-spatial thinking with some independent activities as well. The emphasis is on stimulating each child’s spatial intelligence by analyzing spatial relationships and making predictions. Students are asked to look for patterns and find one solution that works.
We have really enjoyed getting to know each other in Idea Lab. We look forward to having some more learning challenges ahead. We will keep you updated along the way.
Then, students took their names and turned the letters into pictures that represented some things about themselves.
After getting to know each other, we were introduced to special P.E.T.S. characters from Crystal Pond Woods that will help us learn in new and different ways. 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 understand different kinds of thinking... like convergent analysis, divergent synthesis, visual/spatial, and evaluative thinking. 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 began practicing our different types of thinking with the character, Max the Magician, and visual/spatial thinking. Grandfather Tang's Story introduces a Chinese puzzle, 7 tangram pieces, to students through a story about a grandfather and his granddaughter who witness a fox change into many different characters represented by tangram pieces. Students tried making various animals with their tangram pieces.
Then, students tried making other tangram creations-- one being the very challenging tangram square, as well as other tangram puzzles. The students learned how to play two games that also help practice their visual-spatial intelligence: Blink and Set. We continued our practice of visual-spatial thinking with some independent activities as well. The emphasis is on stimulating each child’s spatial intelligence by analyzing spatial relationships and making predictions. Students are asked to look for patterns and find one solution that works.
Set is a card game, but If you would like to play the game online click on the image below.
We have really enjoyed getting to know each other in Idea Lab. We look forward to having some more learning challenges ahead. We will keep you updated along the way. 
