Same Song, 2nd Verse...

Rotation A students had a great second day/week of SAGE. They came in excited and that seemed to have carried through to their work! They are settling in and getting to know each other.

This week we discussed our SAGE class rules and expectations. I shared with the students that SAGE is somewhat like brain aerobics class (minus the sweat- LOL.) The work they do here should challenge them and hopefully, frustrate them from time to time. It is not supposed to be painful, but it is intended to stretch their abilities, take them out of their comfort zone and test the way they handle frustration. The safety net is close, although sometimes camouflaged. I need to know what they can handle and so do they.

Each week, the work they do in our room should be hard enough that they are missing at least one or two problems/questions. If they are getting everything correct, I will bump up the level of difficulty until they are missing some. I want to get them to their individual, instructional levels. All of our work (particularly in math and critical thinking) is done over until it is correct. I give small hints if they ask. If I feel like they are becoming too frustrated, I will set down with them and work through the problem.   I've told them our classroom is a safe place to try something new and a safe place to fail. I try very hard to watch that a student is not getting too stressed, but I sometimes miss the signs. If your child expresses that SAGE is too hard, please contact me so we can talk about it with him or her.

This week the students went to the computer lab. we reviewed the parts of the computer and the related vocabulary words.  We also practiced how to find our way around the network.  The students were able to locate their personal folders on the shared drive with little or no help!  Great job!  They learned to add and name a new folder inside for future photos. Then they opened and named a blank Microsoft Word document. They typed their full name and grade and then learned to format the font for size, style (bold, underline & Italics) and color. Our thirty minute lab times fly by quickly! I am looking forward to expanding their technology skills this year, continuing our discussions on being safe and responsible on the Internet and starting down the path to becoming twenty-first century learners.

After lunch and recess, we continued our work on our affective project.  This week, the students began the rough draft paragraph about their aspirations for the future.  We discussed indenting, the position and purpose of a topic sentence, supporting details and a conclusion sentence.  Several students finished this draft.  They also finished drawing a picture of what they would like to be when they grow up.  Their projects are going to be really cute!  Next week, they will begin typing the written explanation of their goals.  We hope to have this completed by our October 6th Open House.

Next, we discussed Bloom's Levels of Thinking and what each level might look like.  I introduced our Exploratory centers and the students had an opportunity to look through the choices and list their top three picks.  Each student met with me to be sure their first choice center is a good fit for them.  Ask your child which center he/she will be beginning on our next SAGE day?

Our time flies by, but I feel like they accomplished a lot.

Just a reminder: 

Our SAGE Parent Informational Meeting 

is on Tuesday, September 20th 

in the Briarcliff Media Center 

from 6:30-7:30 pm.  

This is an opportunity for you to learn more about the characteristics of gifted children, our SAGE Program and our curriculum this year.  This meeting is intended for parents new to the program and those with questions about our curriculum this year.  I hope you can attend!


Have a great week!