As our school year begins to wind down, my 5th grade gifted students are attempting to synthesize all that they have learned by determining what they “know for sure.” While browsing the examples on Laura Moore’s TCEA Hyperdoc website (click here for my original post about her Hyperdoc presentation), I found this “Manifesto Project.” When … Read more
This year I seem to have a group of students in each of my grade levels who are passionate about math. Every time I pull out a math activity, they devour it with glee. It has been a challenge for me to give these students assignments which maintain their excitement for “hard” math without discouraging them … Read more
Some of the tests that students can take in their quest to qualify for gifted services require spatial reasoning. I am frequently astounded by the performance of some students on these tests as they whip through the pages at lightning speed, ending up with nearly perfect scores. Spatial reasoning has never been my strong suit, and … Read more
At the end of last year, right before Christmas, I saw a tweet about The Extraordinaires. After visiting the site, I was intrigued by the product and ended up buying one of the smaller sets to try out with my students. Since my 2nd grade gifted students are studying structures, I chose the “Buildings” set. … Read more
The Kuriositas blog recently featured, “Atomic,” a short video created by students at Columbus College of Art and Design. The students were tasked with creating animations of some of the elements on the periodic table, and this video is a compilation of some of the best. Learning about the elements and their symbols would have … Read more
Like many people, the first time I experienced the Virtual Reality of Google Expeditions, I thought it was pretty cool. Like many teachers, however, I wondered about the practicality of using it in my classroom. Getting VR viewers, like Google Cardboard, doesn’t seem to be a big deal. But getting devices that fit in them … Read more