Literacy
Students are using texts from the Jacob's Ladder Reading Comprehension Program. Jacob's Ladder targets reading comprehension skills in high ability learners. In the form of three skill ladders connected to individual readings in poetry, myths/fables, and nonfiction, students move from lower order, concrete thinking skills to higher order, critical thinking skills.
Moving Pictures Cause Concern, 1922 is the current text for 5th grade. They are also working on using context clues with this text. In addition, students are using Google Docs and the Comments feature to participate in academic discussions. This practices 21st century skills and is much like responding to discussions for online college courses. |
Mathematics
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Students are working on fractions using the Upper Elementary Math Challenge problem solving. This program is designed for those students in grades 3-5 who need more challenging material than they typically encounter in the regular math curriculum. Problems are presented at 4 levels of difficulty after each chapter's instruction. Each chapter also includes multiple "problem sets" in which a single problem type is presented in increasingly complex steps, illustrating how a simpler problem can progress from one step to multi-step problem solving.
Once students have completed the problem solving, they use technology to create their own lesson using, Stoodle and RealtimeBoard, online collaborative whiteboards. |