Activating Creative Thinking--Our Year-Long Goal

Sunday, September 29, 2019

Good Morning Everyone!

We cannot believe it is the end of September!  We have had so much fun engaging our students, and ourselves, in creative and divergent thinking activities.  As our students are becoming more comfortable and excited about getting "stuck" while working on reading, writing, and content-area tasks, they are leading us in new teaching directions.  The kids' enthusiasm and positivity spark new wonders that they want answers to, and Anne and I are ready to facilitate that learning!

As promised, we completed Part 3 of our Water Cube Experiment.  The final question was, "What will happen if we stack pieces of colored water cubes in a test tube and leave them overnight?"  We encouraged the students to use what they had concluded in parts one and two as they thought about their new hypotheses.  Many students were ready to dig deep and think critically about what might happen.

This is what happened after 24 hours.  I forgot to take a picture of the tubes when we first made them. :(
The original cube colors were red, blue, and yellow.

Once the results were in, our students were spot on in drawing conclusions to explain why the colors mixed.

One group noticed that the cubes in one of their test tubes had darker, muted colors compared to all the other test tubes.  They concluded that it was because they mixed the cubes rather than layered them.  They believed there were too many colors mixing so they turned gray and a muted brownish purple.

Anne and I were ready to wrap up the lesson, but the students started shouting out new questions they had about the cubes!  One being, did the cubes melt together to form a solid tube rather than stay pieces?  They hypothesized that the cubes would come out in the shape of the tube.  We went with it.  Here is what we learned...

They were "chomping at the bit" to dump the cubes out of the test tubes.  Some kids were convinced a solid tube would come out.

Now, they all want to take cubes home to try their own experiments.  We would say this lesson was a success in inspiring creative and divergent thinking among our students.  We hope they are learning that they do not need all of the answers.  The fun and deep learning come when we discover the answers over time.

In writing, our students have been using mentor sentences to learn how writers use adjectives.  We used a sentence from one of our read alouds Lily's Purple Plastic Purse by Kevin Henkes.  The routine we followed is one created by Ideas by Jivey.  She has amazing ideas and lessons.  We recommend checking her out.

The students added this to their writing binders.  On the first day we just listed everything we noticed about this sentence..  We will revise this sentence next week.  Revising the original sentence is day three of Jivey's plan.

We identified some parts of speech on day two; focusing on the adjective.  Then, the students brainstormed more adjectives about this picture and wrote their own sentences with adjectives.

We then wanted the students to apply adjectives to a poetry project we planned. After studying examples of acrostic poems and discovering some of their characteristics, our students were then given the task to write their own acrostic name poems.  They were challenged with using amazing adjectives as they wrote phrases for each letter of their name.  Some students even took on the challenge of writing phrases that flowed from one line in their acrostic poem to the next!  The poems and revisions that happened this week were beyond what Anne and I imagined.  They students seemed comfortable taking risks and making revisions. They are learning that our best writing does not happen in the first draft.  It happens in the many revisions after that.  One snag was creating an icon to go with their poems.  We had to model this several times before the students understood what the vision was for this project.  Again, the outcome was amazing

We were impressed with his use of simile!  He also has a deep message in his poem.  Not sure if he realizes that, but we do.

Notice the alliteration and amazing adjectives?  At the bottom of her page is her research of amazing adjectives she found to describe herself.

As we dive into the concepts of multiplication and division, Anne and I want the students to move beyond knowing how to multiply and divide to a level of understanding what is actually happening with the numbers.  So, we once again put our favorite thinking routine, "See, Think,Wonder," into practice.  The students are getting more adept at noticing things beyond the obvious.  They are also beginning to notice what these sights lead them think about and wonder about.  Below is what the students in Anne's math group brainstormed.

Lastly, and probably the most challenging activity of the week, was teaching the students about tableaus.  After watching two videos, the students were excited to create their own tableaus that showed the different aspects of Habit #4 Think Win-Win.  Anne took incredible pictures that will be attached to the Habit #4 posters we made our third-grade hallway. The posters are part of a school-wide activity where each grade level focuses on a different habit from 7 Habits of Happy Kids.

This tableau is meant to show balancing what I want with consideration for what others want.
Before...

After...

This activity really pushed our students into creative thinking.  They had to understand the concepts and try to portray that with their bodies and minimal props.  The concepts included:

Balance what I want with consideration for what others want.

Make deposits in each others' emotional bank accounts.

When conflicts arise, look for third alternatives.

Believe there is plenty for everyone.

Once our poster is completed, I will upload a picture here.  Here is a sample of some of the tableaus they students created.

We are so excited about what we have planned for this upcoming week.  We will teach the reading strategy: Making Connections thanks to our student, Julissa, for her natural connection from our Scholastic News article to the world event of the Amazon rainforest burning.  We will read some fall poems and perform one of them.  We are excited to see how our students interpret the poems for their performance.  We plan on using the connection strategy when we read another fall poem along with a nonfiction text about leaves changing colors.  We want the students to notice how connecting to information in the text leads them to a deeper understanding of the poet is trying to communicate in the poem. To complete that activity, we will do our favorite chalk smudge leaf art.  Stay tuned for pictures!  They will be gorgeous!

Have a great week!

Kim and Anne

Activating Creative Thinking --Lots of Resources

Sunday, September 22, 2019

Activating students' creative thinking is one of the most exciting things about being a teacher.  Anne and I work hard to inspire our students to move from a knowledge level of third-grade concepts to a deeper understanding of them.  We try to plan lessons and activities that help students think divergently and apply the standards we are teaching them to new situations.  This is challenging at the beginning of the year.  Our students are used to feeling great if an answer or a solution comes to them immediately.  Then, they are done.  They have done what we asked of them.  It takes a long time for them to get used to the idea that if an answer comes to them too quickly then they haven't tapped into their best ideas and solutions.  It takes time to embrace feeling "stuck" and getting excited about it because they know that is when new learning is taking place and their brains are growing.  It takes time to understand that persevering through challenges is so worth the effort because the invigorated feeling they get is like no other!

We want to give you a peek into how we tried to activate our students' creative thinking across different subject areas.  We are keeping it real.  The pictures portray hard work and thoughtfulness, not necessarily neatness and beauty.

Let's begin with science.  After our first experiment with the water cubes, we were led to a new question--"What will happen if we put the cubes in colored water?"  This new question was born when the students noticed a weird phenomenon.  Anne and I had placed some of their clear cubes, from part one, onto different colored Post-It notes so we could see what happened to them when we left them out of water.  The kids noticed that the clear cubes on the hot pink Post-It Notes absorbed the pink dye, yet the cubes on the bright blue and regular yellow Post-It Notes did not.  This was the perfect opportunity for the kids to activate their creative minds and think about the cubes in a new way.

They had to try to use what they learned from their new observation and their conclusion in part one  to write a new hypothesis.  The energy in the room was palpable.  Evidence that the kids are beginning to love the challenges and are willing to stretch their thinking.

After a few days, the students wanted to draw a square around the cubes to prove they were getting smaller.
They came up with new questions, too.  One was would the pink dye on the plate bleed through the yellow Post-It Note and would the cube absorb it.

After 24 hours, the students went out of their minds with excitement when they saw their new cubes. Many were thrilled that their hypothesis, or most of it, was correct.  Others were shocked by what happened because they did not expect it due to the old cubes only absorbing the dye from the pink Post-It Note.

Tomorrow, we will have them think about these cubes in yet another way!  We will let you know how it goes.

In math, we are learning about multiplication and arrays.  We have a variety of math abilities among our 38 students, but all of them were able to benefit from this activity.  It went from a basic understanding of arrays and equations to writing their own multiplication stories.  As much as the students thought they had a solid understanding of the concept (and they did at the knowledge level) they were surprised by the challenges of writing a story problem.  They realized they really had to think deeply about the meaning of the factors and what real-life situations would work in a multiplication story.

A final activity we will share is an oldie, but a goodie.  We did another See, Think, Wonder activity with a Scholastic News chart.  This was the first time the students had to write down what they saw--not what they think they saw--independently.  Those images then led to a discussion about what they thought and wondered.  For a very small chart, we were able to generated an insightful discussion.

One girl in Anne's room made a text-to-world connection with the Amazon rainforest from this chart.  She discussed the fire that is happening there.  The students in Anne's room were so inspired that they wanted to find out more about it.  So, this week both of our classes will read about the fire in our Time Magazine.  

It was amazing to participate in the high-level discussion the activity See, Think, Wonder promoted.
One boy in Anne's room said he "loved today."  He thought the Scholastic discussion was the best!.

It is amazing how taking the time to slow students down and make their thinking visible not only to us, but to themselves, inspires so much enthusiasm for learning.  I think another rock is going to be given away on Monday for leading Anne and I to our next reading strategy lesson: Making Connections.  We love when the students show us what they want to learn next.

Tomorrow we are going to do a See, Think, Wonder activity in math using a video from 3-Act Tasks.  This was introduced to us by our Instructional Facilitator, Kirstin McGinnis.  She is full of amazing resources, and this one does not disappoint.  We cannot wait to use it. 

If you want to learn more about Activating Students' Creative Thinking ELA, you might want to check out the online course offered by Advancement Courses.  I took it this summer and loved it. It really offers fresh new resources and ways to think about helping students problem-solve and think creatively and divergently so they are ready to compete and succeed in the 21st Century!

Check out some of the following "creative thinking" links.
Artful Thinking Our favorite!
Visible Thinking Don't miss this site!
I Can Visualize (Instrumental) We can't wait to figure out when to use this.

Have a great week!
Kim and Anne

Science and SEL--What could be more fun?

Sunday, September 15, 2019

Good Morning!
We hope everyone had such a fabulous week with their students that they cannot wait to get to school tomorrow.  I know Anne and I did!  This blog is just going to be a snapshot of some of those fabulous moments.

Monday morning, a boy who is really excited about the rocks we give away, decided to paint one for Anne and me. It says "Inspire."  That really set our week off on a positive note!  We are thrilled that he is inspired this year and has proven that many times already.  He is a hard-working, positive, helpful, kind-hearted boy!  What a leader.

In fact, he inspired some girls to paint their own rocks.  They collected rocks outside and painted them during their recess time. We thought they were painting the rocks for themselves.  How wrong we were! While painting, one of the girls asked if we would bring the kids together once she decided who should earn the rock she was painting.  She wanted it to be a special time, kind of like Anne and I do when we are ready to present someone with a rock. The four other girls also want to eventually give their rocks away to kids in our classroom.  We cannot believe the positive energy that is permeating throughout our room!  As soon as the girls are finished painting, I will upload their pictures.

Our leadership portraits are complete, and we sent them home Friday with some very excited kids.  They could not wait to get them home and show them to their families.  We hope they display the clay creations some place prominent in their homes so they are reminded that they are leaders. Their writing communicates exactly how they are going to show their leadership this year. This project was inspired by an art teacher I found online.  He had second graders create their own portraits out of clay.

We did our first science experiment of the year.  This is an oldie but a goodie.  Anne and I have not done this experiment for a few years. We forgot the excitement it provokes.  We only did Part One...Tuesday we will begin Part Two.  There are three parts with each one building on the other.  We know that STEM is the buzz word in science, but we still want to teach the students how to think through the scientific method.  If nothing else, it helps them activate their creative thinking and problem solving skills.  The discussions that surrounded each part of this experiment were deep and insightful.  Not to mention the energy and enthusiasm to participate in such a fun activity.

We used Steve Spangler's water cubes. After using four of our five senses to observe the cubes and record those observations, we asked the question, "What will happen to the cube if it is placed in distilled water over night?"  The hypothesis were interesting.

We did make observations after about an hour.  The cubes were doing some funky things.  The kids went wild; simply wild over what they saw!  But, that was nothing compared to their reactions when they took the cubes out of the water the following day.  Take a look at our results.

This is such an exciting activity.  We cannot wait to embark on Part Two.  We will let you know how it goes next time.

Well, have a wonderful rest of your Sunday.  We wish everyone positive vibes for the upcoming week.

Kim and Anne

Poetry Discussions and Fluency

Saturday, September 7, 2019

Who knew reading two short little poems could cause so much excitement in third graders?  During the past 12 days in class, we have been busily engaged in learning routines, how to have book talk conversations, how to synergize, and that repeated addition is a way to solve multiplication problems.  But, learning the important concept differentiating between our reading voice and our thinking voice and using them to comprehend two poems on a deeper level turned out to be one of the more enthusiastic, energetic and engaging lessons of our first two weeks.  Again, who knew?

This is the poster we use.  It came from a Smekens Education workshop. Excellent resource.

We used two short poems by Bruce Lansky to give our reading and thinking voices a trial run.  The students quickly learned that there was more to these poems than first met their eye.  They loved hearing the questions that popped into their minds, the confusion of what was happening, and how listening to their peers interpretations of the poems changed their perspectives.  They loved using what they learned about poetic devices to predict the final line in "They're Calling Me That Name Again."  That line surprised them all! The explosion of laughter and talk was thrilling!  In that moment, our students were truly loving what they read because they "got it." Once we interpreted the poems, we read them aloud from the poetry book "Almost Late To School" by Carol Diggery Shields.  The illustrations added to their understanding and finding the humor in them.

Great poems!

It was then time to read the poem with fluency and expression.  We loved experimenting with different paces, pauses, emphasis, and voices.  Once we finally had the performance as we wanted it, we decided to record it.  Here is their first poetry performance of the year.  We are so proud of them.

During independent work time, the students are individually recording themselves reciting the poem on SeeSaw, so it can be shared with their families and friends.

In the link, you will find the poems and discussion cards we used to spark interest and enjoyment!  We hope your students have as much fun with them as ours did.

Kim and Anne

Monday, September 2, 2019

Happy Labor Day Everyone!

Wow, we cannot believe it is Labor Day, and that we have already been in school for seven days!  The time has have flown by, but we have to say we have been having a lot of fun.  Our students are amazing!

Once again, our first-day explorer kick-off was a hit.  The kids loved coming into the classroom to find their desks filled with explorer gear that they could put on immediately.  After exploring the classroom and completing their checklist, the students wrote about what they saw.  It was fun to read what they focused on during their exploration.

Anne and I also gave out three of our painted rocks!  The students' faces lit up like twinkling stars on a clear summer night when we announced their name!  They were shocked, but so proud of themselves.  One boy even said, "I'm going to keep this forever."  He received the "leader" rock. Another boy received the "thoughtful" rock, and a third boy received the "helpful" rock.  I know the kids loved them, but it made us feel even better to give them because they were so well deserved and unexpected.

Now we just need to incorporate a rock writing lesson or SEL lesson so we can use the rocks we bought from the science store.  In that lesson, each student will receive their own rock to write about and keep.  We will write about it here once we plan it.

We've decided to begin our math unit as an inquiry lesson about multiplication.  When we went to Teachers Pay Teachers to find vocabulary sorting cards for Eureka Math Grade Three Module One/Lesson One, we did not find exactly what we wanted.  What to do????  I made a set.  Anne is going to put them up for free in our TpT store incase the link I gave you does not work.  Before beginning the lesson, we are going to have our students get into groups of 3-4 and match the words as they see fit.  Then, they will watch a Module One/Lesson One video to learn about the lesson.  They will complete the homework page with a partner.  Then, after they have "played" with the concepts of that lesson, we will do the Problem Set together.  Hopefully, they will have a complete understanding of the concepts on that page, but if not I will fix any misunderstanding or confusion on the spot.  Finally, the kids will go back and correct any mistakes they made on the homework page they did independently.  Our goal is to have the students more engaged in the lesson for a longer period of time.  We have found that these long Eureka math lessons are an invitation for kids to "tune out."  We will let you know how it goes.

**As a side note, we have decided to not send home the homework pages from Eureka Math.  Instead we will send computation pages home so the students can meet the standard for memorizing all for operations up to 12.**

For Module One/Lesson 2, I have decided to begin with an activity called "Odd One Out."  That lesson focuses on rows, columns, and products.  I'm hoping this activity activates my students' thinking about those concepts.  I will also incorporate some of the lessons from Amy Lemons The Magic of Math Multiplication Grade 3.

Students decide which picture does not belong with the others.  They must have reasons to support their decision.

That's all I have for now.  I'm going to type up my plans for the week before enjoying the rest of my Labor Day.  I hope you all do the same.

Kim and Anne