Optimism

I was working with a student today on an essay about optimism and he was so pessimistic about it! :) It was very ironic. "When All the World's Problems are Solved, is Optimism Still Necessary?" was the prompt that he was trying to write about. Even though I can see how brilliant our students are, they are still average in their optimism and self-esteem and we need to continue to remember that. I shared my optimistic opinion that I felt he could totally win the essay contest, however, I gave him permission to have that moment of pessimism and reality. It was a bit of a humbling experience for both of us, I think. (Do we sometimes expect too much out of our gifted kiddos because we know what they are capable of??)

After special, in our morning meeting, we shared where we would travel to in the United States, if we could go anywhere. We got a lot of Hawaii, California and Florida (duh-look how cold it is here!) but we also got Michigan, Alaska, big cities and other non-popular choices and for very sweet reasons. Then, we played, Four Corners, which is like a "Would you rather?" but with four different choices. We also had a few minutes to read and/or visit the library before switching for our content. In Mrs. Tanner's room, 5th grade students worked on sound but also on Invention Convention. 4th graders first worked with their groups for Model UN where they continued researching their third world country. Then, we discussed the requirements and restrictions as well as the basic steps for Invention Convention. Have them show you the process! In math, 4th grade students took the STAR reading and math assessments. Mrs. Kelly's 5th grade students worked on fraction assignments on Canvas while those in Mrs. Tanner's room went over the 3-act task they had been working on and then moved on to volume. Our day concluded with our 8th indoor recess in a row (Nick K. is counting) and then quiet time and Genius Hour.