Pruett's AIG Blog for IBJ

While languidly lurking in Mrs. Dancy-Jones's creative class, I surreptitiously spied this spooky sonnet. (Well, it almost has 14 lines!) It's by a mystery student - who said I could publish it. Enjoy some poetic vocabulary and have a Happy Halloween! In the dead of night a deadly spider devours the struggling insect. Suddenly a black cat leaps out of the fog. Unseen werewolves howl in the mist.. A buzzing street swarms with masked faces. While skeletons walk on the crowded street. Dead zombies roam with buckets of candy at their sides. Glowing houses wait for eager kids to approach. Transparent ghosts hang at every doorstep. Disguised children engulf each door with laughter. Sweet candy is gobbled up quickly by grinning faces. Above a black bat beats its wings. Haunting spirits lurk in the shadows. The spirit of Halloween is everywhere! BTW, it's an early release today, so remind Mrs. D-J how awesome she is and get an early start on y

Fifth grade students will have the opportunity to take part in the Noetic Learning Math Contest on November 10th. This competition provides hundreds of students across America the opportunity to take a paper-and-pencil math assessment results from which are ranked and shared. As I understand it, officially participating students in the top 50 percent nation-wide will receive certificates, and those who are in the national top 10 percent will receive medals. Results will be published on the Noetic website:  http://www.noetic-learning.com/ Schools can have up to 30 participants. Participants MUST have a signed permission slip turned into me NO LATER than November 4th . Should we receive more than 30 participants, I'll facilitate all students - however, some may not be on the official role.  I will prioritize AIG math students and then in order of permissions received. Letters from me including the permission form went out yesterday and today. Please be in touch with any questi

Monday saw AHS's marvelous theater program coming to Jones to present plays based on the Jack Tales. Many of our students were able to attend these well-produced plays. They seemed to be a big hit! Plus, Jones students were exceptionally well-behaved! It is AWESOME for our students to see live theater!

Fifth and fourth grade enrichment study groups are currently involved with simulations called The Great Ocean Rescue and The Great Solar System Rescue. In this work, students adopt the role of certain scientists. Fifth graders are environmental scientists, geologists, oceanographers, and marine biologists. Fourth graders are historians, geologists, astronomers, and meteorologists. There is background reading for each science. Students must use information provided by video 'transmissions' along with their background reading to work with fellow scientists to make decisions. Fifth graders are solving ecological disasters around the globe while fourth graders look for space probes lost in our solar system. What strikes me about this work is the absolute necessity to work as a team. In addition to advanced content, collaboration is often challenging for our students. This year students will also rotate through all four sciences (with each of four missions) so they'll be exp

So these intrepid mathematicians were able to excel at making 7-digit numbers. Not just randomly making them, mind you, but using randomly generated numbers to make extremely specific numbers!

In fourth and fifth advanced subject groups for reading (ASGR in AIG acronym lingo), students have been reading selections from Junior Great Books (JGB). The Great Books Foundation has long been a proponent of higher order discussions. The JGB series provides excellent literature selections with open-ended questions for discussions and culminating written responses. BTW, upon qualification third grade will also use this model. Here are some snaps to clarify: Reading Discussing Responding

I have been in third grade classes over the last week or so in preparation for the Cognitive Abilities Test - to be administered to all third graders next week. We (students and I although some un-named teachers have been super-interested!) were going over types of problems they will see on the CogAT. These problems are really like puzzles, and I've been relieved to see how comfortable students have been with them - even when they get more challenging! In Ms. Leppard's class today, I was in time to see part of their morning meeting. Each morning they have a greeting - today's was bon jour -  that they share with a handshake around the circle. It was so cool! What an incredible way to build community and global citizenship. Please don't think that this is the only class where I've seen such awesome stuff! I have been SO impressed with the level of teaching, learning, and engagement in all these classrooms! Third grade rocks!

So in fourth grade math groups, we've been looking at various math challenges including an activity where students arrange random numbers to make a number I describe, such as largest number, or smallest even number, or even largest multiple of five. The final numbers have 7 digits, so we're talking millions in place value. This young man was able to 'win' the most out of 10 attempts today. His work, as well as that of other fourth grade math students, will be sent home with a cover letter - probably in the next week or so. You can check out all the computatin' that's been going on! By the way, is it skill or luck? Check out blog from 10/3 to see another student's opinion!

Our fourth grade reading groups have completed reading the story Thank You, M'am by Langston Hughes. It's a great story, if you're interested. In it, Roger gets something he didn't expect when he tries to steal the pocket book of Mrs. Luella Bates Washington Jones. Our groups are wrapping up a written reflection of the story and our discussion. Here's a sample of what fourth grade writers can produce. Pretty amazing! D ear Mrs. Luella Bates Washington Jones, Can you remember that night, when a scruffy, dirty faced boy tried to steal your purse? That boy who you took home and fed, that boy who you trusted enough to be left alone with your purse, that boy,  Mrs. Jones, was me. That night changed my life. Every night at eleven o'clock I take out a pair of faded, beaten up blue suede shoes and think about you. Last night I finally found the courage to write this letter. Thank You Mrs. Luella Bates Washington Jones,  for saving me.                         

Mrs. Park arranged for Steve the Drummer to visit Jones today. A good time was had by all! Look closely for Mrs. Brown!

Have you seen or heard the new Jones affirmation pledge? Well, here it is! Pretty cool, huh? I dig it!! Today is a new day and a new beginning.  I promise to use this day to the fullest by giving my all. This is my life, and I choose to make it a success.

Here's another math student who can reflect on our challenging work with operations. Students had incomplete equations, and they had to figure out which operations made the equation true. Today, this meant 16 problems in less than 30 minutes! Pretty impressive. These brief video interviews have become part of rewarding students for their excellent work. I have quite a collection of our initial math work that I'll share later in the month. Thanks for your continued support of the AIG program!

Each year, Duke University's Talent Identification Program (TIP) holds the 4th-6th Grade Talent Search. This program looks for high-performing students across our state. Criteria includes a 95th percentile on any of a number of assessments.  I have currently screened all fourth graders for this program and am sending home a letter including official flyers and applications from Duke TIP. Being part of this opens up opportunities for students to have access to above-grade testing, enrichment opportunities, and resources from the program. There is a fee, and Duke allows for needs-based scholarships. The enrollment deadline is March 31, 2017. Participating fifth graders should already be 'in the loop' with this program. I have requested additional flyers to cover all qualifying fifth graders soon.

Here is yet another math student from Jones. This time, she's reflecting on a place value game played in our ASG Math group.

ACS screens all third graders with the Cognitive Abilities Test. This will be administered on October 25, 26, and 27. The following letter will go home this week. Please contact me with any questions, comments, or concerns. An outline of AIG presentations about our new plan for services can be found on this blog from 9/26/16. Dear Parents/Guardians: Your child will be taking the Cognitive Abilities Test this fall.                                                                                   The Cognitive Abilities Test (CogAT) will be used at grades three and six to appraise the cognitive development of students . The test measures students’ learned reasoning abilities . The questions on the CogAT require students to demonstrate their reasoning abilities in each of the following areas: Verbal : assesses a student’s abilities to use search, retrieval, and comparison processes. Quantitative : assesses a student’s abilities to reason about patterns and rel