Inquiring Minds Found at Chisholm!

Mrs. Lambert's Class

One more week until Spring Break!  Second graders did not have class Monday.  Read on to see what the other grades did this week in enrichment. 

Week of March 1 - 5:

Third and Fourth Graders:  Students practiced visual/spatial thinking using seven piece tangram puzzles.  This week they made up a design and had another student solve it.  These classes also practiced identifying fingerprint patterns.  After describing their fingerprint formula, students classified examples of prints into three groups.  Next week we will use this information to solve a fictional mystery.  Finally, third and fourth graders did a problem solving activity.  They had to build a bridge spanning at least twelve inches using only 15 straws and masking tape.  Then, we tested how many golf balls it would support in a coffee can hanging from the bridge.  Students had only five minutes to plan and construct the bridge.  Activities like these allow students to work as a member of a time, to use creative thinking skills, and to solve an uncommon problem.

Fifth Graders:  Fifth graders continued their long term SOS project.  They have been studying the way ocean currents move in preparation for figuring out where their fictional family is stranded.  This week students went to the science lab to perform two experiments.  One was about how temperature affects the density of water, and the other was about how the amount of salt affects the density.  Be sure you ask your fifth grader all about these activities.  Classes also finished up their tracking of flotsam in the ocean currents, and made up "Rules of the Island" for our philosophy unit called Philosopher's Island.   

Check back next Friday, March 12th, for more news and pictures from enrichment!

Mystery of the Week:  Which one of these is the odd one out?

Adverb, Card, Engulf, Become, Grouch

Here is a website with quotation puzzles like we do in class:  http://www.dropquotes.com  Try it with your child!  A great website for parents of gifted children is www.hoagiesgifted.org.