April 26 Update

This week and next the students are taking the Ohio Achievement Assessments. Because of this, the GEMS schedule has been altered, depending on the test given on each GEMS day. None of the GEMS students will have a full day of GEMS class this week, however, next week will be different because only the 5th grade will still be testing. This means that the 3rd and 4th grade GEMS students will have a regular day of GEMS class. The 5th grade students will still be on an altered schedule.

As we are wrapping up this school year, the GEMS students are working on an independent study of their choosing. They have each written goals for what they want to accomplish for their study and are currently working on them. Students are studying topics of great variety. For example, MLB sports records, Abraham Lincoln, and whether alien technology was used to build the Pyramids are just a few of the topics being studied by the students!

As a challenge for this end-of-year project, I've asked the students to go beyond just researching their topic. We've talked about Benjamin Bloom's levels of thinking, and my challenge to the students is to have one of their goals be at one of the higher levels of Bloom's taxonomy. The students have realized the difficulty in writing a goal that is at a higher level, but with a little guidance, most of them have come up with some great tasks that reflect these challenging ways of thinking.

If you are unfamiliar with Bloom's Taxonomy, please read through the information on the link posted below. These higher level thinking skills can (and should!) be reinforced in all areas of the students' lives, including at home.

http://www.odu.edu/educ/roverbau/Bloom/blooms_taxonomy.htm