For most classes, week four began today. The students are really becoming comfortable with the routines and expectations of TAG, including the newly added binders. Students appreciate the student voice and student choice, and have demonstrated their opinions are valued and valid as they are progressing in their teamwork. As their teacher, I strive for all students to progress each day. You will see notes and work samples encouraging this throughout the year. Students will continue to grow as they reflect on their learning and evaluate themselves daily. Elaboration and justification are areas we are working on as a TAG group to really share and show perspectives into our learning and days.
First and fourth grades will document their simulations via blogs - how very exciting! Fifth grade's stock market competition begins October 6th. Students are so excited to begin picking their portfolios. We will discuss diversification, long-term common stocks, volatility and a performance analysis. Students will take into account company success, leadership profiles, market data and competition, and performance over the last year. They will manage $100,000 in stocks as they compete across the state of Georgia! Students also had a visit from Mr. Justin Reynolds, an accountant from Ernst and Young to discuss financial literacy. Students will continue to learn about budgeting and personal finance throughout the unit. First and second grades made it across the Atlantic yesterday safely. Congrats to the Night Ninjas for beating the Pilgrims and the rest of the teams across the ocean. Students had so much fun with the challenges as they fought to save their boats and progress in their journeys! Third grade started their solar ovens and will continue to build their ovens this week. We are having a visit from the Georgia Tech Energy club to demonstrate and discuss nuclear and solar energy. We will test ovens next week, 10/3. Weather permitting, students will eat lunch outside and observe the smores. I am so excited for all that TAG is doing right now! We had a really exciting day today, finalizing our preparations for the trip across the Atlantic. Students had to prioritize at of all their belongings which 8 things they could bring. Students measured out the Mayflower's dimensions and tried to cram themselves into a tiny space to sleep - none of them could even lay down in the space that each family had! They created their group, ship and colony names last week, and this week they added familiar passengers to their passenger list. You can view what they kids saw today and take a virtual tour of the Mayflower here: http://www.scholastic.com/scholastic_thanksgiving/voyage/tour.htm
Students will be writing their very own blogs to document their journeys! This week they learned what a blog was and saw some of the steps to create it. Their actual writing will be edited, typed, and posted (by each group!) next week. The blogs will be updated more too! They can be found here: The Seagulls of the Ocean http://mbestag.weebly.com/pilgrim-group-3-coxen The Night Ninjas http://mbestag.weebly.com/pilgrim-blog-2-coxen The Ocean Divers http://mbestag.weebly.com/pilgrims-group-1-blog-coxen (Your child can tell you which group they are in!) Students also worked in teams to solve their first mystery of the year. They determined that they needed to bring items with Vitamin C on their journeys or they would suffer and die from scurvy. Mrs. Coxen gave all the students a Vitamin C drop today to keep all the healthy. As a fun challenge, you received a letter today about snack next week: In our study of the Pilgrims’ Challenge, we learned all about life on board a sailing ship back in 1620. Besides the cold, wetness and the seasickness, we had to worry about scurvy! We need to get our vitamin C because we do not want sore gums and black decaying teeth! Please help us remember to bring a snack to TAG that has vitamin C in it. We do not want to lose a Pilgrim to the awful disease, so please help us remember! Pilgrims only need to bring a snack for themselves, not the entire class. Anything with some vitamin C in it will count towards the success of the mission! Thank you! Colony Leaders, Mrs. Bates and Mrs. Coxen Mrs. Coxen's 5th grade students had their eyes opened today as they embarked upon their new unit, the stock market and economics of life! Students are intrigued with personal finance, the stock market and the economy! In this unit, students will learn how to make informed financial decisions and will participate in The Stock Market Game, an online simulation of stock
trading. Students will have hands-on opportunities to learn about money, personal finance, wealth building, and increase their knowledge of financial vocabulary. Life and Monopoly are great games to play at home during this unit. These games will offer students the opportunity to apply economic concepts to real life situations. Parent letters came home with students today, and can also be viewed here: http://mbestag.weebly.com/5th-grade.html Students made short presentations to elaborate on an economic principle. Here is a great example on specialization: http://goanimate.com/videos/0G8sCfewC9Ew?utm_source=linkshare&utm_medium=linkshare&utm_campaign=usercontent Talking with your kids about finances, how you make decisions, etc. as well as the Stock Market are great conversations at home! For the families that own Monopoly Empire, we'd love to borrow it to play! |
Mrs. Coxen and her MBES studentsDocumenting our learning journeys, one day at a time! Archives
August 2016
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