It was another fun day for everyone.

What impressive teachers we have in our room! Thanks to your help, many children came in so excited to teach what they had learned about the symbol of the Olympics. It was so fun to see their enthusiasm, connections made from the sharing by one person to another, and some unanswered questions we researched. One surprising development came when we had conflicting data shared. :) That led to a fantastic discussion of why using  multiple resources is so I important. Amazing! We had visuals shared, websites cited, and an extra activity taught after one friend showed his Olympic symbol on a pencil flag. The studio was filled with many fantastic teachers today!!!

Our Olympics discussion led to the introduction of the icons of depth of complexity as developed by Dr. Sandra Kaplan from USC for gifted students. Since everyone is gifted in some way, we will be using them in our discussions all year in language arts as well as the newly developed math icons. Below is a list of the icons which your shield should.be able to show a Motion/action that will help us remember them and the language. It was so fun seeing, saying, and acting them out that we extended it to a game then taught the teacher next door as she was passing through. What does your child remember?

- Multiple perspectives
- ethics
- big idea
- unanswered questions
- language of the discipline
- details
- patterns
- rules
- change over time
- across disciplines
- trends

That iconic language was then applied the rest of the day. For the friends who stayed all day, we prepared for our first chapter book as a read aloud which was very carefully selected. We made either a Circle Map or a Tree Map, predicted what the book might be about, and discussed how we will have discussions like adults do in a book club (with iconic language, analysis, and making connections to ourselves, other boos, and the world). The book is high quality literature, relevant, gender neutral, age neutral, relevant, presents a unique point of view, and is excellent for the teaching goals of incorporating the thinking with depth and complexity (icons).

Thank you to the families who sent in the paperwork, supplies, and other wish list items. You are so supportive and it is very appreciated.