California Association for the Gifted 58th Annual Conference

M3 and M2 allow K-6 math learners to create a Yeti, challenge the Guinness Book of World Records, create their own number system, and more. Students engage in such motivating activities acting as professional mathematicians around a Common Core concept of math, e.g. Algebra or Geometry. Each lesson extends the understanding, while students grow in the use of mathematical vocabulary and oral and written communication. Take the plunge: come try a few activities

The consistent and persistent use of questions cultivates a stance of genuine inquiry rather than a portrayal of information. In this session, Kelly Emanuel will model and teachers will experience, the nimble use of asking questions as an instructional tool. Participants will convene around a common text and engage in a sequence of activities that scaffold the depth of student-centered knowledge acquisition. All participants will leave the session with lesson plans for use in their own classroom.

STEM is about setting up challenging activities that stimulate out-of-the-box thinking, collaboration, discussion, creativity, imagination, problem-solving, and of course science, technology, engineering, and math. Come have a great time with this hands-on highly interactive workshop where you will be immersed in teacher-directed and child-initiated STEM challenges and activities.

My main goals for my students are to reinforce the concepts of embracing a challenge, not to be afraid to make mistakes, to apply effort, and be willing to try new strategies until success is met. With this in mind, I created a game theme whereby students alter existing games to reflect topics being studied in class.
An example of one way an existing game was adapted to fit the Colonial unit for 5th graders: The Clue board was transformed into a Colonial times village, each shop (instead of mansion rooms) researched in order for students to reproduce detailed shops of the period, each game piece researched to match with the clothes of the period, each weapon card researched to reflect tools used then and a set of question cards created to cover all the unanswered questions students had about this period. Another adaptation involved the game Splendor. Students created math problems, and every time a player wanted to purchase a gem he first needed to pick a math problem card and correctly answer it. I can give many, many examples of how students adapted existing games to reflect their vocabulary, social studies and math curriculums from grades 3-5. Turned out to be a very successful theme!