January 2007

Thinking Caps and Inventions

January brings new goals and a new unit: Inventing! Younger grades (K-1) will experience this through hands-on play and creative thinking challenges, while the second and third graders will also delve into more process skills (critical thinking, creativity exercises, inventing) and find out about a few famous inventors. It's a little bit of science, a little bit of art, and a whole lot of imagination! Let's go!

We need your help!

Edison said, "To invent, you need a good imagination and a pile of junk."

We are gathering supplies for a "Building and Inventing Laboratory." Please look around your house for items that you can contribute such as odds and ends from old games, plastic bottle caps, pipe cleaners, old electronic wires, plugs, etc. Make sure everything is relatively clean and that there are no sharp edges (especially in the case of metal objects). We are looking for unusual, brightly colored items, and nothing too heavy.

Check out the BUILDING LABORATORY website, (www.build-it-yourself.com) for some ideas.

At home: The first task will be to build a thinking cap. Students are encouraged to start this at home by finding a hat-type of base on which to build. This might be an actual hat, or a small bucket, or a deflated ball, or a collander (as shown above).... use your imaginations! Continue building at home, or send this base to school.

Don't forget to visit our cool website links!

I've added THE BUILDING LABORATORY and INVENTOR'S TOOLBOX

"If we were TV sets, some of us would only get five channels. Others are wired for cable (the general population) and some of us (the gifted) are hooked up to a satellite dish. That makes these gifted children capable of making connections that others don't even know exist! Teaching those types of voracious minds in a regular classroom without enhancement is like feeding an elephant one blade of grass at time. You'll starve them." - Elizabeth Meckstroth

This newsletter is available in hard copy or online at http://www.capemaycityschool.org/Teacher/Sandmeyer/sandmeyer1.htm

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