October Newsletter 2016

Dear Parents-

We have had such fun this quarter getting to know each other! We spent a huge chunk of our time not just discussing things like teamwork and critical thinking through games and projects but each student has had a chance to begin to explore coding with robotics using our Ozobot and simple circuits with our Makey-Makey Kits. The older students are creating a how to video for one of these fun items. In the Gifted Laboratory, we focus on the process and not the final product and the students learned a great deal from this activity.

Also, this quarter our older students have  jumped into Virtual Literacy Circles with the book Wonder by R.J. Palacio with several schools from around the globe. We have been reading and discussing the book through the use of Edmodo and video conferencing software. This book has truly led to some wonderful conversations and we looking for more experience with Virtual Literacy Circles throughout the rest of the year.

Next quarter we will be exploring geography just a bit and we have some fun activities planned. Students will be participating in different projects to explore the world around them and hopefully broaden their horizons.

 Finally, I try my best to ask for very little supplies throughout the year and only ask for things that we use a great deal. I want to personally thank those families who have sent in the items I requested and please know the extra help goes a long way. If you have not already done so we could still use your help.

Supply List:
-2 reams of white copy paper
-4 sharpened pencils

Thank you,
Frances M. Snyder (Francie)
Educator of the Gifted
Abel, Oneco and Prine Elementary Schools

How to Use Makey-Makey and Ozobot

We have spent the last several weeks learning to both the Ozobot and Makey-Makey Kits. Students were then asked to create how to video to help those new to these fun little items. A great deal of problem solving  and fun was had by all.

Iva, Amelia, Sophia, and San Juanita 

Leo, Mason, and Donavan

Natalie,  Jadan, and Desi

"Oh the Places We Will Go"- Breakout

Nothing makes me happier then when my students come into my room, see what we are doing today, and then squeal with delight. This was exactly what my students did this morning when they came into the room saw the Breakout Box. Here are a few of the students' reflection on why others should try Breakout or what they learned during the process.

Newsletter- August 2016

Dear Parents-

I would like to welcome you and your child to our Gifted Laboratory for the 2016-17 school year. Our focus continues to be on the student outcomes from The Florida Framework for K-12 Gifted Learners, which I have attached for your review. It is our true belief that learning should be a lifelong pursuit and that the process is equal to if not more important than the final product. There will be a wide range of critical thinking activities where at each step along the way there will be lessons to learn. Students will be learning strategies, frameworks, and other skills needed to improve their problem solving skills.

Thanks to the use of technology, we will also continue to participate in many global collaboration projects. We will be reading and talking about books through Virtual Literacy Circles, exploring geography with Mystery Skypes, and of course participating in Virtual Field Trips.

Also, this year we will be exploring Stephen Covey’s The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People and how we can incorporate these principles into our life. These are timeless and proven principles of fairness, integrity, honesty and human dignity. The Seven Habits are as follows:

1. Be Proactive
2. Begin with the end in mind
3. Put first things first
4. Think Win-Win
5. Seek first to understand, then to be understood
6. Synergize
7. Sharpen the Saw

I try my best to ask for very little supplies throughout the year and only ask for things that we use a great deal. I want to personally thank the four or five families who have sent in the items I requested and please know the extra help goes a long way. If you have not already done so we could still use your help.

Supply List:

-2 reams of white copy paper

-4 sharpened pencils

Thank you,

Frances M. Snyder (Francie)

Brandon's Discovery Eduation 3M Young Scientist

My name is Brandon. In gifted this year, I worked on a project called The Discovery Education 3M Young Scientists Challenge. This challenge is for 5th graders and higher. What you have to do,  is think of a problem in this world that can be solved. It can be any size, it can be about a trash can. Anyway, once you have your problem you have to do research for it. Then you have to come up with a solution for your problem. Now for this step there’s three ways to go. You can either build a prototype for your solution if you need to make something and then gather up all your information, write a well thought out script and make your submission video and register for the challenge. The other way is if you need to build something, but you can’t manage to you can draw a picture for your invention, make a script and make your video. Finally if you don’t have to make invention then just explain in your video how your going to solve your problem.

 The problem I wanted to solve was to come up with a solution to keep animals staying out of your trash because that has happened many, many times. It would take a very long time to explain how my trash can invention so there is a video under these words that is my submission video.I hope you enjoy my Discovery Education 3M Young Scientist submission video.

 I want to thank Ms. Snyder for introducing me to the Discovery Education 3M Young Scientist Project and everyone who motivated to push on with this project.

Makinzi's Genius Hour Project

I’m Makinzi. For my Genius Hour project I created a blog that gives game reviews. The way I did this was I figured out games that I have played recently, I then wrote a description and a review on those games. Then I had to show a few people to see if those reviews make sense. After I had written five reviews, and an about me page. I made the blog using a personal Google Account account. It took me awhile to get everything set up, but now I finally done with everything. Now I just have to remember to keep posting.   

LINK:

A Gamers Playground Blog

http://agamersplayground.blogspot.com/

San'Tyera's Genius Hour

 My name is San’tyera, I will be telling you about how I did my Genius Hour project for Ms.Snyder's gifted class. In this project, we were told to pick a topic and make a project that is sharable some suggestions for us to do a blog, website, video, etc.; The topic I chose is a project based on dogs getting abused. I experienced my love for dogs at a very young age. From then, I’ve gotten plenty of dogs in my possession. I chose to make a website that tells you what to do, how to comfort them, and who to tell if you ever see an abused dog. In my opinion, my project was really fun and it feels good to know that you were helping out in your community, but one thing you should know if you ever want to do this, is that it’s not easy. It takes lots of time, work, and you really have to question your self like for example asking yourself is this really a benefit for others, or does it just benefit you. In my opinion this is a fun way to keep your brain active and working, and an opportunity to help out in your community.

         

My Genius Hour started off on something about saving dolphins, but I didn't really care to much about it, so Ms.Snyder pulled me to the side and said, "That she could tell that I wasn’t really passionate about it and she told me to try and think of something that I really wanted to." So I was thinking about the deep love I have for animals, but to narrow it down instead of doing animals in general, I thought about my favorite one, which is the domestic dogs. I started asking up questions like “Why do people abuse dogs?” and other questions like that. Then I got had to work on the content for my what I was going to put in my website. Finally, I put it all together and I think it is really cool. 

        

Overall my project was a huge success and it was really fun. You can see my project at;     

dogabusesantyera.weebly.com I hope you enjoy my website :).

Alexia's Genius Hour Progject

Hi. My name is Alexia. I have had so much experience with animals and I love animals a lot. I’ve created a blog about how we can stop animal endangerment and extinction for my Genius Hour Project. I have included information on how we can keep there habitats safe, specific animals, wildlife rehab centers, people and more. I hope this blog changes your opinion or makes you aware that animals are important. I would like to thank Ms. Snyder for helping me so much in this project. I would also like to thank the website pics4learning for the amazing pictures that are in this website.

                               Animals are Important Blog

Savannah's Genius Hour Project

Hello, my name is Savannah. I made a tutorial video of how to draw a Manga girl for a Genius Hour project in Ms.Snyder’s Gifted class. The video is me giving a slide show of  how I drew a Manga girl in a step by step process.

  

  Genius Hour is a project where you have to work on a problem that you think can be solved by your actions and the help of others. This video is the solution to a problem that I often have, which is people not knowing how to draw their own things. It benefits me and others, because they can draw what they want to draw even when I or others are not around.

    

  The hardest part of this project is me trying not to mess up in the voice recording. I tried not to disrupt the other students, and I got nervous that I would. Also, you can’t get complete silence in a room with other people so there’s that too that I got nervous about. I am new at making videos so I often had to pester my teacher.  I would like to give credit to Ms.Snyder for being a wonderful teacher and helping me edit the video. Also, thanks to Brandon G. for helping me take the pictures. Overall I thought it was a fun experience. Thank you for watching. 

Newsletter-January 2016

Dear Parents-

       It is hard for me to believe that this school year is already half way over and we have been very busy with several activities. Again, this December we participated with eight million other students from around the world in the Hour of Code. This is a global movement in over 180 countries. The organizers feel that-Every student should have the opportunity to learn computer science. It helps nurture problem-solving and creativity.

            During this quarter some of our older students continued their work on  Genius Hour, which is  based on a business practice that Google uses with their developers.  They are allowed to use 20% of their time, provided that work has the potential to advance the company.

Our guidelines/rules for Genius Hour are as follows:

-You must start with a real-world question or problem.

-You answer/solution must require research. It must require more than a Google Search.

-Your final project must be sharable.

I am really looking forward to seeing where these students take these projects.

Students have each crafted an Action Plan that clearly states what they hope to accomplish. This includes:  the goal, the procedures, a definition of what their completed  project looks like, and how it will be evaluated. We are really looking forward to sharing our work sometime after spring testing.

            Other groups are working on research projects and with all of these projects the process is our focus. There will be mini lesson on strategies such as: choosing an appropriate topic, note taking, developing a quality product and other items that may appear throughout. Our younger students are each working on Animal Projects and have been exploring an animal of their choice.

            Finally, Virtual Literacy Circles where we are using Edmodo and Google Hangout free technology programs to communicate with one another and other classes from around the world. In December we had two Virtual Literacy Circles up and running with several more this spring. These Virtual Literacy Circles do a wonderful job of honing literacy and technology skills and are a big hit with the students.

            As a reminder, I have an open door policy and if you have any questions and/or concerns please contact me through email snyderf@manateeschools.net.

                                                                                    Sincerely,

                                                                                    Miss Snyder