Spaghetti Towers

       This week we had a blast building spaghetti and marshmallow towers. Students were placed in teams and given the challenge to build the highest tower they could using a set number of dried spaghetti and marshmallows. Several tips to aid them in the challenge were shared and teams were given time to plan their strategy. Some were very successful and everyone learned a great deal. 
 
     Please enjoy some pictures of our fun! 

Writing Our Own Rules

Like everywhere else on campus our Gifted Laboratory has rules and here the students worked to help develop them. Before we put our heads together to establish a set of rules we first explored the reasons why rules exist. 

We spent some time discussing what it means to be a Prine Hero, which calls us all to:  
Have Respect
Exhibit Responsibility
Remember Safety
Open Our Minds to Learning

We then participated in a thinking routine entitled Chalk Talk.  During a Chalk Talk there is a piece of chart paper with an open ended questions in the center of the group and students are asked to respond to the prompt in written form only. They may respond directly the question or they can respond to another person's thoughts. On our Chalk Talk questions were:

-Why should rules be followed?
-What would happen if there were no rules? 
-Why do we need rules?

After completing and discussing our Chalk Talk, we used the Frayer Model  to explore what things would look like, sound like and feel like with and without rules. 

Finally, we spent time writing a set of rules for our time in gifted and signed them in agreement.