I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving! First of all, I wanted to let you know that I am thankful for all of my wonderful Blossomwood students! It is a joy teaching you every week. I was just informed about a "Gifted Advocacy Group" in the North Alabama/Huntsville area and you can check out more about this at this link:
https://www.facebook.com/NorthAlabamaParentsOfGiftedChildren
TWO NEW UNITS:
4th Graders will be working on a "Walking on Wall Street" Concept Based Unit:
Concept Based Unit & Lesson Plans
Walkin’ on Wall Street: The Stock Market Game
Focus:
Stock Market Investment
Rationale: Simulating stock market investing gives
student exposure to complex concepts in an exciting and motivating format. In order to play the game well, students must
remain in close touch with current events, learn basic economic principals,
read and research current and past economic trends, use technology and trade
books to read in content areas about real companies, compute and problem solve
using sophisticated mathematics, practice persuasive writing, predict, make
decisions, and use creativity in order to be successful. In addition, cooperation and interpersonal
skills are honed since students must form teams to participate in the game. The Stock Market is an interdisciplinary unit
that combines academics with multiple levels of thinking.
Macro
Concepts: Cycles, Balance, Interdependence,
Globalization, Patterns
Micro
Concepts: Economics, Business, Needs vs. Wants,
Investing
Professions
/ Careers
Stock broker Business
Lawyer Investor Investment Lawyer Philanthropist Inventor Manager CEO Entrepreneur
Economist
Skills:
Technology: computers,
Power Point, Internet research, Web search, using links
Research: Using trade
books, Internet, newspapers and magazines.
Reading: Reading for
content, note taking, summarizing, skimming for specific information.
Math Concepts: Percents;
decimals; figuring commission; profit, loss, and overhead; positive and
negative numbers; graphing; reading and creating charts and graphs.
Writing: Metaphors,
paragraph construction, essay writing (formulating a thesis statement and
supportive paragraphs), persuasive writing, grammar, punctuation, editing,
business letter writing.
Predicting
with supporting evidence
Cause and
Effect
Decision Making
Productive Thinking (fluency, flexibility, elaboration,
originality)
Using Graphic Organizers:
Mind mapping, Plus-Minus-Neutral Charts, Venn Diagrams, Flow charts,
Structure maps.
Social Studies:
Reading and creating charts (flow charts, organizational charts,
informational charts); culture studies; historical events with economic
repercussions; careers, supply & demand, needs vs. wants; business
organization.
Vocabulary
stocks stock
market Wall Street invest
stock exchange mutual
funds stocks Dow
Nasdaq NYSE profit loss
Overhead Credit balance debit deficit
Bankruptcy commodities services goods
raw materials bull
market bear market junk bonds
CEO Board
of Directors labor interest
Principal needs
vs. wants inflation deflation
Optimism pessimism management blue chip
junk bonds supply
& demand
Enduring Understandings and Essential Questions:
I. Enduring Understandings:
Economic
trends can be cyclical.
Needs and wants may
change over time, affecting economic investment trends.
Essential
Question: What causes economic trends?
Scaffolding Questions:
1.
What is a
cycle? Use Productive Thinking to name
many, varied, unusual examples of things that follow a cycle.
2.
What are economics? What is an economy?
3.
What is a trend?
Name many, varied, unusual examples of things that are trends.
4.
Based on the above, what is an economic trend?
5.
What is the difference between “needs” and
“wants?”
5th Graders will be working on a MYSTERY unit:
Unit Title: Marvelous
Mysteries
Disciplines Involved: Science, Literature,
Social Sciences
Conceptual Lenses: Truth
Unit
Summary: While investigating
various kinds of “mysteries,” students will
examine
what it means to find the truth.
Students will explore different tools and
technologies that aid us in determining the truth. In addition, students will compare the
different ways in which
investigations are conducted, based on the nature of the investigation:
criminal, forensic, historic, etc.
Enduring
Understandings:
§ Mysteries can be found
across many different disciplines.
§ Science, technology,
and logical reasoning all are useful tools in gathering information and
evidence to determine truth.
§ One gathers and weighs
evidence in order to determine the truth.
§ Not all mysteries can
be solved conclusively.
Essential Questions:
§ What is a mystery? What
makes something a mystery?
§ How do different
disciplines go about investigating and gathering evidence?
§ How is truth
determined?
§ What do we do when we
cannot determine the exact truth in a given situation?
