Connecting in QUEST

It's been great to reconnect with the students in QUEST after the summer as well as to make connections with the new students joining us in QUEST this year. Our universal theme this year is "CONNECTIONS" and will guide our higher level thinking skill development as we pursue various cross-curricular topics of study. There will be a QUEST parent meeting in October to inform you about more details regarding what we are doing in QUEST each week. The date and time will be provided in the near future. The first few weeks of QUEST, we have been focusing on developing a "growth mindset" based on the book by Carol S. Dweck, entitled Mindset: The New Psychology of Success. I highly recommend this book for parents and teachers.



Learning about the brain, we had fun with the AP, "Your Fantastic Elastic Brain." It has great information about how the brain works and how challenge helps the brain to grow. At the end of the book part of the AP, there are quite a few very interesting, challenging games. Though the AP is $4.99, I believe it would be well worth the investment. Here is the link: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/your-fantastic-elastic-brain/id511309895?mt=8. I mentioned to the students that I would share this link with you, because they enjoyed investigating several of the games and activities.



To develop visual perception, the learners have enjoyed playing SET. This is a game of attributes and perceiving various ways to create sets based on likeness and differences. The game can be played with cards, but it is also online. Everyday there is a new daily SET puzzle. The link to the daily puzzle is http://www.setgame.com/set/daily_puzzle. This is an example of one type of brain teaser/warmup activity we do each week.



This week focused on introductions into the theme/topics of study for the year: * 1st/2nd Grade: Literature Unit * 3rd Grade: Chasing Vermeer by Blue Balliett * 4th Grade: The Wright 3 by Blue Balliett * 5th Grade: The Calder Game by Blue Balliett While the literature studies will incorporate reading and language, there will be "connections" to mathematics, history, geography, science, and art. The students seem very excited to begin the reading and related activities/projects next week.



Please remember that you are welcome to contact me if you ever have questions or concerns. I'm as close as an email (the best way to contact me since I serve more than one campus.)