Creativity Festival Fun
Last week, sixteen students in grades three and four attended the Creativity Festival with me.  This event was held at the Ted Mann Concert Hall on the University of Minnesota campus.  It is sponsored by Success Beyond the Classroom.   Students attended three classes during the day.  Options ranged from Balinese Rhythm and Chanting, Improvisational Comedy, Potions Party, Fun With Chemistry, West African Drumming, R.hythm A.nd P.oetry, How to Write a Radio Play and more.  There was so much information that incorporated both left and right brain thinking.

Our students jumped right in and had so much fun learning about these topics.  Check out a few pictures as well as the West African Drumming group.  They did the opening program for all of us.  They were spectacular.

 

Thinking Logically?

Fourth grade students in the Resource Room Language Arts groups have been working on "Tanglers".   Tanglers are cooperative problem-solving puzzles that are solved as a group.  Each member of the group receives one or two of the clues needed to solve the puzzle.  To be successful, the group needs to work together as the clues are shared.  Some of the clues are phony and they are all out of order.  No one may show their information to anyone else so listening skills are crucial to determine the usefulness of the clues and to order them correctly.

After solving a wide variety of these puzzles, the children each created their own Tangler.  Here are two examples.  See if you can solve them!  Good luck!  (Remember, the clues are not listed in order.)

Jamie's Puzzle:
Justin has 8 more toys than Lisa.
Lisa has 10 less toys than Sam.
Lisa has 27 toys.
Who has the most toys?
Lexie has 7 more toys than Margret.
Margret has 5 less toys than Justin.
Justin has 1 less toys than Jill.
Sam has 1 less toy than Jill.

Eli's Puzzle:
A kesh has 9 more legs than a ratchy.
Bows have 32 + 32 legs.
A licklicky has 24 less legs than a cowky, but 3 more than a bow.
Cowkys have 11 arms.
A patchy has the same number of legs as a cowky.
Keshes have 16 more arms than legs.
A dinawa is very big.
How many arms and legs does a kesh have?
A ratchy has 17 less legs than a patchy.