Summer SAVY, Session 1 Day 1, Cryptology Sect. 2 (3rd – 4th)
What a wonderful day of learning! Codes are everywhere! Our students spent some time this morning doing some hexagonal thinking as we learned a little about each other and explored a new way to make connections with others. Linear connections were easy for them, but that higher-level thinking of multiple connections proposed a challenge! We learned some of our classroom routines, including playing “A Game of Red Herrings” and greeting each other daily in a morning meeting. Building a community of learners where we are safe to take intellectual risks and persevere in the face of difficult problems is an essential part of our success this week!
We are off to a great start, beginning to form our initial impressions about who stole the feast in our Eleventh Hour text, which will be the focus of our morning time together all week. We learned today that Horace is having an 11th Birthday Party on November 11th. He invited eleven guests, and when it was time to eat the feast at 11:00, the feast was gone! I encourage you to ask your child who they predict may have done it at this point. Each illustration is putting our codebreaking skills to the test!
After lunch, students learned about the Ceasar Cipher today, both its historical connections and how to decode one. They used the cipher wheels they made to shift the message three places. Our math focus for today was on our base ten system, as well as the Egyptian Numeral system, which does not have place value like ours. We did some formative assessment on the Base Ten system before teaching the Egyptian Numerals. Each day, your student will follow a similar schedule, so be sure to ask them about our game of red herrings and morning meeting greeting!
EXTENSION IDEA: Ask your student to write their birthdate (including the year) using the Egyptian Numeral System as their code! See you tomorrow for a great day of learning!
*Don’t forget to send a healthy peanut-free snack and a water bottle for the day along with their lunch.