Summer SAVY, Session 1 Day 1, Cryptology (3rd-4th)
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. 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! I’m impressed that so many of the kids were eager to share their ideas, connect with others, and jump in with both feet today. I was also proud of their flexibility since the rain kept us in Wyatt for indoor ORA immediately after lunch instead of our normal schedule. Great job being mature and flexible!
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 academic time together all week. We learned today that Horace is having an 11th Birthday Party on November 11th. He invited 11 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. We were able to decipher some clues from Horace’s Study and the Kitchen page. We learned to “keep our eyes sharp” and “not to follow sketchy clues.” We eliminated Horace and Max on the first two pages. Each illustration is putting our code-breaking skills to the test!
After lunch, students learned about the Caesar Cipher, both its historical connections and how to decode one. They made cipher wheels and wrote test messages for their friends. 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. After reviewing our Base Ten Hindu-Arabic system, we practiced with whiteboards and a scoot to get the hang of how the Egyptians coded numbers. We did some formative assessment after teaching the Egyptian Numerals.
As we wrapped up today, students have already learned two types of coding: Caesar Cipher and Egyptian Numerals. We will be adding to their cryptology toolkit all week, culminating on Friday with a chance to encode a message for our escape room gallery walk and then decode their friends’ messages to “escape” the course. Students are already learning and growing so much!
This evening, consider asking your child about how tough it would be to do math homework as an Egyptian or encourage them to tell you all about their predictions in the mystery of who stole the feast. Each day, learners 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 child how to write their birthdate (including the year) using the Egyptian Numeral System as their code! We will be starting class with that in the morning.
I look forward to seeing students tomorrow for another 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.
– Jennifer Holt