Teaching Gifted Third Graders : Cupcake Wars: Planning Stages

I am currently doing a series of enrichment activities with my students. I have been learning a lot about Joe Renzulli and his School Wide Enrichment Model in my gifted classes. Since we only have one gifted classroom on each grade level this model isn't something that our school is picking up or developing. I have decided to try a few enrichment type classes with my students in order to see how it would work on a small scale. The drawback is that with the SEM the students get to choose based on their interests. This time we are doing one based on my interests. The only thing my principal asked me to do was to make sure that I could support my extension activity with the standards. It took some digging and some very thoughtful consideration to get all the pieces together in the manner that I wanted and still make it authentic and engaging for the students.

These are the standards that I decided to use to support my unit.

English/Language Arts:

ELACC3RL3 Key Ideas and Details: Describe characters in a story (e.g., their traits, motivations, or feelings) and explain how their actions contribute to the sequence of events.

ELACC3RL10 Range of Reading and Complexity of Text: 10. By the end of the year, read and comprehend literature, including stories, dramas, and poetry, at the high end of the grades 2–3 text complexity band independently and proficiently.

ELACC3RI3 Key Ideas and Details: Describe the relationship between a series of historical events, scientific ideas or

concepts, or steps in technical procedures in a text, using language that pertains to time, sequence, and cause/effect.

ELACC3RI8 Integration of Knowledge and Ideas: Describe the logical connection between particular sentences and paragraphs in a text (e.g., comparison, cause/effect, first/second/third in a sequence).

ELACC3W2 Text Types and Purposes: Write informative/explanatory texts to examine a topic and convey ideas and information clearly.

ELACC3W4 Production and Distribution of Writing: With guidance and support from adults, produce writing in which the development and organization are appropriate to task and purpose.

ELACC3W7 Research to Build and Present Knowledge: Conduct short research projects that build knowledge about a topic.

ELACC3L1 Conventions of

Standard English: Demonstrate command of the conventions of standard English grammar and usage when writing or speaking.

Mathematics

MCC3.NF.1 Understand a fraction 1/b as the quantity formed by 1 part when a whole is partitioned into b equal parts; understand a fraction a/b as the quantity formed by a parts of size 1/b.

MCC3.NF.3 Explain equivalence of fractions in special cases, and compare fractions by reasoning about their size.

MCC3.MD.1 Tell and write time to the nearest minute and measure time intervals in minutes.

Physical Science

S3P1. Students will investigate how heat is produced and the effects of heating and cooling, and will understand a change in temperature indicates a change in heat.

a. Categorize ways to produce heat energy such as burning, rubbing (friction), and mixing one thing with another.

b. Investigate how insulation affects heating and cooling.

c. Investigate the transfer of heat energy from the sun to various materials.

d. Use thermometers to measure the changes in temperatures of water samples (hot, warm, cold) over time.

Economic Understandings

SS3E1 The student will describe the four types of productive resources:

a. Natural (land)

b. Human (labor)

c. Capital (capital goods)

d. Entrepreneurship (used to create goods and services)

Websites:

http://www.fun-cupcake-ideas.com/cupcake-recipes.html