There never seems to be enough time in a day to get to where we need to be. However, slowly we are getting through things and making things happen. We have spent a lot of our time thinking about our classroom, how we should be working, what tasks should look like, and what our jobs are as individuals. We've also been spending time thinking about ourselves, discovering our strengths, talents and how we can contribute. We have started some inquiry in math. The unknown made a lot of kids squirm BUT they did stick with the task and with encouragement were able to discover many patterns of their own.
We participated in our first STEM challenge, and Stephanie, Shelby and Emily created the tallest structure. They worked hard at identifying the centre of gravity and used this to their advantage.
What I've noticed is that many kids are shy and timid when it comes to thinking about and talking about their strengths. It has been a challenge for them to dig deep and come up with ideas that are relevant and matter. I trust that will come with time, and we will keep at it. I do want kids to feel proud of what they have to contribute and to recognize that matters.
Today we added a few new layers to what will become classroom routine throughout the year. Every Day 2 we will do some class goal setting and evaluation. Today I asked kids to write down something they appreciated or felt positive about these first few weeks, as well as something that they think we need to work on as a group. We will come back and evaluate these in about a weeks time, and see what kind of progress we made. A few of the positives kids shared are as follows:
Things we should work on:
We also introduced the idea of class jobs and a classroom enterprise. I have to take some time this weekend to look through the ideas that were generated. We will begin this journey as October rolls around.
To end the week, which hopefully becomes a routine we use throughout the year, I asked students to record an idea that STUCK with them this week. Once again it was hard for some students to think of a positive, or possibly to have the confidence to express this positive. I was pretty open this week, but I will continue to push students to think about themselves and the week, and identify what mattered to them throughout the course of those few days.
Here is what our "board" looked like after the task was complete. (You can't really read the comments, but you get the idea)
We participated in our first STEM challenge, and Stephanie, Shelby and Emily created the tallest structure. They worked hard at identifying the centre of gravity and used this to their advantage.
What I've noticed is that many kids are shy and timid when it comes to thinking about and talking about their strengths. It has been a challenge for them to dig deep and come up with ideas that are relevant and matter. I trust that will come with time, and we will keep at it. I do want kids to feel proud of what they have to contribute and to recognize that matters.
Today we added a few new layers to what will become classroom routine throughout the year. Every Day 2 we will do some class goal setting and evaluation. Today I asked kids to write down something they appreciated or felt positive about these first few weeks, as well as something that they think we need to work on as a group. We will come back and evaluate these in about a weeks time, and see what kind of progress we made. A few of the positives kids shared are as follows:
- Playing Kahoot!
- Our cleaning up
- CPR time - trying to break the records we set
- Circle Time Games
- Creating Stop Motion Videos
- Our Six Word Memoirs
- Having time to read
- Set Up of the Class
- The the grade 7s are really inviting and welcoming
- Involved everyone
- Getting to know each other
Things we should work on:
- Creating a class breakfast
- Listening better to others
- Group work
- Work at being better listeners
- Sharing different spots
- Being more focused when working independently
We also introduced the idea of class jobs and a classroom enterprise. I have to take some time this weekend to look through the ideas that were generated. We will begin this journey as October rolls around.
To end the week, which hopefully becomes a routine we use throughout the year, I asked students to record an idea that STUCK with them this week. Once again it was hard for some students to think of a positive, or possibly to have the confidence to express this positive. I was pretty open this week, but I will continue to push students to think about themselves and the week, and identify what mattered to them throughout the course of those few days.
Here is what our "board" looked like after the task was complete. (You can't really read the comments, but you get the idea)
Enjoy the long weekend. Please check out the photos/videos page. (Email me for the password). It shows a few of the positive things (videos) that I saw happening this week.