Day 5, 6, 7: ROUTINES, ASSESSMENTS, PLACES!

For the beginning of this week, we have fulfilled beginning of the year assessments in word study and math.  We will also write the District Writing Assessment on Friday.  Next week will be our beginning of the year reading assessments.  These evaluations give me a good idea of where students are as readers, writers, and mathematicians. Every year, I try more and more to tailor our learning experiences to kids independent skill level so everyone is getting what they need as learners.

Turns out we have to practice some routines as well!  With so many great minds in our class it can be difficult to focus on independent learning.  So we are getting used to what a focus, independent learning time feels like in our happily crowded room.  Kids are also getting used to what it means to be learner in different environments which will help us as we visit more places in the community. I have added details about our place experiences this week on the Community Project Based Learning page.

Reading: Kids are learning about genres in reading, practicing independent reading and nonfiction articles.

Writing: We are using sketches we have made to start a poem before starting our narrative writing cycle.

Social Studies: World maps are looking great! 

Math: We have discussed place value and are communicating and ordering numbers from our geography work. 

Science: We are always practicing our observations and we also practiced measurement and ordering data in a data table. Check out awesome measurement skills below!  They are measuring representations of wingspans of living organisms! Look how long the Marabou Stork wingspan is!

Super accurate!

Teamwork!

Very precise!

Marabou Stork! Whoa! 400 cm!

DAY 3/4: BOOK SHARES, MATH MAGIC, AND CARTOGRAPHERS

Reading: We have introduced reading routines including the traditional Book Shares to Hannibal program and independent reading expectations.  Next week, we will further investigate different genres and I will begin reading assessments so I can learn about each students as a reader.

Writing: Next week we will take a spelling and a narrative assessment.  Also, we will be writing to prompts based on our experiences at local libraries.

Math: We did a math magic trick to introduce how numbers can be fun.  Our first unit will be number sense and place value.  I will start with a pre-test so I can gauge everyone's skills.  A lot of our numbers practice will be tied to landforms we study during our Where in the World geography work.

Social Studies: I introduced the beginning of our Where in the World geography theme and student cartographers are already working on their World Map and have chosen a landform to represent in art class.

Science: Scientists practiced our observation skills tied to describing birds and in the field at Stewart Park. Next week we will practice recording data and measurements before we start our first experiment with bird feeders we will create using reclaimed materials.

CPBL (Community Project Based Learning): Next week we are visiting the Grant School Media Center, the Daniel Boone Regional Library and the Ellis Library/State Historical Society on the UMC campus.  I have created a new tab to the right to follow our community experiences.  These experiences will inform our Where in the World geography project and provide direction for a year long community project.

COOL END TO A HOT DAY

Today was a smooth Day 2 as we continued getting in to routines and getting to know each other.
Below is a list of highlights:

1. Our Family Tree reveal on Google Earth pinpointed ancestors of our class in:
16 United States
10 Countries
4 Continents

We represent quite a diverse cultural history in our classroom.  It was fun to hear what kids learned about their family.

2. I gave out my first All-Star card of the year to Jack.  He earned it because he challenged Dr. Wingert to make the world a better place by participating in the Ice Bucket challenge to raise funds and awareness for ALS, commonly called Lou Gehrig's disease.  The link below tells more about this challenge.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yCoKB_tU9ng

Below is our fearless leader fulfilling the challenge. BRRR!

3. For homework tonight, students are making a hand print puzzle piece of what they want to do when they grow.  It can include an occupation and/or things they want to achieve, places they want to go to, or something they want to do in their lifetime.  We want our puzzle pieces to be colorful as they will decorate our room.. Below are two examples from Nathan and Avrill.  Also, I included a picture of some more bird feeder supplies we can use.  Thanks to all those who have donated.  We can use 9 and 6 inch pie pans, dowel rods or similar size sticks, and a couple more 96 ounce/half gallon juice or milk cartons.

 

HAPPY FIRST DAY!

It was a smooth transition into the new year at the Ecoschoolhouse.  I thoroughly enjoyed spending time with these fantastic individuals and starting our class community.  The picture below is all of us on Day 1 holding up our cube structures.

We are starting the year based on the theme of "The World is Your Classroom!".  Highlights of the day included kids sharing their self reflecting cube structures, taking a class tour, organizing materials, starting All-Star posters, and gearing up for our community experiences.  Part of our preparation for getting out into the community and getting inspired by our environment includes learning about ourselves and what inspires us.  So we are doing quite a few introspective "get to know you" activities and today we also started a SIMPLE family tree that kids will share tomorrow.  The intention is we will see even in our classroom of 28 learners we represent a wide variety of community and culture. I included an example below with some very simple expectations:

1. Ask your family for help
2. Include at least mother/father, grandmother/grandfather
3. Do your best to include place of birth and date

Above those expectations, include what you would like, especially since families come in all shapes and sizes and can mean different things to different people.  This is not an assignment we will grade; it is meant just for kids to learn something new about where they came from.  Let me know if you have any questions.

Also, while sharing about myself and my love of baseball, we viewed Lou Gehrig's famous farewell speech in which he addresses being "the luckiest man on the face of the planet" despite having a terminal illness.  In his speech, he addresses his appreciation of family and his community in his success.  We followed this up with another movie about a modern man who has the same terminal illness, ALS (Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis), often referred to as Lou Gehrig's disease, devoting the rest of his life to making the world a better place with acts of kindness. I attached links to those movies below.  The videos are intended to set the stage for students understanding how community affects who they are and this year we are planning to be inspired to work on a project to make the world a better place.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jl8R_9pCaDE

http://ftw.usatoday.com/2014/07/lou-gehrig-speech-75th-anniversary-mlb-new-york-yankees

http://www.cbsnews.com/videos/als-patient-devotes-life-to-random-acts-of-kindness/