The month of August is really all about learning the rules and procedures in our classroom, and building classroom community. After talking about the importance of rules and procedures, we made a class promise. The students came up with a list of things they promise to do as students, and then they helped me list of things that a good teacher should do:) We also read one of my favorite books, "Have You Filled a Bucket Today?". The idea is that everyone walks around with an imaginary bucket that is filled and emptied by the words and actions of others. It talks about how we can make others feel good by saying nice things, acts of kindness, and encouragement. This is called "filling someone's bucket". Then it discusses how we "dip into a bucket" by hurtful words and actions. I highly encourage checking out this book for home as well. We will enforce the "bucket filler" attitude throughout the year (and hopefully beyond) through our "community circle" in which we share our feelings and experiences with having our buckets filled and emptied. We will also begin writing regular "bucket filler" notes each week during Daily 5. These notes will be shared on Fridays in community circle, and it's always one of my favorite times of the week.
Another community building activity I love is the "band aid" lesson. This is a great way to teach students about differentiation, and it's the perfect way to explain one of my favorite quotes, "Fair doesn't mean everyone gets the same thing, it means everyone gets what they need in order to be successful." In our classroom we have students with different strengths and weaknesses, different learning styles, and different needs. It's important that students understand why some students may get things that they do not, whether it's time with the teacher one-on-one, time in another classroom, different work, a special seat, etc. During this lesson students talk about times when they have gotten hurt, and regardless of where they said their injury was, they all received a band aid on their wrist. We discussed how different injuries need different sized band aids, and band aids in different places. This was the perfect way to present differentiation to first graders, and it was really cool to see it "click". Now when I am working with a small group, they know not to rip the band aid off by interrupting:)
In reading we have been building "stamina" in Daily 5. Daily 5 is a method for building fluency in reading and writing by daily independent practice and small group instruction. Students work independently on writing, independent reading, reading with a buddy, reading on the computer with "Reading Eggs" program, word work, and working with the teacher on reading fluency and phonics. At this time, students are still working on being able to work independently for up to 15 minutes at a time. Once students are ready for more responsibility and independence, I will allow them to choose the order in which they complete the daily requirements and they will be graded weekly on their performance through a Daily 5 rubric. This is always one of my favorite times of day. I love seeing kids lounging around enjoying a good book!
In math we have been working on implementing our brand new math program "Investigations". This program incorporates game based learning in mathematics, as well as learning math through calendar time. After our Number of the Day and calendar routine, students rotate daily between math with the teacher, independent math, and math with a buddy (games). It's been a challenge, but I think we are finally getting into the swing of it!
As we move into the fall, I hope to blog more regularly. This week we are learning about keeping a journal or diary. We read Diary of a Worm, and I explained to students that a blog is like a diary. I will share this blog with them later this week as an example, and eventually I would love to move into having some regular "student bloggers" for our blog! Stay tuned! Also, if you are new to our blog, don't forget to "follow" by clicking the link in the sidebar.
