First Weeks of School!
During our first weeks of school, we focused on learning and practicing classroom routines. The students were taught our morning routine, bathroom routine, snack/recess and lunch/recess routine, fire drill routine, and end of the day routine. The students also practiced lining up, walking in the hallway, and sitting at the meeting rug. For each routine, we brainstormed and discussed expected behaviors. Additionally, we discussed what rules are and why they are important. We then brainstormed rules for our classroom. The students came up with excellent ideas! Together, we categorized and finalized our classroom rules.
In addition, we created a classroom book! The book is based on the beloved children’s book The Kissing Hand by Audrey Penn. Our book includes descriptions of how the students felt on the first day of school and an illustration to match. After reading the book, we placed it in our classroom library for all to read! |
Growth Mindset
Many people think of the brain as a mystery. When we think about what intelligence is, far too often people have the notion that a person is either born smart or not and stays that way for life. But the latest research shows that the brain is more like a muscle - it changes and becomes smarter everytime we "work it out". Scientists have been able to show how the brain grows and gets stronger as we learn.
To learn and understand how we can help to grow our brains, the students and I have been exploring the concept known as growth mindset. The theory of growth mindset was developed by psychologist Carol Dweck. In a growth mindset, people believe we have the ability to stretch and grow our brains through taking on challenges, learning from mistakes, accepting feedback and criticism, practicing and applying strategies, persevering, asking questions, and taking risks.
The opposite of growth mindset is referred to as fixed mindset. Those with a fixed mindset believe their basic qualities, like their intelligence or talents, are simply fixed traits. They spend their time documenting their intelligence or talents instead of developing them. They also believe that talent alone creates success—without effort.
To learn and understand how we can help to grow our brains, the students and I have been exploring the concept known as growth mindset. The theory of growth mindset was developed by psychologist Carol Dweck. In a growth mindset, people believe we have the ability to stretch and grow our brains through taking on challenges, learning from mistakes, accepting feedback and criticism, practicing and applying strategies, persevering, asking questions, and taking risks.
The opposite of growth mindset is referred to as fixed mindset. Those with a fixed mindset believe their basic qualities, like their intelligence or talents, are simply fixed traits. They spend their time documenting their intelligence or talents instead of developing them. They also believe that talent alone creates success—without effort.
To fully comprehend what it means to have a growth mindset, the students and I created a poster of language a person with a fixed mindset might use versus a person who has a growth mindset. We have also read various books relating to growth mindset followed by having insightful discussions about what we noticed. A few books that are particularly helpful in teaching students about growth mindset include: Your Fantastic Elastic Brain by JoAnn Deak Giraffes Can't Dance by Giles Andreae The Most Magnificent Thing by Ashley Spires The Girl Who Never Made Mistakes by Mark Pett and Gary Rubinstein The following is a great read on growth mindset: The Learning Myth |
Whole Body Listening
Pledge of Kindness
After reading the book Chrysanthemum by Kevin Henkes we discovered that unkind words leave wrinkles on our heart even when we say we are sorry. Accordingly, we made a pledge that we will treat one another with respect and kindness everyday!
Math
In math we are currently focusing on Topic 12: Length. Measurement provides a real-world context for students. Instruction begins with the use of nonstandard units in order to focus on the measurement process. While learning about different units of measurement (i.e. footsteps, cubes, paperclips, etc) students are exploring and discovering the relationship between the size of a unit and the number of units required to measure an object. As students develop an understanding of length, selecting appropriate nonstandard units, and the ability to compare objects, it will allow them the foundations to eventually measure in standard units in future grades. In addition, students will become familiar with the new term "estimate", which we like to call a "smart, careful guess".
Phonics
The students have been hard at work practicing their handwriting skills and reviewing letter names and sounds. Wilson Fundations is a literacy program we use at Winn Brook to explicitly teach phonological/phonemic awareness, phonics and spelling skills. Echo and baby Echo (our furry owl friends) help us practice the name-keyword-sound combination for each letter. We also utilize the Lively Letters program by Telian-Cas Learning Concepts to reinforce letter sounds and teach the students how the sounds are formed in our mouths. After reviewing the letter sounds, the students practice correctly forming each letter by writing it in the sky followed by writing it in their Lively Letters Book and on whiteboards.
We also reviewed the kindergarten sight words with two fun detective games and learned about alphabetical order!
Reading Workshop
As part of our reading workshop model, the students have been working hard on building their stamina for read to self. The students are able to read independently for 20 minutes! An extremely important aspect of reading workshop includes setting expectations for each component and following the expectations as we work towards increasing our stamina. Among the expectations the students set for read to self are: read the whole time, find a smart spot, stay in one spot, get started right away, work quietly, and build our stamina. We are now working on building our stamina for read to someone :) |
Choosing Good-Fit Books
Over the past few weeks, we have been discussing just right books. One of the most important things we can do to become better readers is to read good-fit books. To show the students just how important it is to select just right books, we observed and discussed our shoes. The kids quickly discovered that while their shoes are an excellent fit for them (the shoes fit their purpose, interests, and of course, their feet!), it may not be a good-fit for their classmates. We also discussed that although we may have the same purpose and interests as a classmate, what is a good-fit for one student may not be the best fit for another. We then carried the I PICK method over to books and further discussed how to use the strategy to select just right books! We will return to this lesson quite often throughout the school year and practice selecting good-fit books.
Last week we discussed what it means to be an active reader! The students learned a fancy new word called schema. Our schema is all the information we have stored in our brains. The students discovered that we can activate our schema to help us understand what we read. The students created their own schema maps! |
Three Ways to Read
To kick off reading workshop, the students learned, observed, discussed, and modeled three ways to read a book. The ways include reading the pictures, reading the words, and retelling the story. We also discussed what is means to be a reading expert and created a list of expectations that will help the students use their reading time wisely. We will spend lots of time practicing the three methods! |
Choice Time
A popular first grade activity the students have enjoyed the past couple of weeks includes choice time. During this time, students are able to socialize with friends while engaging in an activity of their choice. As the transition from summer vacation to returning back to school often leaves students tired in the afternoon, choice time is a great opportunity for the students to take a break and interact with their classmates.