When I found the evidence in the above picture last year, I couldn't help but laugh out loud. The funny thing is, I looked at this candy corn the other day, and there are now several more bites on the candy corn! Clearly, some of my students this year experienced the same temptation. Sometimes it's hard to remember that these students are just 5 and 6 years old because they are learning and performing really difficult tasks. Even though they are writing personal narratives, learning to think like scientists and mathematicians, and learning how to read both fiction and nonfiction texts, they are still small children who wonder if the sparkly candy corn decorating Ms. Benson's room tastes as good as it looks! My favorite part happened last year as well, but it's too good not to share. One of my students saw the bite marks and expressed her surprise, but then proceeded to bite the top off herself (see below picture). I found her a few minutes later trying to glue the top back on with her small glue stick. There truly isn't a dull moment in my room (last year or this year), and I've got to say, I LOVE it!!! I wouldn't trade it for the world.
In addition to the funny stories, I also love seeing my students develop deep, lasting friendships. A colleague of mine came into my room the other day, and she expressed why she loved my class so much. She said they were a family. I hadn't really thought about my class in this way, but she's absolutely right. My students truly love and care about one another. They celebrate each other when successes are made (both big and small). They are very protective of one another, and they occasionally argue like brothers and sisters. It's all very sweet, really. One particular moment was captured in some pictures. Denver, one of the boys in my room, was sitting on the ground during recess. He was sitting there for no longer than a minute when, suddenly, he was surrounded by lots of girls. It was seriously one of the sweetest moments I have ever witnessed. It was pure magic! I captured only a little of this moment in a few pictures, but I don't think they do the moment justice.
Not only have my students grown in their relationships with one another, they have also grown in their knowledge. Read to find out what we are doing in each subject area.
Reading
In reading, students have learned several strategies to help them comprehend and decode unknown words. For comprehension, students have learned to stop and check for understanding by asking themselves, 'What did I just read?' Students have learned to retell the story at that point. If they are able to retell, students know they understood what they read. If they are not able to retell, students understand that they need to back up and reread. Students have learned that the most important thing they do as a reader if to understand what they are reading.
Decoding strategies have involved finding the first part and looking through the whole word, as well as cross-checking by asking this question: Does it look right, sound right, and make sense? If the answer is yes to each parts of that question, most likely the word is correct. One thing you can do to reinforce these strategies if your child comes to an unknown word is to remind him/her to find the first part (have your child cover up everything except for the first part). Then have them search through the rest of the word to think of a word that looks right and makes sense. Then ask them, "Does that look right, sound right, and make sense?"
In addition to comprehension and accuracy/decoding strategies, students have learned that fluency involves more than just expression. Students learned that reading at an appropriate pace is also important. They understand that pace is really important...that reading too slow or too fast can affect all areas of reading. Students recognize how important it is to read at an appropriate pace.
I am also so proud to say that the final component of Daily 5/Readers' Workshop was added to their repertoire: Read to Someone. Knowing that students have struggled with this task in the past, I was expecting this year to be no different. The task itself isn't too challenging, but rather, reading quietly the WHOLE time is challenging with a partner. This class is doing exceptionally well with this.
One of the other exciting things that happened over the last few weeks in my classroom is something called I-Pick. This stands for Independently picking books. Students have practiced selecting books from my library and have done this for the past few weeks. These are the perfect books for students to practice reading the pictures, and depending on the book, reading the words as well.
Once students had a few months to really explore my library and learn the different ways my library is organized (by author, genre, topic, and series), my students were able to pick 3 books to add to their browsing boxes to read for the week. I-Pick will be done each Friday by returning books and picking out new books to learn or to enjoy. Students have learned that there are two reasons to pick a book: to enjoy and to learn.All in all, my students see themselves as readers and love every aspect of it! I am so proud of their passion and love for learning.
Reading
In reading, students have learned several strategies to help them comprehend and decode unknown words. For comprehension, students have learned to stop and check for understanding by asking themselves, 'What did I just read?' Students have learned to retell the story at that point. If they are able to retell, students know they understood what they read. If they are not able to retell, students understand that they need to back up and reread. Students have learned that the most important thing they do as a reader if to understand what they are reading.
Decoding strategies have involved finding the first part and looking through the whole word, as well as cross-checking by asking this question: Does it look right, sound right, and make sense? If the answer is yes to each parts of that question, most likely the word is correct. One thing you can do to reinforce these strategies if your child comes to an unknown word is to remind him/her to find the first part (have your child cover up everything except for the first part). Then have them search through the rest of the word to think of a word that looks right and makes sense. Then ask them, "Does that look right, sound right, and make sense?"
In addition to comprehension and accuracy/decoding strategies, students have learned that fluency involves more than just expression. Students learned that reading at an appropriate pace is also important. They understand that pace is really important...that reading too slow or too fast can affect all areas of reading. Students recognize how important it is to read at an appropriate pace.
I am also so proud to say that the final component of Daily 5/Readers' Workshop was added to their repertoire: Read to Someone. Knowing that students have struggled with this task in the past, I was expecting this year to be no different. The task itself isn't too challenging, but rather, reading quietly the WHOLE time is challenging with a partner. This class is doing exceptionally well with this.
One of the other exciting things that happened over the last few weeks in my classroom is something called I-Pick. This stands for Independently picking books. Students have practiced selecting books from my library and have done this for the past few weeks. These are the perfect books for students to practice reading the pictures, and depending on the book, reading the words as well.
Once students had a few months to really explore my library and learn the different ways my library is organized (by author, genre, topic, and series), my students were able to pick 3 books to add to their browsing boxes to read for the week. I-Pick will be done each Friday by returning books and picking out new books to learn or to enjoy. Students have learned that there are two reasons to pick a book: to enjoy and to learn.All in all, my students see themselves as readers and love every aspect of it! I am so proud of their passion and love for learning.
Writing
My students have continued to deepen their understanding of how to write personal narratives, or true stories, from our lives. One of the big focuses has been to include a beginning, a middle, and an end. Students understand that the beginning should tell the reader what this book is about (i.e. One day I went to the park.). They learned that the middle tells what happens in the story through a sequence of events (i.e. First, I went down the slide. Then I went on the monkey bars. Last I went on the swings.). Students have also learned that an ending should include how they felt (i.e. It was so much fun. I was so happy!). This understanding of a narrative structure will continue to serve them well for years to come.
Another aspect we have focused on has been adding details to make our writing even more interesting. Instead of just saying, 'One day, I went to the park', students have learned that a few details might be, 'One HOT day, I went to a REALLY FUN park.' They have also learned that if they want to add a word to their pre-existing writing, they can add a caret instead of erasing everything.
In addition, students have learned how important it is to reread writing to see if it makes sense. If it doesn't make sense or it's difficult to read, my students understand that they need to make changes to their writing to make it easier to read by adding/erasing words or rewriting sloppy writing. They have also learned when to use a capital letter (beginning of a sentence, the word 'I', and names), as well as how to add punctuation to the end of their sentences. They have been asked to reread their writing to see if any changes need to be made with capital letters and/or punctuation. This is really my students' first experience with the revising and editing process.
My students have written some amazing personal narratives thus far. In the next few weeks, students will have the chance to choose their best story to revise and edit even more. They will then prepare that piece to eventually share it with a first grade class. I plan to have my students read their writing to the students in Mrs. Hahn's first grade class. This will be a fun way to end our unit and to celebrate all the amazing writing going on in our classroom. I will try to take some videos of students sharing their stories when the celebration occurs.
Math
In math, my students have really grown in their problem solving strategies as well as their understanding of how number sentences work. They have been introduced to new symbols (plus sign +, minus sign - , and equals sign = ). They have learned to count on from the biggest number to be more efficient in their counting strategies (i.e. if they have a group of ten items and three more, they have been taught to say 10, 11, 12, 13). They have also learned a few more games that reinforce the things we are learning regarding numbers. One of the games we have learned is a game called Trash. All you need is a deck of cards (minus all of the face cards). Ask your child how to play, and you can play this at home.
One of the ways students have developed a deeper sense of how numbers work together is through a practice called number talks. To do a number talk, I usually show students a dot card. Students are then given a minute to look at the dots and see how many different ways they see the dots. Students hold up their fingers to show how many ways they saw the dots. Then I call on a few students to come up and show one of the ways they saw the dots, while I record their thinking. Here is a picture of one of our number talk sessions (see below).
This number talk in particular led students to understand how turn-around facts work (i.e. 3+2=5, 2+3=5). They saw how the addends were just turned around. Through doing these number talks, my students will become much more comfortable in recording their thinking by using number sentences.
My students have continued to deepen their understanding of how to write personal narratives, or true stories, from our lives. One of the big focuses has been to include a beginning, a middle, and an end. Students understand that the beginning should tell the reader what this book is about (i.e. One day I went to the park.). They learned that the middle tells what happens in the story through a sequence of events (i.e. First, I went down the slide. Then I went on the monkey bars. Last I went on the swings.). Students have also learned that an ending should include how they felt (i.e. It was so much fun. I was so happy!). This understanding of a narrative structure will continue to serve them well for years to come.
Another aspect we have focused on has been adding details to make our writing even more interesting. Instead of just saying, 'One day, I went to the park', students have learned that a few details might be, 'One HOT day, I went to a REALLY FUN park.' They have also learned that if they want to add a word to their pre-existing writing, they can add a caret instead of erasing everything.
In addition, students have learned how important it is to reread writing to see if it makes sense. If it doesn't make sense or it's difficult to read, my students understand that they need to make changes to their writing to make it easier to read by adding/erasing words or rewriting sloppy writing. They have also learned when to use a capital letter (beginning of a sentence, the word 'I', and names), as well as how to add punctuation to the end of their sentences. They have been asked to reread their writing to see if any changes need to be made with capital letters and/or punctuation. This is really my students' first experience with the revising and editing process.
My students have written some amazing personal narratives thus far. In the next few weeks, students will have the chance to choose their best story to revise and edit even more. They will then prepare that piece to eventually share it with a first grade class. I plan to have my students read their writing to the students in Mrs. Hahn's first grade class. This will be a fun way to end our unit and to celebrate all the amazing writing going on in our classroom. I will try to take some videos of students sharing their stories when the celebration occurs.
Math
In math, my students have really grown in their problem solving strategies as well as their understanding of how number sentences work. They have been introduced to new symbols (plus sign +, minus sign - , and equals sign = ). They have learned to count on from the biggest number to be more efficient in their counting strategies (i.e. if they have a group of ten items and three more, they have been taught to say 10, 11, 12, 13). They have also learned a few more games that reinforce the things we are learning regarding numbers. One of the games we have learned is a game called Trash. All you need is a deck of cards (minus all of the face cards). Ask your child how to play, and you can play this at home.
One of the ways students have developed a deeper sense of how numbers work together is through a practice called number talks. To do a number talk, I usually show students a dot card. Students are then given a minute to look at the dots and see how many different ways they see the dots. Students hold up their fingers to show how many ways they saw the dots. Then I call on a few students to come up and show one of the ways they saw the dots, while I record their thinking. Here is a picture of one of our number talk sessions (see below).
This number talk in particular led students to understand how turn-around facts work (i.e. 3+2=5, 2+3=5). They saw how the addends were just turned around. Through doing these number talks, my students will become much more comfortable in recording their thinking by using number sentences.
Numbers aren't the only things we have been working with in math. We have also been learning more about shapes. Students are specifically learning about the characteristics or attributes of each shape. They have learned the difference between a curved and a straight line. They have also learned terms such as vertices (corners), angles, and sides. Flat shapes and 3-dimensional shapes have been highlighted, and students are just beginning to understand how these types of shapes are different.
Many of my students have begun to count collections of objects that have more than 50 objects. Students have learned the importance of making groups of 10. Here is one picture of a students' counting collection and her recording. Notice how she made circles and wrote a 10 in the center of each circle, representing the groups of ten she made with the objects. The 4 sticks at the end represented the number of objects left over on the ten-frame.
Many of my students have begun to count collections of objects that have more than 50 objects. Students have learned the importance of making groups of 10. Here is one picture of a students' counting collection and her recording. Notice how she made circles and wrote a 10 in the center of each circle, representing the groups of ten she made with the objects. The 4 sticks at the end represented the number of objects left over on the ten-frame.
Science
My students have LOVED science this year. They have learned that scientists ask questions, study the things around them, and think. We continue to learn about forces and motion through the use of experiments. It has been so much fun to discover how we can use pushes and pulls to help solve real-world problems. Take a look at the videos below to see the full process of one of our experiments. The first video is 10 minutes long, so I understand if you don't want to watch it. I will say, however, that it gives you an idea of how the problem is presented to students and how engaged students are in discovering the solution to the problem at hand. Then, students have the chance to try to solve the problem on their own, and in the process, they draw their own conclusions from the results of their experiment.
My students have LOVED science this year. They have learned that scientists ask questions, study the things around them, and think. We continue to learn about forces and motion through the use of experiments. It has been so much fun to discover how we can use pushes and pulls to help solve real-world problems. Take a look at the videos below to see the full process of one of our experiments. The first video is 10 minutes long, so I understand if you don't want to watch it. I will say, however, that it gives you an idea of how the problem is presented to students and how engaged students are in discovering the solution to the problem at hand. Then, students have the chance to try to solve the problem on their own, and in the process, they draw their own conclusions from the results of their experiment.
We also discovered how bumpers and forces are used when bowling to help knock more pins down. Students discovered that if you throw the bowling ball toward the bumpers, and with a lot of force, the ball bounces off the bumpers and knocks more pins down. Here are some videos from the experiment.
Another science experiment was inspired by a book we read called I Fall Down Vicki Cobb. This book introduces the idea of gravity to young kids. Students were invited to discover which object (heavy or light) hits the ground first when dropped at the same time. After testing out various objects, students discovered that all items hit the ground at the same time and that weight doesn't affect the rate at which the object falls. Students also discovered that the only time an object falls at a slower rate is when the air pushes against the object (such as a feather, a sheet of paper, or a Kleenex). Here are some videos from this experiment as well.
With this trimester soon coming to a close, I am so excited about all of the things my students are learning. They have made so much growth! As the year continues, I am sure of one thing: I am very lucky and blessed to be these students' teacher. They are an amazing bunch of kids!