The kids in room 36 are working so hard to become successful learners. Today children got their writing notebooks and we began Work on Writing, one component of the Daily5. For their first homework assignment, children read-to-self at home. A reference sheet is in the back cover of the take home folders to help families know the expectations.
Our classroom butterflies laid eggs a couple of weeks ago. I captured a few of the newly hatched caterpillars. These are the two that survived, and look how they are thriving! When we left school on Friday, they looked quite different from the way they look now. It is amazing how quickly they grow and change. We will return from Thanksgiving break just in time to see them emerge from the crysalis and continue the life cycle as adults. We are well into the swing of things in the school year and VERY busy! Over the last couple of weeks, there have been several deliveries to our classroom. Thanks to a grant through the Delaware Community Foundation and the Fund for Children's Literacy Award, we received balance cushions. These inflated seat cushions allow kids to wiggle while still remaining seated. Research has shown that when kids have to engage their bodies to balance on their seats, they also engage their brains and think better.
Our next delivery was white boards and markers. These allow me to engage the class in "every student response." When a question is posed, ALL children have the chance to answer by writing or drawing on the white board, and then holding it up to show their answer. The white boards are helping us live out our rule of "listen and think, so you can do your best." Finally, we received ten Google Chromebook computers. These will supplement the BYOD program that is in place. The children are on their way to becoming 21st century learners! Yesterday, there was much excitement on the playground when Nicholas found a little hopping creature. I captured the little guy, and we brought him inside to determine whether he was a frog or toad. We decided to do some research using Safe Search Kids (powered by Google), which found us some websites. After reading that toads have brown, dry, bumpy skin, and do not live near water, we were pretty sure we had a toad.
Unfortunately, when we arrived at school this morning, we found our toad was no longer living. There was much discussion among the children ("Maybe he is just asleep," and "Let's feed him and then he will be okay,"), we talked about the reality at Morning Meeting. After quiet time, we buried the toad outside of our classroom. I was very proud of how the children conducted themselves during our funeral for toad. They were serious and respectful, and I told them that we will always remember the time we found toad on the playground. Nicholas sang a little song for toad as we went back inside.
The students in Room 36 are ready to learn. The first two days have been VERY busy. We are working to learn the important routines and procedures that will make our classroom successful all year long. Through interactive modeling, students are explicitly taught the expected behaviors for each part of our day. We are building a common understanding of what our classroom will be like for the entire year, while also building a sense of community.
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AuthorNews about Mrs. Barbas's Class in Room 36. Archives
December 2015
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