I Am

 

Yoga has taught me many lessons about myself, but most of them begin with "I am."  I am strong. I am loved. I am enough.  When I read this powerful book I knew I wanted to spread the "I am" lesson to my students.  The message of this book is incredible not just for children, but for adults.  If I could recommend a book for every person on Earth to read, this is that book.

  

After I read the book to my learners, they created an I Am display for their cubbies.  They included literal responses: a son, a daughter, a 4th grader, a friend, a sister, a brother, a baseball player, a gamer, a dancer.  They also wrote words to describe themselves: intelligent, funny, athletic, kind, creative, neat, organized, independent, and many other amazing adjectives.

Playdough and Tell

This is my favorite back-to-school getting-to-know-you activity.  It is creative and active.  It is detailed or abstract.  It is a positive experience for the quiet students and the talkative ones.  It is great for 4th graders because it is WHATEVER they want it to be!

Each table received a box of clay sticks (I get whatever Dollar Tree has in stock.  Sometimes they have 4 packs of Playdough, but this year it was 12 stick pack of clay). Students use the clay to create something that shows us about themselves.  It can be a specific item, like a football, or it can be a symbol that represents something, like a heart.  Then they create a display by writing a description on an index card.  They have a choice to write their names on the front or back of the card. I leave these displays out until Curriculum Night so parents can see them.

*I did not create this activity.  I read about it somewhere or saw it at a training, but after 26 years I cannot remember the exact person or I would give him/her credit.  

Are We All in Agreement?

One of my beliefs in education is that if children are part of the process they will work harder.  For this reason, I lead my students to develop their own classroom expectations and norms.  If a lesson directs me to share a chart of norms or for me to share my expectations, I turn it into a WE situation.  

WE need to create our classroom expectation and WE need to agree to follow them.

WE need to create our class discussion norms.  For this activity I had to have both of my Literacy Blocks develop their list of norms and then I combined them into one set.  Luckily, they organically fell together into two categories and the combination was rather seamless.

Get a Job!

My community of learners works together to run a successful classroom.  EVERYONE has a job and contributes to our success and safety. I created jobs that I think will match the interests for students ages 9-11 since I teach 4th grade. I explain each job using this presentation: 

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1uoI7oZM1B1CTcD15t2Imv047dfz3UpGm9aQPTMhSf3g/copy

Students fill out a job application choosing the three jobs in which they are most interested.  I switch out jobs every quarter so that everyone has a chance to try out their choices. Students are welcome to have discussions during class meeting if they are having an issue with their job.  Sometimes students ask to switch with each other.  Sometimes a student does not like the job they picked. We talk to solve the problem, but sometimes it boils down to real life that you need to have a growth mindset and stick it out until the next job comes along in the next quarter.

On Purpose

 

I like my classroom to feel inviting, relaxing, safe, and purposeful. I totally appreciate the time, money, and effort teachers put into a perfectly decorated classroom. I choose each object in my classroom for a purpose. These framed quotes are not hung on the wall for decoration. They were used in class meeting as a discussion point. Afterwards students signed their names on the quote they felt most motivated by. Now we have a record of something we all believe in as a class. 

              

Welcome Back

I took a break from posting on my educational blog because of life. That is the only way to explain it. When I stopped writing,  I taught at a school that was lead by a monster of a principal. I was trying to get through each day and just find a way out. I transferred to a different school where I have happily taught for 5 years. My district was bouncing around with curriculum changes. My mother passed suddenly. I had a student with PTSD that took up a lot of my energy. Then COVID came. 

My personal goal this year is to fall in love with teaching again. I love the creativity and challenge of teaching. I love inspiring children to love reading. I enjoy sharing my ideas and methods with other teachers. So I have decided to put in the time and start posting on my blog again.