Category Archives: Classroom

Window Dressing

We moved our “We’re Connected with the World Map“, remember? Well, in order to have space to do that, we had to move the class chart we had made during our punctuation study.  Our class had the great idea of using our blinds to hand the chart, so we could see it more easily and refer to it during our conversations on the carpet.  That is, indeed, the whole point of the chart anyway, but where I had decided to hang it did not facilitate that happening.  Again–my kids had a great idea that I wish I had done in the first place!  So now our smart thinking about punctuation hangs above our heads while we work and think together in our meeting space–right where it should be!


As a String Pulled Tight

Ok, before I start, I have to warn  you that what I am about to tell you about is really so incredible that any words I choose to use won’t really do it justice, but since that’s what happens here, I’m going to give it the old college try. 🙂

There is a big long back story I could tell you about life in our room lately–the not-so-pretty part that I don’t usually post about–but I’ll just state it simply:  we have a problem with bullies in Rm. 201.

So today at lunch I made the decision, with the help of my good friend and teammate Melissa, to have a meeting about it.  We decided it was time to lay it all out.  To sit down and hash out our problems together.

I have to admit I was a little nervous about it.  I wasn’t sure we’d come to a solution today.  I wasn’t sure how long it would take.  I wasn’t sure if I’d have all the answers I needed, if kids would be willing to share, and I really wasn’t sure how the bullies would react to the conversation.

But–like I have done on many other occasions in my teaching career–I had to put that aside and take the risk.  Jump in the deep end.  Go for it and trust that we would figure it out together.  And what happened next was nothing less than remarkable.  I’m going to borrow some words from my friends’ blogs today to help tell some of the rest of the story:

  • I think this resent class meeting was amazing never been better. I’ve never seen my class mates be so cooperative and helpful. Every one was amazing. I hope that the next class meeting is no different than the one today. I think many shout out’s have been given and I hope that everybody knows how absolutely outstanding it was.
  • YYYYYYAAAAAAYYYYYYY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We had an awesome conversation today about bullies!!! I don’t know bout you, but I don’t like  bullies! But our class is so much more… fun,happy,nice, and friendly! I have never seen anything like it! it’s amazing!!! I am not scared to leave my things  out. We discovered who the bullying was.  So nice to know what was going on but now we do good bye bully’s!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!:)
  • Today after lunch Mrs. Bearden pulled the entire class to the carpet in a circle to talk about bullies. The tension in the room was so bad, it was like I was a string being pulled really hard. We handeled it soooooooo well it was amazing! Mrs. Bearden said to tell names which no teacher has ever asked me before. It was scary I was afraid that if I said anything to someone, that they would get mad. But when the brave people in our room stepped up, It was amazing everyone was great. And it got even better when a friend of mine stepped up and said that she would like to say sorry to every one she had hurt.

             That broke the string.

                After that we talked about apoligies and eventually came to saying that we will start fresh.    Right   now as I am blogging well you probably not reading this as I am typing it, but as I am I hear people who would not usually laugh together, are. Every thing feels great in here. Especialy after we all had 2 billion pounds on our shoulders when we were talking about bullies.

  • Today, are schedule changed after lunch/recess–a lot. Wait! Let me say that again–a lot.Here is how it went…We stopped in the familiar 3rd grade hallway on our way to room 201. Mrs. Bearden announced that when we walked into the classroom, we would not be sitting on the carpet facing her rocking chair, but in a circle. We were all very confused, but did it anyway. We all sat on the carpet in a circle. Mrs. Bearden sat with us and said “We have some bullies in our class” Everyone’s eyes paced around the room, searching for the bullies. Then, Mrs. Bearden said that this was just like a class-meeting, except we would be mentioning names. Silence. That was when the action happened.Everyone said something about how they have been bullied and who bullied them. When I was done with mine, I cried. I was so scared because I didn’t know what the bully would say to me about me sharing the scene when I was bullied. But everything was fine. The bullies said sorry in a serious, emotional way–they even got an applause. The one who bullied me came to me privately and said sorry. Everyone was so happy after the hour-and-twenty-five minute meeting.
  • People in my class are so nice. They tought me not to take that anger out on them just because my brother did that to me.  And they didn’t do that to me. They are just trying to help me and be kind and try to be my friend. I really thank Evan for been a really good or really really great host. I am so sorry. Tomorrow a new girl is going to be walking in this class and is going to hang out with people a lot. I said that stuff from my heart. I had almost cried when I heard all the people say my name. It was like a radio going. I was like “I really did this stuff to these people.” I was so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so sorry. I really think Evan can be a great host.  The show can be called “The Evan C. Football Player Show”. So thank you everybody and I am sorry for what I did. I am so sorry for calling you a big elephant head and sorry for being mean all the time. And I mean all the time. Sorry. Bye!

This meeting, which was not structured like our usual class meetings, was a truly amazing scene.  I wished that I had taped it, so you could really see and hear what happened.  I was beyond impressed and proud with how bold and brave and honest everyone was.  They were so respectful and real while they calmly aired their grievances and talked about how they felt.  There was a natural leader that arose, and he did such a super job of synthesizing, restating and clarifying what the group was saying.

After about an hour-and-a-half, we got to a place where we clearly understood 1) what the problem was, 2) why some of it was happening, and 3) what we were going to do about it.  The feeling in the room was calm and relaxed and we knew that everything was (and is) going to be all right.  Obviously we didn’t solve all the world’s problems during that session, and we know it’s not going to be easy, but we have hope.  We know what we’re capable of, and trust that we will do what say we will do.

Time will tell, but I believe we’re on the right track. I think we’re at a fork in the road, a turning point.  We grew together today, had a shared experience that we can use as a benchmark for the future.  We’re closer, and we care more for each other.  So many people left with such great energy that I know it will affect us in a really meaningful way.

Remember all the times I’ve said my kids were amazing?  More proof today of how that statement is true.

What stories do you have about bullies in the classroom?  What advice do you have for my students about how to deal with bullies?  When have you had a scary conversation that ended up better than you’d expected?  We’d love to hear from you!

Kids Have the Best Ideas

Remember this? We started this map a little bit ago and have been so excited to watch the pins get added to mark all the connections we’re making!

Friday was class meeting day, and so the thing that everyone wanted to talk about was our Making Connections Map.  I thought that was odd at first, because I didn’t know what there was to talk about with it.  But that’s what’s really cool about how our class meetings work (if you haven’t read about them yet, check it out here): they’re in charge of what they want to talk about, and usually their ideas are WAY better than what I would have suggested anyway. It’s there classroom, too, after all, and they know what issues are bugging them as well as I do (sometimes better!).

So it ended up that they wanted to talk about the process of putting the pins on the map.  And they wanted to talk about how I shouldn’t have to do it all by myself.  Somebody even said, “Come on, guys, Mrs. Bearden was nice enough to not give us any homework, and so we should be nice to her and take care of this ourselves.”  Love it, right?  Then they decided that since the Manager’s job (maybe I should post about our classroom jobs some day soon) to check in homework, and they don’t have that responsibility anymore, then the Manager should be the one who is in charge of adding new pins to the map each week.  Which actually makes perfect sense, since we want the map to be interactive and usually I am the only one interacting with it!  Loved the idea of how it meant they could each get their paws on it, and be responsible to find the places for the pins.  I actually though, “Duh, Mrs. Bearden.  You probably should have thought of that initially–it’s kind of the point of the whole project.”  But now it’s even better because it was my 5th grade friends who reminded me of this fact.  Thank you, friends.

Another decision they made–which I agreed with again–was that our map was entirely too small!  We had so many pins already and they were all on top of each other.  Just St. Louis alone had about 6 or 7 because we marked them as each individual town.  So we found a bigger map and hung it up and we LOVE IT!  Check it out:

They decided to move it to the other side of the room to that big wall by the door.  It’s easier to get to, and it’s somewhere we’re always walking by, so we could look at it and talk about it really easily, too.

Most of our pins right now are in the US and Canada, and our new map makes them much easier to see.

It might look like we have a lot of blog followers in the middle of the Pacific Ocean (or like my map friends don’t know where Missouri is!), but those are actually linked to a pin that’s on St. Louis.  We had a really interesting conversation about how we could label our own hometown in all of those ways.  So far we have blog commenters from St. Peters, Florissant, Fenton, Webster Groves, Crestwood, Kirkwood, and Bel Ridge–all part of the metropolitan St. Louis area.

But this still might be my favorite pin.  Courtesy of Judy McKenzie in New Zealand.  Check out her class blog here. 🙂

A Conversation about Homework

We had a great conversation in our class today.  I wasn’t surprised that it was great, because like I’ve told you before a hundred times, I have really amazing kids.  Here’s what happened:

In our classroom, Wednesday is homework day.  Today, however, instead of sending home the homework sheet, we had a conversation about a decision that our 5th grade team has made to not do that weekly homework sheet anymore.

What follows are some of the things my kids said in response to that announcement:

  • I think that’s great, but I’m not sure my parents will believe me when I tell them.
  • But what about next year?  I don’t think I’ll be ready for homework in middle school.
  • I think it’s a good idea because I’ll have time to play outside now.
  • Well, even if you don’t tell me to, I’ll still read and write at home anyway.
  • I think that even if you don’t send home homework to do, my parents will still give me things to work on anyway.
  • I don’t like that idea.  I’m just not sure about it.

I have to admit, I was a little surprised by some of them.  Maybe naively, I figured they would all think it was a great idea.  But I love that they were honest about what they were thinking, and that they were asking questions.  I have very thoughtful friends, and so several of them asked me about how long we’ve been thinking about it and how we had decided to do this.

I was happy to share with them what this announcement meant for them, and what it did not:

  • It does mean that they will not receive a weekly homework sheet of have-tos that they are to turn in on Tuesday.
  • It does not mean that they will never have homework, though.  Just not weekly, busy-work kind of homework.
  • It does mean that I expect them to use every minute we are in the classroom together wisely.  We cram a lot of learning into a day and I expect that they remember this and work hard.
  • It does mean that some days there will be things we will have time to start–but not finish–in class.  These things may have to go home for homework to be completed because we will need it for the next day.
  • It does mean that I want them to have more time to spend being a kid.  Doing things they want to do like play outside, ride their bike or spend time with their families.
  • It does not mean that I want them to stop reading and writing at home.  I am just not telling them they have to.  I want them to want to, and continue doing so.  (Many admitted that they would do this anyway, even if it wasn’t homework)
  • It does mean we will still have spelling tests each week.  We will find times to work on this practice during the school day.
  • It does not mean that I think my kiddos should go home and sit in front of the TV or video games all night long.  I hope that now they use their time to choose to do active things with their families or friends.
  • It does mean that I want them to continue to work had and love to learn.

I can’t wait to hear about how the conversation went when they went home tonight!  🙂

Geometry Video

Ok, so the other day I posted about our first lesson in our new geometry unit.  I was a little frustrated by not being able to post videos, because I caught a great conversation about rotational symmetry that one group had.

After some smart thinking by my brother-in-law, I am attempting it again, using our newly created YouTube channel.  Let’s see if it works:

But anyhow, I hope you caught what was happening in that conversation.  The boys were working to put their geometry terms into groups and label them, and got to talking about rotational symmetry related to triangles.  Evan was trying to explain to Harry about how all triangles have rotational symmetry and was showing him with the picture on the post-it.  Harry–and then Dom, who you only hear but not see–help him with the idea that regular triangles, but not all triangles have rotational symmetry.

I love how you ask kids to do one thing, and then they take the conversation to other (and many times deeper) levels.  Great job, kiddos!

(And sorry to those of you who were annoyed by the quality of that video.  I’m still new to this part of blogging and uploading!  I’ll get better, I promise. 🙂 )

The World of Geometry

Today was the first day back after Winter Break.  In math we went back to a unit we had briefly started before we left–2D geometry and measurement.  You just never know how kids will be the first day back into the routine of school after being gone for so long, but my kiddos totally rocked it!

We started a unit from the book Differentiation in Practice by Carol Ann Tomlinson and Caroline Cunningham Eidson, which I have used before with other classes.  I love the way it’s tiered so that everyone can engage at the level they need, and the lessons are written in such a clear way that I can just jump right in!

We started with the first lesson today, which began with a rating scale to get them thinking about how well they know geometry.  We made a class chart that looked like this:

Obviously we already feel like we know a lot about geometry! That will mean we can go to great places and expand our learning to topics we might not otherwise have been ready for!  What fun we will have!

After we completed our rating scale, we went ahead with a List-Group-Label activity related to geometry terms.  In small groups at their tables, they first listed words they thought of that were related to geometry.  Remember when we made Wordles in math last month? Well they used those to help get their thinking started.

Lauren references her Wordle to help with geometry terms for her list today.

Taylor and Abigail work together on their list.

Harry and Evan have a variety of polygons on their list of geometry terms.

After their groups listed terms, then their job was to group these terms into categories.   They did this on paper first, and then we started a class web that we’ll finish up tomorrow:

While what we were doing today was not hard, and was based on prior knowledge, they really dug in and did some great work.  If only you could see the videos I took of a conversation on rotational symmetry from Harry and Evan’s group!  I will have to find a way to be able to upload it–such an amazing example of students building on each others’ learning and working with misconceptions together.  I just got stand by and watch.

More to come as we dig deeper into this unit.  Cannot wait to share what happens next! 🙂

Are you connected?

Today I was at school all by myself.  Ok, not all by myself, but without any students there.  It was a work day for teachers before students return tomorrow.  And it’s definitely a nice way to ease back into the school routine slowly.

I had a couple of goals today, one of them being this new bulletin board:

It’s right at the front of the room, behind the rocking chair I sit in for read aloud and much of our carpet time.  I hope it becomes a place where we can have daily conversations about the world, specifically about the people and places we’re connecting with via our blogs.  The plan is to mark the places where visitors (and those who leave comments) to our site are from.  I anticipate some really rich conversations around culture and geography will spark from this map–thanks to you, our readers.  Can’t wait to see how full the board becomes as the year goes on.

Will you help us?  We’d love to set the goal of getting as many different pins as possible on our map! Be sure to leave us a comment after you read and tell us a little about your town and yourself.  My kids would love it if you did the same on their blogs, as well, which can be found at www.kidblog.org/MrsBeardensClass2.

Can’t wait to see who we will meet this year!

New Year, New Theme

So if you’re here as a returning reader, then WELCOME BACK and HAPPY NEW YEAR! If you’re here for the first time, WELCOME and HAPPY NEW YEAR to you, too!

Just wanted to take a minute to say hope your 2012 is off to a great start! I wanted to officially start off a new blogging year with a new theme. Ok, I really just can’t decide which theme I like best and so I decided this would be a good time to try out another one that looked good.

But whatever the reason, I hope for you your best year yet. Did you make any New Year’s Resolutions? My kids will be blogging about that very topic this week, but until you read theirs, tell us about yours. 🙂

Ready, Set, Blog!

We did it.  We’re officially online!

After a little technological hiccup yesterday, we set today as the day for our first “real” blog posts.  Remember how I’m always saying my kids are amazing? Well, today they did not disappoint. 🙂

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I know you will want to read what they’re doing, and I know they will love to have you read it!  And, as most of them remembered to add to their posts, please remember to leave a comment!

Check us out at www.kidblog.org/MrsBeardensClass2!

 

10 Things I Learned Today

I have always thought that good teachers are also learners.  I try to learn something every day.  And today was one of those days when I was learning a lot.  Here are just a few of those things.

1. My students are ready for Winter Break.

2. Many of my students like to argue–I mean debate. 🙂 

3. My friend Melissa is really sneaky.  She left me a really great Christmas gift on my desk, right under my nose.  And it was perfect–partly pink, partly related to writing, and mostly made from a cupcake.  YUM!

4. My students are ready for Winter Break.

5. My kids are amazing bloggers, even though they just did their first post today.  I knew they were great writers, but I LOVE seeing it in action.  And I chuckled out loud at some of what they wrote.  This will definitely be a great way to get to know them better as people, not just writers.

6. If you eat too many Oreo Cookie Balls, you will get a stomachache. But then you might keep eating them anyway because they are so amazingly yummy.

7. My students are ready for Winter Break.

8. If you’re walking in a parking lot and there are two paths–one through a big puddle and another on dry pavement–you will walk on dry land and the kids around you will stomp through the puddles every time.

9. There are many people in my school I don’t talk to often enough.  I got to have a great conversation this afternoon with two friends I don’t see very often because their roles are different than mine.  Our paths don’t cross unless we make them, and I need to learn to do that more. Thanks Rochelle and Erika for chatting today.  I learned from you in that short time and enjoyed myself, too!

10. My students are ready for Winter Break.  But so am I. 🙂