It’s been happening in little bursts this year:
And EVERYBODY has a notebook! It’s been a long time coming, and every writer in our class has done an amazing job of working hard to prove they are ready. I am super excited at how excited they are about learning to be better writers by WRITING EVERY DAY!! If you know a friend from Rm. 202, please tell them how proud you are of their hard work and grit!!
Remember last year when we worked on organizing our classroom library? You might not, because I couldn’t find it on the blog….:( Maybe the post I thought I wrote got lost in the “it-has-to-be-finished-and-perfect” list I told you about yesterday. Well, since my pledge is to tell all the stories, not just the finished ones, I’ll share the parts of this story that we have finished (and that I have pictures of!).
We left at the end of 1st grade with a (mostly) organized library, which we had worked on together little-by-little last year. We packed it away in that same way, which always helps when I put the classroom back together the next fall. We figured out, though, that we had never gotten the boxes fully labeled, and so as we started using the books again this year, they got all mixed up. We decided we should probably just start over; I was the only one who knew what most of the categories were supposed to be.
We started by pairing up, and first going through the boxes we already had established. I gave each pair a box, and their job was 1) to figure out what their books had in common, 2) decide if they had any that didn’t match that category, 3) and then make a label that matched their newly decided-upon category. All of the extras got piled up in the middle of the room for later.
The second year together has been a great learning process in many ways. Of course, for many reasons, we’re doing many things differently, but there are also some things that are the same that they are doing differently. This is a perfect example. The understanding they have of genre and the difference between fiction/non-fiction, as well as the ability to see similarities and differences is deeper than when they did the library sort as first graders, so the same activity is even more meaningful than the first time. Even the way they “get” why we did it, why we did it together (as opposed to just having ME take care of it), and why we should keep it organized is different than last year.
Wow–I didn’t initially intend for this to be a two-parter, but I got to the end of #3 and figured it made more sense than continuing towards that 15-year-to-read post I mentioned. Ok, here we go again. And here’s Part 1 if you missed it.
4. In 2012, our family made another step in the stages of growth when my first baby went to kindergarten. Um…in case you didn’t know, the first day of kindergarten (i.e. real school) is VERY different than the first days of preschool. At least for me. Oh, the tears! Plus there was an added level of fun stress responsibility because I was sending him to my same school. That meant I had to quickly dry the tears and get back to my big kids for our first day of school. Needless to say, being a parent of a school-aged child was a learning experience. I think I’d say the hardest (and more surprising) part was parent-teacher conferences. As a mama of a kindergartener I learned that parent-teacher conferences are nerve-wracking from the other side of the table. No matter what. And wow–that was a big deal for me. After over a decade of going through that routine as a teacher, I finally “got it” as a parent. I knew that from then on I would do everything in my power to ease any nerves that came in with parents to my own conferences. And even though I’ve now done 5 of my own conferences, I still cry. I’ve learned to let Mr. Bearden be in charge in this realm. 🙂
5. As I mentioned before, I went back to primary last year, after 9 years with “big” kids. At first I was super scared. Ok, I was nervously excited. I knew it would all come back, but here’s perhaps the biggest way in which I know I am a better teacher a parent. I was not a mom the last time I taught 1st and 2nd grade, but now I have an 8 1/2 and a 5 YO. That definitely has added to my arsenal of strategies and tricks that I can use in countless situations. Remember how I mentioned that classroom management that first year was so hard to learn and how I thought I might die? Ok, I didn’t say that, but it’s funny to see the difference with managing things in a primary grade the second time around. Yes, part of the ease is that I have now been teaching for so many more years; this has been an education in itself. But being a mom has also given me another set of eyes in the back of my head. I know better what to anticipate (and then hopefully prevent) with 7-8 YOs, because I have one at home. I can speak to little ones in a better and more meaningful way since I’ve had so much more practice since the last time around. I can better predict what will be the right words to motivate, the right words to encourage, or stop or which words might send a little one into tears (and yes, I try to avoid those!). The extra treat that I didn’t anticipate was being able to understand the “culture” of this age; I totally understand their games, books, TV shows, etc., because they’re the same as what I have at home!!
Ok, so back to the initial question. Do parents make better teachers? For me, that’s definitely true. However, there are many ways to define “better,” and there are of course AMAZING teachers who are not parents. I have, however, learned many lessons and can better understand many of the ins-and-outs since I am on both sides of the equation. That education has been such a gift.
What I’ve known–and truly believed–all along though, is that regardless of their career, the job that parents do as their child’s first teachers is priceless. It is therefore not my job to replace them as the teacher, but to work together on a new team of teachers and parents to help mold our students into the best versions of themselves they can be. The work that mamas and daddies do before I even get their kiddos is so important to the work that I will then do with each student once they enter my classroom. What fun to join the family of learners to work together towards a common goal!
So I have this thing where I can’t write about something on the blog until after it’s finished. Like the whole thing. Even if it’s a Writing unit, a Social Studies project that takes 6 weeks or a Math investigation that is 10 days long. I guess part of the reason is I want to make sure I have all of the parts to tell the full story–the beginning, middle and end–as well as to make sure that I’ve figured out the angle, the focus or the Big Idea I want to make sure to highlight. I want to have identified the problem and then share the solution. I want to have taken all the right pictures (which I have now learned the hard way have to be compressed before I upload them!) and figured out just the right words to write so that the most people want to read–and then comment on!–the post. You get it the idea. I want it to be perfect.
But unfortunately what happens when I work like that is that often time gets away from me. I wait too long and a whole list of things occur: a teachable moment goes uncelebrated and the story goes untold, I forget the best parts of the story because too much time passes, I lose momentum, or even worse I end up with SO MUCH to write that then I can’t do it. And then my blog sits untouched since mid-December, with many amazing learning experiences not shared. And the funny thing is it’s taken me what seems like FOREVER to figure out that maybe that’s not working. Yeah, I guess I’m kind of a slow learner.
So I’m not sure where that leaves me then. I could go back and (with the help of the pictures I’ve taken) catch up on the 1,000 things that have happened since a month ago (ouch!); I could just shared the “finished” things that have occurred this week and celebrate the amazing things my students are learning–as well as what they are teaching; or I could just start writing about things in a new way and not worry so much about making sure that every post, every “story” is complete before I tell it. Often, it’s the middle, the messy parts, the while-it’s-happening stuff that is the most interesting anyway. It’s the things I learn when I’m not expecting them that are the most enlightening. It’s the lessons that don’t go the way their supposed to that often have the most impact, and it’s when I stretch myself out of my comfort zone and try things a new way that often I find I wonder why I didn’t do that a long time before.
I guess I just made the decision then. I am resolving to try something new this year (but I still say I don’t make New Years’ Resolutions), and tell stories at whatever stage of completion that they are in. I pledge to share the ugly parts of learning as well as the well-planned, perfectly-executed, went-just-the-way-I-wanted-them-to parts (yeah…there’s much more of the previous than the latter anyway, so it’ll give me lots more to write about!). I guess I already try to share the whole story anyway, but I’ll try to make sure I am ok with just little bits at a time instead of just the final product. It’s the process not the product anyway, right?
Thanks for listening to my rambling, especially if this is the first time you’ve been back to our blog in a while and were expecting something different (which makes me wonder–what do you expect when you come here? I’d love to know! Leave me a comment. 🙂 ). I hope to make this a time to turn over a little bit of a new leaf and start the year with a fresh commitment to share the amazingness that happens in Rm. 202 every day. I hope you stay around to join us for the ride. It will definitely be fun, and probably pretty messy. Great combination, I’d say! 🙂
Until just a few years ago, Veterans’ Day came and went at Robinson without much fanfare. I mean, yeah, we’d mention it to our classes, perhaps watch a video or read a book about why the day was special, but that was pretty much it. There was not a whole-school focus, an assembly or any other type of celebration. Then ( I believe the year Mrs. Kesler became our FABULOUS music teacher), that all changed and Veterans’ Day became one of the most special days on the calendar. 🙂 Remember last year?
Even before the day came we were hard at work: writing letters of thank you to veterans, as well as creating the centerpiece place mats for the tables in the cafeteria for the reception.
And pretty much since school started, too, kiddos have been working on the music for the assembly we hold yearly now to celebrate those who give/gave their very best to keep us safe and sound. While I would love to invite each and every one of you to experience what is now Veterans’ Day at our school, I only have a couple of short videos to share. It’s a taste at least, right? 🙂 Oh, and I HATE to admit this, but it always seems that my phone runs out of memory right in the middle of someone’s video I’m trying to record–yep, at just the WRONG moment–and this time it was during the girls’ song. 😦 (Since we split boys and girls for specials, our grade level had two songs). Hopefully you’ll get the idea. Again–super sorry I didn’t catch it all. 😦
Before 2nd grade started, Khalani got to represent our grade and read a special thank you poem for the veterans. Our theme was HEROES.
Then the boys sang their tribute:
Girls took their turn next:
I found two more pictures of how handsome and beautiful we look all dressed up:
Happy Veterans’ Day! How did you celebrate the special day? 🙂
We are lucky to be able to take field trips–pretty much to anywhere we want to go! This year our team was trying to think outside-the-box a little more than usual, planning for field studies that not only connect to our 2nd grade curriculum, but that are important experiences for all kids to have in general. We’ve thrown out some amazing ideas, and this fall we ended up with a trip that I’m pretty sure no one had ever gone on before. It was related to our study of economics, and was loads of fun, too. 🙂
Mrs. Driscoll worked it out for us to be able to visit the Federal Reserve Bank (and I hate to admit I didn’t even know we had one in our city!), as well as the Old Courthouse, which is a great historical building to visit. But wait–the best part (or at least the fancy-schmanciest part) is that we got to eat lunch in a hotel ballroom! Yep–she worked hard to secure a venue that would accommodate us no matter what St. Louis fall weather would throw at us–and we ended up being welcomed by the Crowne Plaza hotel, which was right across the street from both of the places we were visiting. And yes, it was a lucky find–by the time it was time for lunch it was pouring down rain! Way to go, Mrs. Driscoll, and thanks Crowne Plaza!
One more picture:
Look! Ava got to have both of her parents on our trip–Mom came along as a chaperone, and Dad works at the Federal Reserve Bank and got to join us for lunch! He was working that day and planned it so he could be on duty when we visited the museum at the bank. What a special surprise!
We learned much, laughed a lot and had a great time!
Yep, I know. It’s Thanksgiving week. And you know what? If I remember correctly, I posted about Halloween on Thanksgiving last year, too. And this year, too. Man. Oh well, it’s true that it’s better late than never, right? 🙂
I don’t have much to say about it, except that we had SUPER 2nd grade costumes, a SUPER party thanks to Mr. and Mrs. Gordhamer (it even involved an obstacle course in our room that TOTALLY worked, even among the other stations with games and a snack. Kiddos totally ROCKED being respectful and appropriate!), and a SUPER parade around the grounds of Aberdeen Heights next door. The residents love to see our smiling faces and fancy costumes and we waved at SO MANY PEOPLE!
Yep, it was great! I don’t have many pictures because I was too busy having fun, but here are a few:
Ok, and since this is my blog, and so I can be a little bit indulgent sometimes, here are two more from my own Halloween at home (you know you were wondering!!):
Hope yours was fun! Here’s to posting Halloween pics in October next year! LOL
I apologize for the fact that it’s been nearly THREE WEEKS since I last wrote on this blog. I’m not even sure what happened. Oh wait, I do. Life happened. And I was tired. It was one of those times in life when you have to do really cool things and take pictures of really cool things, but not write about it, you know? Oh well, here’s to trying to fix that. Starting now. So onward we go!
Monday
We were starting a new unit in math this past week, so the warm-ups were no longer addition and subtraction. This one is connected to some essential questions we will be chewing on throughout the unit, as well as serving as a way for me to know with what background knowledge everyone is starting.
Tuesday
Another essential question from our unit…
Wednesday
This pic is obviously NOT a math warm-up but is instead a view of where we were on this particular morning. I sometimes use our warm-up routine as a way to make plans for our day, or to highlight a goal that we will all be working on together. This was related to the work we were doing last week with remembering to focus on caring for others rather than just ourselves first.
Thursday
Back on track with measurement. 🙂
This last one isn’t a math warm-up, nor do I remember what day it’s from, but it was a great example of how math happens all the time in our room! Oh, and it used skills we had just learned in our last unit, so it was great practice. We were starting a new chapter book (Thanksgiving on Thursday by Mary Pope Osborne–a Magic Treehouse book), and were interested in knowing when the first Thanksgiving took place. We figured out we could subtract or count up to figure it out. We decided to use the Circle, Split, Subtract with a Number line strategy that we had learned. It worked! 🙂 And….Thanksgiving started a long time ago. 🙂
Whew! It feels good to be back in the blogging game again. 🙂 Thanks for coming back to read!
This one just needs a picture to tell the story, really.
I don’t know what it is with little boys and those ring things on the playground, but everyone keeps falling off of them! Evan’s such a trooper though, and a camo cast sure does look tough, doesn’t it? 🙂
This week we began a new unit on adding and subtracting within 100 (which is actually a unit we had last year, as well, so should be something that we remember. Should…time will tell if that’s true. LOL 🙂 ).
This time around we’re focusing more on making sure mathematicians are flexible and can show their thinking in more than one way. As with last time, we’ll also make sure they can choose a strategy appropriately based on the numbers (rather than just which strategy the like best or is easiest for them), and we’ll also continue to work on being clear with our communicating our mathematical thinking.
Here we go!
The first strategy we worked on for this unit is called HTO, or hundreds/tens/ones. Yeah, it’s kind of an obvious name for what they are doing, so I guess it works. 🙂
Each kiddo has a workbook where we’re showing our thinking, and I had to share what Emily’s looked like after I taught this strategy. She kind of liked it. 🙂
Here’s more about how that strategy works:
First you mark the first number on the chart (98) and then add on tallies to show the second number (31). Then look to see if you can find any tens or ones you need to move over to the next column. Finally, add down the columns to find your answer.
Ok, so this post is a little misleading, because that was the only warm-up I have to share. The rest is more from what we did in our conversations in math. Hope that’s ok. 🙂
On Friday, we started another strategy that is Adding on the Numberline (and actually using another strategy called Circle/Split/Add):
We still have a strategy or two to teach, and then we’ll just practice them until they’re solid. The thing I have to keep reminding kiddos (especially those that are focused on being RIGHT and being FAST) is that this unit is as much as communicating and being flexible as it is about finding the right answer (although, OF COURSE that’s also expected. 🙂 ).
20somethingkids and 1kookyteacher 