The 100th Day–YAY!! (Part 1)

Whew! Our 100th day of school was today! Boy am I tired! WE WERE BUSY!!

I’ve been thinking about how to spend that day (and mainly trying to figure out how to both “celebrate” and still be rigorous and meaningful in my choices), and had landed on several ideas I was pretty excited about. The good news? We were able to use my idea list today. The bad news (well, just the other news I guess…)? We just did one of those things. Let me explain. 🙂

If you were writing down a list of what we accomplished today, it would just say “blogging.” I even had a kiddo say, “All we did was blog today, Mrs. Bearden.” What? That’s ALL we did? In a word, yes, but MAN was there a TON of learning and thinking involved in that day of blogging! I am SUPER AMAZED at what we were able to do today.

I started the day by telling my friends that I had prepared several challenges for them to do and that we could spend the day with those things. We usually start our day with writing, so I shared the writing challenge first, with plans to share the rest of the challenges as we went on through the day. The first thing we planned to work on was a blogging challenge.

With it being the 100th day of school, and the fact that we just went live with our blogs yesterday, I knew they’d appreciate a challenge around the “bigness” of 100 things on their blog. I suggested we try to write 100 blog posts or comments. Or they could challenge themselves to write a post using 100 words (which would be a HUGE STRETCH from the 2-3 sentence posts we’ve written so far). As I had hoped and expected, they were SUPER excited to get started, and were totally up to the challenge!

Our next step was to figure out how we could make it happen. This was a great conversation filled with much mathematical knowledge of groups of 10, counting on by 10s (as I told them we had 17 posts right then and wondered how many there would be if we added 100 more today), and splitting 10s into 5s to figure out new groups (someone said they knew that if it took 10 10s to make 100, it would take 20 5s since 5+5=10). We divided (without knowing it) 100 by the 20 people in the room (including me!), and as we went through the challenge we did lots of adding and subtracting to figure how many more we needed and how many we had at any given point.

We got started, and you know what? I don’t have many pictures of the work we did. I was as busy as they were, answering questions, moderating posts and comments and helping everyone as needed. So with 20 people, 12 iPads and 5 MacBooks between us, we were able to complete 100 BLOG POSTS AND COMMENTS today!! YIPPEE!! It took us almost all day, but we did it! And when we were finished, we had this to say:

(Hopefully you can tell they’re saying, “I00 BLOGS ROCK!!”

Now, I go back to that part about “all we did was blog all day,” because even though I didn’t mean to, at one point I even questioned whether I had done enough with the day. We didn’t have a big long list of activities to show for our time together. No one took home anything different than a normal day. We didn’t have any thing to prove we worked hard and stretched our thinking today. We did, however, have this:

It’s a little hard to see, but these are the charts where we kept tally of all of the posts/comments we finished. We counted them by 10s, 1s, and 2s at several points during the day as we figured out what we’d done and how much we had to go. It hangs outside our room for others to see. I’m hoping it will elicit questions for my kids (and for me) about how we spend our100th day! We have a great story to tell!

(ok, we did have a few pictures of the day!)

We also have a Kidblog dashboard that looks like this:

Yesterday we had 17 posts and 0 comments! Check out those numbers as of tonight! We have only been on our blogs since yesterday morning–crazy, right? We’re rocking and rolling already!!

And perhaps even better, we have memories. We have encouragement that came from our friends–“We can do this!”–when we wanted to give up. We have full buckets from the words our friends wrote about our stories. We have new knowledge about how to work the iPads and laptops on our own. We have that feeling that comes with accomplishing a goal. We have successful problem solving that happens when we’re allowed to figure things out for ourselves or talk with our classmates. We have practice with creating meaningful writing for a REAL audience; we worked hard to make our words look right, sound right and make sense. We have practice with letters, sounds and words and we have momentum to go forward with our writing. AND we have a great list of things that we didn’t finish today that we’ll use to continue our learning tomorrow! hee hee

So as I reflected, I thought it would be a great visual (for me at least) to look at our district’s rubrics and match up how today’s work addressed the expectations therein. Check out how many ways this simple blogging challenge touched our 1st grade standards:

Reading

Writing

Speaking and Listening

Learning Behaviors and Study Skills

So needless to say I am tired tonight! I’m pretty sure my kids are, too! The amount of grit they had to use to make today happen and accomplish the HUGE goal set before them was great. And while I know that I am a little biased, I’d say that today was definitely a day we can say we worked to get a little closer to helping Rm. 202 kids meet this mission of Robinson School:

What did you do for your 100th day? What have you heard from Rm. 202 kids about their day? Please share your thoughts with us! We’re learning how blogging is all about the conversation, and we’d love to start a conversation with YOU! 🙂

100th Day Questions

I have returned to 1st grade this year after about 10 years with 4th-5th graders. Many things have been the same since my return, and of course there are some things I’ve had to readjust to, or that are entirely new, as is the nature of education. One thing, though, that was definitely not a “thing” the last time I was in primary is the 100th Day of School. No, I said that wrong–we definitely HAD the 100th day of school, we just didn’t officially celebrate the 100th day as a holiday. This is new to me, and as I am coming up on that day (it’s next Wednesday, the 28th), I’ve been thinking A LOT about what I will do with that day in my classroom. (Before I go on, I feel like should ask that you presume positive intent in my questions here–my focus is on really understanding the why, not judging what others may choose (or not choose) to do in their own classrooms on any given day. I want to learn here!) 🙂

It seems that other people are also thinking about it, and having similar questions to me. I found a blog post by Aviva Dunsiger (@avivaloca) the other day, after she posted this tweet:

Getting Uncomfortable … Again as I start to reconsider the 100th day of school. Thoughts? http://t.co/aSMi5Ymbzj #1stchat #kinderchat — Aviva Dunsiger (@avivaloca) January 23, 2015

I found myself nodding as I read her post, as she was asking the same thing I have been struggling with: Why do we “celebrate” the 100th day of school? What is the purpose and how can we use this day to continue to help our kiddos think and grow and problem solve? Why is this day any different than every other day? I’ve read many opinions about how it’s a rite of passage and a fun day to celebrate the milestone of getting so far into the year together, and I’ve heard others say it’s about helping students understand the “bigness” and importance of the number 100. Believe me, I’m all for having a great day, and I LOVE the idea of kids understanding numbers and being flexible in their use of them. So the part I’m grappling with is how I can “do” the 100th day in a way that is still high quality and rigorous, while fun and enjoyable–and not just full of things that are “cute” or that we’re doing “just because” they have to do with the number 100 (and let’s be honest–this is really our goal for every day, isn’t it?).

After thinking about this for a couple of weeks, as well as reading about what others are doing, I think I’ve settled on a few things. Most of them are incorporated into our normal routine, but are focused on the idea (that Aviva mentioned in her post) of the learning we’ve done in the last 100 days. I plan on there being a focus on how long those 100 days have been and how much learning we’ve already done! I hope to highlight the “grittiness” we’ve displayed and the fun we’ve had together and how much more fun we’ll have in the rest of the school year. Here’s what I’m thinking:

1. 100 Book Reading Challenge–with my “big” kids, we have done a 40 Book Challenge the last few years, after reading about it in The Book Whisperer by Donalyn Miller. I would love to give my firsties a similar, one-day challenge for our class together to read 100 books. It averages out to 5 books a piece or so, which is TOTALLY doable, and would be a great motivation to reach a goal and work on being better readers. That’s how it happens, right? By reading! I figure we’ll make a chart or list somewhere in the room so we can record the titles as we go.

2. 100 Word writing challenge–I’m not entirely sure how to frame this one, maybe around writing word wall words correctly or creating words from them (like word families), or if we’ll write stories that include 100 words or what…..somehow we’ll write. Like we do everyday. 🙂

3. What Have We Learned in the Last 100 Days?–Taking inspiration from Aviva’s post, I thought it would be great to document all of the things we’ve learned and done in the last 100 days (which I am sure is WAY more than just a 100) with pictures and words. Since I’m a regular blogger, I am also a regular picture-taker. That means I probably have at least one picture from each of our 100 days together. I’m thinking about having kiddos reflect on each day (probably in pairs) and writing something to go along with each picture. These could be put into a book (either paper or digital) and we could add to it as we finish up the year. Again, what a great way to visually see all of the many things they know now that they didn’t know on our 1st Day together!

4. Legos? Blocks? Maker Space?–We are definitely builders in Rm. 202, and incorporate this kind of representation into many things we do on a regular basis. I have seen ideas for “what would you do with 100 Legos?” which could be interesting, as they could answer the question about what they’ve learned or what they are most proud of. We did something similar when we returned from Winter Break where they created and then wrote about their favorite thing/event/present from Christmas. I’d love to give them the same question and have them build something with big blocks or just “stuff” and then have them video their thinking as they explain what they made and why. The video part would be pretty basic, as we’re just getting into documenting our learning digitally. Those videos would be great to share on our blogs–which we’re going live with this week, too!

5. 100s game in Math–this will be an easy extension of what we’re already doing! The unit we’re currently working on is about kids become flexible and efficient with adding numbers within 100. We’re already playing games, solving problems and having great conversations about place value with bigger numbers.

6. Read Aloud–I know that Read Aloud has been a focus around here lately, so maybe we’ll read 100 pages in our book on Wednesday, too, as a way to celebrate a great story together!

I guess we’ll see what I end up going with (as it will happen in just 3 days from now!). I’d love to hear your thoughts on how YOU will be spending the 100th Day of School. What questions did you consider in your planning? Please come back later this week to see the update on what actually happened in Rm. 202, and/or follow us @jbeardensclass to enjoy the day along with us!

Have a great week! 🙂

Read Aloud Timeline: How-To!

I realized today that while I’ve written about our Read Aloud timeline many times, I haven’t ever really explained how we do it. I had someone ask me about it and thought I’d write it here, in case you wanted to try it for yourself! I am sure there are many ways to make it happen, but this is what I’ve found works for us. Please let me know if you try it and how it works for your readers! 1. Read Ok, I probably should have started after that, but it’s the first step, so there it is. 🙂 In both 5th grade and 1st grade, read aloud is one of the most important (and enjoyable) times of the day! It is a sacred event that happens every day, no matter what. It is (as I mentioned here) not about laying down and relaxing after recess time (in fact, our RA isn’t even after recess!). it is a time for a family of learners to enjoy text together–to laugh, to talk about language, to make predictions, to ask questions, to just share a positive literacy experience. And especially for emerging readers, it’s a time to hear what good reading sounds like and to hear texts that they may not yet be ready to read for themselves. 2. Create timeline images I’ve done this step of the process in many ways, and is probably the step most open to interpretation and variation depending on your community. In the beginning–for any grade level–I have them choose a part of the story that they like. For most kids, this means something that was funny or surprising. After we’ve gone through our first 2 or 3 books, then, the focus of the image might change a little bit. I might have them choose the most important part. If we’re studying inferring or predicting (or some other specific comprehension strategy), I’d have them choose an image that shows where they used that strategy to make sense. For our purposes in 1st grade, we’re still just choosing whatever image we want; our next step is to choose an important part of the story. I usually have my students draw their images on a regular 8 1/2 X 11 piece of paper (because they fit nicely on the wall and are still a good size to see the picture from far away), with colored pencils or crayons. Bright colors are preferred, just because the contrast is easier to see across the room, and all of the white space must be filled in (well except of course in the last few books we’ve read–they were graphic novels and kids could give me a good reason for why they left the white space there: “It was like that in the book, so my image looked like that, too!”). On the back of the picture friends have to write what the image shows, as well as why they chose it. The mechanics of the writing have to be correct, both because it’s good writing, but also because in the next step someone else will have to be able to understand what their image is all about. This step usually takes place right after we finish a book, and at this point we can finish our images in about 30 minutes. If we don’t, they usually finish them at choice time, take them home, or we have them out for morning work the next week so we can vote the next day.

3. Vote In our class we have small groups of 4 that we use for the purpose of choosing read aloud images, as well as anything that I need to quickly break up the class to accomplish. The groups stay the same all year, and get to know each other really well. Depending on the year they have different names: when I taught 4th grade they were called “districts” to relate to our study of state government, the year we had a construction theme they were called “zones,” the year I had an animal print theme (I know–that sounds really lame now….) they were called “tribes” and this year they’re just generally called our Room Teams. Some years the groups are numbered and some years the teams make names for themselves. How you do this part really doesn’t matter, except that for me it’s the easiest way to narrow down our 20 pictures to a manageable 4. Depending on the grade, the groups might vote for both the image on the wall and the image on the front of our class book. I found out VERY QUICKLY that with 1st graders it’s easier just to focus on the wall. I also found out VERY QUICKLY that it’s much easier for them to choose their favorite image when they are not considering their own picture. The first time we voted this year we got NOWHERE because everyone kept choosing their own picture. Looking back now it makes perfect sense, considering where first graders are developmentally, but at the time it was just frustrating! So as I shared my frustration with my team, my super smart friend Rochelle suggested I have them go through the process with random pictures. It seemed like it was worth a try, and so the next time we did it I passed out the pictures so that they didn’t have their own picture in their hand or in their group at all. They had to explain the part of the story on the sheet they were given and then choose the one that best represented the story from those choices. I was AMAZED at how different and how EASY it was that way. Thanks, Ro, for your great suggestion! Another thing i learned really quickly was that doing the whole raise-your-hand-for-the-one-you-want-to-vote-for process doesn’t work well with first graders either. Even with only 4 choices (after we narrowed it down in our groups), it seemed like someone didn’t vote, someone else voted more than once, or they kept changing their minds based on what everyone else was voting for. I couldn’t keep a clear count and had to figure out some other way. So, as both a more clear way to tell who’s voting for what, and as a way to make the process more interactive (which is good because they need to move!), we put pictures in 4 different places around the room and kids line up in front of the picture they are choosing. It’s really fast and also allows us with great opportunities for counting, grouping and talking about efficient strategies for figuring out how many votes there are for each picture. It’s a win-win!

Big ‘ole line of kiddos voting for this image! Amelia found out it was 11 by counting by 2s with one leftover.

Two in this line. Hi, Thomas!

Someone said, “I know there’s 4 in that one–see? 2 and 2! 🙂

4. Make a class book As I mentioned recently, the rest of the images go into a class book–1 for each book that we finish. These live in our class library for kids to read and enjoy all year (well they do once the teacher takes time to bind them into books!). So far we’re up to 14, and I figure we’ll have at least 20 at this rate (hopefully even more!!). 5. Repeat steps 1-4 This is the process we’ve gone through 14 times now. It’s the process I’ve gone through with other classes close to 50 other times over the past 5 years as well. And if you’ve seen the pictures I’ve posted, ALL of those images are hanging in my room right now! There is something really special about being surrounded by all of those pictures, celebrating great books, great discussions and fun times with friends. It’s fun to watch the timeline grow, and for classes to ask about old pictures. I also love when past students come back to visit and we can connect again as we talk about those timeline images, too!

This is an idea of what the timeline looks like wrapped around the walls of Rm. 202. I actually had to take it down and move it further over to make more room at the beginning of this year. And I am not sure what I will do next year–I will have officially wrapped all the way around and run out of room! What a great problem to have! The timeline started in August 2009 and is still going in January of 2015. I am not sure I envisioned that when I started doing this back then!

This shows a more current version of this year’s section. I think there are still 3 or 4 missing from this picture. We’re reading so fast I can’t keep up!

6. End-of-the-year Book After you are finished with your last read aloud (which for me runs right up to the last day of school–yep, sometimes we’re finishing our images, voting and laminating in the last hours of our time together!), something special happens. All of the books that your class has been enjoying all year will become a special end-of-the-year memory for each kiddo. The last thing I do is take all the books apart, and reorganize the pictures by kiddo (which is pretty easy because every image has both the child’s name and their class number on it so they can be easily put in orderly piles), and create a NEW book for each and every one. I include a cover that lists all of the titles, authors and time frames for when we read each one. Sometimes I include a note about how much I’ve enjoyed the reading journey, or maybe a quote from one of our favorites. I haven’t ever had kids vote on their very favorite from the year, but if I did, this might be the cover of this individual book (who knows, maybe I’ll try it this year!). Whew! Wow–that is really a more involved process than I thought when I sat down to write this. But it’s TOTALLY worth every minute we spend on it! I am not sure if I’ve mentioned it before, but this is not an original idea of mine (I saw the timeline created in a classroom in Columbia, MO when I was there for a training many years ago), but the process for how I do it has been tweaked to fit my purposes over the years. It’s definitely one of those things that someone way smarter than me thought of, but that I have made my own through trials and errors to fit what works for me and my kiddos. I’d love to hear what works for you and YOUR students! Happy reading!! 🙂

First Grade Read Aloud Timeline: CLASS BOOKS!

One of the foundational elements of my classroom is the read aloud timeline that was started many years ago (2009 is the first year that hangs on the wall!). When I moved to first grade, I knew I wanted to at least try to keep the tradition going, but I wasn’t quite sure how that would happen. Luckily, the class I have took very quickly to the idea of how it worked, and now this year’s addition to the timeline is already 12 books long!

One of the added features of the timeline images (which is decided by a class vote after everyone creates their favorite picture from the story) is a class book that includes all of the rest of the images. Pretty great, right? Everyone is involved! Well, yes, it’s great….as long as the teacher remembers to take all of the pictures out of the turn-in drawer and make them into a book. Which hadn’t happened yet this year until just the other day (nothing like the pressure of conferences coming up and wanting to have something ready to share with parents, huh?). And in true first grade form, their excitement over the new bucket of books that THEY HAD CREATED was amazing. And yes, as a blogging teacher, I had to take pictures of it!

FINALLY have all of our class books put together. And of course, as soon as I get caught up with something, things change and I’m behind again–we have finished two books since I made these and we’re ready to add in two more to our collection! We are READING MACHINES in Rm. 202!

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So like I said, the INSTANT I put the pile of new books out, they were all taken and kiddos were digging in! It was a great combination of enjoying old favorites we’d read together, and of kids reflecting on how their work has changed since we finished our first book in August. There’s a lot of growth that happens in almost 6 months of first grade!

What does read aloud look like for you? Have you ever tried a timeline to document your reading journey? We’d love to hear from you!

Into the Woods

We have the most AMAZING woods behind our school, and it’s such an adventure when we get to go out and play (and learn, of course!) out there! We have gone several times this year, and just the other day we got to explore with our 5th grade learning buddies. They had a job (which was given by Mrs. Sisul, our principal, and unknown to me!), but I think it has to do with reasons why the woods are such a great place to learn. We’re working on vamping up our outdoor spaces, and this is a great example of how important they are to the kids of Robinson School. The “big” kids used their iPads to take pictures and then create a Keynote of slides that capture the essence of what happened on their adventure in just one image. Check out what they did! LOVE, LOVE, LOVE what goes on with our students! They truly never cease to amazing me with their creativity. 🙂

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Second Steps

In first grade we have many really important lessons to learn. Some of the most important ones are simply about how to be learners!

We’re lucky to have some well-designed lessons that are part of a program called Second Steps; these are part of the foundation for our work that continues in gr. 3-5 with the Olweus Bullying Prevention Program.

Every week, Mrs. Wilson comes to our room, often accompanied by her friends Puppy and Snail.

Together they have taught us about listening with our whole bodies (including our eyes and ears and brains), how to focus (and we even have attention-scopes for this purpose!), how to use our self-talk to help us do the right thing and keep trying, and also how to be assertive (which is a GREAT BIG word for a first grader with GREAT importance).

Often there are times for students to turn-and-talk, hearing someone else’s ideas about a topic.

Makayla and Sara share ideas with each other in a turn-and-talk conversation.

While I love the time during the day when Mrs. Wilson is here, the lessons she teaches and the songs we learn to help us remember the concepts, my favorite thing is when I see and hear kids applying them outside of those times! I often see kiddos using their attention-scopes to get refocused, hear them use their self-talk to encourage themselves to try again or solve a problem and also hear them being assertive as they “ask for help out loud” (which is a line from The Learner Song we sing).

The lessons are simple, but have staying power and build a STRONG foundation for these learners. Yay Second Steps!

One more thing…check out who showed up in our school pictures and will be in our yearbook this year!:

Let Creativity Rule!

I am often inspired by things I see. It goes with the kind of learner I tend to be, too, as things make more sense when I see them in addition to hearing them. So let’s start with a picture. It’s what inspired this post:

If you have been around here for a while, you know that I am a thinker. Sometimes I think too much. Like I-can’t-get-to-sleep-for-a-long-time-at-night-because-my-brain-won’t-turn-off kind of thinking. Most often, though, I can use my overactive brain for good things.

I discovered this bracelet the other night in my jewelry box, after not having worn it for a while. I actually forgot I had it. It was a gift from a fabulous family I’ve had the pleasure of working with at school. I was lucky enough to have taught two of their children–one of them twice! As I looked down at the charm, I thought of how “Let Creativity Rule” could really be one of the phrases for my life. It seems to come up in so many places for me.

In my classroom, I try to be the kind of teacher who is a facilitator and a designer, rather than a dictator or an information-dumper (yeah, I just made that up, I think). I believe that knowledge is most powerful when you create it for yourself, and that connections kids make on their own mean much more than ones I make for them. I see my role as an educator as the one who helps create opportunities for my learners to figure things out, to put things together, to wonder and then discover answers for themselves. Don’t get me wrong–there are times when you have to lay it all out there, because yes, there are some things that kiddos would never just find out without guidance. But for the most part, I want my students to be in charge of their learning.

Alongside the opportunities, comes the freedom to make choices about how that learning will happen. There are very few things in my classroom that I have to have happen a certain way; labeling is one of the things I care deeply about, as well as coloring-coding certain things we use all the time, as a means of helping to keep things organized. Oh, and fonts. I love them. I collect them in fact, and usually have one as my “go-to” font for the year. And yes, I have been known to recreate forms and sheets that people share with me because I have to make them look a certain way. Hey–everyone has something like that right? But outside of those couple of things, my children are free to make decisions about what and how they learn things, as well as how they demonstrate that learning. I want my kiddos to have a variety of ways to show what they know; not everyone can best do this with pencil and paper as is typical in many classrooms. It is common for my students to show their understanding of a concept by building with Legos, using big wooden blocks, drawing a picture, acting it out, recording themselves talking about it, writing a story (or some other kind of explanation) and yes, sometimes by taking a test. The possibilities are endless, and one of the things I like the best is that sometimes kids come up with ideas that are even better than an option I could have given them. The point is showing me–as well as their classmates–that they understand what they’re learning.

I appreciate creativity in my life outside of school, as well. Part of what balances me in my work life is taking the time to “play” and do things that bring out my crafty side. I like to sew, to design, and to build things. While I would not say I am particularly gifted in any of those areas, it’s another way to use my brain, and I enjoy seeing the products of my handiwork (and just in case you’re interested, I think I even wrote about it a few years ago on this blog…)

The other thing I was thinking as I was looking at my hand (that sounds really funny, doesn’t it?) is how important my family is to me. My wedding rings remind me of my fabulous hubby and our amazing kids, and how lucky I am to have them. I don’t think I would be the teacher I am, actually, without them. I take so much of them to school with me, and they often help me think through struggles I’m having and help me solve problems (my son is really helping me this year since he was in 1st grade last year, I run a lot of ideas by him before I try them with my Rm. 202 kiddos!). My husband is a teacher, as well, and I know that while there is a LOT of shop talk at our house, I am so grateful to have a spouse who “gets” what I do. We have even taught the same grade levels at times, which makes for another layer of fun as we brainstorm classroom ideas together. I have been thinking lately how much being a mom helps me as a teacher, too. Don’t get me wrong, you can be a GREAT teacher without being a parent, but for me, there has been another level of understanding since I’ve had kids of my own. Oh, and now that my kids are in school, I have a much better understanding of what it means to give your baby over to the care of someone else. I am so blessed that the families I work with let me do that every day. Believe me–I do my best to do them proud and take good care of their little ones, as I would hope would happen for mine!

It’s funny how just seeing something can spark so many things in your brain. What image or picture have you been inspired by lately? What phrase would you say defines your life? How do you let your creativity rule? I’d love to hear from you! Feel free to leave a comment and tell me all about it! 🙂

Marshall the Miracle Dog

Wow–at Robinson we cram lots of fabulous things into short periods of time. I already told you about how our first 1/2 day was Read With Your Roadruner, and our Olweus Kick-Off Day. Well…it started with a great visit from Marshall the Miracle Dog!

Cindy, Marshall’s mom, came to read the book she wrote about his story:

We learned about how Marshall’s story included people (and dogs) who mistreated him–he even lost a leg because of how neglected he was–but he overcame and learned to love again because of special people like Cindy in his life who showed him love. We talked about how we can do the same thing! Cindy took questions from the audience, and then everybody got to give Marshall a quick pet on the way out. They were moving so fast, though, that it was hard to catch….

I think one of the best parts of Marshall’s story is how far it has spread. They even made a movie about his life! To learn more about Marshall, check out his website here.

What an inspiring story that none of us will soon forget!

Read With Your Roadrunner!

On Friday we had our very first Read With Your Roadrunner event at our school. It was an opportunity for parents, grandparents, friends–anyone–to come and read with their Roadrunner for the start of our day. Enjoy some pics from a great event–in Rm. 202 and all of Robinson School! So excited for the next one. 🙂

Diego and his mom enjoy a story together!

JKB’s mom got to stay and share a story with he and Emily for a little while.

Briannia and Amelia are checking out her bookbox together.

Two more super-focused Roadrunners–Sara and Makayla–read together.

Some friends chose to read alone: Kylie is busy with a favorite story.

Evan, his mom and his baby sister are enjoying a new Captain Underpants book–another good find from our book fair!

JKB and Thomas checking out a non-fiction text about lions.

The group on the carpet got bigger!

Ella Marie reads quietly at her table to start the day.

Lauren brought her brother and her mom to read together with her!

I think that by the end of our time, Diego’s mom had read to most everyone in the room! What a great sport she was. 🙂

Love seeing friends sharing books together. 🙂

Even little Roadrunners can read together–C.J. and Landen are checking out a new book fair book–Bugs in My Hair!

(Ava, Millie and Charlie were also enjoying this time with their families in other parts of the building, so sorry–no pictures! 😦 )

What a great way to share a love of reading, time with our families and start our Friday off on a good foot!

What was your favorite part of Read With Your Roadrunner?

To Each His Own

I have two kids. They are lovely. Well most of the time they are lovely. While I knew going into it that children are different, I don’t really think that is something you can really grasp the concept of until you have more than one child and you EXPERIENCE how different two children with the same parents can be. And in our case I’d say it’s pretty much night and day.

Let’s start easy: one’s a boy and one’s a girl. That’s an obvious opposite, sorry. 🙂 He’s an introvert, she’s an extrovert. I mean MAJOR extrovert–one of those makes-friends-with-a whole-room-of-people-in-five-minutes kind of extrovert. He’s tall, she’s short. Ok, sorry, that’s another stretch and not really a far difference because he is twice her age. But then there’s temperament: he’s easy-going, a rule follower, can adjust to disappointment and change fairly easily and is likely to do the right thing because it’s the thing to do. She is strong-willed. I’m learning that baby girl is pretty much a my-way-or-the-highway kind of kid. She argues facts that are right there plain as day just because she wants to (although I guess it’s fair to say that her brother often will start or continue many of these arguments….). Her answer to many things is “I just don’t want to,” and when you give her a choice between two things her response is usually a very spirited “no.” Yep, no. What the heck?

Here’s a quick example of their complete “oppositeness,” which happened at the dentist yesterday:

Yeah, see that face? It totally says, “NO WAY!! I am not letting that lady clean my teeth!” The other one? Totally rocking it with some stylish sunglasses (to keep the bright dentist-light out of his eyes).

And so I am learning (like I mentioned in the beginning) that my children are very different, even though they have much in common. And with that comes learning that I cannot deal with or teach or discipline them in the same way. What worked for one more certainly does NOT work for the other. In many ways I feel like a new parent again. And in many ways I am–I have never parented this second kiddo before. She is new to me. I am relearning how to be a “successful” parent to this little princess of mine, discovering new tips, strategies and techniques that work for both her and me (because yes, I’d like for us both to survive through the teen years!).

You know what? That same thing applies in the classroom! I was a teacher long before I was a parent, but I love how having littles of my own at home helps me more clearly see and understand what I maybe only partly grasped as a teacher previously. It’s kind of a “duh” thing, I guess–I would never expect two kiddos in my class to be identical, nor would I expect exactly the same thing to work for every single kid every single year. I am not that teacher who plans the whole year in the summer (using the same plans as last year, no less), and then presses “play” and glides through the school year doing the same ‘ole same ‘ole. I acknowledge the fact that a new bunch of learners requires a new bag of tricks and a restocked toolbox ready and waiting to be used at the right time and place. And the same is true with kids at home. Weird how that works, huh?

So I guess this means I have some more learning to do. So far I’ve learned that my sweet, sweet darling child is a spunky, spicy, chatty, curious, creative, princess-loving, always-smiling-except-when-she’s-scowling, always-dancing girl who loves her brother and family, loves to sing, loves to laugh and really just wants to figure out how things work, find the answers to her questions and eat mac and cheese for every meal. Why would I want her to be anything else? But with that acceptance, I have to figure out how to best teach such a learner in a way that makes sense to her, offers both of us success and preserves her dignity. THAT, it seems so far, is easier said that done. Any advice? I’ll gladly take it. We’ve got a long road ahead of us (which I will gladly travel with her, by the way. 🙂 ). I guess for now I’ll go dig out my copy of The Strong-Willed Child…. 🙂

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20somethingkids and 1kookyteacher

Starting a 3rd Grade Journey

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