A Couple of Things for this Short Week
I hope that everyone is having a restful Labor Day weekend.
1) Remember that Thursday, September 6 (6:30-8:00) is Opening Picnic. We purposely hold Opening Picnic after Labor Day so that students become acclimated to school and feel comfortable showing you around the classroom and school. After we all gather for the picnic, students and parents will head into the classroom. I'll give students the chance to show you around before I spend a few minutes talking about a few items you as parents will want to know such as homework and discipline policies. Other than that, I'm more hoping to get to know all of you so we can quickly start relationships that will benefit the academic success of your child.
2) On Friday, September 21 at 2:20 will be our first 4th grade gathering. We will most likely be sharing about current studies such as student poetry, our study of Native Americans, and weather.
3) MAP testing in math will be this Wednesday, September 5th.
4) Have students bring in their Richland Country library cards. Our first trip to the Sandhills library is this Friday, September 7th. We will leave around 9:30. You are more than welcome to join us or meet us at the library.
I wanted to share share a bit about the day's schedule.
EXPLORATIONS
Each day begins with explorations. Students have the opportunity to practice the skillfulness of inquiry as they explore topics of their own choosing. Students from Dr. Whitecotton and my class switch between our classes if they choose. My class typically does anything involving building (e.g., Legos, Keva blocks, robots, Lego Mindstorms, Coinstruction, Snap Circuits) or computer programming, and Dr. Whitecotton's class has drawing, math stuff, games such as chess, etc. As the year progresses, students' thinking in explorations often becomes more sophisticated as they take more chances in what they want to construct.
MATH
We are currently doing a study of mathematicians and the things that mathematicians do. For instance, we've read books on famous mathematicians such as Fibonacci, Einstein, Ada Lovelace. One website called Math Munch has interviews with mathematicians. We are gathering a list of what makes a mathematician a mathematician. I am hoping that students understand that math is not about getting answers right or wrong, but it's about exploring patterns in nature, it's about learning to problem solve, it's about dealing with frustrations, etc.
SOCIAL STUDIES
There are several thing I emphasize students do as historians: 1) history is an account of the stories of the past, 2) historians use evidence to construct a story of the past, 3) historians must be critical of the evidence they gather, and 4) a story should never be based on a single piece of evidence. This was the perfect introduction into the Landbridge Theory of how Native Americans first arrived in North and South America.
LUNCH
Lunch is now from 11:00 to 11:30. This gives us an extra 5 minutes for lunch.
RECESS
Our recess comes directly after lunch from 11:30-12:00
READ ALOUD
I always do a read aloud after lunch. The read aloud is always connected to the curriculum in some manner. Currently I am reading Heartbeat by Sharon Creech. Since we are looking at poetry, I am reading a chapter written in prose. But most of time I love to read historical-fiction (my favorite genre)!
READING / WRITING
Our reading and writing blur into one large chunk of time. (This makes sense since reading and writing are so heavily intertwined). Currently students are independently reading while I conduct some reading assessments so that I can get to know your child as a reader.
After reading we work on writing. Here is a list poem we created as a class. It is titled "The Kind of Class We Want." Students created a goal as to how they would make that poem a reality in the class.
SPECIAL AREAS
Most of the time our special areas time is in the afternoon except Tuesday (we have PE in the morning) and Friday (library).
1) Remember that Thursday, September 6 (6:30-8:00) is Opening Picnic. We purposely hold Opening Picnic after Labor Day so that students become acclimated to school and feel comfortable showing you around the classroom and school. After we all gather for the picnic, students and parents will head into the classroom. I'll give students the chance to show you around before I spend a few minutes talking about a few items you as parents will want to know such as homework and discipline policies. Other than that, I'm more hoping to get to know all of you so we can quickly start relationships that will benefit the academic success of your child.
2) On Friday, September 21 at 2:20 will be our first 4th grade gathering. We will most likely be sharing about current studies such as student poetry, our study of Native Americans, and weather.
3) MAP testing in math will be this Wednesday, September 5th.
4) Have students bring in their Richland Country library cards. Our first trip to the Sandhills library is this Friday, September 7th. We will leave around 9:30. You are more than welcome to join us or meet us at the library.
I wanted to share share a bit about the day's schedule.
EXPLORATIONS
Each day begins with explorations. Students have the opportunity to practice the skillfulness of inquiry as they explore topics of their own choosing. Students from Dr. Whitecotton and my class switch between our classes if they choose. My class typically does anything involving building (e.g., Legos, Keva blocks, robots, Lego Mindstorms, Coinstruction, Snap Circuits) or computer programming, and Dr. Whitecotton's class has drawing, math stuff, games such as chess, etc. As the year progresses, students' thinking in explorations often becomes more sophisticated as they take more chances in what they want to construct.
MATH
We are currently doing a study of mathematicians and the things that mathematicians do. For instance, we've read books on famous mathematicians such as Fibonacci, Einstein, Ada Lovelace. One website called Math Munch has interviews with mathematicians. We are gathering a list of what makes a mathematician a mathematician. I am hoping that students understand that math is not about getting answers right or wrong, but it's about exploring patterns in nature, it's about learning to problem solve, it's about dealing with frustrations, etc.
SOCIAL STUDIES
There are several thing I emphasize students do as historians: 1) history is an account of the stories of the past, 2) historians use evidence to construct a story of the past, 3) historians must be critical of the evidence they gather, and 4) a story should never be based on a single piece of evidence. This was the perfect introduction into the Landbridge Theory of how Native Americans first arrived in North and South America.
LUNCH
Lunch is now from 11:00 to 11:30. This gives us an extra 5 minutes for lunch.
RECESS
Our recess comes directly after lunch from 11:30-12:00
READ ALOUD
I always do a read aloud after lunch. The read aloud is always connected to the curriculum in some manner. Currently I am reading Heartbeat by Sharon Creech. Since we are looking at poetry, I am reading a chapter written in prose. But most of time I love to read historical-fiction (my favorite genre)!
READING / WRITING
Our reading and writing blur into one large chunk of time. (This makes sense since reading and writing are so heavily intertwined). Currently students are independently reading while I conduct some reading assessments so that I can get to know your child as a reader.
After reading we work on writing. Here is a list poem we created as a class. It is titled "The Kind of Class We Want." Students created a goal as to how they would make that poem a reality in the class.
SPECIAL AREAS
Most of the time our special areas time is in the afternoon except Tuesday (we have PE in the morning) and Friday (library).
Nice commentary on our approach to math this year.
ReplyDeleteI didn't know that your class and Dr. Whitecotton's were mixing for Explorations! That sounds like a perfect idea! I also loved reading about your beliefs in math teaching and the emphasis on mathematicians. Thanks, as always, for sharing!
ReplyDelete