Look, Sound, Feel

I have noticed that when we have an "off" day or something arises about listening and what types of behaviors are expected I like to throw up the circle and slice it into the three categories, Look, Sound, Feel. However when we are filling out the graphic we rarely are able to fill in the third category, the hardest, "Feel". Is there any suggestions on how I could get taht information from them? If not I was wondering if anyone had any suggestions for maybe changing the titles of the three categories. Thanks much. Since I am in 4th grade I have attached what things look like in my class, obviously not as sophisticated as 3rd, 2nd, or 1st. Enjoy!

Responsive Classroom Activities

I have a very active class this year and it has been so helpful to have a flip book of activities to do with my students. I made a book of activities so I can grab it and quickly do an activity when my class is getting antsy or needs an activity break! I have found that incorporating activities is such an important part of the day for my students. I found great activities on the origins website at : http://http//www.originsonline.org/res_classroom.php. This website has been a life saver for me! Like a said, I printed out activity cards and I made them in to a quick flip book (see pictures). I also have them on cards in a box so after we do an activity for the week I put it in a box and every Friday the student of the week pulls out a Morning Meeting Activity to do. Does anyone have any suggestions for more great activities to do with students?

**I typed a bunch of great activities up and I was going to paste them in to this blog but I haven't figured out how to do that so if anyone can help me with that I'd really appreciate it!

Responsibility in Reading

This month, our class CARES focus is on Responsibility.  The beginning of the month was also the first time I started to see some of my students getting really off task during Reader's Workshop.  Because I am now meeting with small groups and conferring more regularly, some of them seemed to think they could get away with "tricky" behaviors.  I decided to tie responsibility into Reader's Workshop in a tangible way.

I gave each student a November calendar titled "Reading Responsibility Calendar."  We reviewed what responsibility looks like during Reader's Workshop (reading the whole time, staying in one place, completing any journal entries, etc).  These responsibilities are listed at the top of the calendar.  Each day as they fill out their reading logs, I walk around the room and put a star on the calendar if that student was responsible during Reader's Workshop that day.  If not, we have a quick conversation about what aspect was missing, and what s/he can do to be more responsible the next day.

Initially, the kids wanted to know how many stars they needed to get or what prize there would be at the end.  I explained that there is no reward or consequence associated with the calendar.  It is simply a way for the kids to be more aware of their choices and to be held accountable for those choices.

Helping them to be aware of these things has made a huge difference.  At the beginning of the month, some students were consistently sitting by people they wanted to chat with, choosing not to complete their assignments, or constantly getting up to get drinks.  Within just two weeks, these behaviors have almost disappeared from the room.  My hope is that we can eventually show this same responsibility without the calendar to document their choices.

Hopes and Dreams

In an earlier post, I wrote about the lesson I did on creating hopes and dreams for the year at the beginning of the year. Now that it is the end of the first quarter, our class revisited our hopes and dreams. We looked at the book Ish again and reviewed the boy's hopes and dreams about being a good drawer. We talked about some of the things we wrote about at the beginning of the year, and I asked the students if anyone had any new hopes and dreams for first grade. I was surprised at how many students had new goals for the year! The students got a new sheet of paper and wrote down their new hope and dream for the rest of the year. As they were writing, I went and gave them their first sheet so we could compare. There were a few students who still had the same hope and dream for the rest of the year; however, many of the students had changed their goal. It was fun to see that the students really were writing relevant and realistic goals for things that we are working on in class. Also, it was fun to read their responses now that I now the students so well and could match their hope with their personalities and the things I see them doing in class. The students got very excited over the assignment, and I did, too! It is so helpful for the students to be able to voice what they want to learn and see learning take meaning for them! I will for sure be revisiting the hopes and dreams at the beginning of the third quarter. :)

Academic Choice

I know we didn't really talk about Academic Choice much this summer;however, it is one of the principles of Responsive Classroom and I have been thinking about it a lot lately. I have a great group of students this year who really work well together, but just like any six year old, the afternoons can be pretty tough for them. I was thinking about what I know helps them get through the afternoon and what are best times are.

Both of our best time slots during the day are when they are given the choice to choose their learning activity. After our math lesson, I have a shelf full of math manipulatives and games that I have introduced. The students are given a time to pick which activity they want to do. I especially loved this time period this week! It was so fun to see every single student in the class engaged and excited about doing math. Also, we have a literacy center time in the afternoon. The students are given a few choices within this time period as well. For example, at the ABC center they can use magnetic letters, stamps or wikki sticks. At the writing center, they can write stories in books or use pointers to read the room and write down letters. This time period is another example of every single student engaged in his/her activity and enjoying learning.

This week I was really thinking about how not only important it is for the students to be engaged but also for them to have the opportunity to use their creativity to create their own learning. The math shapes, number problems and creative stories could never all be created by me. Observing my first graders this week really reminded me of why academic choice is such an important piece of learning. As our days get busier and busier, we need to save some learning time for choice and exploration!