Promised to share

I said to the kids I would share the links of the videos that we watched at school.

The first one is a fun music video from school tube based on the book "Dem Bones"

The second one is a magnificent science music video "Ode to the Brain" by Symphony of Science. It may be hard to understand scientifically but beautiful to watch.

Grade 3 response to Fears and Worries Before the Schoolyear

Collective work - first we secretly wrote some fears and worries, I mixed them up, and then we came up with a response.

Fears and worries before school:

What if I do badly in math?

What if I am kicked out of school?

What if I fail the tests?

What if I get sick?

What if the ball hurts me in PE?

What if I loose my teeth?

What if my snack falls in the trash?

What if I loose my I-Pad?

What if I run out of time to finish work?

What if I forget something important?

What if I have too much homework?

What if I am late?

What if my BFF abandons me?

What if nobody likes me?

What if I am alone?

Grade 3 response:

Don’t worry.

Everything is going to be fine

Learn, learn, learn.

Try your best and take your time.

You can finish your work later.

Be yourself and others will respect you.

If you’re searching for friends,

don’t be afraid to talk.

Say “hi” and invite them to play.

You will never be alone.

Think about good things.

Hope for the best.

Don’t worry.

Everything is going to be fine.

First week

We started our week with three big goals:

To get to know each other

To create a positive learning environment

To put routines and procedures in place

Looking back, I can say we got quite a lot accomplished.

I found out interesting facts and stories about the children. They wrote about themselves and drew portraits. (All presented on our classroom door)

Portraits and About Me writings

We also shared our hopes and dreams for this year.

hopes and dreams

For the community we have read and talked about kindness and learning.

For the classroom we got started with morning circle and workshops, we have different seating plans to use, we got familiar with the schedule, began our unit, know where things belong, and how we take care of our belongings.

Seating plans

UOI books

I'd like to finish as I used to do when I was a child:

I am tired but happy.

-ish

Yesterday's read aloud book was "Ish" by Peter Reynolds. His second book was also about a young artist's journey of discovery. Initially discouraged by an older brother's comment, Ramon finds encouragement in a small letter combination "-ish." Within a day the students picked up this helpful tip. We may not draw perfect portraits, but they look portrait-ish.

Reading Workshop

Like writing workshop, the reading workshop starts with a mini-lesson and is followed by reading time. This is the time when I get to listen to the children reading to me and sharing their thinking. Today I didn't have a mentor text to read, but we talked about choosing books. Posters went up to remind us of today's workshop. 

How readers choose books and what is a just right book will be our focus for several lessons. Ms. Kadri will help us with it.

Math

Yesterday we used an app called educreations to record our thinking. Drawing on pictures, students recorded their explanations for estimations. Today we looked at some presentations and analyzed what worked and how we could improve them. Then the students went and recorded a second estimation presentation. I haven't had a chance to see them yet, but My hopes are high.

Bits and pieces

I wrote about the writing workshop. It's not the only lesson we had today, but there are few bits and pieces that we are not ready to share yet. For example in math we recorded our thinking with pictures and voice. Since it was the first time, we have to tweak both the explanation and presentation. From yesterday we had our hopes and dreams writing to finish. I hope to share these with you tomorrow. Decorated labels for cubbies and portraits are also almost ready.

Writing Workshop

We will use a workshop model to learn about author's craft and writing process.

Today we had a first workshop, wher we learned about the structure and expectations of the workshop.

Part 1

Mini-lesson

In this short part I show and read mentor texts and give one idea to take away.

For example today's mini- lessons idea was

"Writer's use mentor texts to get ideas"

We looked at three different ways to write about oneself.

Part 2

Writing time

This is the meatiest part of the workshop. Students think and write in their "bubbles" and write for a longer period of time. I either write too or I walk around and have quiet conferences with them.

Part 3

Sharing time

In a quick gathering students say what they worked on during the writing time. It may be just a mention of the topic or structure or craft move.

Intro to UOI

Read aloud

 

We start our day with a morning circle. We sit on a carpet and greet each other. I share what the day holds for us and sometimes give a little thought to remember. Today I read about a little girl called Vashti who was sure she couldn't draw. The teacher asked her to just draw a dot and that marked a beginning of a surprising journey.

The thought I gave after the reading:

The expert in anything was once a beginner

On a treasure hunt

During a writing lesson the students went on a treasure hunt. They followed clues from one place to another. Finally they found a neatly packed treasure. What was inside?

Find out from your child.

Math: estimation

About how many?

We estimated. We adjusted our estimates. We explained our thinking.

We evaluated the reasonableness of answers.

Reading

Tuesday 13:45

This week we will get to know each other as readers.

We will also get to know our class library and find good reading spots.

Guess who?

Yesterday the students got their first homework. They had to choose 4 (only four) things to put in a paper bag to represent them.

Today we tried to guess what was in the bags, shared what we had chosen and why, and later tried to remember what we had seen.

Can you guess whose things are on the picture?

Math: seating plan

We are looking for different combinations for our seating plans.

First day jitters

What will this year be like?

What will the students be like?

Am I ready for the new school year?

I have to admit that even after 15 years of teaching I get a bit nervous before the first day of school.

I shouldn't have been.

The smiling faces reassured me that everything was going to be great.

The energy that filled the room promised an exciting learning journey for us all. 

This week we are building our community. First of all we will learn about each other and create essential agreements to ensure a positive and supportive learning environment. The second important learning is putting routines and procedures in place. 

I shared my two (yes, only two, but very important) expectations. 

Be kind

Learn

We will have many discussions to make sure we understand what these expectations mean, and what they look, sound and feel like. 

The first two read aloud books were:

We decided that none of us were as nervous as Sarah in this story

If you wish to take a look at our read aloud books, come and visit us

Welcome to ourclassroom

ON THE OTHER SIDE OF THE DOOR

On the other side of the door

I can be a different me,

As smart and as brave and as funny or strong

As a person could want to be.

There’s nothing too hard for me to do,

There’s no place I can’t explore

Because everything can happen

On the other side of the door.

On the other side of the door

I don’t have to go alone.

If you come, too, we can sail tall ships

And fly where the wind has flown.

And wherever we go, it is almost sure

We’ll find what we’re looking for

Because everything can happen

On the other side of the door.

By Jeff Moss