Thank you for coming to the conferences

Thank you for coming to the conferences yesterday. Grade 3 had 100% families represented.

We talked today with the students how they felt about the experience. Most of them said that the best part was when they got to share their portfolio. Many liked to hear good things about themselves. Some said that they were a bit nervous. Some were a bit disappointed that they couldn't go to the specialists like they do in spring. I felt that we were a bit short of time, but overall I loved the excitement of kids sharing their reflections and parents being supportive and encouraging.


You can access the portfolios when you go to Evernote. For the students the sign in to Evernote is the same as their Gmail account.

Reading as a reader, reading as a writer

 

 This week I have read the three books you see on the picture aloud to kids during the snack time. They listened to the stories and responded in their journals. I will read some more stories and then they will choose their best response to share with me. Then we will work with these texts as we have done with others, looking at what we could  change and improve to make our thinking more clear to someone who read our writing. 

I used the same three books in our writing workshop.

Together with family stories in UOI we are learning about personal narratives in Literacy.

Personal Narratives are true stories based on the experiences from the writer's life.

Writers write from their heart about what matters the most.

Over the next five weeks we will inquire into:

• what makes a good personal narrative
• how to develop ideas
• how to organize the text
• ways to revise

We have learned already that writers often make lists to collect ideas. We revisited this strategy, because lists can lead to unexpected ideas, they give possibilities and can be viewed as places to begin thinking.
To write a good list you should think big and accept all ideas.

We have written simple list before. Now we wrote elaborated lists.
Three days, three books, three lists.
Each book that  you see on the picture gave us inspiration to write a different list.

Our next step is to spend time choosing the idea, exploring mentor texts, envisioning and planning before we write our first drafts.

What? How? Why.

Why do people tell family stories?

What could they tell about?

How could we find out more?

The posters above show what the students think now.

We will see how these posters change when we finish the unit.

On Monday we read...

...and talked how objects and photos can help in finding out more about family stories. 

I look forward to seeing pictures and hearing stories on Friday.

The family time-line sharing next Wednesday also promises interesting stories.

A guest teacher from grade 4

Lawrence from grade 4 asked whether he could demonstrate to our class what he had learned about volcanoes during his unit of inquiry. We gladly accepted that offer and curiously listened and watched what he showed. 

I find that it is wonderful when the learning doesn't stay hidden in the classroom but is demonstrated across grade levels. 

 

Math on the floor

When I went to school, I had to sit with a straight back and quietly listen to the teacher instruction and then carefully write in my journal. I couldn't even imagine that school could look different. Yet, now, as a teacher my math lessons look different. Quite often the learning happens on the floor. It's not that I don't  have  desks in the classroom. It's because the floor is more spacious to sit in a circle, use different manipulatives, and then see what others did and listen to how they explain their thinking.

Currently we are solving 2-and 3-digit addition and subtraction problems. Some simpler, some harder.

From the years of experience I have learned how important it is to take time and use hands-on materials to explore and explain concepts before writing with symbols and learning procedures.

So when you pass our classroom and see us on the floor, you can be assured that there is learning happening. Learning can be fun and challenging at the same time. 

New UOI

Ms. Helelyn, an anthropologist, came to our class to kick off our new unit of inquiry "Family Stories."

She read Patricia Polacco's The Keeping Quilt and this led us to talk about traditions, special food, and about things that are passed on from generation to generation.

An inquiry into 

Where we are in time and place

An inquiry into orientation in place and time; personal histories; homes and journeys; the discoveries, explorations and migrations of humankind; the relationships between and the interconnectedness of individuals and civilizations, from local and global perspectives.

Family stories

Central idea:

Personal and family stories provide an insight into cultural and personal identity.

Lines of inquiry:

·      Ways to find out and record about the past

·      How learning about the past generations helps to understand the relationship between the past and the present

·      Similarities and differences between generations within a family

 

Picnic

Thank you to mothers who came for a class coffee meeting yesterday. There was so much food that we had plenty to have a small class picnic today. It felt appropriate to read another Patricia Polacco's book.

Rereading

We have spoken about how readers activate their schema and during reading add to it or change it. Reading is as much of a process as writing. Readers are actively engaged with the text and are constantly developing their understanding. In writing we have several drafts. As readers we also draft and revise our comprehension. When we read a text for the first time, we usually try to keep track of what is going on, what is said.  We make connections and respond with feelings. To dig deeper readers sometime reread texts. If writers have spent time carefully choosing how to say and show what they wish, then the reader tries to almost translate the words back to find the meaning behind them. There is probably a reason why the author chose certain words, details, patterns or structures.
Yesterday we took some stories and poems that we were familiar with and reread them. We read to discover things we hadn't noticed before and came up with theories as to what might these things mean.

How to write reflections?

To give guiding questions or not?

When we started writing the first reflection this year, I gave several guiding questions to the students. It seemed to confuse them. They stared at the questions and gave short answers.

When I realized how my help was having an opposite effect, I asked them to completely forget my questions and write from a heart. I asked them to imagine telling a story about themselves as learners. 

For the students who have experience with reflecting and who love writing this inspired creating reflections with strong voice. For the students who are less experienced in creating portfolios or expressing themselves in writing, the task became even harder. To compromise we came up with basic expectation of what should be included in a reflection. 

Any reflection should include what we learned in class, what the student knows, what he/she does well, what he/she could become better at, what she/he has created and what attitudes he/she has shown. I offer my help as an editor and sometimes also as a secretary. 

Over the years my expectations for the reflections have grown. Initially there were only two things included in a  portfolio reflection, what the task was and what attitude was demonstrated. The reflections were often dry and very similar to one another. Now I can see that each portfolio really shows the learner. It is never boring to read what the learners think and how they express themselves. Each portfolio is unique. 

Connections in math

We created several posters to show how math stories, models and equations are connected. For the illustration purposes we used small numbers. Hopefully these posters will remind us what we learned and help us to understand and solve story problems with larger numbers.

More connections

We have talked about how readers activate their schema by making personal connections with experiences, feelings or relationships that are presented in a story. Another way to make connections is to think about texts by the same author, or texts on the same topic or theme, or books in the same genre. Making these kind of connections helps us to predict what to expect or understand what to pay attention to. For example, when I read Cynthia Rylant's The Relatives Came, the students soon made a connection with When Lightening Comes in a Jar and predicted that we will see the people eating, playing, taking pictures, and telling stories. Sure enough the games and food came. Knowing that in a picture book the illustrations can give us additional details, we saw that the pictures were taken in a story, even though it was never mentioned in words. 

The following day I read Fireflies by Julie Brinkloe, another connection with When Lightening Comesin a  Jar. Catching the fireflies was a similar event, but the way it started and ended was different. This showed that we have to adjust and change our schema as we read on.

Homework

I don't know how much you are involved in the weekly homework that I give to the students. But you have probably noticed that I have not reported to you whether your child does or doesn't do the homework. I have my reasons.
I have a belief that homework has to be meaningful and that the student has to take full responsibility for it.

Meaningful homework is a natural part of learning and should support what is happening in class.
Since we are learning what readers, writers, and mathematicians do, most of the homework is related to these three areas.
Reading
Studies show that the more a student reads the bigger growth he/she has both in comprehension and vocabulary and worldly knowledge. Getting better at reading is a foundation for many other areas - writing, research, math, Literature circle discussions, understanding instructions, learning social and emotional skills. Therefore I don't consider reading a homework that needs assigned minutes or pages. My simple expectation is that readers read daily. The reading can be for fun, related to literature circle, or to unit of inquiry. For Literature the students have to read the assigned amount, but they can choose whether they do it at home or at school. Being prepared for a discussion is a matter of respect and commitment. This includes having written notes in their reading journal.
Writing
The best advice that any writer has ever given is: read, read, read and write, write, write. The more the students write, the easier they come up with ides, they build stamina and fluency. Not all writing is wonderful. In fact there can be a lot of bad writing. But the more they write, the more likely they are to come up with some magnificent ideas, expressing what they experience and truly mean, the more comfortable they become with choosing words, and experimenting with voice and structure.  Therefore my goal for writing homework is to implement a habit of writing for the young writers. Ideally of course they should write a bit every day, but I know that this is a challenge even for experienced writers. I hope they will get used to writing three entries in their journal every week. There is slice of life for Wednesday. This is a personal writing about their experiences, observations, thoughts and feelings. There is a prompt for Friday that requires using imagination. For Monday they have free choice. They can collect new ideas or go through a writing process with one text over a longer period of time.
Math
Like in reading, regular practice is necessary in math to be able to remember knowledge and skills.  So my expectation is that students practice math 10-15 minutes  5-6 times a week. I am so thankful that our school subscribes to IXL. It is much better than any worksheet. It instantly lets the child know whether the answer was correct. If it wasn't, it also gives an explanation, so the student can learn right away. If the material is too hard, the student can practice previous year's material. If the grade level material is mastered, the student can challenge herself/himself with harder material. It is very easy to monitor what and how much a student practices.
UOI
Once in a while I give UOI homework. This may be collecting information or creating something in relation to the unit we are exploring.

Responsibility
It takes time to build organizational and time-management skills that the student needs to do homework regularly. We are now creating our portfolios and one of the things the students will reflect on is their habits of doing homework. I want them to analyze how well they have met the homework expectations. If they have done well, I can ask how they can challenge themselves. If they haven't done their homework, I want them to create a plan on how they will improve in the future and what would be the consequences of not doing the homework.

Estonian Culture Field Trip

Türisalu Cliff

Collecting rocks

Keila-Joa waterfall

Thinking beyond the text

Proficient readers use a variety of reading strategies to make sense of the text they are reading. As an adult we don't think about this, because the reading process has become unconscious.  Students benefit from explanations, modeling and practicing how to integrate the different strategies effectively with many kinds of texts.
I like to use picture books as models. During the read aloud I stop and ask the reading buddies share their thinking. This way all students have access to the same text and all students get to share their thinking. After the buddy sharing, one or two students share with the whole class. Usually they don't share what they thought, but rather what their buddy said.

Readers think within the text, beyond the text and about the text.
Thinking within the text means that the reader understands the basic meaning of the text. This is the foundation for higher thinking skills.
Thinking beyond the text means that the reader goes more deeply into the meaning, beyond the literal understanding.
One of the reading strategies, and a way to think beyond the text, is to activate a schema and make connections. Activating schema means that we use our background knowledge to help us understand the book. For example when we started reading Patricia Polacco's Thunder Cake, the students didn't know anything about the author. The next day when I showed them Patricia Polacco's When Lightening Comes in a Jar, they activated their schema and were able to tell that this author writes and illustrates her stories and that she sometimes writes about her own life.

While I read both books, the students made text-to-self connections. This means that they thought of similar events, relationships and feelings in their life. Thinking beyond the text, connecting the reading to their own experiences helps them to understand the characters better.

We did it!

On Wednesday afternoon Grade 3 students presented their human body systems to Grade 1 and Grade 2 students. Even if the presenters were a bit nervous at first, they spoke clearly and with expression. They had so much information that we barely finished when the bell rang.

Portfolios in grade 3

Continuing from yesterday.
Last year Grade 2 used Keynote to create electronic portfolios. Keynote looks visually very appealing and allows to make each presentation in personal style. Unfortunately the portfolios were too big to be saved and some got lost in the process of collecting I-Pads. I thought I would try something different. At first I thought of Google Sites or Wikispaces, but you need internet access to be able to view them. I needed something that would keep things in the cyber space but at the same time would be accessible when internet is down. I picked Evernote
I have been using Evernote mainly for collecting Pd reading and also for recording reading workshop conference notes. This is what my notebook collection looks like.

I can have many notes in one notebook. I can insert pictures and audiorecording to my notes. The only drawback is that I can't insert videos. I can include a link.
With students we created a notebook for each subject. Since many of the students had updated their I-Pad, their Evernote layout differs from the one I have.

So far Evernote has been easy to use. When we have our first student-parent-teacher conference, we will find out whether it will be easy to view and pleasing to the eye.

Nutrition and science experiments

Nutrition was a new word for us on Monday.

From the video the students learned that the foods we eat contain important nutrients including proteins, carbohydrates, minerals, vitamins and fats. No single  food can supply all the nutrients our body needs in order to stay healthy and strong. We need a balanced diet.We are still exploring what a balanced diet should look like. The students created a meal plan for a day and I will send it to a nutritional specialist for feedback.
Mean while, Doc. Shepherd was kind to invite us to a science lab to see how scientists test food for certain nutrients.
The students had to carefully read and follow instructions and then record their results.

Thank you to Doc Shepherd for this interesting lesson!

Creating portfolios

There are many different ways to collect data about students. We use assessment to understand the learner, to measure progress and to set goals. I have mentioned that I listen to the children reading to me and thinking out loud, observe them during math, or regularly read their journals. These are informal ways to gather data. I wrote about MAP test. This is a formal standardized assessment. Each assessment has its value. Piecing together info that I have collected from different assessments helps me to decide what experiences would help to meet each learner's needs.

Over the years I have found that one of the most powerful assessment strategies is a portfolio.
A portfolio is a purposeful collection of student work that tells a story of the student as a learner. Each chosen piece includes a self-reflection. It shows interests, habits, effort, knowledge, attitude, skills, progress, and goals in all subject areas. Creating a portfolio asks the learner to take charge. At ISE we don't create showcase portfolios with the best and most beautiful work. The portfolio may include sketches, drafts and even unfinished pieces if the learner is able to explain why she/he chose it.

So far I in my classes students have collected papers and printed out reflections to assemble between covers.

This year I am trying out electronic portfolios. Some of my students had experience with electronic portfolios last year. They used Keynote to do it. This year we are taking a different approach. What and how we plan to do, I will write in a future blog post.

For tomorrow

We decided that during our first unit we were not ready to present to a bigger audience. We still wanted to try presenting. So we have invited grade 1 and grade 2 students to our class. They will come tomorrow. Today we practiced how to speak loudly, clearly and with expression. We know it would take many practices to make perfect. Tomorrow we will try to be as good as we get and learn from the experience for future presentations.

Math goblins

Can you see the eyes peeking above the circle?

That's a math goblin who does tricks to our numbers. Sometimes when we put a number in, the number grows. Sometimes we have a mean math goblin who takes away from the numbers we put in.

Can you figure out what happens to the numbers in this picture?

Can you fill in the missing places in the table?

Most of the time grade 3 students can solve the math goblin mysteries.

We are learning about functions, equations and missing variables. Sometimes it is easier to understand the idea than to learn the tricky vocabulary.

Getting creative

I thought that we had finished with our human body systems book and were ready to move on. The students wished to share what we had learned with other students. We decided that if we wanted to speak to younger students we needed to make it interesting. I left the classroom and allowed them to come up with ideas and make a plan. Now they are drawing large pictures and creating songs and plays.

I am very curious to see what the result will be.

Feet, hips and back

A physiotherapist always checks the feet, hips, shoulders and back of people. He can read a lot out from those body parts and then can find ways to help a person who has pain or is recovering from injuries.

We learned this today when Mr. Tero Ruotsala, a physiotherapist, came to speak to our class. We even did a little check up on each other.

He spoke to us about the importance of doing regular exercises.

Regular exercise trains our muscles, releases natural pain killers, makes us feel better and helps us sleep. He pointed out how physical health and emotional health are connected. For example, if you have  pain, you can't sleep well, and if you don't sleep well, you are in a bad mood. He said that it's best to do sports and exercises that you like. It should be fun.

One of the most common problems is a back pain because both children and adults sit too much. He gave us some exercises we can do during a day to help us to move our muscles and keep energy flowing.

The most important idea he wanted us to remember was not to be alone and to have friends. Sometimes the people who come to him need a good listener as much as the physical exercise.

Literature circles

I love reading. In fact I went to the library two days ago and brought three new adult books to read. I find that I am extra fortunate to be a teacher and  in addition to adult books I get to read children literature. Currently I am in a literature circle group that chose Because if Winn-Dixie as their book to read and discuss. I enjoy the book but it is even more fascinating to listen to the thoughts children share during our discussions. Today they shared how the dog plays a key role in the events that happen to the main character. They talked how it is not nice to judge people by someone's comments or by the way they look. They thought of reasons why the life of the main character is changing and how come she is so brave. Talking about the book gives it a whole new dimension. 

Peer editing

Yesterday the students tried a role of a peer editor during the writing workshop. Everyone got a short personal narrative to look at. They used highlighters to mark places where the writer had effectively used words and included details, and used a different color to mark places that left them confused or where they wanted to know more or needed more details to be able to visualize what the writer meant.

As it turns out, sometimes it is harder to be an editor than a writer. Today the students used the advice that they had received and made changes. Some students were ready for creating illustrations to go with their stories.

Connections, connections, connections

Yesterday we looked at four different models of addition.

Part-part-whole model

Join model

Comparison model

Number line model

Today we looked for connections

1, If you have a model...

.....you can write an equation

6+3=9

.....and you can connect the picture and equation to a story.

"There are 9 students in class. Six boys and three girls."

2. Knowing the addition helps you with subtraction.

"If there are nine students in class, and six of them are boys, how many girls are there?"

You can hide part of the model and

you can write the equation like this

6+ a= 9

(a stands for the unknown)

3. Knowing basic facts helps you to add really large numbers.

If you know 6+3

Then you can also do 6 tens plus 3 tens is 9 tens

or 6000+3000=9000

Do be able to do large numbers computation and equations with missing addends, we have to make sure that the foundation is very strong. Understanding what operations really mean and having automaticity of recalling basic facts ensures that even when a student encounters a harder problem they can use their foundation to solve it. If they use just rote memorization, they may forget, get stuck or take a wrong path when faced with harder problems.

Meditation

Why is there a photo of toes?

The reason is simple. We had our third guest for our UOI unit visiting us on Wednesday. Ms.Naglee came to talk to us about meditation. She spoke about our brain constantly thinking. The thoughts go on and on and on, like runaway horses. Meditation is a way to get control of your brain. She said that it takes hours of practice to become really good. 

She taught us some techniques.

The first one was focusing on the pinky toe (hence the picture). For example, when you are in pain or nervous, you can concentrate on your pinky toe and try to make it move the way you want. Your brain is so busy with commanding the toe that you forget about the bad feelings.

The second technique was counting your breaths. When you are nervous, your breathing gets mixed up, you don't get enough oxygen to your brain, and you start sweating. Focusing on your breath helps you to calm down. It would be best to count to seven when breathing in and seven again when breathing out.

The third technique was becoming mindful. It means thinking of just one thing that you are doing at the moment. Doing one thing at a time is the best way of doing things, whether it is listening to someone, writing something, solving a problem, brushing your teeth, eating a cookie, or playing ball or walking. 

We practiced all three techniques with her.

International Music Day

It was a surprising fact for me that International Music Day has existed since 1975. Young musicians from Tallinn Music School gave us a short concert to celebrate this day with us.

Models

5+3=8

Easy, right?

We all know that this is addition.

How would you model addition and subtraction if you were not allowed to use any mathematical symbols or numerals ( no Roman numerals)?

Not so easy anymore.

Most students want to replace numbers and signs with invented symbols and signs instead of modeling the actual concept of addition. This week we will look at different models of addition and subtraction and how the same model can represent both operations.

Understanding the part-part-whole model or the join model or the comparison model helps the child to put meaning into the symbols and also makes mastering basic facts easier. 

What to write?

What would you write about if you had an empty journal page in front of you and not very much time?

It was interesting how the young writers approached the task. Some continued with writing they had started earlier, some wrote with a future plan in mind, some illustrated their writing, some chose a prompt we had had before.