Last week we watched more videos and talked more about the problems our world is facing, and we decided that we want to use our creativity to help! We re-read the book “What Do You Do With An Idea?” and started identifying our own calls to action. We wrote our plans on post its and placed them on our class idea egg. Check them out next time you visit our classroom!
This coming week, kids will continue to grow and play with and feed their helping ideas ~ thinking about their problem and solidifying a plan for how they can help. We will be breaking up into collaborative groups to tackle common problems together, and will be taking on group collaboration roles to help up be productive. We will also be creating group compacts. Group compacts explicitly state what group members needs from each other to collaborate in a productive way.
Then we will dive into helping. We will focus first on raising awareness about our problem by making signs and posters, writing speeches and letters, or creating videos that teach others about the problem. This will lead us into our next step, which will involve creating inventions that help!
This coming week, kids will continue to grow and play with and feed their helping ideas ~ thinking about their problem and solidifying a plan for how they can help. We will be breaking up into collaborative groups to tackle common problems together, and will be taking on group collaboration roles to help up be productive. We will also be creating group compacts. Group compacts explicitly state what group members needs from each other to collaborate in a productive way.
Then we will dive into helping. We will focus first on raising awareness about our problem by making signs and posters, writing speeches and letters, or creating videos that teach others about the problem. This will lead us into our next step, which will involve creating inventions that help!
Practicing Our Collaboration!
Last week, we started talking a lot about what good collaboration looks like. We have been building and playing and learning collaboratively all year. This final project is going to really drill down on how helpful collaboration can be, and what behaviors really help collaboration. One of our pillars is "we learn everywhere, we learn together." The K teachers see so much value in teaching our students to be able to work productively with groups of people that have diverse perspectives and skills. Kindergarten is not too early to start teaching our kids to work together and compromise to meet a common goal.
Our first collaborative exercise was to complete a 100-piece African savanna puzzle. We tried some things, reflected on how things were going, and the adjusted some things and tried again. By the end of the week, groups were putting the puzzle together like pros! | We also worked collaboratively to create group rocket creations. Mindy and I were really impressed with how willing all of the kids were to incorporate others’ ideas and ensure that their final creation reflected every group member artistic contributions. |
... and Continuing to Share Our Ideas With Our Writing!
New schedule for the next three weeks! | Sharing Schedule |
On Monday, our older students will start taking their state SBAL exams. In the past, these test have been given during their morning instructional block. This year, our early bell schedule has altered the morning instructional block considerably. The new learning block will not accommodate the testing needs, so we are needing to flip the primary and intermediate class schedules. This will be quite an adjustment, and a lesson in flexibility for us all. Mindy and I have a plan and will adjust as necessary. Here is what our days will look like for the next three weeks: 8:00 Readers' Workshop 8:25 Morning Meeting 8:30 Writers' Workshop 9:10 PE, Art or Library 9:50 get lunches / bathroom break 10:00 Recess & Lunch 10:40 Yoga & Core Practice 10:50 Math Workshop 11:30 Recess 11:45 Dessert Books / Class Meeting 12:05 Word Work (w/ white boards) 12:25 Choice Time 1:10 Snack & Brain Pop & Sharing 1:25 Recess 1:40 Pack Up & Jobs 1:50 Read Aloud 2:00 Walk out to meet families / Dismissal |