Celebrating the Life and Work of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
Since the first day of school, we have been talking about what it means to be kind, safe, and fair in our Kindergarten Classroom. We have also been noticing and appreciating how each of us are the same as and different from the people in our lives and from people all over the world. Last week, we started talking about the concepts of social justice and peace. We re-read the book, "Ron's Big Mission" that we read earlier in the year and talked about the civil rights work young Ron McNair did to peacefully change the segregation rules of his community library. I then introduced the kids to the civil rights work of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. by watching a Brainpop Jr. video and reading some great picture books and poems. We will continue learning about this important leader this week, reading more books, watching a video of him speaking and having discussions about how our world has changed for the better because of brave and persevering people like Dr. Martin Luther King.
On Friday, our fifth grade student leaders will be performing a MLK assembly for the K-2 classes at 8:45 am in the cafeteria. Please join us if you are able. If you are interested in extending this important learning at home, here is a great resource: Teaching Tolerance - http://www.tolerance.org/.
On Friday, our fifth grade student leaders will be performing a MLK assembly for the K-2 classes at 8:45 am in the cafeteria. Please join us if you are able. If you are interested in extending this important learning at home, here is a great resource: Teaching Tolerance - http://www.tolerance.org/.
At QAE, I am AWARE, I am SAFE and we are CONNECTED
When students start Kindergarten in the fall, they excitedly agree to our Kindergarten Kind, Safe and Fair Agreement. When we place our cut-out, signed hands on our posted the first day of school, we are agreeing to do everything we can to be kind, safe and fair. These concepts seem to work well for our youngest learners, and as we return from break Mindy and I are really impressed with what grown-up learners the kindegarteners in Room 203 are. Last year, our staff climate committee (which I am a member of) developed a similar set of school-wide guidelines for the common spaces at QAE ~ behavior expectations that will help our kids know what is expected as they grow up at QAE. We also worked hard to create a new student leadership team, something we have wanted to implement for years. I am excited to announce that we now have a student leadership team in place, lead by our 3rd grade teacher Devin Liner. This team is made up of 4th and 5th graders this pilot year, with the goal of expanding to have representation from all grades. So far this year, the student leadership team has been leading food drives and helping usher at assemblies. This January, they are helping the QAE teachers make these behavior expectations come alive in our classrooms. This student group has asked all QAE classes to dedicate their Thursday class meeting to a topic they will provide. |
Last week, they asked us to think about what agreeing to be aware, safe and connected mean. We talked about how these concepts are a lot like our Kind, Safe and Fair, but are more big kid in that they really push us to think about how our actions and behaviors help or hurt the people in our learning community. And not just in our classroom, but in our whole school! Here is the poster we generated with our initial ideas. Next week, we will be creating an art/writing piece that will allow us to reflect on these concepts more. We will be sharing our results with the big kids, but will also be sharing it with you. Stay tuned!