First Week of School
/It’s hard to believe that our first week of school has already come and gone. This week we focused on building community, connecting with new friends, and exploring our classroom environments.
During project time this week student engineers collaborated to build an intricate Rigamajig structure using gears and pulleys. This structure continues to be a work in progress. We read a book called The Most Magnificent Thing about a young girl who overcomes many obstacles and frustrations in her building. Our engineers could relate to the frustration! We discussed how engineers have to be persistent and innovative. Our engineers made multiple adjustments to their structure to accomplish their design goals. It took many redesigns and much collaboration. I’m so proud of their persistence! Other engineers used Legos, Quadrilla, and Tegu blocks to design their structures. Students experimented with Snap Circuits to build electrical pathways that resulted in light bulbs turning on, spinners flying through the air, and alarms going off- what excitement! Artists in our art studio used sharpie and water colors to capture the beauty of orchids. Several students chose to buddy read, write stories, or create art pieces using our remeda materials. On Friday several students played board games during project time. During numeracy this week we learned how to play a new game called Zeus on the Loose. This game involves adding numbers to reach 100. We are working on number fluency and mental math strategies.
Today we played our mystery bag game! Each student brought in an All About Me bag that contained four objects that represented his/her life and interests. As we examined the items in each bag, we ventured guesses as to whom the bag might belong. After we all had a chance to guess, the mystery person would reveal him/herself and then have a chance to explain the significance of each item. Students used clear, assertive voices to present their items to the class and answered questions from audience members. It was a fun way to get to know one other better while also practicing our presentation skills in an informal manner.
Each day we spend a large chunk of our day outside in the outdoor classroom. This week we discussed how scientists make detailed observations. We looked at examples and non-examples of quality sketches. We also discussed how to properly use a magnifying glass as a scientific tool. Students each found an interesting natural object in the outdoor classroom and drew a realistic, detailed sketch of their object. We will continue to practice this skill throughout our scientific studies and research this year. We also began exploring the question Who/What Lives in our Outdoor Classroom? We found evidence of several insects and plant species already. In the coming weeks we will be learning more about the specific species and discussing the ways in which we can care for these species that share our space.
In addition to our structured explorations in the outdoor classroom, students also have free choice time in the outdoor classroom each day. Just like our indoor classroom, the outdoor classroom was intentionally designed to support and extend student learning. In the sandbox students are creating waterways and experimenting with foundational physics. They are gaining hands-on experience with erosion and waterways. Of course much social learning also takes place in the sandbox as students determine what to build, how to build it, how much water to use, and who gets to pump the water. It’s evident that these students have built a strong foundation in social skills and problem-solving as they negotiate and assert their needs. We will continue to practice these important life skills throughout our time together as Otters. During free choice time other students built structures out of natural materials and used these structures in their dramatic play. Still other students chose to develop their gross motor muscles as they ran, jumped, and climbed.
We are a community of readers! We have read alouds sprinkled throughout our day and we end our days together by sharing books. This week we worked as a class to determine what categories of books we would like in our classroom library. Then we spent time reading books individually and in partners to determine how to categorize each book. The categories students decided upon are fiction, history/places, science, animals, poetry/art, funny, Mo Willems, math, community, gaming/graphic novels. In addition to our regular classroom library that’s organized by category, we also have an entire leveled library of picture and chapter books. Students are always welcome to borrow classroom books. I just ask that they return them to school each day so we’ll have them for Treasured Reading time. I hope to instill a lifelong love of reading in my students and I would love for them to become voracious readers!
Clearly our Otters have been hard at work exploring, reading, writing, negotiating, and making new friends this week. I hope you all have a wonderfully restful weekend and we’ll see you on Monday.