I really like how they mention autonomy in the beginning of the chapter. The students have learned so much, and they're ready to be doing things on their own, but it's not The First Two Weeks of School. There's still so much to be learned. As it says on page 82, "So much has already happened, so much has been shared. It is easy to forget that it is still early in September [or late August for us!] -- still very much a time of transitions."
I also feel like this is the perfect opportunity to do Chris' PRIDE lessons - thinking about abstract ideas (positive attitude, respect, etc.) and discussing what it looks and sounds like in different areas of the school.
I usually tend to skip all the little games they suggest, but I'm rethinking that because on page 81, it says, "Rather than scheduling separate times to teach children how to follow the rules, we plan activities -- from games and group initiatives to math and spelling lessons -- which will provide opportunities to apply the rules. Children rehearse, discuss, practice, and reflect on ways to honor the newly articulated rules." I love that.
Sometimes, though, I wonder if this trains children on how to respond. Do you notice how children KNOW what to say when you ask them what they should have done, yet they never do that thing they should've done? They know all the right words to say. How do we help them DO the right thing instead of just SAYing the right thing?
The goals for this week include creating class rules/promises and having games and group activities after which the class will debrief and reflect.
Primary Grades
This part of the chapter begins to talk about sharing. This is something I tend to skip during Morning Meeting in the interest of time... However, I want to make sure that I am having students share and talk during the content area lessons. If students choose Show and Tell for their Frog Card reward, we do it during Morning Meeting. When a student is the Student of the Week/Star Student, he or she shares the poster during Morning Meeting on Monday. Students always accept three comments or questions about their share item.
During the Responsive Classroom course, they talked about how to facilitate QUALITY comments and questions. Starting on page 87, the book begins to talk about this as well. I have to say, I haven't done that. I pretty much allowed any comments or questions. But I really think that discussing comment quality would help me reach my goal of having students be able to speak with one another. Another important part of comments/questions is teaching the sharer how to respond. The suggestions in the book include, "Thank you," "Congratulations," and "I'm sorry." This book doesn't go into HOW to facilitate deeper questions. I'm wondering if it is explained in the Morning Meeting Book?
The games they suggest include Tag. I'm somewhat disappointed that our kiddos aren't allowed to play tag, but I understand the safety concern on our playground. All of these games are detailed in Appendix C on page 189. There is a whole list of games with descriptions AND the age levels they are most appropriate for. What a great resource!
Does anyone do anything like the quilt idea? I know Brandi, Nancy, and Maria did the helping hands watercolor activity. Are there other ideas?
I think this would be a great time to introduce the Math Tool Kits for guided discovery, as well!
Rules & Routines
The book suggests beginning work on class rules on Day Six. I can't wait to generate the list with my new kiddos. And I can't wait to add "TRY HARD!" and talk about what that means. I hope that will inspire the kids. This part about stating the positive, categorizing the rules, and displaying the rules are all part of what Nancy shared at the beginning of the year last year. I also really love calling them Promises instead of Rules.
1. Care for Others
2. Care for Ourselves
3. Care for Our Environment
4. Try hard
One of the sentences made me laugh out loud: "This will be a place where we will enjoy doing things that matter to each and every one of us." It makes me think, "you WILL do this, and you WILL LOVE IT!" Haha.
Another rule suggestion is Be Safe. I know a lot of schools have three rules:
1. Be respectful (which is care for others)
2. Be responsible (which is care for ourselves and our environment)
3. Be safe
What are your thoughts on these?
I think a lot of this still falls in with the PRIDE lessons.
I also think the academics the book mentions falls within the things we talked about like the scientific process, doing experiments, etc. They suggest doing a study of something like spiders, leaves, butterflies, or rocks. Maybe we could study the classroom pets we plan to have? Like frogs? Or hermit carbs? I really like the ongoing collection of information and observations. This seems like exactly what we were talking about!
What did you all think of this chapter? What parts were important to you? Or new to you?
I definitely agree on the games, and I think I need to do more of them as well. It not only reinforces expectations but it also allows for class community building. I usually call my games "activities" and use them during morning meeting if we have time. I have a huge list of activities, but would like to do more in the beginning of the year with outdoor class games.
ReplyDeleteShare is a huge thing discussed in the Morning Meeting book. I usually have every child share during morning meeting in the beginning of the year; then we talk more about what things we share that mean something to us, I call it "meaningful share". On Mondays and Fridays I do "around the room" share where every child shares, but Tuesday-Thursday I have four spots on the board open for those "meaningful shares". It works really well and the students learn how to communicate within a group. I do want to do more with meaningful share during academic times. Unfortunately share is the thing to get cut during workshop times when we don't have enough time. :(
I also do a promise and love calling it a promise instead of rules. My three are take care of yourself, take care of others, and take care of the environment. We start out in the beginning of the year by listing all of the rules they think they need in school, which ends up being a HUGE list (including my favorite, "don't pinch each other." haha! Never fails..) I then tell them they all can be categorized into taking care of something, and guide them into those three rules. They help me write it and then we sign our names at the bottom labeled "Rm. 66's Promise". It helps a lot when they aren't meeting the promise. There's a process that makes it simple to go through when a child was not following the promise and what they can do to "Fix It".
After reading this chapter again, it's a definite reminder of how I need to incorporate more games and activities into my day!