August 20, 2020 · games
From Social Emotional Workshop 2016 Games, brain breaks, Morning Meeting activities, and community building exercises are a vital part of learning in our 3rd grade classroom. I’ve (Nina) been thinking a lot about how we can continue to incorporate games and brain breaks even when teaching over video or while staying six feet apart. Here are some of the ideas we came up with - Gabby is the game genius, so I asked her to help me brainstorm! We came up with two lists, which are below. I tried to link to a description or provide it myself unless it seems really self-explanatory, but if anything is not clear, please comment below and we will give you more details. On live video (Zoom, Google hangouts, etc) Keep in mind that a whiteboard with names or teams behind you where you can show them their points and keep updating it or keep track of rounds, etc. will help many of these! Also,
gamesbrain breakscommunity buildingname activitiesresponsive classroom
August 14, 2020 · curriculum
Reading Sherman Alexie’s Thunderboy Jr. to my class a few Septembers ago! I (Nina) am preparing to go back to work after my extended maternity leave. This is shaping up to be an unpredictable and unprecedented school year, but I hope my students and I can still find joy in learning and getting to know each other. My school has decided that we will start the year fully remote, although we are small (and independent) so we are lucky to have an option of some in-person small group meetings to meet students and parents, do some technology training, and distribute materials at the beginning of the year. Conceptualizing distance learning has been challenging for me. In August of 2018, I wrote about some of my favorite ideas to start the school year and I am trying to think about how I can still do some of those activities with my students, maybe with a new twist! I try to think about the
back to schoolbeginning of the school yearcommunity buildingget to know youname activities
October 26, 2018 · curriculum
A snapshot of our “contract wall” showcasing some student art! As we near the end of October and my school has its Fall round of conferences with families, I was recently pleased to notice how many of my students use the language of our class contract (rules for our class) in their reflections about how the year is going for them. Creating our contract was a multi-step process starting with a read aloud and ending with a signed contract and accompanying art projects (and of course a shared understanding about the kind of community we want to create). We started with a read aloud (always a wonderful place to start!). Our first chapter book read aloud of the year is Save Me a Seat by Gita Varadarajan and Sarah Weeks . We read a few chapters and a day and do a variety of responses to our reading to help us empathize with the characters. The main characters’ negative experiences at school
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August 17, 2017 · Uncategorized
Message from two students on the last day of school (names removed for privacy). As the beginning of the new school year approaches (or Teachers’ New Year, as I like to call it), memories and reflections from last year always pop up as we decide what we want to keep, adapt, and get rid of as we start anew. This year, Gabby and I are moving from teaching 5th grade to teaching 3rd grade, so the calculation is even more complex. The first way we close the year is by literally closing a book. We also finished our class read aloud, Walk Two Moons, on the very last day of school, which felt perfect - Walk Two Moons (if you haven’t read it, RUN and pick it up!) has a complex, multi-faceted ending with lots of emotions, just like the end of the school year. It also reminded me for the umpteenth time how much I love read alouds and how they are an essential teaching and learning tool, but also
back to schoolend of the yeartraditionscommunity building