December 14, 2022 · curriculum
We are so close to having a break! Also, I always find that once we make it to winter break, the rest of the school year flies by somehow. This first chunk of the year is often the hardest in so many ways. Once the routines are established and community is built, the rest of the school year can feel more manageable. But every year and every class is different. The lead up to winter break can be so exciting and often coincides with snow days, winter concert or assembly practices, lots of illnesses/sharing germs, and other disruptions, so your students will definitely react to everything that is going on. Keep in mind that some kids do not like breaks as they miss school and really thrive on routine, or might not have secure access to food at home or a stable environment for so many reasons. I always openly acknowledge to my students that I have mixed feelings about whatever my plans will
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January 5, 2022 · curriculum
A message of encouragement from a former 3rd grade student! Sending love to teachers and families as we tackle yet another round of uncertainty and anxiety! I’m trying to take things one day at a time and remember that I’ve done this before when my students and I were not vaccinated. It seems like I will be in school in person with increased mitigation and vigilance. However, it also seems likely that some students and staff will need to stay home due to infection, so we may be teaching some students on Zoom and some in person at the same time. I experienced this set up for most of last year and found it to be the most difficult and least effective set up as it makes teaching and learning harder for everyone, but at least this time around it will be temporary and I have all my experience from last year to draw upon! For those of you who are finding yourselves unexpectedly teaching
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January 4, 2018 · curriculum
One of our student's New Year's resolutions - resist MORE against Trump! We have an annual tradition of writing New Year’s Resolutions with our students, and adapted our ideas from the past this year to work for our 3rd graders. We enjoy this writing piece for many reasons: it often yields inspiring and hilarious responses from students (two examples pictured), it’s a great way to review our class contract and reflect as we come back from the break, it’s a quick and high success writing piece as we get used to being back at school, and of course, it’s important to model reflection and goal-setting for our students. This year, we used the beloved Kid President video that we wrote about in our New Year’s resolution post last year with our students and their 7th grade buddies. For Writer’s Workshop with just our 3rd graders, we started by watching the New Year’s Brainpop video . It tied in
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