Spreading Kindness with Service Learning

Every year as a school wide incentive we hand out PAWSitive slips for when students are caught in the act of exhibiting PAWSitive behavior. They need to be showing respect, responsibility and safety. In previous years, at the end of each week, the slips were collected from each classroom and 2 students from each grade level were drawn as student of the week. This year, we decided to change things up and encourage whole grade level participation and celebration of our PAWSitive behavior.

As a grade level, when we reach a certain milestone of PAW tickets, such as 600, we get to do a service learning project to help our school or community. Third grade decided to visit West Acres Mall as our project. We were door greeters and helped open the doors for the mall patrons. We interviewed mall employees to learn more about their job and what they do. We created kindness cards and handed them out to the shoppers. We also helped to take care of the food court area by washing tables and chairs.

Overall our day was  huge success and the kids are still talking about how much fun they had. What an experience and a great way to spread kindness. It is amazing what a little card from a 9 year old can do to make someone smile.

Innovative Seating

Dictionary.com defines innovation as something new or different introduced. At the beginning of the school year, this is a word I fell in love with as a teacher. It describes not only my classroom, but myself as a teacher and my teaching style. My classroom is different in many ways and I embrace new ways of teaching on a regular basis. All focused on one main goal: Get kids to LOVE being here.

The struggle is real these days for teachers who are trying to find the balance between meeting many standardized test scores and instilling a love of learning in all of their students. It sometimes seems what students deem the "fun" stuff does not always get the results a teacher is hoping for. Finding a way to mesh the two is an ultimate goal in motivation and engagement.

Our journey to start to try and mesh the fun begins with innovative, flexible seating:

July 2015: Major classroom overhaul. I ditched the desks, hauled in tables of various styles and starting scrounging as many garage sales I could in order to make innovative seating a reality in my classroom. I had to use my imagination on how things would look and work when over 20 students entered the classroom, excited and ready for a new year.

August 2015: First Day of School. Everyone started with a name tag and an assigned spot around our room as a way to test out the new seating options. As we moved throughout the week, some students found different types of seating were not for them and claimed one of the 3 desks I kept and others began to embrace the seating as a new way of learning.  It was quite a transition when the students realized they could choose their own seating and didn't have to stay there the entire day. Fast forward 2 weeks, and they became pros. Some choosing the same spot in the morning, and some moving throughout the day depending on the subject area.

January 2016: They have become pros that need more. We started the transition of making smart choices and being aware of our learning in different areas. You can listen to students tell friends they can't sit at the floor table during writing because they are not good workers in that place. You can see students choosing the same seating choice, such as a standing music stand, to use every time we do spelling because they know that is the best fit for that subject. Knowing themselves as learners has become a strong point in our classroom.

Now we have approached the more element. With help from the students, we came up with many things they feel would compliment what we already have in place. Hoping to add to our classroom, we are utilizing Donorschoose.org as a way to receive some of these items. We are looking to add floor cushions for more options to move around the room. We want to add core discs and Wobbly stools to add to our floor table and square table as a way to bring comfort and movement to our learning. We have requested two sitting chairs to place in our library as a sustainable choice, replacing the deflating bean bag chairs that are currently there. We also have asked for lap desks for a hard surface to use and 2 more iPads with cases to finish off our goal of being a 2:1 classroom. We are waiting patiently for our project to go live. The students are so excited to be able to add these things to our classroom.

Innovation at it's finest! We are well on our way of having a space kids want to be a part of, to grow as a learner, and have a passion for school.

Kids Blogging? Yes please!

We are so excited to share that the students in our classroom have started to blog! This is a time for them to share their creative writing or anything else they deem worthy of putting into words. At times, we will use our blogs to post assignments, but for right now, we are having fun getting to know our blogging platform and how it works (and how to change the background color).

Check us out at... www.kidblog.org/thirdmrsfarkas You can also leave the kiddos some feedback too. They love to see who is reading their material and it is awesome motivation for them to continue.

If you and your classroom want to try it out, you can sign up for a free 30 day trial too. Let me know if you have any questions on getting started and I would love to help you out. Just remember to get parent permission first. :-)

Directed Draw... Seahorse

I love art. I always try and incorporate art into our lessons. Some kids don't like art. However, through the use of directed draws, I can help them think a little differently about art and be successful.

Our first directed draw  was a seahorse. We use a permanent marker to draw because if we make a mistake we just "make it work". Often, the kids get so focused on wanting theirs to look perfect or just like the teacher. With using a permanent marker, we avoid perfection and just have fun.

I walk them through each drawing step, going line by line. The students also don't know what they are drawing so they can keep an open mind instead of thinking they "know" what it should look like. It usually only takes 1 directed draw to hook the kids in. Now every time I tell them to get their permanent markers, they squeal with excitement.

Here are our seahorses. I didn't get any pictures in the process this time, but here we are adding color.

Marshmallow Towers

At the beginning of the year, we practiced working in groups. What does it take in order to be successful when you work with another person? How do you make sure everyone does their job? What happens if we start arguing? The students had to work with a partner to build a marshmallow tower that had to stand up. We had lots of fun learning what it takes to be a successful partnership (as well as getting a little sticky).

Trying to Catch Up

Blogging had been put on the back burner this year so far. I will try and get everyone caught up and get some great pictures posted so you can SEE what we have been doing.

Engineering is Elementary: Our new science kits we are using this year. The fun thing with this is, it is both new to the students and myself. Our first module was all about wind. We researched how wind is created and learned about a boy who tried to catch the wind. Our module began by the students designing and creating sails. The students used the Engineering and Design Process and made a plan, created their best idea and then kept redesigning to make it more efficient.

After our sails, we used that knowledge and applied it in order to create blades for a windmill. The students worked in small groups to design their blades and then test. They had to get their windmills to spin quickly first and then they had to get their windmill to lift a cup of washers.

The kids had so much fun with this project. Check out their designs.

 

 

Back to School We Go

Here we are! Another wonderful year has started and I couldn't be more excited. We have reached day 3 and are adding more curriculum and routines as the days go on. Hopefully by Monday we will be in "normal" mode as much as possible. Here are some of the wonderful things we have accomplished this week.

Saving Sam
We worked in pairs to Save Sam. Sam was a gummy worm who fell off his ship (Styrofoam cup) and doesn't know how to swim. The students were challenged to get him into his lifejacket (gummy lifesaver) by only using paper clips. It was amazing to see their teamwork as they practiced creativity, determination and persistence to get that lifejacket onto Sam.

Math
We started math this week. Slowly, very slowly. We started reviewing the hundreds grid and how it can helps us tell the difference between two numbers. We also started exploring the Student Reference Book and learned how it can help us when we are confused or do not remember how to play a game.

Reading
We began practicing stamina and choosing "good fit" books. We also read Bad Case of Stripes and discussed what it means to be insecure. We began our first read aloud today too, The Magical Ms. Plum. The kids are totally hooked. It is one of my most favorite books to read aloud. I think I have read it every year for the past 5 years and still love reading it. The kids are already asking if I can just read more (teacher score!!). Beginning next week we will start our Daily rotations along with keyboarding.

So far it has been an amazing week and I look forward to more.