Family Breakfast

A little more remembering tonight...

Thanks to everyone for making the annual Family Breakfast in our classroom such a success.  It was a great way to kick off the holiday season and help us remember that families are behind us everyday, supporting all we do in school.

Winter Holidays

Going back in time a bit tonight... Here are lots of photos of work we did during the month of December related to our Social Studies focus on holidays and the family.  We had lots of fun reading and learning about various traditions and how people celebrate in similar and different ways.  Many children were surprised by the many similarities across traditions... and that history affects the way families and groups of people celebrate today. 

As all of our classmates celebrate Christmas, we made another cut and glue book based on the seven days of the week, with one number and symbol of the holiday being represented each day.  Not only did kids make a cute book, but they practiced following multi-step directions, making designs with appropriate proportion and perspective, and how to work independently and/or ask classmates for help and support when needed.  

We spent talking and learning about family structures and how families give us what we need for our health and well-being.  The gift of having a family far exceeds any other gift in our lives.  

We love to create Venn diagrams to show our learning over time.  Look for photos of our December Family Breakfast in the next blog!

Daily Five Reading Structure

Our Reading Workshop time each morning is divided into two main parts: A whole group mini-lesson session and Daily Five with reading groups.  During the initial whole group time we focus on a particular reading skill and then practice it individually or with partners.  Many of the lessons and skills I focus on come from Lucy Calkin's Units of Study for Reading.  These lessons gradually build independent reading skills and meld well with skills children learn and practice in Writing Workshop. This past week I was beyond ecstatic to Tweet about a child who asked if he could get his tools for reading and use them during his writing time... this is exactly what I want children to connect... that reading and writing workshop blend skills across both domains... and what they learn to read they can also write.  

During the second part of Reading Workshop, we use a structure for independent work known as Daily Five.  This structure was developed by two teaching sisters who used a broad array of reading research to narrow down skills students need to practice frequently to improve not only reading skills but their stamina for working independently.  It is called Daily Five because there are five main reading domains they choose to practice.  In our room students choose one a day so that by the end of week all children have practiced all five independently.  We do two 25-30 minute "rounds" a day during Daily Five.  Half the class chooses a Daily Five practice to do independently while the other half are in small reading groups of about five children.  We then switch the groups.  Both Mrs. Campbell and I run simultaneous reading groups so that all children meet in a reading group daily. Mrs. Campbell is also a certified teacher and worked as a reading and math tutor prior to becoming our classroom teaching assistant.  She brings a wealth of knowledge to reading groups and understands how to grow readers.  The five choices a Daily Five are: Read to Self, Read to a Partner, Listen to Reading, Word Work and Work on Writing.  Throughout the fall we gradually built children's stamina and understanding of what to do in each Daily Five practice so that by now they can work with a strong sense of independence.  

Reading groups with a teacher and children working independently on a reading skill.

During reading groups children children practice reading in a small group,  alone and with partners. They use skills they learn in the whole group portion of Reading Workshop during reading groups. For example, early in the year several mini lessons were devoted to the use of a reading finger that isolates words a reader is reading.  Children apply that skill in a reading group, pointing to each word as they read.

An array of Word Work independent practice... every activity has a recording sheet which makes children responsible for showing the work they accomplished.

Listening To Reading: Children listen to leveled reading books on Raz Kids and trade books on Bookflix.

More letter-sound practice during Word Work

Word writing during Word Work... writing words that begin or end with the same sound...two words that rhyme.

Handwriting practice journals during Word Work.  This is an early practice journal which will be followed by another type to keep strengthening handwriting to help kids as they write during Writing Workshop.  

Writing words that begin with a particular letter sound.

Working on sight words during Word Work... this one reading and matching sight words.

Mindfulness

As a member of a learning community each child contributes to the group.  To understand how one does this begins with knowing how to regulate one's body and brain for learning and making choices.... choices that can further one's own path and that of the group.  This learning for me begins with understanding how the brain works and how one can train their brain to make mindful choices.

In my career I have used parts of program to build social skills along with my own creative ideas, changing and adding year to year.  Last year I looked to more formal programs to enhance my work. I now use a blended combination of my knowledge about conflict resolution skills with lessons from the following published programs:

1.     The Incredible Flexible You: A Social Thinking Curriculum for the Early Years By Michelle Garcia Winner et. al.

2.      Mind-Up Curriculum: Brain-Focused Strategies for Learning and Living

By Scholastic/The Hawn Foundation

3.      Responsive Classroom

By The Northeast Foundation for Children

Our guidance teacher also uses The Incredible Flexible You in his weekly guidance class.  Through our coordinated plans children have lots of opportunity to practice and learn.  I will send home more information about that program in the form of parent letters that explain the various lessons.  

During the month of December my main focus was on learning about our brain and how we can use it to respond reflectively when we have feelings and need to make choices through lessons I used or adapted from the Mind-Up Curriculum.  The goal is for children to develop self-awareness, self-control and compassionate, thoughtful choices as they are a member of our classroom community. We learned to practice mindfulness as a way to focus on the "here and now."  By noticing what we think and feel, we can let thoughts and feelings come and go.  This is choosing to be mindful.  We practiced being totally quiet and using only our sense of hearing to be aware of what is around us.  In our practice we strive to be so quiet and still that we only hear the gentle hum of the heater blowing air in our classroom.  Our lives are often so busy and filled with technology sounds and talking all day and children don't know how to be still and aware of their own breathing and feelings.  Taking moments to practice each day will build our overall mindful practice.  We are also learning to use a series of mind fulness exercises recorded by Amy Saltzman, Still Quiet Places.  This month I will introduce using stones to hold as we practice mindfulness along with other brain-oriented exercises and yoga poses that can calm the mind and body.  We will then move into work with thinking positive thoughts and affirmations.

We studied the anatomy of the brain, focusing on three main parts related to mindfulness: the prefrontal cortex PFC (our "wise leader"), the amygdala (our "security door") and the hippocampus (our "memory keeper").  We learned that we have control over our amygdala... which reacts to emotions... if we allow angry, frustrated, or sad feelings to persist, then our PFC cannot make a wise choice.  The amygdala literally shuts down the flow to the PFC and it cannot think reasonably or make and informed choice.  I demonstrated this by using a cabinet with doors on it to show how the amygdala can keep feelings locked or we can unlock the door with mindful tools.  We will introduce more mindful tools in the coming week.  For example, count to ten forward and back again during moments of frustration or over exhilaration to calm the amygdala, allowing the PFC to make reflective, not reactive choice.

We learned about neurons and how they want to send messages to other neurons... growing our neurons is how we refer to this... to again allow positive messages and choices to flow.

Our Community Building Chart: In the center is a photo of each member of the class and ideas we said define what a community is.  We had several lessons about following The Group Plan and reflecting on how following that plan makes oneself and others feel.  I refer to this chart daily and with each lesson we add a nugget of learning to it to help remind children how they can contribute. 

Singing Bowl: We use a singing bowl as our most recognized mindful tool.  We practiced our body position, breathing, and focus.  Now when I reach to hold the singing bowl, even before playing it, children will automatically get into position and quiet themselves!  We are working on increasing the minutes we can sustain our quiet focus.

Mindfulness Bottles:  We made our own mindfulness bottles with colored water and glitter!

Reflecting vs Reactive Thinking:  This child is demonstrating how her brain looks when she has a negative or frustrated thinking pattern... all mixed up and cloudy.  When she uses a mindful tool to calm her brain, she begins to thinking reflectively in a much more clear way.

A Crumbled Heart: We learned that when we do make a mistake toward one of our peers, we crumble their heart.  An apology can smooth out some of the wrinkles, but they don't go away right away... it takes time for their crumbled heart to heal... and our positive actions may take awhile to make all the hurt go away.  We have to continue to show we care.

All About Me At School Boxes: We reflected on what we know about ourselves at school... what we like, who we like to talk to, what we care about.  These sheets were cut apart and glued on a box for each child which we hung in the hall.

Inside those boxes, our class made a list of what we care about at school... to help remind us of how and why we contribute to the classroom community.  We made a heart and glued a typed version of the list on a card which was folded and placed inside the box.  The kids came up with some real gems... I couldn't have made a better list... it all came from them!  I was rather proud!

Continuing to Build the Social Curriculum

In our classroom we balance academic learning with social learning.  Children need to be ready to receive academic instruction.  When they are part of a large group, learning can be a challenge if a student cannot navigate the variety of social situations that occur throughout the day in various settings. If a child is "distracted" by feelings of frustration with a peer, he or she may be process the math lesson they are taught or be able to complete a writing task independently with clear thinking. Therefore, learning in kindergarten must include being able to practice and apply strategies for resolving conflicts, following the group plan, following the school expectations, recognizing when peers are showing prosocial behavior and knowing how to calm ones own body mindfully.  

In October I wrote about our social curriculum and the foundational skills practiced.  That practice did not end with a few lessons, but rather continues all throughout the year.  Each month we build a deeper understanding of how to work with others and how to recognize what the self needs to regulate behavior, thinking and choices.  In this blog and the one to follow, you will see glimpses of how the social curriculum grows in layers all year in our classroom.  Through multiple forms of practice, children can ready to learn academically.

Continuing to study emotions in our own self and others.  Following the group plan of the classroom means using tools such as behavior reminders with Whole Body Listening Larry.

A popular fictional character, David, offered many examples of social learning.  In one book about this character, David Goes to School, we studied the connection between David's actions, his feelings and how his actions affected the emotions and behavior of others around him.  If I were to sum up social learning in our classroom, it is just this idea... that our actions affect others and we need to be mindful of how others react to what we say and do.

We use partnerships for reading, writing, math and science work.  So it only makes sense that we learn how to be a partner and how to navigate conflicts with a partner.   Early in the year we completed partner drawings where one partner gave up control to the other by following directions for creating a partner drawing.  This works against young children's tendency to  be ego-centric and focus only on what they need.... this activity required partners to listen and following through on what their partner needed.

Happy Partners!

Positive Reinforcement: We combine whole-school and in-class tools for positive reinforcement.  We earn "warm fuzzies" for following the school expectations.  Each day we try to earn an extra recess in our room by filling up a mini-sized cup with fuzzies.  Before the snow arrived we earned several extra recess times at the end of the school day.  We use literature to support learning about social skills.

Bucket Fillers:  Based on the book Have You Filled A Bucket Today? kids look to notice their peers following class expectations and give out bucket tickets as a positive recognition.  When giving a bucket ticket, kids tell the other child how they contributed to the class social expectations.

Acting out emotions with play scenarios.

Problem Puppets: Our class problem puppets, Danny and Penny help us to solve conflicts by coming up with solutions that make each person in the conflict feel respected.

Acting out conflicts with problem puppets.

Mindfulness: We use many tools to calm our brains and body for listening and learning... video projections, audio music and yoga techniques.  In the lower picture we learned about bullying from a traveling puppet theater group who educates kids on how to deal with bullying behavior.

November Number Sense

Ahh...Number Sense... a phrase you have see written here before.  In my blog on November 12, 2015 I wrote that when young children see how numbers have a purpose in their everyday life they begin to develop Number Sense.  

Number sense refers to a child's ability to use and understand numbers by:

*knowing their value

*how to use numbers to make judgements

*how to use numbers flexibly when adding or subtracting

*having strategies for counting, measuring and estimating

In the pictures that follow mainly from the month of November, you will see how children are building those numbers sense ways of thinking by counting, putting numbers together (composing fiveness and then ten-ness) as well as foundational skills for exactness by learning to write numbers correctly with automaticity.  

Counting: counting in sequence with one-to-one correspondence and matching a group of objects to printed numbers.  

Counting on... once one has counted a group of objects, and one more is added they learn that one more means adding one more to the group and there isn't a need to recount, because the group has increased by just one in the count sequence.

Dominoes are a natural tool for early composing of numbers.  Children can easily see what the total number of pips (dots) are on a domino, and see the two amounts that add up to that number.  When a domino has a group of six on one side and a group of two on the other, it is more clear to see that 6+2=8.  

For early subtraction or what we call decomposing numbers or taking them apart, we used ten frames filled with five, took away a given amount of chips to see how many were left in the Minus One game.

Group Rotations: Depending upon the skill being taught math groups split the children into two smaller groups with Mrs. Campbell teaching a lesson and me teaching another lesson so that we can give more individual time to children.  Some days our lesson focus requires even deeper attention to students and we have three groups that rotate over three days... a group with Mrs. C, myself and an independent group using Dreambox Learning on iPads and/or Chromebooks.

Writing "the story" of math composing and decomposing is a critical skill we will practice all year.  It is important that kids don't just memorize 5-5=0... but rather understand "I had five chips, I took away five chips and now I have zero."  We will practice telling this story so they know the numbers represents a number of objects... not just a memorized computation.

Many students are now developing automaticity in knowing what number combinations make five (1and 4, 2 and 3, 0 and 5, and their reverse 4 and 1, 3 and 2 and 5 and 0)... we want them to understand the meaning behind 2+3=5 in that they are gathering a group of two objects and adding three more which gives them five in all.  Again, "telling the story" of adding and subtraction strengthens their numbers sense and ability to think flexibly about number combinations.

Neatness Counts: We are now stressing the importance of neatness when completing math work.. numbers have to be written correctly, groups of objects counted in a neat pile, and numbers written smaller to fit in a sequence.

"Ten-ness"... Working with number combinations to ten... ten frames help see those combinations more clearly.

Explaining our thinking... in the lower left  and right photos children are explaining their thinking about measuring.  A critical math skill is being able to tell why they arrive at an answer or why they think about a mathematical idea in their own way.

Math Boxes: We use math boxes filled with tools to improve foundational skills... we do this during our "math intervention" time... time focused on repetitive practice of a particular skill which is used in other math thinking and learning.  For example, practicing writing numbers correctly is basic to all math we do... so we practice over and over so they write with automaticity.