Rules in School

"Rule Creation" is one of the primary Classroom Practices within the Responsive Classroom Approach.  I've created class rules with almost all of my classes, but this year I took a slightly different approach.  Instead of jumping right into "what rules do we need?" I began by asking the kiddos to think about why we come to school and what we want to accomplish together.  We went through this process as adult learners at the Responsive Classroom Course this summer, and I found that it gave more purpose to the rule creation routine that I had had before.

I started on Day 2 by asking the firsties, "Why do we come to School?"  Their answers cracked me up; things like "to become a good adult," "to do plusses," and "to teach kids." After we had established our purpose for being at school in general, we thought about what types of school work we might do in First Grade. We made a list (I forgot to take a picture) of things like subtraction, art, field trips, and writing stories.  The kiddos created individual "hopes and dreams" for their first grade year based off of this list.

Then we got to the step of thinking about rules.  I reminded the kiddos about all of their goals and all the things that we hoped we would get to do together in first grade.  I asked them to think about how we would need to work together to reach those goals -- what rules would we need to be successful?  They came up with a very comprehensive list ;)

After we had a complete list we went through my favorite task of grouping the possible rules together.  I circled each of the topics in a different color and we came up with an all-encompassing rule to describe the topic.  For instance, "never hit," "tie your shoe laces," and "don't run" became "Keep Yourself and Others Safe."  "Don't lie," "don't bully" and "talk nicely" became "Use Kind Words."

During this process, I always guide the kiddos toward the rules that I want our class to use. For the last 3 years, I have ended up with the same 5 rules.  This year, we decided to make our 5th rule "Work Hard."  I'm still not sure if I'm thrilled with the switch because the "take care of your classroom and school" rule was so helpful in the past; however I like that now we have a rule that directs our cognitive work.  By now, the kiddos are getting comfortable with the language of the rules and I just love hearing them remind each other to "use kind words" and "follow directions." 

Charting the Course

Over the summer, I attended the Teachers College Reading Workshop Institute at Columbia University in NYC.  This week-long training was packed with book suggestions, sample lessons, planning resources, and encouraging discussions.  I walked away with tons of great ideas to improve the reading instruction in my classroom this year.

One idea I am trying to implement right away is making my reading charts more purposeful -- creating charts "with and for" my students.  Our first unit is all about how Readers Build Good Habits.  In other words, teaching children to choose appropriate books, read for a sustained amount of time, read the words carefully, and pay attentions to the plot and details.

In the past, I've relied on one "anchor chart" -- the Readers are Like Runner Chart (below) -- to structure my lessons in those first few weeks.  We have discussed how readers warm-up, set goals, and focus on reading.  However, this year, I pushed myself to create more charts that students could rely on to really understand each objective.

We started by creating a chart for HOW Readers Warm-up (above).   I added each of the large sticky-notes after I introduced the skill and had the kiddos practice during Workshop.  Our Warm-up includes looking at the cover (reading the title and determining possible main characters), looking at the back (reading the blurb), and taking a picture walk (making predictions).   We spent at least one lesson during the first two weeks on each of these skills.  We also timed our reading stamina (how long the class could read quietly) each day and kept track of our progress. 

Then we created a chart for things to do when we finish reading. My goal is for the kiddos to be able to hold on to a book in their head, and often that means that they need to re-read or retell.  Especially when young readers are spending most of their first read-through focusing on decoding or sounding-out the words, they miss essential plot pieces.  I encourage them to go back and find their favorite parts or try to read again using the character's voices to improve their fluency before moving on to another book.

Finally, I created this "We Are Readers Who" chart to capture all of the reading habits that we've put in place.  Although this chart has a lot going on, it is really just a condensed version of the other charts we've been using so the kiddos have been able to refer to it independently.  I'm so excited about the strong foundation we have laid in just the first 4 weeks!

Getting Back to the Firsties

This week I attended a Responsive Classroom (RC) training.  Although I have been using the RC approach since I started teaching and have attended a few mini-trainings, I've never participated in the official Responsive Classroom Course.  This week, the training was being offered 30 minutes from my apartment so I couldn't pass up the opportunity to get the professional development credits and experience the full 4-day course.

An important part of implementing RC practices (find out more here) is understanding children's development.  This has gotten me thinking about why I love 6-year-olds and teaching first grade.

For instance, they read in the funniest positions:

(Notice that a marble, a coin, a plastic dinosaur, and a lego have fallen out of this little guy's pocket)

(I just noticed that this little one is reading the same book!)

They also write the sweetest notes.

Next week, we have staff PD and then our kiddos come back the following week. Making the transition from summer to school is never easy, but it helps to know I've got a whole new group of these earnest, eager, adorable kiddos coming my way. I'm taking this weekend to relax, prepare, and ... get excited to get back to the firsties.

Celebration of Learning

Whoops! Forgot to hit "publish" on this post from a few weeks ago...

This year, my school has a new "Celebration Policy" which outlines expectations for school and classroom events.  Specifically, we will no longer have cupcakes for birthdays, or a costume parade at Halloween (you can read about last year's Halloween Parade here).   Instead, we will continue to teach, read, learn, and share about holidays as they come up during the year; we will continue to honor students with stories and special activities on their birthdays; and we will continue to invite families in to celebrate students' achievements throughout the year.

The goal of the new policy is to keep the focus on the students (and less on candy, costumes, or cards), and to celebrate what matters -- their hard work and accomplishments.  Personally, I also wanted to find better ways of including my families in celebrations, not just providing them with a photo opportunity.  

As I searched for suggestions about how to celebrate with my students and their families, I found this great article on the Responsive Classroom website about "Learning Celebrations."  The author expresses the same concern I've had, "The parties and celebrations had their benefits, but they didn't fully achieve the purpose I had in mind."

I decided to host my own learning celebration to honor the end of the first six weeks of school (all classes at my school are required to host a family event at this time of the year).  As we neared the end of the first six weeks of school, I began to talk with my kiddos about how far we'd come since the start of school.  I pointed out all of procedures we'd practiced, books we'd read, and lessons we'd completed.  We talked about how we could share these things with our families.  The kiddos were so excited about the idea that their parents could come in see them do "first grade things"!

On Friday afternoon, our classroom filled with adults and the kiddos got to show off their first grade skills.  They read to their parents from their book bins and personal narrative stories.  They taught their parents how to do a word sort and how to play the "Roll and Record" game at the math table.  They showed their parents how to write compliment notes to their peers.  Finally, we all sat around the carpet to do a Closing Meeting.  The parents and kiddos shared their "highs" and "lows" of the day -- almost everyone agreed that the high of the day was spending time together celebrating our learning!

I realized that not only was this learning celebration an opportunity to truly include our families in our learning, but it was a great review for the kiddos, and allowed us to have some important discussions about families and celebrations.  As the kiddos created invitations for their families a couple weeks ago, we talked about how some parents don't live in the same house and some kiddos might make more than one invitation.  Then we talked about how some parents work far away or can't take off work to come to school.  My sweet kiddos immediately suggested that if a friend didn't have a parent attend, they would "share" their parents.  We talked about the importance of being able to share the things we've learned so that our parents would learn about our community.  It was so special to see parents and kids side-by-side counting, reading, spelling, laughing, and smiling -- definitely a highlight of my teaching career!

Safety Tips... Updated!

Here is the original Safety Tips post...

This year, once again, we began our year with Officer Buckle.  I love this book to get the year started.  Officer Buckle and Gloria are great characters and the message of the book really gets through to the kiddos.  Once again, we read the story and then encouraged the kiddos to think of their own safety tips.  I tried to guide them toward thinking specifically of ways we stay safe at school.  They came up with some great ideas!

{Top: Do not talk when there is a fire drill. Bottom: Do not lean back on a chair or else you fall}

This year, I also used this lesson to introduce scissors and glue.  First we did a "Guided Discovery" of the scissors.  We talked about what scissors are used for -- and what they are not to be used for -- at school. The kiddos each demonstrated holding and carrying the scissors safely.  Then they got to cut out their own stars.  This was challenging for some kiddos but great practice.  Afterward, they kiddos got to use glue sticks to glue their star onto a circle (I cut out the circles).  We discussed safety and responsibility with the glue sticks as well.

The kiddos were very excited to see Officer Buckle and Gloria make an appearance in the hallway -- some of them even remembered them from last year.  Admittedly, I was nervous that having the kiddos do the cutting and gluing would make the bulletin board "messy" but my wonderful colleague reminded me that it would be great for the kiddos to see their work on display and they are, after all, in first grade so a little messiness would be okay.  I like this bulletin board tradition!

Hopes and Dreams

I'm trying to catch up on posts about the first few weeks of school...

At the beginning of the year, each class at our school discusses their "hopes and dreams." The kiddos think about their goals, what they want to learn or do, how they want their year to go; then they record their thoughts.  Many teachers find creative ways of displaying class hopes and dreams: posters, photographs with speech bubbles, class quilts, or drawings with dictation.  The Responsive Classroom approach suggests that discussing hopes and dreams is an essential part of the setting the climate in the classroom (Read more about "Hopes and Dreams" here).

This year, to kick off our discussion of dreams, I read my class Kristi Yamaguchi's adorable book Dream Big, Little Pig.  We talked about how Poppy the pig had many dreams and throughout the story she worked hard to accomplish them.  Then we talked about all of the things that we might do in first grade (we read the book School Days).  The kiddos got to brainstorm things some they wanted to accomplish, and they came up with some great ideas!

Our hopes and dreams varied from "read chapter books," to "learn more Chinese," to "do the monkey bars," to "make a new friend."  I gently guided the kiddos to think about reasonable first grade goals and avoid unrealistic or impractical ones.  One kiddo wanted to make his goal "do multiplication," however, as he struggled to sound out the word "multiplication," I suggested that perhaps he should set his goal around something that would really help him in first grade.  Instead, he made his goal "to spell more words." (I especially love how he wrote his goal -- it's so perfect!)

After everyone wrote out their goals, I cut out the cloud shapes and put them up in the back of our classroom.  They will remain there all year as a reminder of our hopes and dreams.   We will be able to refer to them as we reach new milestones, get older, and set even higher goals.

What do readers read?

This year I decided to make a "What do readers read?" anchor chart to start off Readers Workshop.  I've seen a few similar versions on Pinterest and other teacher sites, and I loved the message: reading is all around us and we are all readers.

We started with just the typical "words," "books," and "sentences," but then the kiddos started to get in to it. One little girl had just been to the dentist and had a "Great Check-up!" sticker, so we added "stickers."  We'd just talked about our how we "read" calendars and graphs in Math, so we had to add those. Then one kiddo shared that his mom had read the flyer that went home about Picture Day, so that led to adding "catalogs" and "posters."  One creative kid even came up "time"... but I left that one off :)

After we made the chart, I sent the kiddos off to explore reading bins at their tables. I made sure to include a variety of fiction, nonfiction, short, long, hard and soft cover books in each bin to reinforce the idea that readers have many options.  For the next couple of weeks, I will rotate these bins around the tables and add in some simple poetry anthologies, wordless books, and more decodable texts.  We will continue to use table bins until we make the transition into individual, leveled book bins in a week or two (once I finish their reading assessments!)

I think this anchor chart will become one of the staples in our room.  I know we will have many opportunities to return to it as we move through nonfiction, how-to, poetry, and persuasive units in reading and writing.  

The First Week

Our first week is coming to a close!

The first week of school is one of the longest weeks of the year -- every activity, every transition, every procedure takes so much time to explain and execute!  I repeat almost everything I say at least 5 times, and we practice each step in our day multiple times.  Each day this week has been dedicated to important foundational activities, including defining class rules, establishing the daily schedule, setting goals, and learning primary routines.  During the course of this week our classroom went from blank walls and empty seats to essential charts and busy bodies.

As part of the Responsive Classroom approach, our school uses "The First Six Weeks of School" to pace ourselves during this important time.  But every year I have the urge to rush through my plans, especially when things seem to be going well.  Nevertheless, I'm trying to step back and reflect on where we could improve, what procedures we need to review, which expectations need to be held even higher.

Tomorrow I will ensure quiet during our Morning Warm-up and send the kiddos back to their seats when they come up to me with questions;  I will insist that they are looking at me before I give directions;  I will make them practice walking through the hallways in a straight and silent line once again.  I know it will be worth it for all the hours it will save us over the next few months when we can start each day peacefully, transition smoothly, and arrive at lunch on time.

Then next week, I will do it all over again ;)