Week of 10/1

The first month of school is over, and we’ve made our way into October. Much of the settling in – into the building, routines, and the schedule – has been working itself out. Thank you for your flexibility as we have adjusted the school day schedule to really optimize our time in, and out, of the classroom.

We recently gave names to our two front rooms of the building, both of which are mainly used by our K/1 students. The middle room, which hosts art, music, and the Studio Thinking Workshop, has been named the “Earth Room” and our large front room has been named the “Iceberg Snow Leopard Room.” If you hear reference to either of these names, that’s what they mean! And please feel free to use those names when indicating one room or another.

In Language Arts this week, we have continued to talk about “how” to read a book and what to look for in choosing a book to read that is a challenge, yet still doable. We also discussed what writers write about, and then started our very own class book on the topic. We’ve also been doing plenty of word building, which is foundational in learning to read. We break words down to basic sounds, and then change some of the letters/sounds to make new words.

In Investigations, we have been busy working at math centers. Counting and one-to-one correspondence are two focal points for the younger students, and daily number work helps to support these two skill sets. We’ve recently begun looking at our Counting Jar, which will contain new amounts of different objects on a weekly basis. Students can count of the objects and write down the number they counted, then create their own sets of objects. We’ve also gotten out of the classroom: on Thursday we went for a leaf hunt around the school and gathered bunches of fallen autumn leaves. We counted and categorized the leaves, then chose one special leaf to draw or trace.

In preparation for our field trip to see The Cat in the Hat, we’ve been reading a lot of Dr. Seuss! We’ve also been able to answer some specific questions about the author, like how many books he has written, and what he looked like.  

Recently, Christie and Andrea attended a 3-day workshop on the approach of Project Based Learning in the classroom. We have already begun to use some of the techniques learned: in the project approach, we will start with a particular topic and through a series of activities support students in their own in-depth exploration of  facet of that topic.

Though the topics will soon be student generated, we've started the ball rolling with the topic of "the farm." In the first phase of the project approach, which we have worked on this week, we discuss the topic, share personal stories about the topic, and talk about any prior knowledge. We create word webs to see just how many elements any given topic might contain. And then, we think of questions that we want answered. That leads to the hands-on work: investigation, construction, design, interviews, field trips, or whatever the student might want to pursue. Work on the project culminates in presentation and discussion of what the student has learned and discovered.

There is an important focus on planning, doing, and then reviewing project work: each of these elements support brain development and the ability to "think about thinking."