57/180 CONFERENCES, PROGRESS REPORTS, and an ELECTION

I'm tired.
It's Election Day.
I am grateful I live in a country where citizens can vote.
Where there is freedom of speech.
I am just a little speechless tonight.
God bless America and the people that live here.
Thinking positive as we move forward.

I wish mom were still here.
She lived for politics.
She always had a lot to say.
She didn't like either candidate.
Tonight makes me miss her more.

56/180 SMALL STEPS...

J's writing samples...

SURPRISE SATURDAY FIND!

It may appear to be just a $3.00 toss & stick toy to the untrained eye...
but to a teacher looking for a way to satisfy one of her special friend's need for throwing, hitting, banging, and chasing, it is a FIND! It won't satisfy his need to hear loud crashing or banging, but I think it will make a perfect "Throw and Run Toy!" And it may save one or two of our toys from shattering into pieces next week.  Fingers crossed!

55/180 LONG DAY, SHORT POST...

Student-Led Conferences Day 1
8 Completed
Nice Chatting with families
Surprised Green Tea Latte Frappacino
Homecoming 2016!
Go Moors!

Tired Teacher and mommy.
Back up early tomorrow...


Our 4 Stations for Centers today. Worked out really well! Easy to differentiate too!

54/180 THE CUSTOMER IS ALWAYS RIGHT...

aka: Let the child lead.
I had a vision of how my second 3-Phase Math lesson would turn out.
I tried a higher number and a simple story.
So I thought.

I think being 4 and having been to the pumpkin farm made it hard to focus on a story about someone else going to the pumpkin farm. But I did get a group that worked it out and did it quite quickly.  I want to start differentiating more in the 2nd trimester now that I know where and who my student are.

Here was the story:

"Miss Fung went to the pumpkin patch. She bought 7 pumpkins for the class. Show what she bought."

These are lovely samples, but most were just pumpkins randomly put on the paper. So I know they were able to understand one detail in the story, but not able to put them all together... not yet anyway!
Then I tried to do phase 3 of the lesson which is to share out our work. Major fail! Can't expect students to know what to do if I haven't done it first. Maybe next time I will do the sharing to model what I want them to learn to do... and I won't do it right before lunch! #shortattentionspan #mindsomewhereelse #theyare4

Favorite part of the lesson... (Interviews!) My goal is to have students practice sharing their work and explaining their thinking. Sometimes, I have to let them know what it was they were doing because they don't have the words to explain it yet. We are all learning together.

53/180 Pumpkins and more pumpkins!

Tonight I watched an absolutely amazing, exciting, tense baseball game.
As a life-long baseball fan, this is what the game is all about.

While I was "watching" and trying to get Bryce and his cousin to fall asleep...
I attempted to make Mexican candied pumpkin.

I wanted the kids to taste something made out of pumpkin after making pumpkin observations today. More pumpkin investigations to come tomorrow!

Nicolas wanted to taste it!

Get your hands dirty!

Lets use some descriptive words!

Informational Text...

 Numbers...

 Patterning...

Number 1 to 1...

Fine motor skills (cut and piece back together)...

52/180 Assessment Time

We are nearing the end of our first trimester.
Parent Conferences begin Friday.
My usually routine has been to conduct "traditional" conferences in the fall and then switch to student-led in the spring.  I have always wanted to try just doing student-led conferences period.

With the switch to preK, I will need to simplify the process for students and parents.  I think my co-teaching partner is open to trying some new things so we are going to work on it. I am excited to see how it turns out! Until then, here is a link to how I plan, create, and implement student-led conferences in first grade.

Student-Led Conferences in Primary Grades

It is so much easier when the grade level before your grade also conducts SLC. I was lucky at my former school, all the kinder teachers did do SLC! Change is hard, so not as easy to plea my case at my current school where it hasn't been done before. Small steps...

Our Pumpkin Investigation Unit continues...

 One of our PreK learning standards in Visual Arts is that students are able to draw a circle and lines to create a picture of an object or person.  I think they did a fine job with directed drawing using permanent marker. Then they used liquid color to paint in the colors.

Much more powerful when kids have background knowledge about where pumpkins grow... have touched, smelled, and have access to a real pumpkin to examine.  We will cut them open and see where it goes from there!