Teamwork and Tallies
9/6/2019
No man, woman, or child is an island, especially not in a classroom. Tuesday morning was the start of our week after a restful day off for Labor Day. We began our day by exchanging compliments to one another and practicing receiving them with gratitude. By doing so, we are taking time to recognize the good in each one of us and by offering gratitude in return, we create relationships that are kind and considerate. It is especially important for young learners to practice compliments and gratitude as they learn to work together and exchange ideas. We practiced our teamwork by working on building towers out of paper cups. No idea was dismissed and students were encouraged to offer compliments, suggestions, and take on leadership in their teams. I stood back, offering only slight suggestions as they experienced trial and error, and eventually, success. They felt pride, not only in themselves, but in their team. I was proud, too. We have continued to work in teams this week in our workstations and also during partner reading. To see them collaborating, learning, and listening to one another is truly awesome! This week we also introduced first grade Snap words to the class and identifying chunks in words, which we incorporated into many activities from whiteboard work to finding them in the books we are reading. Silent and partner reading seems to be an absolute favorite among students in this class! Another favorite in our class is quiet choice. Quiet choice is beneficial to your child in many ways. Not only is it a time for quiet communication with a partner or silent focus but 6-7 years old are still developing their motor skills! Legos, dominoes, polygons, cubes, etc all help develop muscles in the hands, improve hand/eye coordination, and help strengthen their ability to focus. Unstructured play helps a child develop social skills which are important for school success like taking turns and using eye contact, body language and gestures. While often dismissed as ‘just fun’, play is the vital activity that children use to learn about and interact with their world, and gain the mental, physical and social skills necessary to succeed in their adult lives.” (NAEYC) The 2 sessions of 15-20 minutes that they are engaged in this activity has enormous benefits! Your children have also been exploring biomimicry. Now, some people may assume that this is a big word for little ones. However, your first graders are loving the idea that we can create useful items that are inspired by nature! Although they are young, children have this amazing ability to take big ideas and turn them into very creative and even cooler ideas! Our PBL unit is centered around this concept and we are learning how to think about animals and plants as inspiration. They are developing observational skills, looking for characteristics in animals and plants, and beginning to think about how we can solve problems by looking at the world around us. It is rather cool to see their minds at work and the discussions happening centered around these big ideas that are really just the perfect size for our children's mind. They are the future who will be solving our world's problems and we need to trust their ability to think outside the box. And now on to tallies. Tallies everyday! We used tally marks to count the day of the month, to add, to group, to see numbers as bundles. And your students have got this! I have watched them this week work so hard and are already mastering building their bundles of 5's with popsicle sticks, whiteboards, and other math manipulatives. It has been a fun and rewarding week that we will continue to build upon as we grow our bundles of numbers higher and higher. I cannot wait to see what your student can do in just another week! Comments are closed.
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Hali TuomiMs. Tuomi has over five years experience in ASD, where she taught first and fifth grade classrooms. An avid skier, Ms. Tuomi is a Magna Cum Laude graduate of Alaska Pacific University’s Bachelor of Arts in K-8 Education. Archives
April 2021
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