Tinkeres and Go-Getters
10/11/2019
We have delved deep into the basics of Earth's place in the Universe, our solar system, gravity and orbiting, and the why's and how's of space travel in preparation for the launch (pun intended...) of our Space Week this coming Monday. As a crew, we designed and constructed our very own space station in our classroom! We discussed the purposed of a space station, how astronauts travel, and what type of work they do in outer space. We also discussed how space stations and the moon might help us reach Mars one day. We will be working alongside students of all grade levels next week to study and develop ways that we can get to the Moon and, eventually, Mars through a series of lessons, experiments, and hands-on activities. John Spencer is the author of a blog I always find to be inspiring and empowering. He says something I wholeheartedly agree with:" We are all creative. Every one of us. And we can tap into this natural creativity when we embrace a maker mindset." It would have been easier for me to spend a bit of extra time after school and make everything for our space station exhibit. Every line would be straight and every piece of our project would have been organized to a tee. However, that is not the purpose of project based learning. The ultimate goal is not to create this beautiful project that receives accolades. While we want to encourage high-quality work from our students, the true learning comes from the experience of creating. By giving the majority of the work over to the students, they utilized our maker space, our resource books, and asked to watch videos to better understand how the sun looked, and made their own choices about what they wanted to include on their control panels, jet packs, and command center. They have ownership of their learning. Although I helped create some of the pieces, the students were absorbed in the process of making their projects and took such pride in the finished result. Their imagination was on fire and they had to problem solve to make their ideas work. We even donned our scientist mindset and went out to observe rocks that could serve as moon rocks in our moon rock exploration bin. One girl declared, "I am going to be a geologist when I grow up!" One thing I love is that, yes, while she could definitely grow up to be a geologist, these young go-getters might have jobs, or create jobs, that don't even exist yet. Check John Spencer's blog and a glimpse into the 7 things that happen when students own their learning. And a great link to a video about these 7 things can be found here. This process, the design, creativity, and execution process, is vital to young learners self esteem and their ability to think critically. Just as we devote much of our classroom time to learning addition, subtraction, letter chunks, and good reading habits, we also devote a lot of time to independent thinking, team building, and growth mindset. Space week will be a blast because of the awesome activities and experiences we have planned but it will also be a time when first grade can proudly display their creativity to others from the school and the community. Why, we even had a few visitors at the end of Friday from the upper grades who thought their space station was a lot of fun! Aside from our fun and engaging space station project, we experienced a lot of other really fun activities this week. We met with 3rd grade so they could share their Alaskan animal reports with first grade and teach them about their habitats and effects of pollution. We practiced good reading habits and how to support our reading partners and taking turns. Our young scholars learned different strategies to add dominoes - and they even learned how to play the game! As I sent students home this weekend, I kept thinking of how much fun we had this week and that I am not only seeing a lot of growth in their academics but I am also seeing a maturation of their confidence and communication. I see young tinkerers and go-getters in the making.
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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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