September

Post date: Sep 12, 2016 12:10:18 AM

Kindergarten:

This week we are going to focus on our listening skills. It is difficult for students beginning school to listen for extended periods of time since this has not been required before. I introduce the students to, Howard B. Wigglebottom. He is a silly rabbit who teaches the students through his mistakes. We watch how Howard learns to listen, discuss the skill and then complete a coloring page that will help us remember how to be a listener.

1st Grade:

I am teaching 1st grade about perseverance this week. School work is getting harder in 1st grade and many students experience some struggles at the tasks they are learning. It is important for students to realize the struggle is okay and if they keep trying they will succeed. We use the legendary tale of "The Little Engine That Could" to start our discussion. We then take some time to discuss goals for their learning that may be difficult this year and complete a worksheet about it.

2nd Grade:

In Second Grade we will be learning about working together. Students will be working more and more in pairs to help with their learning and this can be difficult to do. There will be some who want to do all the work and some who will want them to. There will be some who want to argue about everything and others who will have no opinion. For the best learning to be accomplished they will need to be a TEAM. After learning about what this means students will have a chance to put this skill into some fun activities like creating an animal, challenge walk and creating a PAWS cheer.

3rd Grade:

I will be teaching 3rd grade about active listening. The information being shared with students in 3rd grade is becoming more complex. They will be given multi-step directions and lots of new vocabulary. I will teach them tips to active listening and then try them through some activities like a multi-step direction challenge and drawing challenges.

4th Grade:

In 4th grade we are going to discuss how students are in charge of their learning. We will discuss that sometimes the things we think limit our learning and our true ability. Students will hear a fable about elephants to introduce the concept of growth mindset. Growth mindset is the belief that you can improve your abilities through practice. This is easy to think of when we relate it to learning to walk or ride a bike. Most students do not think of learning new math skills or vocabulary in the same way though. This idea leads us students to examine their ability to persevere when learning becomes hard and the need to not give up and continue to practice.

5th Grade:

I will be teaching 5th grade about growth mindset and their responsibility to be in charge of their mood, behavior and learning. We discussed the difference between a positive and negative perspective when we struggle and how our thoughts affect our mood and behavior. I then taught them what it means to "reframe" our thoughts and attitudes. I showed them some great examples and then they practiced this skill.