It was a whirlwind of a first week (as always) with students reconnecting and getting to know and settling into a new space.
We introduced ourselves to each other through a game involving the students sitting in a circle and saying our names. From here, the students were given a ball. They would say the name of one student and then throw/roll the ball to that student. This would continue with a different student until each had thrown and caught a ball. The second round continued like the first as they were required to maintain the order of the previous round. An extra challenge was posed with the addition of more balls to the circle. Students had to be listening to hear their names and continue the order. As a way of learning more about each other and our space, the students completed two scavenger hunts. The first focused on our space and where they could locate items they would need throughout the year. The second focused on finding people in the class with different interests including different sports, music or art. The students also shared with each other who they are as readers by bringing in a favorite book, sharing a little about it and what drew them to it by completing the sentence, "This book is for someone who......" Some examples included books for people who love mysteries or silliness or graphic novels or history. As a group, we talked about the ways we want to interact with each other and our space. One framework we use when thinking about this is The P.E.A.C.E. Plan, created by Ryan Brown at The U School. The core principles are as follows: Play and be safe Everything gets respect Awareness Communication Eudaimonia (This one we modified from Experience the Fun) We discussed what these meant as a class and will be creating posters that reflect our understanding and remind us of how we want to treat each other and our space. During homeroom we discussed language and learning, considering how we develop our abilities to speak by imitating those around us. What begins as initial sounds and approximations of words transforms over time into words imbued with meaning. While this all seems trivially true, we often don't think of taking the same approach to writing. Some of our work around writing this year will include studying the structure of sentences written by famous children's authors and creating our own that mimic these structures. 3rd-graders focused on "chunking" sentences with the idea being that sentences are composed of individual clusters of meaning. 4th-graders discussed how paragraphs are like trees, with the roots being the idea in your head and the sentences, like branches extending from the trunk. They then read through paragraphs and selected possible titles from a provided selection. We will continue the work next week in a small group where students will explain their thinking behind their selections. Math We spent the week with some students continuing their work in their Singapore books from the previous year while others worked on assessments. Once they reached their goals for the day, the played math games. Popular ones included Prime Climb and Zeus on the Loose.
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