PROCEDURES, PROCEDURES,PROCEDURES
School is back in session and it's time to teach procedures. Every child wants to know the expectation and every teacher wants them to learn the expectation as quickly as possible. It makes things so much easier when everyone is on the same page. The first twenty days or so is usually devoted to doing just that.
In these past few weeks we have spent A LOT of time talking about the "How to's" of the basics. How to... line up, choose a seat, walk in the hallway, put things in our mailboxes, use our crayons, etc... This can seem very trivial and be very tedious work, but it's best not to assume that every precious child that enters your classroom understands these basics. Working on simple things like what our voices should sound like, and standing still with our hands at our sides can be the difference between a calm and efficient classroom and one of chaos. I'm happy to say that we are definitely heading in the right direction! It's a work in progress, but I'm proud of the start we've made. Getting these 'basics' established allowed us to move on to the great stuff about first grade; reading, writing, and math!
WE ARE ALL STORYTELLERS!
First graders have an amazing talent for telling stories. They can make a trip to the local grocery store sound like an adventure as they share EVERY detail about their shopping experience. However, if you ask them to write a story down they freeze. They suddenly become unable to think of anything to write about. This year I used "The First 20 Days of Writer's Workshop in 1st Grade" by Jessica Pelka. A great purchase from TPT! Pelka breaks it down for students by explaining that storytellers can share their stories both orally and by writing them down. She sets her lessons at a very slow pace but the results are amazing!
I started a conversation with them about how I had taken a trip over the summer break to see my sister. I asked if they would like to hear about my trip. Of course they all said yes. I proceeded to share my story and then allowed some volunteers to share their stories. I made a point to share that storytellers share their stories orally, just as I had done. I made sure to call each of the students who volunteered to come up and share, storytellers. Each day I would retell my story, adding a few extra details, and then new "storytellers" would share their stories with us. We did absolutely no writing!
Once every child had shared their stories we moved on to discuss how storytellers write their stories down so everyone can read them. They were so excited to get to be "authors" and write their stories down. Brilliant! My students now had the understanding behind the "how to" of creating stories to share. They were confident in the stories they were going to write.
MATH TALK
One of the most important things I do in the first 20 days of school is establish our math talks. One of the best ways to do this is with Torri Richards book Math Talks. She provides simple pictures that the students can look at and talk about. It provides opportunities for students to discuss how they saw the pictures. They will use the most amazing language to describe where the animals were in the pictures and how they were grouped. I heard things like "Well, I saw two groups of three and I know that 3+3=6 so that means there are 6 animals altogether." Amazing! They're talking math without even thinking about it. It's fun, interactive, and most importantly not intimidating! Because they're just looking at a picture they feel comfortable to discuss it without worry of getting an answer wrong.
After several days of exploring these pictures and discussing the things we saw, we went outside to our playground and created live pictures. It was our own live Math Talks! The students thought it was great fun to be part of a math talk picture and the other students loved talking about their friends in the picture. We created several different Math Talk pictures until everyone had the opportunity to be in a picture. It was so much fun to see the kids excited about math!
WE ARE ALL LEADERS
During the first 20 days along with procedures we work on establishing our classroom community or what I like to call our "Class Family". We read The Golden Rule and we discuss the importance of being a good citizen. Being a good citizen means we are all leaders and must set the example for the people around us. We lay out that a leader is: friendly, follows directions, keeps the classroom rules, helpful, respectful, and listens. Everyone wants to be a leader! NOTHING makes me happier than seeing students leading students!
Establishing your procedures during the first twenty days can be exhausting! There are no words to describe the exhaustion a teacher experiences the first week of school let alone the first 20 days. It is draining on a physical, mental, and emotional level. However, it is well worth the effort! The end result is a classroom that promotes safety, friendship, risk taking, efficiency, and productivity. It's a lot of work, but it's something to be proud of when you see your students comfortable and successful.
May your first 20 days lead you and your students to a Fabulous Year!
Liz
School is back in session and it's time to teach procedures. Every child wants to know the expectation and every teacher wants them to learn the expectation as quickly as possible. It makes things so much easier when everyone is on the same page. The first twenty days or so is usually devoted to doing just that.
In these past few weeks we have spent A LOT of time talking about the "How to's" of the basics. How to... line up, choose a seat, walk in the hallway, put things in our mailboxes, use our crayons, etc... This can seem very trivial and be very tedious work, but it's best not to assume that every precious child that enters your classroom understands these basics. Working on simple things like what our voices should sound like, and standing still with our hands at our sides can be the difference between a calm and efficient classroom and one of chaos. I'm happy to say that we are definitely heading in the right direction! It's a work in progress, but I'm proud of the start we've made. Getting these 'basics' established allowed us to move on to the great stuff about first grade; reading, writing, and math!
WE ARE ALL STORYTELLERS!
First graders have an amazing talent for telling stories. They can make a trip to the local grocery store sound like an adventure as they share EVERY detail about their shopping experience. However, if you ask them to write a story down they freeze. They suddenly become unable to think of anything to write about. This year I used "The First 20 Days of Writer's Workshop in 1st Grade" by Jessica Pelka. A great purchase from TPT! Pelka breaks it down for students by explaining that storytellers can share their stories both orally and by writing them down. She sets her lessons at a very slow pace but the results are amazing!
I started a conversation with them about how I had taken a trip over the summer break to see my sister. I asked if they would like to hear about my trip. Of course they all said yes. I proceeded to share my story and then allowed some volunteers to share their stories. I made a point to share that storytellers share their stories orally, just as I had done. I made sure to call each of the students who volunteered to come up and share, storytellers. Each day I would retell my story, adding a few extra details, and then new "storytellers" would share their stories with us. We did absolutely no writing!
Once every child had shared their stories we moved on to discuss how storytellers write their stories down so everyone can read them. They were so excited to get to be "authors" and write their stories down. Brilliant! My students now had the understanding behind the "how to" of creating stories to share. They were confident in the stories they were going to write.
MATH TALK
One of the most important things I do in the first 20 days of school is establish our math talks. One of the best ways to do this is with Torri Richards book Math Talks. She provides simple pictures that the students can look at and talk about. It provides opportunities for students to discuss how they saw the pictures. They will use the most amazing language to describe where the animals were in the pictures and how they were grouped. I heard things like "Well, I saw two groups of three and I know that 3+3=6 so that means there are 6 animals altogether." Amazing! They're talking math without even thinking about it. It's fun, interactive, and most importantly not intimidating! Because they're just looking at a picture they feel comfortable to discuss it without worry of getting an answer wrong.
After several days of exploring these pictures and discussing the things we saw, we went outside to our playground and created live pictures. It was our own live Math Talks! The students thought it was great fun to be part of a math talk picture and the other students loved talking about their friends in the picture. We created several different Math Talk pictures until everyone had the opportunity to be in a picture. It was so much fun to see the kids excited about math!
WE ARE ALL LEADERS
During the first 20 days along with procedures we work on establishing our classroom community or what I like to call our "Class Family". We read The Golden Rule and we discuss the importance of being a good citizen. Being a good citizen means we are all leaders and must set the example for the people around us. We lay out that a leader is: friendly, follows directions, keeps the classroom rules, helpful, respectful, and listens. Everyone wants to be a leader! NOTHING makes me happier than seeing students leading students!
Establishing your procedures during the first twenty days can be exhausting! There are no words to describe the exhaustion a teacher experiences the first week of school let alone the first 20 days. It is draining on a physical, mental, and emotional level. However, it is well worth the effort! The end result is a classroom that promotes safety, friendship, risk taking, efficiency, and productivity. It's a lot of work, but it's something to be proud of when you see your students comfortable and successful.
May your first 20 days lead you and your students to a Fabulous Year!
Liz
I look forward to reading more about your Math Talks! I am going to try the picture idea. Love it!
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