Praises and Prides in Community Circle - Sunday Blessings

 

So, my friends, here is Stanley, a vital part of our classroom community.  See  about class pets here.  Stanley assists our class with many things; however, his main function is to let our class members know whose turn it is to talk when we do our family meeting.  Each day, when we start our day, we do a quick whip around the circle where we get to share something.  On Mondays, we tell about our weekend, Tuesdays and Wednesdays we let our classmates know they are awesome, special, amazing, terrific.  Thursdays we count our blessings and say what we are thankful for, and Fridays we do Praises and Prides, something my dear friend Tamara introduced to me over fifteen years ago, and I've used it ever since.

 

 Sometimes we do Praises and Prides more than once a week if our class needs to be uplifted a little extra.  We pass Stanley around and praise one of our fellow classmates.  If the kids know it's coming up and that they will be asked to do this, then they are on the lookout for people in our class doing something great!   This alone adds to our positive community.  In addition, I ask the kids to tell me one thing they did well this week AT SCHOOL.  The kids feel really comfortable talking about their families and what they did well at home, but I want them to feel good and notice what they do well at school.

 

 

Stanley helps us not only notice and be intentional about our actions/interactions with each other, but he also reminds us it's okay to just be proud of the things we do ourselves.   At first students are uncomfortable saying things they did well because they feel boastful, but I try to help them learn the difference between pride and bragging.   Pride helps us stand taller, without making someone else feel smaller.  Pride creates an atmosphere of caring about the work and learning we do!

 

And thus, Praises and Prides are a part of our journey in self reflection and what we will care about as we begin our portfolio process.  How can we display something we don't care about?

 

I hope this has given you another window into the magic of our first grade classroom.  Curriculum matters, but caring matters more!

 

Have another blessed Sunday.

 

 



Thankful Thursday - It's all about Happiness!

It amazes me when things fall in place.  It means that they are just meant to be.  Daily at school, we work on character.  Sometimes it's short snippets or stories or quotes, but always some reminder that our character is important.  Every day I write them a message on the board and tell them that they are amazing or wonderful or terrific and invite them to meet eyes with someone in the room and remind them they are special too.  This creates a positive atmosphere which passes on exponentially all day!  We talk about how this one act of kindness can spread much as the "Pay it Forward" campaign.

In addition, every Thursday, we have Thankful Thursday, and we pass Stanley, our class pet, around the circle, and name something we are thankful for.  To me, gratitude should be rated extremely high.  As we are grateful for things, we begin to feel truly blessed, and I believe we feel much happier.

Today, during lunch, I was able to open this video from daughter, where they show the Science of happiness.  And without me really knowing it out loud, only from following my truth inside, I've learned the Secret of happiness and wish to pass it on to you and yours

                      TRY IT OUT!    



Children don't inherently know or understand many feelings, they have to be learned, and gratitude is one of those feelings.  Now we know from Science that gratitude is an integral part of being happy.   Even if you don't believe this to be an exact Science, you should try this little experiment out for yourself.   You'll be amazed by the results.  Remember, it is an experiment that works best over time. 
:)

I cn't wait to hear about your experiments.  Report your results here!  If you've tried some other happiness experiments that you'd like to share, please post it here.  I'd love to try them myself.

Happy Thankful Thursday!

p.s.   for some reason this post didn't post on Thankful Thurs, but just as relevant!

   

Mrs. Spy Comes to Town- Living Anchor Charts

My dearest friends, I've come to tell you the power of voice and characters.  Sometimes when you are busy trying new things, you tend to forget to come back to the basics and just play with the kids.  I wanted to jazz up my reading and keep the kids engaged, so I just started using voices and characters, much the same as they do in the book Interactive Think Alouds.  (Thank you Kerry!)  Of course, it's best when you take the idea and make it your own.  (and drum up a bit of courage.)

I went in the hallway, put on a pair of  plain, fake glasses, used a Julia Childs' high pitched voice and used pictures to read pages.  In the next days that ensued, I went through the room with a discovery voice "oooooh....look at this!  I found the ER sisters!  And over here I found  the Quiet Brothers -  pointing to SH."  Each day I highlighted a new feature: the  alphabet cards, the chunk cards, resources and reading clues all around our room. 

These are now my "living anchor charts."  I KNOW these kids are connected to these cards because they keep helping each other refer to them, saying, "remember when Mrs. Spy showed us where the ER sisters were?"    I will keep referring back to these cards and charts to keep re-remembering what we've learned.

The coolest part of  my adventure was that I pretended that I had totally forgotten my name, and the kids named me, further engraining my character and anchoring our reading work.  They look for Mrs. Spy every day and tease me saying, you look a lot like Mrs. Wallace.  And, "hey, you're wearing the same clothes!"  There's still magic in first grade.  I love their joy.

The interesting part is that it doesn't matter what the prop, nor how big or fancy it is.  It's different and fun and therefore, engaging.

I have a funny feeling Mrs. Spy will be back in the future to continue our "living anchor charts."
:)

Rockin' Robin TWEET TWEET- Technology Tuesday

Good Morning!
It is Technology Tuesday, and I believe today we are chatting about Twitter!   I actually signed up for Twitter many years ago when my girls signed up.  Mostly, I used my account for following others and hearing about what was going on in their lives.  It seemed silly to do little updates about an everyday life American...but it was interesting hearing about a "star's" life or what was new going on in the world.  I didn't tweet.  I just followed tweets!  (Does that make me a Twitter stalker?)

Since then, Twitter has blown up, and my sweet daughter, Kelci, a social media guru, told me the benefits of using it in my classroom.  Also, we heard about it a lot at DENapalooza and our great technology person, Ashleigh, gave me a few tips.

So, when my parents came for open house last week, I gave them my info and told them how to follow me with Wallace updates.  My hashtags will be #throughfirstgradeeyes.  For now, I will probably use it just to give my families brief updates of what is going on in the classroom and to learn about great things going on in the education world.  Let's see where it goes from there....TWEET TWEET Rockin' Robin....doo ta doo...  :)  (imagine a whistle here.)

Happy Technology Tuesday!  Have you thought about great apps you enjoy or cool technology  and want to share?  Post it here!

:) Marie

It's All About Community!

I love starting a new year. It brings fresh starts and fresh eyes and ways of seeing things differently. 
Every year, I work incredibly hard to build community.  I tell the kids they now have two families, one at home and one here at school.  They are surprised at first and a little disbelieving.  But I am convinced that if a child feels happy and safe and loved, they can accomplish great things and will be willing to try most anything!  This sense of family brings unity to our day...it begins our journey of learning empathy and sympathy

This year, I'm working harder than ever to move slower into curriculum.  As always, I've turned to my favorite books like The Responsive Classroom.  I adore this curriculum because it builds community with successful steps.  We write a morning message every day (which I've always done because the kids adore it.)  In this case, I write a morning message with my class pets (more about that here.)  The kids can hardly wait to see Stanley's paw print on a message. These class pets are just as much a part of our community as the kids.  (It's magic.)

In addition, we learn every morning how to greet each other, how to act with each other, how to see the best in everyone.  I don't stop there.  I add elements of Peace Builders and other curriculums which build self esteem and self confidence. 

In these first days, we concentrate on creating rules for the classroom and for outside. 
Before kids are allowed to use playground equipment, they are taught how to play games with each other, making sure kids aren't left out and that they are playing fair and by the rules.  What I love about this set-up is that kids are taught success right away.

Here are a couple of the games for big groups:
octopus              fish gobbler  (this one has several P.E. games)

Next week I will bring out playground equipment and teach them more games involving balls and jump ropes.  It will be such fun!            

I know there is so much more to community building than I can write on this page, so I will continue our discussion further later on down the line.

These first days are so important.  In the end, just like the old mantra, "go slow to go fast."  Spending time to invest in the kids and community now, ensures they will be more responsive when it comes time to do more academic things.  I love my school family.  These steps also allow me to have something to look forward to every day.

Cheers!

Building Community

Every year, what is most important to me is building classroom community.  I want my kiddos to feel safe and happy and eager to learn.   This takes time and serious intentions and many valuable tools.

This summer I've been re-reading many of my favorite texts in order to remain true to what I know works for kids.  These great texts include Love and Logic and The Responsive Classroom.  I added a text from the Responsive Classroom called The First Six Weeks of School.


I also have a background in Peacebuilders, which reminds me that students need a sense of belonging and purpose.  We do a community circle several times a week where we do Praises and Prides.  First, we begin by making sure students remember to see the golden nuggets in others, but also to know that it's okay to find golden nuggets in ourselves.  Our society often places a judgement upon us remembering to notice good things in ourselves saying that we ate full off ourselves our that we are bragging... I happen to think it's healthy to feel good about yourself. You can't give what you don't have.  Many times in our life experience we are left alone to encourage ourselves, and if we don't know how to do it, our only recourse might be to get negative attention. When students learn to fill their own bucket, they are less spot to expect it from everyone else. ( more on this later)

Looking back, if I could narrow my focus, I would stay with the Responsive Classroom book, specifically the book, The First Six Weeks. 

What I love about Responsive classroom is that there is constant, daily reinforcement and practice of basic common courtesies...namely, greeting each other.  We begin from day 1, acknowledging each other in the classroom, making eye contact, being genuine in our care for others.  For many, this comes easily, for others, with tougher experiences and perhaps some trust issues, this might take longer.  I promise, with due diligence that even the toughest come around because you prove to them multiple times that you will be there to support them and build them up.  Oftentimes as classroom teachers, we worry about how we will get all that curriculum in and teach all that we are responsible for.  However, it is these initial beginnings of helping our students to feel physically and emotionally safe that allow that learning to happen.  Without it, the information ends up being a "fly by" and sometimes they get it and sometimes they don't.   This book assists teachers map out these routines throughout the six weeks with plenty of opportunity to practice for success and mastery, leaving an easier path for learning.

If you only add one thing this year, add a morning meeting or a morning greeting.  Students stand taller and open up more, just having been greeted that morning.  Also, it allows for time to practice routines successfully and purposefully.  Remember the first weeks are vital for year-long success. When the kids feel safe and know you love them, there is community, and with community, all things are possible.

As the year goes on, I will talk about these topics more in depth.  For now, there are a few quick start ups on YouTube under Responsive Classroom.

Happy trails, and may your school year be blessed.