Learning How to Serve...A Gift That Keeps on Giving

Today we didn't get a lot of "subject" learning done.  Instead, we learned about how to be kind and helpful citizens.  Which would you say is more important for your child's future? 

Here's how our prep and planning went.  

1.  We learned about the word "service".

2.  The 4 C's were introduced and we set goals:

• Communication: Soft voices, eye contact
• Collaboration:  Kind words, no "making someone" do something they weren't ready to do.
• Creativity:  Using puppets to pretend with.
• Critical Thinking:  What will I do if my preschooler doesn't listen or cooperate?  What might go well?  Be a challenge?

3.  Deciding on whether to read a big book or show a video.

4.  Realistic Math Problem! Together we figured out how to pair each other up with a preschooler. 

Check out how we used manipulatives to solve this.

The blue unifex cubes represented our 24 crew members.

The white ones represented the 19 preschoolers. 

We paired the white and blue up, and then realized we would have 5 left over first graders.

They weren't sure what to do with the leftover 5 for a bit, but then realized we would could add them to other groups. They got jazzed about this math so we then got out our number grids and added the total number of kids all together. Awesome!

After our visit we debriefed about our successes and challenges.  The children realized teaching can be exhausting work!! I was super proud of how they handled our first visit.  This is a lovely crew of children. 

Click on this link to see the Google Photo Album from our visit! 

Preschool Visit

Writing Celebration!

Such a gift to have an audience for our writing today!  Thanks to all of the parents who were able to make it as they shared the love and supported the children around them.  It felt warm and fuzzy.  The room was buzzing...made my heart overflow with joy!  We are growing. The children were so very proud:)

Teaching Reading Tools

Readers need to have lots of tools in their tool belts.

During the first month of school I immersed my readers in tons of books that help to build fluency. 

Now it's time to add more tools to their tool belts as they begin coming across longer tricky words in their reading.

To introduce these tools, I made a connection to my weekend fence project and how just one tool may not solve the problem...just like in reading!

My attempt with hammer failed, so I had to get out my power drill.  I wore the tool belt during my reading lesson as we discussed that reader's need lots of tools to try!

Parents...if you are like me, you learned one tool.  Sound it out. I DO NOT USE THIS TOOL!  I'm hoping to teach you along with the children how to help them use more effective tools.  Don't feel bad if you have been saying this for years.
I did as a mom!

Here is a list of tools that I will be teaching.

If you'd like some lessons, then come and in and I'll be glad to help!

Or you can also watch this great video about how to help your child read at home.  Click on this link! It's worth your time!
                HELPING YOUR CHILD READ AT HOME 

Together we can take your child far in reading this year!

Critical Thinking and Collaboration

Problem posed:  "Can you put yourself in order from 1-24?"

This may sound pretty easy, but the question was posed to 24 six-year olds who have only been together for a short time!  They were given the number cards 1-24 randomly.  We stepped back and watched them figure out how to work together in kind ways to get this job done.

They really did a great job! We talked about what worked and what didn't work.  How leaders can be helpful without being bossy.
There was no pushing, shoving or unkind words.  Truly lovely for the start of the year.  Next we will try getting in order by 5's and 2's.

This was not just a math lesson or a problem solving lesson...this is one of many life lessons that I'll offer to my crew this year.

Our Newest Students

Daniela, Oliver, Brayah

Welcome to Renaissance!

Dear Crew Family,

I wanted to formally welcome and introduce to you our 3 new families.  This is their first year at REMS and each of these children are the oldest in their families.  

Daniela and her family have origins in Puerto Rico. 

Her parents names are Ivonne and Javier and she has a little brother at home. Daniela is an amazing learner who is bi-lingual.  We are excited to have the opportunity to learn some Spanish this year from her and her family.  Welcome Daniela.

Oliver's parents are Barry and Andrea and he also has a little brother at home. Oliver loves to learn and is a great addition to our crew! Welcome Oliver! 

Brayan is our third addition and her parents are Riann and Brad. She has two little siblings at home and her mom is beginning to help in the room on Wednesdays.  Welcome Brayah!

Our crew family is important to all of us.  We need each other because it does indeed take a village.  And 24 six-year olds are indeed a village!  I know you will welcome these families when you have a chance at pick-up or other school events.

One Powerful Book!

 Every year it is so hard to choose what books to share at the start of the year.  Along with the my classroom library collection I like to gather great reads from the public library.  I place these books on the rug to entice my readers.

This year I decided to include wordless picture books now.
Here's why:
Meaning:  One of my big ideas for the year is making sure the children learn that to think, "what would make sense?"
in every subject they are working on. 

Wordless picture books force them to look at the pictures and think about the story. This is the best reading tool for them to use!

While reading this book before school last week I realized that this guy Hank has a problem to solve.  I want my students to know that mathematicians do the same.

So I put this story up on the doc camera as I introduced math for this year.  There are many different ways to solve a problem and showing perseverance on the journey is one of my goals for them.  Below are some pictures from the story that show how Hank persevered through his problem and how happy he felt when he succeeded! 

The children loved the book and they would enjoy sharing the pictures below with you!  Great discussions can come from just one book.  I'll be using it again and again.

Read / Write / Explore Time

Children need choice.

I have goals for them to meet.

Every day we both get to achieve this during what I call Read/Write/Explore time. 

The children have choice within these areas:

Word work, writing, reading, technology, math, create and construct. 

During this time we also work on collaboration with a partner. For our first week the children did beautifully with this. I was so impressed with their first experience with this kind of learning this year.