You are probably well aware that the 3rd graders at HHAI are given lots of opportunities to make choices. Last week, we took the idea of choice to a whole new level, introducing what is called "academic choice." Academic choice is a teaching strategy that comes from Responsive Classroom. You can learn more about it here. Basically, the idea is that the teacher decides what she wants her students to learn, and the students get to decide how they learn it. When students get to direct their own learning, they intrinsically become more motivated learners. The learning becomes a part of their identity. They retain the information better and gain confidence in the process. Inspired by this idea, I decided to infuse academic choice into our current unit about civics and government. In the past, the 3rd graders learned about two points in history where people fought for their rights: the Civil Rights Movement and the Women's Suffrage Movement. This year, I decided I would let each child choose to either learn about one or the other. No matter which topic they chose, I knew they would come out with an understanding of what it means to fight for one's rights. After they decided on their topic of study, the students were given a task sheet that looked sort of like a grid. Each square had a resource to read, watch, or look at along with a simple task such as a question to answer or a poster to make. Each task was given a point value based on the degree of difficulty or the depth of understanding it required. As a way of differentiating, each student was given a different goal they had to reach. Goals ranged from 80 points to 140 points, depending on the student's reading fluency, average work pace, and other factors. Differentiated point expectations, along with the freedom to choose which tasks to do to earn the points, made for a learning process tailored to each student's needs, abilities, and interests. Once they were given this task sheet, the learning was put in their hands. Day after day, they decided what to work on and did so at their own individual pace. Ms. Silverman and I circulated the room, offering support when needed. From the start, the positive effects of this type of learning were clear. The room was quiet, but alive with the buzz of learning. The information they were learning felt like treasures they had discovered, and their excitement was evident in their eagerness to share what they'd learned with their peers and with me. Stay tuned to read about the exciting Makerspace project they are working on to show what they learned during independent learning!
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Last week marked the beginning of our first conceptual unit of the school year! Each unit this year will combine language arts and social studies to create a blended subject called "humanities." Our first humanities unit is called "Building A Community," and it aims to deeply cover the 3rd grade Civics and Government standards alongside the reading and writing standards. We will examine the dynamics and levels of power that help our classroom community to function harmoniously, then use that understanding to learn about our local, state, and national government systems. To start things off, we dissected the concept of "rights." After all, our country was founded to secure and protect certain rights, and those rights are the reason why we have laws, elections, and governments in the first place! To begin, we read aloud a beautiful picture book called I Have the Right to Be a Child. This powerful and beautifully illustrated book points out rights that children (and adults) often take for granted, such as the right to have enough to eat and to be free from violence. I wanted the children to hear the word "right" used over and over in context so that they would develop an intuitive sense of the meaning of the word. Next, I wrote 4 sentence starters on 4 pieces of paper. "A right is kind of like..." "A right reminds me of..." "A right is not..." and "A right looks like..." The groups had one minute to jot down their thoughts on the page before rotating to the next page. In the end, the papers were covered in responses to the sentence starters. Finally, after talking around the meaning of "right," we worked together to come up with our own definition:
Our first math unit of the year is called "Numbers and Operations in Base-10." During this unit, the students will build a strong understanding of what numbers mean. For example, 351 is not just 3 hundreds, 5 tens, and 1 one, but it is also 35 tens and 1 one, 34 tens and 11 ones, and many other possibilities! Yesterday we built understanding by playing the game, "Three Other Ways." I wrote a number on the board, and small groups worked to build the number using their base-10 blocks. Then, I challenged the groups to build the same number in a different way (using a different amount of tens, for example). Being able to see numbers flexibly, to compose and decompose them in different ways, is one of the most important building blocks of number sense. We will continue to do these sorts of activities this week to pave the way for more complex math as the year goes on.
This week we began one of our daily reading exercises. It's called "Article-A-Day," and it comes from ReadWorks.org. The procedure is simple: each day the children enter the room, turn in their homework, and get their packet of articles. The packet includes 5 or 6 short articles on the same topic, and the articles get slightly more difficult as they go on. The students read the article of the day, then write one thing they learned in their notebook. Once I check their work, they put their materials away and head to the rug for morning meeting. Each day I choose one person to write what they learned in our class "Book of Knowledge," which is on display at the front of the room. The students know the purpose of "Article-a-Day." The purpose is to build our reading stamina and gain valuable knowledge while we read. As the year goes on, they will be able to devour these short pieces of writing, becoming more fluent as the year goes on. Some weeks, instead of articles, they will have packets of short stories or poems. Instead of writing something they learned, they will write something they noticed or liked about the work. This daily reading and reflecting will help them not only to become better readers, but as they gain exposure to "good writing," they will also become better writers!
What a great 1st week we've had in 3rd grade! With such a thoughtful, cooperative class, I know we will be able to accomplish a lot this year. This week, our focus was on setting goals for the year. The students began by reading a piece of writing I wrote about my personal goals for the year. They noticed that for each goal I included what the goal was, why I wanted to reach it, and how I planned to get there. The students then got to work, brainstorming all the possible goals they could have for this year. After choosing one or two goals that felt the most important to them, we began our writing process. One of my favorite parts of the process we used for this piece was peer conferencing. Each student met with a partner to read his/her writing aloud. The listener had a specific job: to listen for any information that felt incomplete. Considering one's audience is a huge part of writing, and it can be very challenging for 3rd graders to remember that the reader does not have all of the information that the writer has in his/her head. After getting feedback, the students were ready to put their final touches on their writing. I also had them come up with a plan for how they'll know when they've reached their goals, and to decide where in their writing it would make sense to include that information.
The final product can be found on the bulletin board outside our classroom. To add vibrance and personality to their work, each student also created an abstract self portrait out of construction paper. If you get the chance, check them out! You may remember from an earlier post that the 3rd graders have an incentive to "fill each other's buckets." This means that whenever I catch them doing or saying something that gives another person good thoughts and feelings about him/herself, I put a tile in a jar. When all 20 tiles are in the jar, the class gets to celebrate. Before we begin this process, the class brainstorms what kind of celebration they want to work toward. After brainstorming, we take a blind vote. The most popular party wins!
This time around, the students voted to have a "board games and Spencer" party. This is exactly what it sounds like. After earning 20 tiles for their good citizenship, we got to have this truly original celebration! It was so interesting to see the different types of games the students brought in. Their personalities truly shone. Befitting to the cause, the party was full of laughter, kindness, sharing, and enthusiasm. Enjoy some pictures below! With the school year winding down, the time for fun, end-of-the-year projects has begun! This week, we began our prism project, which you'll see allows for application of the measurement, geometry, and problem solving skills that we've learned this year. During our 3D objects unit, we learned about two types of prisms: cubes and rectangular prisms. This week, we learned that any polygon can be turned into a prism. The task I gave the class was to create a prism of their choice using materials in the makerspace. To do this, we followed the design-thinking procedure. First, they drew a sketch of their prism, which included the measurements of each edge. Next, they came up with a plan of construction. Then, they created a prototype out of regular paper. The prototype phase has been the most difficult, as this is where flaws in the design may show up. The students learned very quickly the importance of measuring precisely, as imprecise measurement creates faces that won't align in the 3D object. Some of them decided that creating a foldable net was easier than cutting each face separately and taping them together. Working through these discoveries is one of the most valuable aspects of a project like this. The students are developing grit, perseverance, and an understanding of failure as an opportunity to redesign.
If students realize in the prototype phase that their design needs to be adjusted, they must then go back to the sketching phase, adjust their design, then create a new prototype according to what they've learned. Once the prototype turns out how they want it, they can then move into the final phase -- construction out of cardboard or card stock. Nobody's process in the makerspace has been liner -- plan, draft, final product. They have all progressed in more of a looping manner (plan, draft, redesign, draft, adjust, final product), as they engineer their prototypes and refine their approaches. Through this process, their sense of what it means to be successful is shifting. Success does not mean instant perfection. It is a process of failing and learning and working hard. We are loving this project. Last week during our April market, we had our 1st ever case of businesses competing. Two entrepreneurs were in direct competition selling homemade slime. When the two came to me wondering if it was OK to sell the same product, I was delighted at the opportunity for a teachable moment! "Does this happen in real life?" I asked. "Yes," they replied. "And what do businesses do when another business is selling the same product?" Immediately they realized, "They try to make theirs better!" We then brainstormed ways in which the two slime businesses could differentiate themselves -- fun colors, clever packaging, advertisement, etc.
When market day arrived, the two students were both quite nervous. "What if nobody comes to my business?" Amazingly, the two had very different takes on the slime idea. One business had smaller packaging, glittery slime, and a more rubbery recipe. They also came up with funny names for each color. The other business gave much more slime for the price, a fluffier recipe, and pastel colors. The two products were different in so many ways that the consumers wanted both! In the end, they both sold out and decided to merge their businesses for a joint venture for the upcoming Super Market. As a class, we discussed how competition really benefits the consumer. Because the businesses had competition, they were forced to try to sell the best product possible. This gave us, the consumers, two great choices at the market. Enjoy some pictures and videos from our classroom cleanup session and April market below! Our 2nd market was a huge success! Our entrepreneurs are learning important lessons about commerce, and it seemed today's lessons focused mainly on "demand." A few businesses struggled to get customers in the beginning, as many flocked to one booth and stayed for a while. They learned that business can be slow in the beginning, but as customers' interest in one product or service dies down, they will go to another. A product of mine, touchable bubbles, was in such high-demand that I decided to auction it off! I only had one package of the bubbles, yet 6 customers wanted to buy it. This forced the students to consider how much value this product had to them. Was it worth spending all of their money? Half? The bidding started at 5 albino bucks. In the end, one student was willing to spend all of her money - 65 albino bucks! Below you will find videos from the market. You will hear negotiations, advertisement, communication between business partners, and financial decisions being made. And as if I had paid him to do so, one student remarked, "This was like the most fun learning experience ever!" |
3rd GradeLittle people, big minds. Archives
May 2019
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