First Grade Writing

One of the first things I had to learn when I started teaching first grade two years ago was how to read their writing. I've gotten reasonably good at it, but I still have a way to go. Friends who have taught in the primary grades for years are much better at deciphering early writing than I am.

These are examples from eight of my students (ones whose names were easy to remove or were missing altogether) from the first two days of our independent writing. We started that during the second week of school. Personally, I was thrilled with the work these students were doing that early in first grade.

How much of this can you read?

Feeling Good about Tables

In our second year of having a wide range of table options, it seems to be working splendidly. As the students were writing the other day I noticed the decisions they had made about where to work.

Every small, intimate table (seating four or fewer) was occupied by students. Of the large tables, only the one on the floor had more than two students sitting there.

Setting up my classroom this way was a big switch after ten years with more traditional furniture. It's nice to see the students respond well to it.

I'd love to get rid of the big tables (at least the one with chairs) all together, but it is handy for guided reading groups.

We Have Met the Enemy and He Is Us

When students are not doing the work we've asked them to do, maybe the problem is us. I'm coming at this issue as a first grade teacher and I know that affects my thinking. First graders are interested and excited about everything - or at least they can be if you sell it to them. So, when we see that they are not doing the activity, discussion, or work we are asking them to, we need to reevaluate our expectations.

I just unsubscribed from a blog that I often enjoy because of the frequent negativity. I understand the need to vent and I know I do it too. I don't understand the idea that young children should do what we require simply because we tell them to. I question what is required of me often. Sometimes I will do it after I learn why and sometimes I won't. Sometimes I have to when I don't want to (like report cards) but I don't usually do it well.

We expect students to do because we said so. We wouldn't want to be treated that way. When faced with students who are disengaged, we should look closely at what we are asking.

Makes Me Smile

These kids are in the kindergarten class across the hall. They walk in line with a 'hand on the hip and a hand on the lip'. Every time I see them it makes me smile. We should all smile more often.

The Rabbit Hole

Earlier today I tweeted this:












It was absurd. The test we gave was the Naglieri Nonverbal Ability Test. That's the positive aspect. The test is completely nonverbal. It consists of pictures (patterns, spatial relations, etc.) with five pictures to choose from for the answer. I don't think it stressed my students to take it. They did not seem concerned by the time limit. In fact, the twelve children who took the test with me all finished before the 30 minutes were up.

The test has been given to second graders in my district for some time now and it has been decided to move it to first grade. We use it as one factor in identifying children for advanced academic services (gifted and talented).

I did spend a few minutes one day showing students some model questions on the smartboard to teach them how to bubble their answers. I then gave them two model questions to do so that I could be sure they understood how to bubble and to only bubble one answer per question. On the whole that seems to have helped. No one bubbled more than one answer per question and, aside from accidentally skipping questions or pages (I was watching carefully as I walked around the room) they didn't seem to have any trouble with the structure of taking this test.

For all that, the best I can say is that it could have been worse. That's sad. We spent a good amount of our morning taking a standardized test. At the age of six. Sigh.

Update: Apparently I am incorrect. According to a couple of fabulous colleagues, in the past we gave this test in kindergarten. Who knew the current situation was an improvement? Thanks for keeping me in line splatypus and organized chaos!

Friday Night Ranting

In an obvious sign that I don't think clearly on a Friday night, I just left a comment on Jay Mathews' most recent blog post. He writes about education professors' priorities as noted in a poll. His main point seems to be disappointment that education professors don't see a need for much more focus on classroom management.

This is difficult to understand. Anyone in close contact with new teachers knows that creating discipline and order are vital to their success, and they often wish they knew how to do that.

I don't doubt that new teachers do wish they knew how to manage a classroom better. I know I did. What I doubt is whether or not that can really be taught. We can talk all we want about education schools, but this sort of thing needs to be learned on the job. Without actual kids in a classroom, management is just theory and fairly meaningless. Pre-service teachers need to spend a lot more time in classrooms observing and working with master teachers. This is awfully tough to achieve.

Also, "creating discipline and order" sounds too much like a military school to me. I would hope that teachers are empowering students and encouraging them to ask questions, try new things, and explore. This won't happen in a strictly managed classroom. Children are people and deserve to be treated and respected as such.

One final note, just to get it off my chest, some of the comments really irked me. The idea that disruptive students should be removed and the message sent that such behavior would not be tolerated seems simplistic and naive. It also seems hurtful. Many children have behavior issues due to factors beyond their control. We should be helping these children, not isolating them and thus compounding the problem. They should not have to pay for the life into which they were born. We should offer so much more than that.

Cue Embarassed Blush

Today was a long day. It's been raining all week. Our main hallway is being painted. It was picture day. We had a fire drill. Can you picture it?

At the end of the day I wandered down to the office while my class was in art. After chatting briefly with a few folks there I remembered the purpose of my errand. I pulled this out of my pocket:


and said, "I need batteries."




This, for the record, is a Crayola glow wand. It is used to "write with light" according to Crayola's website. I am planning to have the students practice their word wall words with it. However, that was not readily obvious to others in the office. I am not sure when I will hear the end of this.

At the beginning of first grade many of our students don't really know the difference between letters and words. We work on this in a variety of ways at various times throughout our day. Yesterday we tackled it head on. I pulled out our thinkblocks and we talked about word/not word and then letter/not letter.

I was pretty impressed with their thoughts. They said that words need to make sense (I chose not to get into the idea of nonsense words). They shared some words as examples of not letters.

Finally, at the end I asked them about the relationship between words and letters. In no time the students shared three relationships, "letters are part of words," "letters make the sounds in words," and "when you stretch out words you can hear the letters."

While I was thrilled to see the understanding of words and letters, at least from some, I was really impressed with their thinking about the identities of words and letters and the relationship. As well as their ability to explain their thinking.

On the 18th day of first grade this was fabulous. We've got quite a year ahead.

Anger Notebook

I've got a little darling this year who has trouble controlling her anger. She couldn't be any cuter than she is. She also has amazingly strong emotions. One strategy we're trying with her is a notebook. She is a bright, bright girl and capable of doing a lot of writing in the beginning of first grade.

When I gave her the notebook I told her she could write or draw whatever she wanted there. I even told her she could write, "I hate Ms. Orr." again and again if it would help. She asked if she could write happy things. I said sure. The first thing she wrote is happy, "going to the pool".

On other occasions she clearly wrote when she was angry. I think this third one says, "Ms. Orr is stupid."

It's the final note here that made my afternoon today. I love the idea of a six-year-old writing a "note to self," especially about the progress of her day. I'm also quite impressed by the idea that she can recognize when things are going downhill.

It's not clear to me yet if this notebook is helping or not. We started it on Monday and this week has definitely been better than last week. We'll see how things continue.

(She does not attempt to keep this notebook private; she shares with countless people regularly. Today, she left it out in the midst of everything at the end of the day. I suggested she put it back in the home she chose for it but she declined, several times.)

Yearning

For a week we had a document camera in our classroom. One whole week! It was wonderful. Now it is time to start looking for a grant so that I can have one of my own.

I borrowed this one from our school district (we have pool of electronic equipment we can check out). One of the things we do in the first few weeks of first grade is 'read' wordless picture books. As many of my students are not yet readers, I want them to see how much they can read of a story just through pictures.

However, trying to do so just looking at a picture book seemed too challenging. If we wanted to really read the pictures I thought the students should be able to see them clearly. Hence the document camera.

I didn't get it well set up in our classroom since it was only temporary. But it was perfect for this use. In these pictures we are 'reading' the pictures of a non-fiction book. That was suggested by one of my amazing co-teachers and was a brilliant idea. Lots of first graders love non-fiction books but they don't really know how to go about reading them yet.

There is nothing like having a piece of equipment in your classroom to get the flood of ideas coming. There are so many ways we could use a document camera if we had one all the time. Off to grant hunt...

Arms and Legs

I'm in my 13th year of teaching. I like to think I'm not superstitious, but I am getting worried.

Yesterday one of my darling little girls fell off the monkey bars. It's been an almost everyday experience for at least one of my kiddos this year. But yesterday was different. She came over, clearly upset, and I sent her with a buddy to get some water. (The clinic was not open because our clinic aide was out.)

A few minutes later our fabulous principal came out to say they were calling the parents because they thought her arm was broken.

It was. She had surgery for an hour yesterday. She was home on painkillers today. It's not clear when she'll be able to return to school.

This morning another little darling and I had quite a bit of trouble together. She was disrespectful and defiant. I did not always respond well. But even when I did it didn't help.

It finally ended when she kicked me. Nothing major, just a lashing out physically. It didn't hurt me but it crossed a line we couldn't ignore.

So, either this year might be cursed or today was just a big teaching fail.

Brillance (or Laziness)

My students use pens. Not just sometimes, all the time. The only pencils in our classroom are colored pencils. Well, and the ones I use in my plan book because that can not be written in pen.

I made the switch to pens several years ago. I hated all the erasing my kids did, especially in their writing. I wanted to be able to see their thinking process as much as possible. Plus, elementary students tend to erase with vigor and often end up with holes in their paper. I also hated all the pencil sharpening. It's noisy and time consuming.

So I decided to get rid of pencils. The students don't even seem to notice a difference. They just draw a line through anything they want to change as they write and move on.

Pens do get lost and I have to replace them. But so did pencils. Occasionally students manage to take apart a pen but I try to see that as an experiment and exploration on their part. On the whole, I couldn't be happier with this decision.

The one thing I've learned, though, is to throw out the caps. They make awfully fun things to throw, chew on, bend, and who knows what else.

This idea has turned out to be brilliant, but I think it was really born out of laziness and irritation. I think that may be true of most of my good ideas.

Thinking about Our Hopes

Responsive Classroom suggests creating classroom rules using students 'Hopes and Dreams' for the year. I've found it to be a fun and effective method. This year I decided to use ThinkBlocks and the Patterns of Thinking to help us.

I shared my hope for the year and gave the students time to think about theirs and to talk with a friend. Then, as students shared their hopes I wrote each one on a big ThinkBlock. The next day we returned to our ThinkBlocks. I grabbed the medium sized ones and began sharing the parts of my hope. I talked about the things I would do in order to make my hope happen and the things I would need others to do. Students then shared the parts of their hopes. (They felt especially motivated to do so in order to get some medium ThinkBlocks. It's amusingly impressive.)

Finally, the next day we discussed how we can help each other successfully complete our hopes. The list was fairly short and surprisingly focused. In the end our class rules are: Be Kind and Help Others.

We did talk about being kind to people and to things (furniture, walls, supplies, etc.).

Be Kind and Help Others. I can live with that.

Another View of our First Day

I can't remember ever being this exhausted. On our old calendar we started school on a Monday. In our district the kids go home early on Mondays to give elementary teachers equal planning time to middle and high school teachers. Starting on a Monday was great because it gave us a chance to get to know our students, their interests, attention spans, and such. Then we had Monday afternoon to make basic plans for the rest of the week.

Being back on a regular calendar we started on Tuesday this week. Not only did that mean a full day with the kids on the first day but then no real time for planning the rest of the week.

These pictures were taken in the first hour of our first day. We were making name tags for a variety of reasons. As I contemplate surviving the last bit of the week these pictures remind me of the energy, excitement, and enthusiasm with which we started the week and the year.

One View of the First Day

Seventeen children arrived in my classroom yesterday morning, most of them with their supplies. One of our first activities every year is to sort our supplies. If you've never spent time in an elementary school classroom on the first day you are missing the sheer joy of small children weighed down by an increasing amount of school supplies.

At our school we create a supply lists by grade level. So, as a first grade team we agree on a list. As a result, I immediately pass on the pencils to others because we use pens. I also get rid of the erasers because they will do us no good. We also aren't likely to use so many binders or folders. It feels wasteful to have families buy all this but we don't know who is in each class until the week before school starts.

At the end of last year I did send each child home with a pair of scissors, packages of markers and crayons, and some glue sticks - all left from our year's supply. I hope they were used frequently!

Tomorrow...is only a day away

Last Thursday I met 14 of the 18 kids in my class. I'm really excited about this year with them. But I think I broke one of my cardinal rules. Unintentionally but still.

Lisa Parisi recently wrote about whether or not she should talk to previous teachers about her students. She laid out the pros and cons very well.

I commented that I like to get to know my students for the first week and then talk to their previous teachers. That way I build my own impressions of them but then I benefit from learning about their histories and tips for helping them. The best of both worlds.

Unfortunately this year a lovely teacher I work with already knew a lot of these kids. As a result, I've heard quite a bit about them. None of it is negative but it shaped my view of them as I met them last week.

I'm concerned that I've already placed students into certain boxes in my mind. This will make it harder to hold high expectations for them or have patience with them or who knows what else. This is my own fault so, starting tomorrow, I'll just have to work extra hard to see each of these little darlings for themselves rather than through others' eyes.

It's A Book by Lane Smith

I recently received a review copy of Lane Smith's newest, It's a Book from Macmillian Publishing. There's been a bit of controversy about the book (that link will explain the controversy but will also give away the best part of the book).

I'm not sure Smith wrote this one for kids, at least not in as general a way as his previous titles, John, Paul, George, and Ben or Madame President or any of his others. I've already bought a copy of this for my dad for his birthday because I think he may be the target audience. I know I loved it the minute I read it. I've read it about two dozen times now because I've taken it everywhere with me and made friend after friend read it. I like more and more each time.

I won't be using it with my first grade class, but I'll keep reading it and I'm likely to be giving it as gifts to other appreciative adults.

By the way, the book trailer is worth checking out. It'll give you the idea of the book without giving away the controversy.

A 19th Century Addition to my Classroom

The first picture is from a one-room schoolhouse near Placerville, California, very close to wear gold was first found. I was so excited to see a piano in the schoolroom. Last spring I discovered a piano in a storage closet at school. I got permission to store it in my classroom instead.

For those last few weeks of school we used it very little. We did sing happy birthday when appropriate and we learned a few songs about worms during our study of those creatures. I really want to use the piano well this year but I have not had any epiphanies about how to do so.

Any thoughts? Advice? Great music? Anything?

CMK - Peter Reynolds

How long after a conference is too long to post reflections? This was in my drafts and I'm disappointed in myself for not posting it before now.

Peter Reynolds spoke to us briefly during a visit to FableVision (total geek excitement for me about that visit!). I've heard him speak before and it is always a wonderful experience. One thing he said this time was that we need to stop making excuses for ourselves as artists. How many teachers draw something when modeling for their students and say, "I'm no artist" or "Pardon my artwork, I know you'll do better." I've said things like that.

Reynolds' point was that saying that suggests to our students that our work is not good. Then when they create similar work they see it as not good enough. This is something I'll be watching in the future.

For me it begs the question. Why don't we allow our students to see us struggle? When I struggle to make a picture look the way I want, why don't I share that? When I struggle with explaining something I don't fully understand my students should see that. Watching me struggle is a good model for them.

Adventure Playground

After having the opportunity to visit Tinkering School I was clearly prepped for taking my daughters to Adventure Playground in Berkeley. We had a fabulous afternoon and I was astounded by this place. It's been around for more than 30 years, nearly my entire life.
I didn't expect a traditional playground but I didn't have any idea what it would be. The space is full of structures kids have created and added to. My daughters found pieces of trash and traded them in for paint. Then they got a saw and we cut a small piece of wood that looked like a flag. They then got a hammer and nails to attach it to one of the structures. They left their mark!

The playground provided these sticks with magnets hanging from them for kids to search the space for loose nails. Brilliant.

At one point in the midst of our exploring, creating, and playing four kids worked together to bring over this jungle gym. I have no idea where it was before they moved it but they brought it to a big open space. The cooperation was impressive to watch.

My younger daughter is 3 1/2. She is pretty independent and immediately began exploring today. Her older sister will be seven in a couple of weeks and she is more hesitant. She wanted to know where I was all the time. However, she climbed over the entire netting, rode the zip wire numerous times and tackled the tire wall again and again. She was much more of a risk taker in this environment than she normally is. I wish we could return next week and the week after. I think it was really good for her.

The question now is how do I take what I saw here and at Tinkering School and incorporate it into my classroom? I'm not sure yet but it feels very important to me, especially after watching my daughter.

Kids Learn, Like It or Not

I have more pet peeves than I would care to admit to having, but this is a significant one. "That Make Learning Fun" suggests that, naturally, learning isn't fun at all. A nationwide child care center had a tag line for a while that read, "Where Everyday Learning Feels Like Fun". Every time I read it I would cringe.

Anyone who has worked with young children knows that learning is amazingly, astoundingly fun for them. Adults love to learn, on their terms. They take art classes, join clubs, meet with friends who share a passion. Human beings need to learn. It's a driving force for us.

I get frustrated at this time every year as back to school commercials show up depicting the return to the school year as a dreaded event (but if you buy their product it will be more bearable!). Often in TV shows and movies, both for adults and children, school is presented as boring and hated. That is probably true for some kids. However, many children, especially elementary aged children, love going to school. Why are we socializing them into believing it is an awful place? Why are we teaching them that learning is dull, hard, not fun at all?

I'm not suggesting that we can't do a lot to make schools better places for kids. I am suggesting we don't need to teach kids our perceptions of school. Let them build their own, many will be positive.

(First) Tinkering School Visit

Due to the fact that my only sister learned to paraglide from Gever Tulley we have had family involvement in Tinkering School for years now. My sister has helped with planning and implementing Tinkering School for several years (you can see her in pictures in Gever's TED talks). Two years ago my parents went out to help with one week. Somehow, however, I had never managed to go. (My daughters and I have been lucky enough to spend time with Gever and his wife, Julie, on a couple of occasions.)

On our first full day in California we headed down to the Tinkering School location. It was the final day for the seniors (the older group) so we got to see the results of all their thinking, tinkering, and work.

They spent the week working toward the structures you see here. They were created with pallets, eucalyptus, and twine. Impressive. You can read a lot more about this on the Tinkering School blog. They slept in these structures the last night.

The thing that impresses me most about Gever, and seeing him at Tinkering School just reinforced this, is that none of this is about him. I'm not saying that as well as I would hope, but I can't figure out a better way. Gever almost fades to the background. He's there and aware of everything going on, available to help anyone who needs it, but never forcing himself on anything or into anyone's work.

There's a lesson in that for teachers.

No Words

For the past eight years we've been on a modified calendar. This week should have been our first week with the kids. Instead, it's been a roller coaster of a week.

On Monday morning, at 10:01, two teachers at our school gave birth (yes, two teachers on the same day at the same time - we are a close staff :).

Yesterday another staff member, a parent liaison with our school for as long as I can remember, died of cancer. She's been ill for two years and those have been hard years.

As I mourn today I keep trying to remember those two new babies. The promise of their lives, the potential for all they will do in the world, the wonder of newborns. It doesn't take away the pain, but it helps.

This woman gave more to our school than any one person could be expected to do. She knew everything about our students, everything. She translated for conferences and often was able to make points, emphasize concerns, and say things we didn't feel we could say. I had a student, years ago, who lived with her after this girl's mother had died and her father could not safely care for the kids. In fact, she updated me on this previous student just last year.

When she first became ill we were all sure she would recover quickly. She was the strongest, most determined woman we knew. However, our principal was concerned about the time she would have to be away from the school. Her concern stemmed from the fact that she knew who really ran things at our school.

She will be sorely missed. Her influence, however, will live on at our school, in our students, and beyond for years to come. In my mind, she will now be our school's guardian angel.

Classroom Makeover

I should wait to share pictures of my recent work in the classroom for when I've got it all set up and looking good, but I can't. After eight hours of painting over the past three days I am so excited by my new, blue wall that I have to show it off!

That's the view (cluttered by lots of junk) when you first walk in my classroom. I've wanted to paint one wall of my room for some time now. My administrators had no problem with the idea. I was just lazy.

I love this time before school starts. Everything is possible.