I See. I Think. I Wonder.

Friday, September 10, 2021

Popsicle Inquiry

In math we have been doing a mini-inquiry with twin pops.

Twin pops can help our brains grow! We made paper twin pops, and created a chart to study counting by 2s, because each twin pop has two sticks. We noticed lots of math patterns.

We added The Popsicle Chant to our Poetry Notebooks.

We also graphed the most popular popsicle flavors.

We even had a popsicle party!

On Monday we will challenge our brains with a popsicle problem.

Yum! What is your favorite popsicle flavor?

Thursday, September 9, 2021

Exploration

At the beginning of the year in first grade, we explore lots of the materials we will be using this year. We came up with lots of cool creations. Here is a video showcasing some of them!

Growth Mindset

We have been having lots of conversations around a growth mindset.

If you want to know more about growth mindset, click here.

We acted out how our neurons grow and get stronger when we practice something and don't give up.

We even saw how real neurons connecting on a brain scan.

Here are some great books about growth mindset:

Elizabeth's bookshelf: growth-mindset-bookshelf

Wednesday, September 8, 2021

Our First Chapter Book Read Aloud

During snack time this year we will be enjoying lots of different chapter books as read alouds.

Today we voted on which chapter book we will read first. After a book talk about each choice, we all got one sticky note to vote for our favorite.

Here are our results:

We counted the votes, then double-checked the count like mathematicians do...

James & The Giant Peach received the greatest number of votes!

We have been brainstorming rules for how we want it to be when we learn, work, and play together in Room 408. We talked about how we will do our best to stay on track. I told Room 408 how we are like trains.

In fact, we are all like trains running on a track.

Sometimes, we make a mistake and our train runs off the track.

My job is to help get your behavior train back on track and running smoothly again.

There are three ways that I will help get your behavior train back on track.

One way is...

We can break feelings, creations, or have accidents...but the great thing is, we can fix it!

The second way I will help get behavior back on track is...

If you can't be safe with something or take care of something, I wouldn't be doing my job if I let you keep doing it! For example, if you were walking across the top of the monkey bars you might need to simply stay away from the monkey bars until you are ready to show me you can be safe.

The last way I'll help keep you on track is...

Sometimes we all just need a little time to get ourselves under control. Take your break, take some quick calming breaths and come back ready to learn.

We all got to practice taking a break in our "Take a Break" spots. While we practiced, we watched a calming music youtube video.

We also put these pictures up as a reminder of the three ways I will help us get back on track.

This week we also talked about how we have different states of our brain.

We all want to be in the Executive State, which is when we are making good choices and have good self-control. It's like when you're driving your Brain Car.

Sometimes, we get into our Emotional State. This is when we might be mean to others, cry, or say hurtful things. It's like you're in the backseat of your Brain Car--not in control!

We also might get into our Survival State. We might hit, scream, or hurt others when we are in this state. It's like when we are in the trunk of our Brain Car--definitely not showing self-control!

When we are in our Emotional State or our Survival State, we can use the Safe Zone in our classroom. This is a quite place to go when we might need a little longer to gain self-control. As a class we talked about how this happens to all of us...even adults! We watched this video to help us learn how to calm.

We even made our own calming Glitter Jars to take home. Here is a link explaining it.

Great work, Room 408!

Sunday, September 5, 2021

Welcome Back!

Room 408 came back to school last week and we are working hard to create our class expectations. We will be working and playing together for 172 days this year and we want it to be a great year!

We are starting by sharing what we are looking forward to in first grade. We looked at all the things we will be investigating in first grade and made note of our favorites.

We are learning how to collaborate with each other by exploring our math manipulatives. We love our work station time!

Here's to a great year!

Monday, October 26, 2020

Blog Break

Hello, all!

I have noticed a lot of blog traffic lately and wanted to let you know that we will be on a COVID hiatus. It is too much for me to teach virtually as well as keep the blog up to date. As soon as we're a bit more balanced I will start posting to iseeithinkiwonder.blogspot.com again!

Stay safe and healthy!