I See. I Think. I Wonder.: growth mindset

Showing posts with label growth mindset. Show all posts

Tuesday, October 12, 2021

Wonder Window

We have been studying Albert Einstein (and have of course noticed his hair):

We read a few books about Einstein and his life as a scientist.

We learned that he studied light, sound, and space...just like we will this year! He is a reader, a writer, a mathematician, a scientist, and a researcher, but most of all--a thinker.

When we read On a Beam of Light we learned that he was very unique. He didn't speak until he was almost four, and started wondering about our world when his father gave him a compass. He asked LOTS and LOTS of questions--so many that his teachers thought he was trouble. ;)

He is a perfect person to study for LEADS because he is so full of questions.

Here is a short video so you can see him in action:

One of our notebooks is designated as our "Think Book" and his picture is on the front.

Today we wondered about our world and wrote down our wonders on sticky notes.

Once we completed a wonder, we posted it on our Wonder Window.

We have so many wonders!

Eventually we will use our Genius Hour to try and answer some of these great questions!

What are you wondering about our world?

Monday, October 11, 2021

Genius Hour

Today we had a bit of time to start 'Genius Hour.' This is a time when we can research anything we want to learn more about and create a project to represent our learning and teach others.

We had friends learning about nutrition, headaches, chimpanzees, dinosaurs, money, and more!

Check out these focused researchers:

We love learning and researching!

Friday, October 1, 2021

Our First Learning Mural!

On the first school day of each new month, we will reflect on our learning from the previous month.

Our brains are growing more than we realize!

First, when we do a learning mural, we brainstorm all the ways that our brains grew in the last month. In this case, this is our brainstorm list of all the ways our brains grew in September:

We were amazed to see how much learning we have already done in just 21 days!!!

Next, we chose a topic to create, and invited someone to collaborate with us. We talked about our plan, first.

Then we work on that one topic and collaborate to create a representation of that learning, using the materials in our classroom.

We made a label to add to our projects to make our learning clear.

When we finished one project, we crossed that off the list and chose a new one.

We are going to watch a few short ant videos--even ants collaborate to get work done!

Here is our first completed Learning Mural!

What has been your favorite part of learning so far this year?

Wednesday, September 29, 2021

Setting Reading Goals

We have been working on building our reading stamina. We read the book Marathon Mouse by Amy Dixon.

Preston was a mouse who wanted to run the New York City marathon but no one thought he could do it. We googled the NYC marathon so we could see how challenging it would be for a mouse.

Would you like to be a mouse running amid a sea of sneakers?

He worked hard, practiced, and got stronger as a runner. He finally completed his marathon!

Room 408 talked about how we can build our reading stamina just like Preston built his running stamina. We set goals for ourselves and stacked our books on one side of our folder, and as we finished a book we placed it on the other side and became marathon readers!

We read for almost 30 minutes straight!

Happy reading!

Friday, September 24, 2021

Just Like Goldilocks

We have been enjoying lots of books by Paul Galdone, including The Three Bears.

Today as readers, we tried to pay attention to how it feels when we read a book. We used the Goldilocks Theory to check: is the book too hard, too easy, or juuuust right? This is what our Reading Workshop goal board looked like...

As we read a book we sorted them into three piles: too easy, too hard, or juuuust right.

We are excited, because many of us are just starting to read! It felt so good to find books that are filled with words we can read.

At the end of Reading Workshop, Room 408 discussed how it felt when a book was too hard, too easy, or juuuust right.

Next week we'll be zeroing in on just right books in our library and finding books where we can read LOTS of words.

We are strong readers!

Monday, September 20, 2021

Equity and Equality

I am trying to help Room 408 realize that we are all different learners.

We have different goals.

We have different needs.

We have different brains.

That doesn't mean one is better than another, but it just means that some need different kinds of support.

I helped them understand this with a band-aid lesson.

First, someone shares a story about when they hurt their elbow. I put a band-aid on their elbow.

Then, someone shares a story about when they hurt their knee. I put a band-aid on their elbow.

Finally, someone shares a story about when they bumped their head. I put a band-aid on their elbow.

By this time the kids get a bit confused. Then I tell them that even though I gave everyone the same thing in the exact same way, it didn't help all of them.

What I did was treat everyone equally. But to be fair, everyone doesn't get the same thing...fair means that everyone gets what they need to be successful.

Finally, I share this picture:

This sparks a great conversation about how because our brains and/or bodies are different, we may need different things to help us be successful.

Tuesday, September 14, 2021

Our Choices are Important

In the classroom we have created some living charts that are reminders of how we agree to take care of ourselves, take care of each other, and take care of our place/materials. We are well into school and are still adding ideas each day! This fine tunes how we want it to be in our classroom so we can reach our hopes and dreams by working hard and helping our brains grow.

We have been reading some great books to stimulate conversations about this.

One of my favorites is Each Kindness by Jaqueline Woodson.

This is a story about a girl who isn't kind to a new classmate. She realizes too late that she won't have a chance to make things better. It's a great conversation starter about being kind no matter what.

When we read this book, each time the main character is unkind I crumple a little bit of a paper heart. At the end the heart is all crumpled and we try to smooth it out...we realize that we can say sorry and try to make things better, but when we are unkind there are still wrinkles on people's hearts.

Another well-loved and impactful book is If Everybody Did by Jo Ann Stover.

This is a great book for realizing that if one person does something negative, it might not seem like too big of a deal. But if everybody does that thing, it can have a big negative impact.