First week of school has flown by and all I can do is...smile. :) It's been a great week and I wish I could share everything, but honestly, some of it was a blur. I will try to capture everything that I observed and noted to be important for the beginning days...
At the Open House, I asked parents to share their thoughts on these three questions:
1. School is important because... 2. A successful 5th grader looks like... 3. What will you do to support your child in becoming an independent learner?
This was important to me because I wanted to see and understand what my parents valued in their child's education. I also did this because I asked my students two of the same questions and wanted to compare their answers and see if there were any similarities. I hope to return to these anchor charts during intake conferences in September and really hone in on the third anchor chart with a follow-up question. :)
Here are the questions I asked students to answer in their first week of school:
1. School is important because... 2. A successful 5th grader looks like...
3. What should students in our class be doing to make sure our class runs as smooth as possible? 4. What kind of teacher helps you learn best?
And it seemed like both sets of writers were very thoughtful in what they wrote. I was especially impressed by the reflection my students provided with the last anchor chart. They were able to communicate with me that they needed a teacher who was kind and had their best interest at heart, listening to their perspective. We also had to define what "kind" meant, because I wanted to make sure they knew that sometimes there are times when I am serious and then there are times when I am silly. All in all, it was great to read their thoughts on these phrases/questions.
Up next...our Marshmallow Challenge and other meaningful thinking that was done by our wonderful fifth graders!
This post is dedicated to my 2013-2014 fifth grade students, who have already shown me on Day 2 that this year has no limits.
I was going to take a break from blogging today because...well, I'm tired. I shared this with my students yesterday, but I am not a writer. It takes a lot of energy for me to sit down and write (blog) about what happened. But I have set a goal to do more blogging just so that I can communicate with parents and students, other educators out in the world, or just to have some place for me to reflect on my day and teaching.
AND...
My students blew me away today. I was speechless. I almost cried. I think I just could not believe what had happened and the words that came out as they debriefed the activity.
We have been building our community and developing relationships with one another so that when we start our fifth grade learning, we can collaborate and work effectively with each other. So one activity (of many) that our team thought to do was the Human Knot, or also known as the Human Pretzel. You stand shoulder to shoulder in a circle and grab hands with someone who is not standing next to you. The goal is to untangle the "knot" without letting go of hands.
The recommended group size is 10-12 people. So you can imagine the chaos with 24 students. Before the task, I honestly told my students that I did not think that they could accomplish the task. And of course there were gasps and cries of concern, "How can our teacher not believe in us?" So I had to rephrase my statement. I did not think that they could accomplish the task TODAY. I didn't tell them why. But seriously? 24 kiddos untangling themselves on the second day of school? I had secretly hoped for disaster so that we could reflect on how communication broke down or how we can change things up for the next time we do it AFTER getting to know our community.
But what came next was pure amazement. Students began to struggle, which I expected. They began to pull and untangle individually until they realized that that was affecting others in some way. So then they began to talk (mm, it sounded more like shouting to me...) to each other and I heard, "What if...?" They began to try out different ideas that someone had just blurted out and found out if the idea worked or if it didn't work and tried something else. What was so amazing was how they were working together (on the second day of school!) and listening to each other to achieve the goal of getting untangled. They also admitted to me during the debrief that a goal that they seemed to all have was to prove Mrs. Hong wrong... :) I saw leaders emerge, I heard disagreements break out, I witnessed observers (half of the class who had already untangled themselves and were waiting for the other half) giving feedback and suggestions, I cringed when arms looked like they were being pulled out of their sockets,...until I saw it with my own eyes: two circles emerged...UNTANGLED.
Now if you think that is amazing...you should have heard the discussion we had afterwards about why they thought they were successful! There was a comment about how they were yelling, but not yelling to be mean: they were being passionate about the task at hand. There was another comment about how they were communicating, but not just talking...they had to listen to one another as well. There was another comment about how they encouraged each other to participate in the task at hand. And there was a comment about how two circles emerged instead of one and that meant that our results may not be what we thought they would be. I mean, I could go on and on and on...but can you imagine the look of shock that was plastered on my face? Wow...what great reflections!
What an incredible second day of school and I cannot wait for all the collaboration and teamwork that will occur in Room 201 this year. I am blessed to have such a great group of learners! Now to accomplish the Human Knot/Pretzel without talking! :)
I wish I could post the pictures/videos I have of my students, but I don't know who has turned in permission forms yet. So I hope to update this post with pictures and videos...soon! :)
VIDEO/PHOTO UPDATE:
*Don't mind the "Title Text Here"...it should have said, "IN THE BEGINNING...going nowhere..."
Okay, seriously? Who is this woman? I have never blogged so often in my life! But I guess this is what happens when you're really excited to tell stories about your day!
Drumroll, please! Today was the first day of fifth grade and WOWZERS! It was quite fabulous! I met 24 awesome fifth graders who seem to be ready to tackle on the year. Well, maybe not the whole year. Just the week? :)
It has been a long day so I'll try to keep it short. Thanks to Mrs. Bearden's husband, our team decided to make trailers to introduce ourselves to our students. Here's the one my supportive husband made for me with my input! (Thanks, hubby...AGAIN...)
The first day began with some jitters. I was probably the most nervous in that room today! But it turned out great! I wish I could blog some more, but I'm running out of steam! The kids and I discussed stamina and I am definitely needing to build my blogging stamina!
It is the night before school and I am...blogging? Whoa, this must be the new Mrs. Hong. :) Last year, I would have just called it a night and gone to bed! I am tired now that I think about it...
So as I am trying to review my plan for the first day of school, I can't stop looking at the pictures from Open House on Thursday and giggle to myself. It makes me realize that we need a little bit (okay, a lot!) of fun in school every day!
Back up...what pictures? Wellllllll...I set up a photo booth in Room 201 for Open House 2013-2014! I set up an area in the front of my classroom and made some awesome props to provide some fun while meeting families. I think I had the most fun of all!
I will post some pictures of my students, once I know who can/cannot be posted, but for now...I will leave you with a few with some adults in 5th grade and a principal from Robinson...
A shout out to my husband, who laboriously taped letters and was reprimanded when his lines weren't straight or thick enough... :) Thank you, Mr. Hong! You are the most supportive husband a teacher could ask for!
And so with these goofy pictures, I think about the students and families I've met and cannot wait to start the school year tomorrow!
Can I just start off by saying that I work for the best school district ever? KIRKWOOD SCHOOL DISTRICT IS THE BEST EVER! :)
We (teachers, administrators, assistants, custodians, secretaries, interventionists ... every employee) get to kickstart the school year at a traditional "ceremony" called Opening Day. I missed my first one last year due to a little Miss E in the belly giving us a false start at the time. So, I was pretty excited to experience firsthand Opening Day. And I must say, it was a wonderful reminder of why I am a teacher and how lucky I am to be doing what I love to do in a district like Kirkwood. And after all of the thoughtful reminders of how we are ONE KIRKWOOD, it ended with a bang. Literally, a bang! See for yourself!
That was pretty cool, no? I was in my high school's marching band and it brought back a flood of pleasant and not-so-pleasant memories. Any guesses as to what instrument I played while marching around on a football field? :)
After being inspired on Wednesday, we went back to our respective classrooms and continued to prepare for the year to come. However, what's really neat about this year is that our team is really looking into ways that we can be ONE TEAM. Notice a theme here? So our team is not just the three *ahem* awesome teachers of Mrs. Bearden, Ms. Turken, and myself, but includes our wonderful (equally awesome, of course) interventionists, teachers in special education, instructional supports,... Seriously, it's all about the team.
(top row: Mrs. Cheatham, Mr. Shelton, Mrs. Bearden, and me
bottom row: Ms. Turken, Mrs. Jeon, and Mrs. Bell
missing: Mrs. Sondermann, TA's, and other amazing people!)
I can't wait for the amazing collaboration that will take place this year to ensure that learning happens for all of our students in 5th grade...one step at a time! Are you ready? I CAN'T WAIT!
