Today was our Meet and Greet BBQ. The sun shone, the hot dogs sizzled, the popcorn popped, and most importantly, we gathered together as a school community. I think it is safe to say everyone who came to the event had a fantastic time! I was lucky enough to get a few extra hugs from my students, too!
After gobbling down a few legendary hot dogs from Chef Stabile, students gave their parents a tour of our “home away from home”. If you were unable to attend tonight’s event, here is a glimpse into our classroom.
Below is a view from the door. The equipment mounted in the centre is called a SMARTboard. It is connected to my computer and projects my desktop onto the board’s surface. The students can use their finger, a special “pen”, and even a pointer to control what is on the screen.
When you walk into our class and look left, these are the bulletin boards you see. The students all made a promise, sealed with a handprint, to try their very best to follow our classroom rules. Below is a white shelf to display family photos. If you haven’t sent in a picture of your family yet, there is plenty of room on the shelf. Who doesn’t love a little family picture to peek at throughout the day?
Moving to the right, we have three monkeys climbing a vine. These monkeys will help us to understand where we are with our learning for any given skill or outcome. Basic Bob is at the bottom of the vine. He does his best work when he has help. Proficient Patty is progressing in her learning, as she has climbed up the vine a little. She can pretty much complete the task independently. Excellent Eddie has conquered the task! He is at the top of the vine. He can complete the task independently and with confidence, every time. Thanks to Mrs. Weller, who inspired this board.
The children are just being introduced to this system of self-assessment. So far, we know that green is a signal we use to show we can complete a task or carry out a skill independently, and today we were circled our best printing with a green highlighter. Throughout the year, we will use green to signal proficiency with a skill, yellow to signal that we are making progress but still need practice, and red to signal that we do our best with help.
To the right of the monkeys and behind our curved guided reading table is the Stuck on a Word board. These stuffies will help the children remember several strategies that they can use if they are stuck on a word when they are reading. Watch for a bookmark coming home with the strategies and animals listed.
This green board is where we will post our weekly spelling words. We will start to add words soon! Are you wondering about the glue bottles? Vowels are like glue, because they stick words together. Every word has a vowel in it.
Below is a picture of my workspace, which we call my “fort”. The students know this is my private space and are very respectful of it. I do not spend very much time sitting in my chair, though! Often, I pull my rolling chair out so I can roll to the students’ desks to check in on their learning. The large yellow happy face is where our classroom jobs are listed each day. Can you see my favourite poster hanging on my file cabinet?
To the right of the SMARTboard is a learning bulletin board. The Potato Head pieces remind us what to do with our bodies so that we can be ready to learn.
Nestled in the front corner is our Prayer Table. In the centre is a friendship circle. Circle of Friends is the theme that runs throughout our Religion program. Does your child remember the actions to our Circle of Friends song? They are fast, but are so much fun to do together!
This is the view from my desk. It looks so strange not to have any children smiling back at me!
Below is our mat. We gather here several times a day. The shelves on the left hold our free reading books. The shelves on the right hold several hands-on Spelling Centres. Once spelling begins, we will be using these bins daily to practice words as well as strengthen our fine motor skills.
Each week a new message will be shared on the easel. Throughout the week, we will re-read the message, building fluency, and will interact with the message in different ways. Yesterday we circled letters that fall below the line, such as g, j, or y .
The boys and girls place these bathroom passes on their desks so that I know at a glance who is out of the room at any given time.
Below is a clip chart that helps us monitor our choices. We begin each day with our clothespins on Ready to Learn. Students have the opportunity to move UP on the chart if they are making positive, caring choices. As well, students move DOWN on the chart if they receive a warning for a behaviour and then continue to choose not to correct it. This is a wonderful visual for the children and I am thrilled at the choices the children are making.
It is my goal that our classroom is a happy, safe, and inviting space for the children. If you were unable to pop in today, I look forward to welcoming you into our classroom very soon. Information packages were left on students’ desks. Packages that were not picked up tonight will be sent home tomorrow so we all have the information we need to make this year a success!
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