Student Choice

This week we only made it to school two days with our snow days!  I felt that these were two very productive days for my students.  This week I endeavored to give my students a "menu" of tasks to accomplish during their workstations time.  At this point in the year my students are more able to complete tasks independently.  They are also able to read simple directions which is such a blessing!!!  So, I am ready to give them some freedom!  I am a firm believer in student driven classrooms.  I want my students to be in charge of their learning and giving them a choice of the order of the "must-do's" they have to accomplish and allowing them to choose and design optional learning tasks is a great way to do that.  The first day I gave the students the menu some asked to work during their recess! Over the snow days some of them accomplished assignments at home! Others are already planning their optional projects for as soon as they complete their "must-do's".  We are only two days into the five-day story rotation so we will see how this process continues to develop!

Getting Excited About Projects!

The second semester in 1st grade is very excited!  We have learned so many valuable things in 1st quarter.  The kids are able to read and do more tasks independently.  I love to see how they grow.  During the second semester we have more projects because the routines, procedures, and basic reading skills are in place.  It is now time for me to let go of my little ones and see them soar.  This week we took on retelling with Sock Puppets.  I love this app!  It is not only good for retelling it is good for creating stories and practicing reading fluently.  I really enjoy seeing the motivation, engagement, and creativity shine through in these projects.  

New Year! New start and new challenges!

This was our first week back.  It was great! This week we were learning about facts and opinions in preparation for our opinion writing unit.  Mrs. Powell our instructional specialist gave us the great idea of using SeeSaw to state winter facts and opinions.  My students were very excited about making their own videos!  Not only did we make videos students were able to expand their audience for their videos by sharing the via SeeSaw.  My student were very engaged as they created, viewed, and even commented on their classmates videos.  This was a great start to the New Year!

Here is an example of one of my student's winter fact and opinion!