1D Diaries
It’s been FOUR years since I wrote my last blog post – lots of reasons for this, but after this hiatus, I’m feeling the need to rub my hands together and re-start my efforts to catalog life in 1D.
Gotta Love Mid-Winter Vacations….
Our students came back for one day after Winter/Holiday Break before having a snow day today and one the first things I noticed once we gathered for Morning Meeting (Quick overview of Morning Meeting here) was a new-found capacity for paying attention. My first grade colleagues have often noted that our firsties make a true “great leap forward” (Apologies to/for the Chairman Mao reference) in January and February. This developmental change enables our seven-year old selves to persevere and persist in what they are doing.
As if by magic first grade students work for longer periods of time, focus on what they’re doing and become much more productive when compared with only a few weeks earlier.
It could be magic, or…it could be that we are almost half-way through the school year. All our hard work spent in the Fall learning and practicing work routines and setting forth expectations now pay big dividends! Our students have made so much progress us becoming thoughtful, responsible students. It’s a LOT more fun to work and learn when you can concentrate and sustain your interest for longer periods of time! And there’s that aspect of being well-rested and ready to tackle some new and interesting ventures….
Less Than 4 Weeks to…. Chinese New Year!
We are about to start work on China geography in preparation for learning about Chinese New Year, a.k.a the “Spring Festival,” which this year begins on January 31st. We (mostly me) have a lot to do to organize this exciting time of year. This year, like last year, we will prepare by learning about China’s geography, landforms, culture, history, and celebrations. We’ll use resources from the library, websites, and document our new-found knowledge in China booklets using using “Little BirdTales.com.” This is a website which allows students to write, illustrate and publish individual pages and then assembles them together in a slide-show format which can be accessed on-line. The students (and their parents and families) love the fact that they can see their work on the internet!
Mrs. D Tweets!
I am making an attempt to ramp up my tech know-how. Perhaps I have been inspired by my colleagues
-- some older and some much (
much!) younger -- who are beating the drum to find ways to incorporate
technology into elementary classrooms.
Simply put: I don’t want to be on the outside looking
in. For better or worse, I’m jumping
into the fray!
I’ve started to
“tweet” when I find things that catch my eye.
I like to read about developments in geology and astronomy, education,
and literacy, so I’m following some industry “experts” in those fields as well
as other colleagues and teacher-leaders in our district.
More importantly, I hope to send pictures of student work,
and document some of the wonderfully creative and thoughtful ideas that our
students come up with on a daily basis!
You can follow me by going to twitter @Runkle1D.
More later…..
Keep warm and toasty,
Mrs. D.
