Positive Behavior Reward

As you can well imagine, feeding 600 students under the age of 8 can be chaotic, loud and very messy. It's a challenge, that's for sure. One parent who joined us for lunch for the first time ever, was clueless how much management was involved... and a little, okay, a lot overwhelmed. (I'm not sure he'll be joining us for lunchtime, anytime soon...) All the same, as a staff, we invest a lot of time and energy in finding ways to feed and nourish the little bodies entrusted to us during the day. We try to create an atmosphere that's social and yet controlled that allows students to eat and have time to visit with their friends. We spend the first weeks of school in the cafeteria teaching students how to follow the rules that have been set in place for safety and comfort of both the students and those assigned to watch over them. Then we reinforce those behaviors with positive rewards.

I'm a big believer in allowing students to make choices and learning to live with the consequences. (Not all consequences are bad, people!) At any rate, the first reward the class wanted to work for was to wear costumes to school. (You can bet I didn't run that reward past the school administration BEFORE they earned it... ;)... I've gotten pretty good at predicting when I'm going to get shut down. lol) So, when the students earned their reward, amazingly enough ON Halloween!!! (What????) I waited to deliver the parent newsletter to the front office informing them about the Monday costume-wearing surprise until after the students had gone home for the weekend.

All the same, it proves my belief that when children choose their own rewards, they earn them faster. It took the students exactly 10 days to earn the reward. No yelling in the cafeteria, no messy tables, no wandering about... just excellent behaviour in a most challenging environment. Here are my adorable students in their costumes...

Aren't they just perfect??? xoxo

Fire Factory Assembly

Every year we get lucky and we get a safety presentation from "The Fire Factory". I think they are local fire fighters that work together to perform a skit teaching our students about safety. Yesterday was WPS' presentation and it was great!

In our story this year an "extreme" sports kid was about to show us a cool jump on his hot wheel but four safety "superheroes" reminded him about different safety facts. The first was Captain Crash telling our main character to wear a safety helmet, and elbow and knee pads:

Then Lt. Liquid came out and reminded us of the importance of drinking water to stay hydrated:

Pflash Flood came on next to tell kids to "Turn around and don't drown" during stormy weather and flash floods:

Finally, one of our main character's friends came out and we were all reminded of the safety lessons we learned during the show.

It was a lot of fun, important lessons and good entertainment. Thanks, guys! You did a GREAT job!

Parent/Teacher Conferences

It's that time again when chills roll down the spines of teachers, our stomaches are clenched and we find our jaw sore after a long day when we realize that we've been gritting our teeth... Yes, it's conference time. Ugh.

BUT, this year I'm am taking a different approach. 2 years ago when I was in Scotland, they had the students color a happy face, a plain face, or a frowny face for how the student felt they were doing in each area of the curriculum. Then the students were to set a goal for themselves in each area. Frankly, I had no idea what it was that I was supposed to be doing with this student "report card" thingie but I did as I was told and no one came back to tell me I had done it wrong. So, I muddled through it alright... but I never forgot it. This year, I decided to adapt that idea to my students and have them run the conference instead of me. My first attempt was to get them to rate themselves in each area but I soon found out that it wasn't a good idea. WAY too complex for a first step with 6 and 7 year olds. I settled for a chat with each student about their favorite subject at school and why they liked it. They told me one thing they felt that they did very well and why they thought they did it so well. Then I helped them come up with one goal they would try to accomplish by the December holidays. Finally, I asked them what is the one thing that they would like their parents to know about them from me. (I was trying to understand what they felt was important about themselves and how I could help them.) I also told them that I don't lie and that I would never lie to their parents. Those six year olds, just looked at me in total understanding, nodded once and started to really think.

So, together, in private conferences, we talked and I took notes so I wouldn't forget anything. And tonight, we started. Five families came, one after another, and listened as their child talked about their learning: What their favorite subject was; (Some parents were so surprised!) Then they listened as their child told them what they thought they were really good at; Then they stated their goal for the first semester. The parents were so supportive and so very proud of their wee ones. Lastly, I looked into their parents' eyes and told them the one thing their child really wanted them to know. Some things were odd or funny. For instance, one child wanted her mom to know that she treated her books just like babies. (It's a class slogan.) Some things were very touching like the child who wanted me to tell his mother that he really, really tried hard to finish all his work. But, whatever they asked, if it was important to the child, and it was the truth, I said it it. What was precious was to watch the effect their words had on their parents. Some parents were baffled, but most were as thrilled by their children as I was.

They are so amazing, these little ones that I get to spend the day with. They are absolutely BRILLIANT!

And, remember, I never lie.

Our Author's Celebration

Mrs. Cunningham, a Kindergarten teacher, walked by our room one day on her way out to recess and noticed the students writing. She stopped in and asked if we'd like to buddy up and read our writing from the first 9 weeks. Oh. My. Gosh! My students got soooo excited! For two days they read feverishly through their stories trying to pick out the one they wanted to read to their Kinder buddy. Some wrote new pieces just for their Kinder buddy. Then on Friday, Mrs. Cunningham's class came to our room. We sat together and listened to their stories and read our stories to them. The kids were so excited and yes, a little shy. It was precious to watch! I took some photos so you can see as well.

FIELD TRIP!!!!!

Our first field trip and such a great one! We went out to Elgin, to the Christmas Tree Farm, where they also host a Pumpkin Festival. We had such a fun time! When we first got off the bus, we went off to paint our mini-pumpkins.

Then we got to feed and pet the animals.

Then it was time for the students' FAVOURITE thing EVER!!!! The MAZE!

They ran through it so fast and so many times, I lost count. And even at the end before we got back on the buses, they wanted to go back into the maze. Funny what they go for, isn't it?

But then it was time for some science, so we went to the open meeting area and heard a story

and learned about the life cycle of a pumpkin.

Don'cha just love a hayride? That's what we did next...

Well... perhaps some of us were a wee bit knackered... ;)

We had lunch... which gave us a lot of new energy. So, we played on the swingset and in the hay... and then sadly, it was time to head back to Pflugerville. But not before one last AWESOME photo....
with some tired students and teachers.

Isn't teaching incredible?

Math Games:Greater than; Less than Slap

One of the skills that 1st graders work hard at is recognising which numbers are greater than or less than another number. Most adults have this skill so ingrained in them already that they can't remember a time that they didn't know what was greater than or less than something else. Trust me when I say this: kids have to practice this skill. This is a number sense skill; a part of understanding numbers and what they symbolise. One game that I just taught the kids is like WAR except we slap our hand on the bigger number. Whoever slaps first gets the cards.



To play the game, take out all the face cards so that you just have the numbers. (I keep the aces in to stand for 1s.) Then, at the same time, both partners turn over their top cards. The first one to slap the larger number gets to keep both cards. The game continues until one person has all the cards. It sometimes helps to have everyone turn over their cards, put their finger on their nose (to force them to actually LOOK at the cards) then slap the larger number. If two numbers are the same, both players draw again and the one who slaps the largest number gets ALL the cards. Here we are playing the game.

This School Year

'nuff said.