Students in Middle School are learning about their connection to the world. Events take place around them, or to them, and understanding that they have control over these forces is new. In my 5-6th grade class, we try to leverage this desire to connect whenever we can. We use it in Social Studies for students…
This year, our whole school instructional theme is circles, and this month all class levels have been studying the circles of Solar System in science. Each class is doing some research, making a model of some form, and learning facts about the solar system’s objects and their movement, each in a developmentally appropriate way. In…
My second grade students have been recently introduced to the concept of research, and began a preliminary process in both Writing and Science last week. In Writing, students are writing non-fiction information texts, or “All-About” books. In order to learn more about their topic, students have borrowed books from our classroom library and I have…
My K-1 class dove into learning about germs in the past couple of weeks in order to become “experts” and present their learning at Chicago Friends School community health day. Community health day is where each class teaches the others about some aspects of how to stay healthy. We began with an activity where, unbeknownst…
Our social-emotional curriculum, Second Step, teaches students about a series of steps (using the acronym S.T.E.P.) for solving problems (whether they be interpersonal, personal, or group problems). I have found that, after explicitly teaching about each of the steps, using these steps with the class has been helpful in solving problems together. With enough practice…
My class is wrapping up their author study about Kevin Henkes. We really enjoyed reading his books and comparing them. We read Lily’s Big Day; Shiela Rae, the Brave; Wemberly Worried; Kitten’s First Full Moon; and Chrysanthemum. After we read each book, we discussed the characters, setting, problem, solution, and lesson of the story. It…