Every school year, I take time during the first two weeks of school for the development of this year’s classroom rules. I started our discussions on the first day of school with the question, “Why do we come to school?” I listed all of the students’ answers on the board, and then said, “If these…
In Science class during the 3rd trimester, the 3rd and 4th graders have been working on self-directed long-term inquiry projects on ENERGY. Guiding students through a project like this was new for me, and I learned a lot along the way. We began the unit by exploring what students already knew about energy, and as…
Yesterday, the K-2 group ventured out downtown to learn more about Chicago’s rich architecture and food. We have been studying the history of Chicago all year and this was the perfect way to cap it off! We took the CTA bus down to the new Chicago Architectural Center. We were met with a docent to…
Being that it’s poetry month, my Kindergarten-first grade class started reading more poetry over the past two weeks and we have started writing our own poems! The kids are so creative and motivated, it’s a treat to see. We started with acrostic poems. Acrostic poems are very concrete and accessible for students writing at all…
We start every day with Morning Meeting, where kids greet each other, share news, go over the day’s schedule and calendar and settle into the day. A couple weeks ago, I hung up a sign-up sheet for students interested in leading Morning Meeting. I put up nine slots (every Friday for the next nine weeks),…
The students use a history book called Reasoning with Democratic Values. It’s a valuable resource for our class because it engages issues in American history with an open mind regarding what the correct path should have been at different points in history. The legacy of many events in American history are settled. We’re comfortable in…