With less than a month left of school, I am beginning to reflect on the year. My class is truly feeling like a family unit, and we are all getting sentimental and appreciating our time together. By this time of year the students know all the classroom procedures and routines and can independently execute…
In my classroom, we are well and truly launched on creating our own worlds! As a culmination of our Earth science unit, our literature studies, and our social studies emphasis this year on government circles of influence, responsibility and authority, each student in our class is designing a world of their own. There are four…
There are many benefits to our small class size and small school. Students receive constant attention and feedback from their teachers. Learning is customized to suit the abilities and interests of each student. And there is a family feel to the school that results in many friendships across grade levels. But there are some…
The second grade math group culminated a unit on money by creating their own pretend store. Each student drew 6 items on little pieces of paper, and labeled them with their prices. The prices had to be less than $10. Students were encouraged to choose prices that they could comfortably and automatically compute change for.…
3rd-5th grade science right now is focusing on the concept of plate tectonics and the structure of our planet. We had two very different science lessons last week: On Tuesday, the 3rd and 4th graders took part in a very simple experiment. I had collected some small rocks and wood chips during recess, and I…
In the second grade class, we recently started a writing unit on biographies. Students chose an African American figure that they wanted to learn more about. I gave students texts about the person they chose, so that research could begin. There are many good biographies written on a second grade level, but they are not…