After Independent Literacy Time (reading, writing, or drawing), we had Morning Meeting. Today, after the usual business of Morning Meeting, we had our first "Problem Solving" session in meeting. During this time, we talk about an issue that is happening in class and help the class solve it with suggestions from the group. Today I brought up the issue of some kids not having people to play with during recess and free time. We, as a group, brainstormed ideas of what each of the kids could do if they saw one of our class (or someone else) on the playground with no one to play with. The kids came up with some really nice ideas, and 'scripts' of what they could say, including "Would you like to play with us?" and "We are playing ___. Would you like to play?" and "My name is _____. What's your name?" After recess we revisited our list to see if anyone used the ideas at recess - and many did! We'll continue to use this forum to help the kids solve issues that arise throughout the year.
After Meeting, we had Reader's Workshop. Our meeting took a bit longer than I had thought (but in a very positive way), so we had a limited amount of time for reading practice before Mrs. Straub came in to do a literature lesson with the kids again, and I got some valuable assessment time with several of the kids.
After Mrs. Straub's lesson, we had Writer's Workshop. Today the mini-lesson that I taught the kids was about what writers do during writing time - writers, including our friends Don and Richard, do only three things during their writing time. They (1) write (of course!); (2) Plan their writing (thinking about what they are going to write); and (3) read their writing (to make sure that it makes sense and is correct. After the kids wrote, we gathered to talk about which of the three they did today.
After all of that, it was time for lunch and recess, then back up to our room for another lesson from Mrs. Straub, and then up to the art room for class with Mr. Fairbanks.
When we got back down to our room, we had Math Workshop, in which the mini-lesson that I taught was about small adding (sums less than 20), and the kids played a game called "Making 20" - rolling a die and adding counters to a pile to add the numbers that they rolled. After work time, we gathered to discuss the various strategies that the kids used to add the numbers to each other - and there were a variety of strategies.
After all that work today, and because the weather is fantastic, and also because I'm a believer in physical activity, and also so that we could put our problem solving discussion from this morning into practice, we went outside for a short recess. After that, it was back inside to pack up and head home.
