After being in Grade One
for a few years, I was excited but admittedly apprehensive about going into
Grade 3/4. I had taught this age group before in my pre-teaching service years,
but it had been so long that I forgot what this age group was like. I pictured
them to be way older than they actually are. At the end of the first day on
Tuesday, I knew I was going to love this year with my new class.
I dedicated this week to
community and team building, and developing routines. Here’s a glimpse at what
Back to School looked like for us in Grade 3/4.
Community and Team
Building
I read The Name Jar on the
first day of school and we talked about being unique and accepting yourself. It
also led into a discussion about welcoming others who don’t feel like they fit
in. Basically, it’s about a little girl from Korea who learns to accept her
unique Korean name after wanting to change it to fit in with her American
classmates. So from there, we played an Introduce Your Partner name game. Each
student got a card with someone else’s name on it (the pairs matched) and they
had two minutes to tell each other their name and what they did during the
summer. They had to introduce their partner to the class and share what their
friend did in the summer. It was a great get-to-know-you activity and it
reinforced the importance of listening carefully when someone is speaking. We
also played Name Bingo which got them up and moving. They loved it.
We share one of our gym
periods with the straight Grade 3 class so the plan is to teach our classes
together rather than split the gym in half and teach separately. We focused
on teamwork and cooperation and played some fun games like linking arms and
trying to stand up, and a game where they had to order themselves from tallest
to shortest. It was a great way to see who was a leader and who was a good
teammate. I also made sure to read this cute and fun book called Howard B
Wigglebottom Learns About Sportsmanship during class.
After lunch on the first
day I read Hooray for Diffendoofer Day by Dr. Seuss (because who doesn’t love
Dr. Seuss?). It led into a discussion about what a school and classroom needs
to be a good, fun place to be. From there, we built our Tribes classroom
agreements (sorry, no pictures).
We did a little lesson on multiple intelligences, but I referred to them as “Smarts”. We talked about
each kind of smart and the kids reflected on which ones matched them. I asked
them to choose the one they identify with the most and had them create a little
poster. They turned out great. As you can see, I have a lot of Art Smart kids!
Literacy
As you know, I’m trying
out the Daily Café program for the first time this year and right away
I began to introduce reading strategies that good readers use, and I modelled
them in the read alouds I mentioned above. I focused on Checking for
Understanding and Cross Checking. I also began pulling kids individually to get
an idea of their reading abilities.
I did a quick lesson on
how to choose a Good Fit Book and showed them this poster, courtesy of
somewhere on Pinterest.
Then
I let them choose their own books from our little classroom library. They were
so excited! Up until now, most of them were still receiving the
levelled readers to take home and read and they felt so grown up being allowed
to choose their own books. I took some time to wander around and listen to them
read and determine if everyone had in fact chosen a good fit book. I'd say about 97% of them
had.
The next day I planned to
gently ease them into writing in their reading response journals. I anticipated
they would struggle with writing enough; but to my surprise, they were once
again vey eager and asked if they could write more! Of course I said yes. When
I looked at their writing later that day, I was so pleased to see that the
majority of them were able to retell what happened and tell me if they liked
their book or not.
Even though weekly
spelling tests are deemed “old school”, I know the kids in my class really need
to improve their spelling. My grade partners and I have included word work into
our daily literacy routine. Each morning the kids come in and work with a set
of words for the week. We start with writing them in a list on the first day.
The following days might have them using them in a sentence, fixing spelling
mistakes, etc. It’s done first thing in the morning and then they go right into
independent reading. It also teaches them how to write the date at the top of
their page and make a neat entry. They’re small things, but they’re skills that
will come in handy in years to come. And no test! Just lots of practice.
Math
I did a lot of diagnostic
activities with the kids during math because I wanted to get an idea about
their number sense abilities. My grade partner gave me a fun activity called Personal Numbers. I showed the class 5 numbers that meant something to me and they had
to guess what they meant (age, height, etc.). It was a good way to see who was able to make a
reasonable guess. They got to make their own and work with a partner to guess
what their numbers meant. It was lots of fun, and another way to learn more about each other. By the end of the week I had
started into graphing because Data Management will be our first math unit. I have
something fun up my sleeve for them…
We ended Friday afternoon
with a fun reflection on their first week. I had them write/draw 3 things they
love about Grade 3 or 4 (whichever applied). Once again, I forgot to take
pictures.
It was a wonderful first
week back. I have an amazing class, and I also get to see my little guys from
last year quite a bit on the schoolyard. They always make sure to come give me
a hug. It makes my day.
Now…to watch Suits or mark
all this math. Hmmm….
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