Community Street

Every Friday we set aside an hour of our time to revisit our work with communities and relationship. We continue to work with our studio teacher, Anna, on our community sculpture, so half of the class goes to visit with her. The children are creating symbols of strong communities out of clay.

The rest of the children remain in class. We were using the time to develop board games that helped reinforce ideas about good communities. The games are finished. I was thinking about how to fill the time in class in a meaningful way.

One Friday morning after playing math games, children were discussing who had won. In a spontaneous way we ended up singing a funny little song about how it is OK to have a winner and that it is just not a big deal. One idea lead to another and we eventually ended up with our own show called Community Street, which is patterned after Sesame Street with small little episodes meant to be instructive to the viewer.



Community Street: No Big Deal from Andrea Pierotti on Vimeo.


I decided that I wanted the show to address real problems that the children face on a daily basis. We now have a  jar in which we collect difficult social situations from the children's lives. The second week we had a scenario written. "My sister and I sometimes fight over what to play." We used that as our focus for our skit about compromise.


Community Street: Compromise from Andrea Pierotti on Vimeo.

I'm interested in what other topics will emerge. How will processing these topics in this way assist them in dealing with future social encounters?

Weather Station

Mr. Jones came and helped us set up an official class C weather station (at least I think that's what he said). We will be measuring the precipitation at Sabot for an entire year. Our measurements will be passed along to meteorologists to help them with their work.

 This is a snowboard. It allows us to catch and measure the snowfall off of the ground so that the temperature of the ground does not interfere with our data. Mr. Jones thinks there are only three in Richmond. There is the official one at the airport, one at his house and now one here on campus. We want our data to be as accurate as possible. We will measure the depth, but will also capture a cylindrical sample and melt it to measure the water content of the snow. We sure hope is snows SOON!!

 This rain gauge will help us measure the rain fall.

We will also measure the temperature twice a day every day at the same times.

This is exactly the kind of authentic work I would love to always have for my students but don't always know where to find. Luckily he found us!

Moving Shadows

 In our class, we try to see science less as learning every fact there is to know about something and more as the process of using one's own brain to figure things out. We are working to understand shadows and how they change. We question, theorize, observe, measure, discuss, model, revise our unerstanding and try to make as many connections as we can.



We spent time observing shadows and tracing them with chalk. They moved.

By the time we were done tracing the shadow it had already moved this much-- much farther than we thought.



We spent time representing our observations about shadows and their movement.
This representation shows the sun, our classroom and the shadow cast on the other side of the building.

“Shadows are mostly always not the same size as the object casting the shadow.

Sometimes shadows are longer and sometimes they are shorter than the object casting them.”

 

 

Measuring the building and the building's shadow to prove their point

 

A 21 inch difference

 

“If the sun is diagonal over the object, the object has a bigger

shadow than if the sun was right over it.

Depending on the time, shadows are bigger or smaller.”

 

 

“Shadows move depending on the earth rotating the sun. The shadow is always on the opposite side of the sun. Shadows are objects from the sun’s rays reflecting off other objects.”

 

 

 “Shadows move and grow at the same time.

The sun makes it happen because of the angle.

Shadows are short closer to noon.”

 

“Shadows grow and shrink throughout the day.

First they shrink. Then they grow. We switched it around because it was backwards.

 We realized that shadows shrink from morning and grow from noon to night.”

Guidance: Empower Tools

Practicing Empower Tools from Andrea Pierotti on Vimeo.

After this session, the teacher gives some feedback.

“The good things about that was that you said that strong statement and then [snapping her fingers] you walked away.”

The child responds with a sense of self. She is beginning to know how she reacts in these tense situations and chooses to react based on knoweldge of herself.

“Because I won’t let you say anything more because I can get very sensitive, so I just like to walk away.”

One of the highlights of our week is when our guidance counselor comes to class for a guidance lesson. Ann works with each teacher to address the social and emotional needs of the class. Our class seems particularly engaged when role play is involved.

Currently Ann is practicing tools that the children can use when someone is saying unkind things to them. In a perfect world everyone would only ever say kind things, but here we are in reality where children need to know how to stick up for themselves.

Along with these tools, Ann teaches the children to be as assertive as possible, make eye contact with the person, to stay calm and not get really reactive (since the perpetrator is often trying to get a reaction from the target) and to get the help of an adult as needed. Ann also discusses the role of the bystander in helping with these situations.

Here is the current list of tools. They are designed to distract, deflect or catch the perpetrator off guard. Ask your child for more information and perhaps a demonstration of these tools in use. That could make for some interesting dinner conversations, right?

Empower Tools

· Tell the other child to stop

· Throw them off by asking why? Why? Why?

· Walk away

· Reply with phrases like "so," "whatever," "huh," "who cares?"

· Change the subject

· Act silly or goofy

· Turn an insult into a compliment

· Agree

Ann includes a special disclaimer.

* If a tool doesn't work, don't keep using it. And if you don't feel comfortable or safe using any of the tools, don't use them!

If you want more insightful information from Ann, check our her blog.

http://schoolcounselorfocus.blogspot.com/

Confronting Our Misconceptions

When I look back over this conversation, I can guess about things children may have heard. I imagine somewhere somehow (from a book or a parent or a friend) one of these children heard about shadows disappearing at noon.

I'm guessing the initial intent of the comment was to say that when a light source is directly over an object, the shadow is hidden under that object rather than being visible on the ground next to it.

In a effort to make sense a new idea, the children created their own understandings of what it means to not have a shadow at noon. Children.... no, humans do this all of the time. It is how we make sense of the world around us. We build our knowledge. We take new information and try to connect it what we already know in a way that makes sense to us in that moment.

It takes an event that does not match our current understanding of the world to get us to confront misunderstandings. Cat, the math lady, told me a cool phrase for those moments-- discrepant events!

As adults, we can step in a tell children the answers. Alternatively, we can provide room to experiment, room for children to challenge their own thinking after gathering their own evidence. Which is more likely to change their minds in a lasting way?

Andrea: The other day when we were in the forest, Henry said that the 2:40 shadow would always be in the same place. What do you think? Are shadows in the same place at the same time each day?

Giovanni: If the thing that is making the shadow doesn’t move, then I agree.

Emeline: If you did it in the morning it might be in a different place. You would have to record it at the same time every day.

Kirby: It could move a millimeter past that place. It could move so small. It depends on where the sun is.

Giovanni: It would move during different seasons because the sun is at different angles during different seasons.

Andrea: So if it is that last day of winter [the shadow] would be in the same place that it had been and then right when it becomes spring, the first day of spring, it would be in a new place?

Giovanni: Yes. Except noon shadows do not exist.

Rose: At the strike of noon there are no shadows…. or at midnight.

Cameron: There are shadows at noon but they always point north.

Emeline: At midnight they are hard to see because it is so dark they blend in.

Giovanni: I agree and disagree with the shadows of noon pointing north. One second before noon there are shadows pointing north and one second after noon there are shadows pointing north. But at exactly noon the shadows disappear.

Cameron: I say it wouldn’t be pointed exactly north, it would be a tiny slant off. The slant is so tiny it would be too hard to see so it would look like it was pointing north.

Kirby: How does that work that at 11:59 there would be shadows and then they just disappear and then at 12:01…

Rose: We were talking about high noon. At 11:59. the split second it strikes twelve there are no shadows and then there are shadows after that.

A few students give eye witness accounts of this phenomenon.

Ellie: This is something that I want to do an experiment on.

Andrea: Ooooo and experiment!

Ellie: It’s not like you take this gas and this gas and put it together like a scientist. It’s that I want to test at exactly 12:00 what happens.

Andrea: Well we do happen to be at school at noon. So what do you want to do at noon, Ellie?

Ellie: We could just like put a stick in the ground and it has a shadow and then at exactly 12 it might go away and then it will come right back.

Aliza: There is another way. We eat at this… well there is a table on the blacktop and it has this shadow that we eat in every day. It has a big shadow. We could come to lunch a little bit early and then we can see if the shadow goes away because it has a really big shadow.

We go out at noon to watch the shadow.
Does it disappear at the strike of noon?

 

How Humans Learn

This video has really shaped my priorities as a teacher. It starts off with students on graduation day in cap and gown from MIT who cannot complete a circuit and light a light bulb. If they were graduating with degrees in French or Dance it might not be as shocking, but these students are engineers from the best school in the nation. Why is this happening? The film investigates further.

http://www.learner.org/vod/vod_window.html?pid=76
Video Description: Why don't even the brightest students truly grasp simple science concepts? These video programs pick up on the questions asked in the Private Universe documentary and further explore how children learn. Based on recent research, as well as the pioneering work of Piaget and others, Minds of Our Own shows that many of the things we assume about how children learn are simply not true. For educators and parents, these programs bring new insight to debates about education reform."

 

 

Big ideas I try to keep in mind after watching this

• Just because we "covered" something DOES NOT mean anyone learned it
• Learning the process of learning is crucial. If I help someone understand how they learn I allow them to learn whatever they want for the rest of their lives
• I do not have the power to change another persons mind, they must change their own mind. I CAN try to provide time and experience in which an individual can confront their own misconceptions
• Just because someone can say all the right words doesn't mean they actually know what those words mean

Just Right Books

Just    right    books   are   important because they enhance your reading skills. Reading a just right book enhances your reading skills because it teaches you new words and helps you find the right level of challenge. Without farther ado, let’s learn some tests that help you find just right books!

Test #1: passes the 5 finger test : find a random page in a book and count how many words you don`t understand or have to slow down to figure out what it says. If there are 0 to 1 hard words it is too easy. If there are 2 to 4 hard words it is just right. But if there are 5 or more hard words it is too hard.

This student is doing the 5 finger test.

 



Test #2: Feeling comfortable reading the book: It is important to feel comfortable reading the book because if you don`t feel comfortable reading it you won`t enjoy the book.

Test #3 : You also should feel like it`s happening  to you. For example, you should hear the character’s voices in your head and you should have the image and be feeling the emotion that the character has. If these things are not happening in your head, it might be a sign that the book is either too hard or not interesting for you.

Test #4: You should also understand the plot and big idea. For example, in one chapter there is one character and in another chapter there is a different character if you can’t go with the book and figure out what is happening it is a sign that the book is too hard. If you get just a little confused you can work to sort it out.

Test#5: You should be excited to read it. If you think it`s boring, it could be the right level but not hold your interest.

 Knowing when a book is just right is very helpful when you need to find a book that you will probably enjoy and be comfortable reading. That is something we are learning in class.

Written by Mason, Giovanni and Max

Balancing Expectations

"We expect too much of boys-- and we don't expect enough... on the one hand, we expect them to do things they're developmentally not ready to do, and to be 'tough little men' when they are just little boys who need goodbye hugs and affection. On the other hand, when they behave in cruel and thoughtless ways, we say, 'Oh, boys will be boys.' We let them off the hook over issues of respect and consideration for others."  From the book Raising Cain

This sentence has had me thinking over the past few days about balance. The concept is universal and applies to humans-- not just boys. How do we, as parents and teachers, respond to children in developmentally appropriate ways while also honoring the child by expecting them to meet their potential as brilliant, sensitive, creative human being?

We spend a lot of time at school thinking about these ideas. How do we make space for childhood to remain? For the work of play to remain? How do we challenge our students intellectually without giving in to 'the race to nowhere' that exhausts and stresses the children of our nation? How can we be in third grade but be deeply in third grade? Meanwhile, how do we support the child in being a contributing member of our community? How do we help to foster thought, consideration, compassion and empathy for the other humans with whom we spend our days and months and years?

When do we need to honor children by allowing them to be where they are and when do we need to honor children by expecting more?

Children's Blog: Vowels and Consonants

What we are learning About Vowels and Consonants in Word study.

In word study we have been learning the difference between vowels and consonants .We learned that vowels are more important than we thought. We also learned that vowels relate to syllables.

One day we came to circle and we saw the alphabet in front of  us. 

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                       us.  Some letters were pink some were yellow. Andrea asked us to observe it. We figured out that pink ones were vowels and the yellow ones were consonants.  We talked about the differences between vowels and consonants. Then Giovanni asked ‘’Why are there two Y’s?”  One of our classmates explained that ‘’y’’ can be a vowel or a consonant.

Things we know about vowels

Henry: Long vowels say their name. Short vowels say their sound. One of the differences between vowels and consonants is that vowels make your chin go down a lot and consonants only make your chin go down slightly.

Giovanni: Vowels sometimes say their name.

Emeline: You can’t just count the vowels to determine the number of syllables

Rose: Vowels cause syllables.

Henry: Without vowels we could not communicate.    

 

 

We show you in this blog how we found out vowels are very important in Literacy. Our words would never survive without them!

Blog Authors: Rose, Emeline and Henry 

The power of being wrong

In the middle of a class conversation about shadows, we pulled out a stick for a few students to model their point. As a side note, one student pointed out, "See how the stick has multiple shadows? It will have multiple shadows out in the sun, too."

We decided to go immediately outside to test this theory.

 Unanimously the class decided that there was only a single shadow. This was puzzling to some since almost everyone had reported seeing multiple shadows at some point in their lives.

Some of the children looking VERY closely to see if there are multiple shadows.

"Ha! You were wrong!!"
"Wait a second. If he had never made a hypothesis about what he thought would happen, we never would have come to test it. Thank goodness he did because we all learned something."
"Yeah, now we realize that multiple light sources determine how many shadows."

I'm trying to bring this moment back to the class over and over again to remind them of the power of mistakes. I try to use it to help create a safe place for children to take risks and for those risks to be valued.

Shadow Research

Do shadows have different widths at different times of day?

This young scientist measured the width of her shadow at her head, waist and legs. She plans to take the same measurements at different times of the day. With observation she noticed that the height of her shadow changed and wants to measure that as well. 

Do shadows have different temperatures?

Several young scientists take the temperature in the shade and compare it to the temperature in the sun. One child began puzzled, "Can you really take the temperature of a shadow? I mean it is just darkness." We realized that we were measuring air temperature in the shadow and air temperature in the sun.

What will my shadow do if I fall over in the opposite direction?

 This child serves as a model for her friend who is behind the camera documenting her research. "I found out that if you fall over your shadow is always going to end up underneath you."

Other questions being investigated include

Do shadows have a pattern for when they are there and not there?

Do clear things make a shadow?

How far does a shadow move in an hour?

I'm not interested in the children learning every possible fact about shadows. I am interested in the children learning to think and research like scientists. I want to make room for their own curiosity and support them as they experiment to find answers to their own questions.

Children's Blog: Morning Data

                                                                                                                                            
How We Organized Our Data
Our class was wondering about what time people got to school.  Aliza decided to record what time people got to school using data. We made a line plot and organized our data about what time people got to school. Some other people in our class decided to help Aliza. They did another survey and took their data and made a line plot showing the third, fourth  and the fifth graders' results.

This is our lineplot that we made for every grade in lower school,

except for Kindergarten. Each X stands for one person.

We have all of the data together because it was easier to see the

 differences and the similarities.

What We Noticed
The class got together and thought about the line plot. Since we were in a math unit about data and surveys, our class got together and shared their ideas with each other. We noticed our class is the latest class from the trailers normally and the fifth graders are the earliest. If you see X`s in a row on the line plot that probably means they come in at the same time. We noticed the fourth grade has the earliest student (sometimes). Outliers (which are in 1^st 3^rd 4^th and 5^th grade,) probably go to early care.

 

What We Might Do Next
We might start taking data when people leave school.  We also might take data about what time people in middle school get to school and leave school.  Or maybe even study what time the preschoolers come in. This project is important to us because in our future we will need to know about data.  Data can also be very important information.

Written by Cameron, Ellie and Aliza

Children's Blog: When Good Readers Slow Down

Everyone should read slower and faster when they need to.
In this drawing, the person on top is running through fire so he is reading faster.
Another guy is running from ice so he is reading slower.

 

The Story

             

In reading we were working on slowing down to become better readers. During reading, we would mark places we noticed ourselves slowing down.

One day in circle Andrea said “OK today you guys read and marked spots where you slowed down. Now you will share with the class.”Kali,” Andrea said. Kali said that she slowed down when she noticed a new character. “Aliza,” Andrea called. Aliza thought that she had slowed down to soak in the emotion. “Ellie” Ellie said that she slowed down when she was confused etc. That’s how the list was made.

These are the types of situations in which we would slow down.

Kids in the third grade drew pictures to represent some things
 that are important to do while reading.

                                                                       

 

Advice For Reading

·         You should slow down to soak in emotion.

·         You could slow down when you are confused.

·         You could consider slowing down when there is a lot of info.

·         You could always slow down when there is a clue.

·         You should always slow down at a hard word.

·         You should slow down when there is a good part.

·         You should slow down when they give you a new character.

·         You want re-read if you don’t understand. If re-reading doesn’t help keep reading and maybe you’ll understand.

The third grade class made this list.

 

Blog Authors: Kirby, Joe and Kali      

Data Matters

I really love our math curriculum. We use Investigations. However, being a teacher-researcher leaves me constantly looking for how something good might be great. In the past our data analysis units have been good, but not great. It repeatedly was the unit I was least satisfied with as a teacher. This year I've taken on the challenge of helping data to matter to third graders. I want them to generalize the information. I want them to think about the big ideas behind the information.

 

The curriculum has the children survey other classes. They LOVE it. However, it usually has them ask questions like, "How many teeth have you lost?" It is interesting to the children but doesn't hold their interest long term. It became more of a fun fact rather than a useful set of information.

 

In my efforts to make data matter, I asked the children to develop a survey question to ask that would help them make an informed decision about something. Many turned to our recess economy, others focused on our class community sculpture and some on music circle.

 

What is your favorite song in music circle?

 

Do you prefer handmade things or natural resources?

 

For our community sculpture, do you think we should use more man-made materials, natural materials or both?

 

Do you value paper money or natural resources?

 

 

 As the children present their work to the class, the conversations have been much more lively than in the past. These topics are things in which the children are invested. The information will impact their lives. We asked each group questions like

 

What question did you ask?

 

Why did you ask that question?

 

What decisions will you make based on your results?

 



"Based on our survey I think we should focus more on natural resources because that is what more people like."

"I don't think you should ignore the results of handmade things. It is less than natural materials but it is still a lot of people."

"Maybe you should have a variety of products. Some could be handmade and some could be natural."

"There are already a lot of people focused on natural resources so you might actually stick with the handmade to get the business of all of those people who aren't being taken by the natural resource companies that already exist."



"If we were going to make a music circle that the Kindergarten would really enjoy, we would make sure to include "Make New Friends" and "This Land is Your Land."

"And if we wanted to make a music circle that first grade liked, we would need to make sure we sang "The Shark Song".

"If we wanted everyone to have a good time, we should probably include the top song from each grade. That way every grade would have something they liked."



 

 

So far I am pleased with the difference. We've moved past the technical aspects of titles, keys, categories and labels (all still important, just not the star of the show) and are putting our energies into representing our research in a way that makes it matter. It drives us to look are more subtle aspects of the information and go far beyond which was the least popular and which was the most popular. I think it was crucial that the information be something that would guide a decision in the children's lives. Decisions are nuanced--not always black and white.

Learning Pond Visists Sabot

Check out the blog written about Sabot.
http://learningpond.wordpress.com/2012/10/26/students-know-why-and-how-they-learn-at-sabot-at-stony-point-richmond/

Launching Into Space

Dear General X,

We have completed our science boot camp. We are ready to launch on our expedition to Earth. We need to plan our route to get there. Can you help us? We have all the tools we will need to understand how the Earth changes.

Please Write Back,
The 3rd Grade X-lings



Dear X-lings,

Well done! I have received reports that your science boot camp was a success. Hopefully your observation skills are primed and ready to go. We are expediting your launch. Your launch will be moved forward to today at 11:30

Safe Travels,
General X

Science tools packed.

Load the ship

Space suites on.

Prepare the ship.

Study the map of our route.

Blast off!

Investigating Earth for the first time. And trying on our role of scientists.

Predictions about what might change on this foreign planet called Earth?

• Grass- might change colors, go away, start growing again
• temperature of water
• water will change into something hard
• land changes to adapt to water
• dark spots on the ground
• things poking out of the ground with frilly things we will call leaves
• temperature of the air
• water- evaporates, gets dirty, gets clean
• some invisible force was sometimes blowing on me and sometimes not blowing on me

Messing about with Measurement

Figuring out how stop watches work.

Experimenting with displacement to measure the volume of objects.
The term "graduated cylinder" gives us the giggles as we imagine the cylinder
wearing a cap and gown and collecting a diploma.

Using a triple beam balance to determine the mass of a can of glitter.

 

Measuring the length of the rug in centimeters, of course,
because that's what scientists use.

 

Blog Writers for Hire

Ever since "Money Town" started (that's what we decided to call our 3rd grade economics project), the children have been trying to find ways to earn money. They have been watering the plants in class, putting up and taking down chairs, but I was looked for another way to get some funds flowing in class.

I've been wanting to find a way for the children to tell you more about our learning in class from their point of view.

Two birds, one stone-- I'm having the children blog for hire.

So far so good. The children are very focused... VERY FOCUSED.

Stay tuned for their articles.

 

Science Boot Camp

Later this month, the children will launch from their home land of Planet X through space to visit the foreign planet called Earth. They have been given orders from General X to investigate changes on Earth in order to anticipate what x-lings might encounter if they ever moved to Earth. This mission is vital but also very expensive. As a result, General X is not willing to launch the space explorers until she is sure that their scientific observation skills are sharp and ready to go.  

 

 

In order to help the children prepare, Dan Dan the Science Man came to help the children run a science boot camp. They practiced using their senses to observe various objects and substances. Making detailed observation is harder than it initially seems.

Their discussions about their observations have also helped the class to develop the beginning of a packing list for the trip.
We will need a camera, paper, notebooks, pencils and colored pencils in order to make accurate observations.



"This object is very heavy."

"It smells strange... kind if minty."

 

"I can bend this rod."