One of my favorite lessons that I have done with all my classes is the "melting pumpkin project". On Monday, we made predictions about what they think is going to happen to our class Jack-o-Lantern. After they made their predictions, I shared the story Pumpkin Circle. We used our learning target to rate our learning before they illustrated their prediction. After reading the story, one of my boys commented about the majority of children rating themselves in green even though their predictions were not accurate. We decided as a class to move the children who rated themselves in the green as yellow. One of the children said "well we do need a little more work with predictions".
It is interesting to me that they are able to process things in the way they are and verbally express things about their learning. One of the major hurdles that we are continuing to work on is the fact that they have to always rate themselves in green. We continue to have many conversations about the importance of being honest because it helps us reflect on our learning and helps me know what they need help with.
One day this week when we were working on a math skill and I was walking around the room monitoring as they worked at their tables, one of my girls asked me if I was going to have gem rate themselves. I am trying to find the balance where they understand the purpose and are honest but that is not over done. However, one of my parents shared at conferences that they were having a family discussion about how her older brother needed to move to next league of soccer. She said he was concerned about it because he thought he might not be as good. His younger sister who is in my class said to him "it's okay if you are yellow because with a little help you can move to green".
Our predictions of what is going to happen to our class jack-o-lantern. Many of the children predicted that it is going to grow. One of the reasons I love this lesson is because of the vocabulary and background knowledge. I also think it is critical that children can see how their thinking changes as we revisit their original predictions as they pumpkins begins to rot. It is a lesson that I can see how I have grown over the years and how my teaching and instruction has changed to better meet children's needs.
We continue to work on labeling and writing the sounds we hear in words. This is the outside. The inside is pictured below.
I absolutely love Dr. Seuss! This week, we talked about probability in math and I used one of my favorite Seuss books to help children understand the concept. This is a skill that we will continue to address in transitions and with any free moments so that they have a solid grasp of it.
Parent teacher conference week is always stressful. The long days and the planning that goes into the meetings can all together be time consuming all the while teaching is still occurring. However, I really enjoy conferences. One of my favorite parts of being a classroom teacher is building relationships with families.
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