Weeky Updates--Last Week

This was a very busy week in our classroom!

The first years have been learning about states of matter. Here are some pictures from our science lesson. The kids were VERY excited about making Carbon Dioxide with baking soda and vinegar and watching it blow up the balloon. This is a great visual about how gasses spread. We also talked about particles. I was in the middle of a very simple explanation of particles when one of the first years said, "Oh, are you talking about atoms?" (These kids surprise me every day.)

We started by looking at three balloons: one contained air, one contained water, and one contained ice. We opened up the balloons and kept an eye on the ice ball until it melted a few hours later.

Our carbon dioxide gas blew up the balloon. (And we had a near explosion.)

Showing particle spacing with Cheerios.

The third years are working on finishing up their fantasy pieces for the unit with the Grand Rapids Art Museum. They created beautiful collages in art class featuring their very own unique mixed-up animal (an animal that is a cross between two common animals), and they are now writing a story about them. The stories are proving to be very creative and interesting and will be displayed in our hallway when they are finished.

Because March is reading month, we are also keeping running records of the number of pages we read as a class during our Sustained Silent Reading time. We'll total it up at the end of the month for a grand total. Should be pretty impressive, as we're already at close to 10,000 pages read (picture book pages count). This has definitely built the excitement for reading in our classroom.

I hope to be better about updating this blog on a weekly basis. It has been hard to find the time, but I learned that whole-class computer lab time is a great opportunity for me to do this as the kids are becoming very independent with the computers.

I also plan to include "Kid-Funnies" every week when possible--this class is seriously so funny. Question for you. (Leave your answer as a comment.) Is it okay with you for me to put the names next to the kids quotes, or would you prefer I left it anonymous? Also, is it okay to caption photos with the students' names, or would you rather not have photo descriptions? (I don't think many people read this blog except for current parents, but I always want to be doing the right thing.) Thanks for your input!

I will give this week's update very soon. Have a sunny weekend!

New Work Plans

Hi Parents,

Sorry for the lack of updates on this blog--classroom life has been busy! I wanted to write a post explaining the new work plan system we have been using for the past several weeks. It is going really well, but is definitely different from the Record Books of the past.

Previously, the students were recording all of their daily work in a Record Book. They were required to do two math works and two language works per day, with science and cultural work in the afternoon. I would look over the Record Books at the end of each day and have conferences with the students about how well they were/were not balancing their curriculum. Some students were wonderful at this, others struggled. My Montessori training consultant asked me to try out a new system and I was very hesitant at first, but I am so glad I made the switch to something a little more structured.

Our new work plans look like this:

They are kept inside a folder which is organized into three sections: finished work, unfinished work, and work plans. Every week, the students get a new, mostly empty work plan. Every time I give a new lesson, we write it on the work plan and the students know they are responsible for that work one week from that date. (This is where the freedom of choice comes in--the students can choose when, and often how, they complete a particular work.)

Once a student has completed something, they highlight it and move it to the "finished" side of the folder. The following week, I check work that is due each day to ensure that it is done on time and correctly. We do this at the start of each new lesson. In my teaching calendar, I follow a schedule so that each grade level is getting the same amount of lessons and all content areas are covered each week.

Here's a picture of our schedule:

The kids are responsible for completing the work that accompanies their lessons, tracking what is finished and unfinished, and also keeping their folders neat and orderly. This has been a learning curve for some of the kids, but others are flourishing with it and are managing beautifully. I am so proud of them for how well they handled such a big change, mid-year. I hope that these work plans will continue to be as successful in the future as they are now. I feel that the kids are accomplishing much more work than before and their time at school is more productive.

You may have also heard of "Fun Friday." This is something that is totally not Montessori and slightly cringe-worthy, but there are several students who need extra motivation to accomplish that work on time. Every Friday,  those who have completed all of their assignments are able to participate in games in small groups for 45 minutes. Those who still have unfinished work sit with me to get everything accomplished. So far, this has held those students accountable for completing their work. I hope to do away with this external motivator as more kids are able to manage their work time, but freedom is still hard for some kids and they are still learning how to balance it. It sounds a bit harsh for some kids not to be able to participate, but by the time this Fun Friday rolls around, I have usually helped, prodded, reminded, and retaught the unfinished work several times, so usually the people with unfinished work have simply wasted too much time. Again, I hope to make this system a bit more Montessori very soon, but for now, this was necessary for some students.

The large majority of the kids are doing extremely well with it and my heart has been so happy seeing their school days so full and seeing the pride they experience as they organize themselves and check things off their plans.

I'll leave you with some "kid-funnies" of last week. Your kids are way too quotable!

Jana, holding up our wooden symbol for contractions (grammar): "How did this come to the earth?"

Henry, at a science lesson about liquids and solids: "Milk is usually in a jug or a cup, unless it's in an udder."

Olivia: "Why do you have that mint but you aren't eating it? Want me to pop it in your mouth?"

Oh, I love them so.