Have you heard the word "PLAYLIST" in your house recently? Well, it's kind of a new trend in education and we have taken the bull by the horns and jumped right in during Language Arts. Its a way for kids to have a lot of choices in their learning, and to make learning more individualized for each student. Its A LOT for an eight or nine year old, but man, they're knocking my socks off! They've had a few playlists come home now, so you may be getting the gist, but let me break it down for you...
I take the FCPS third grade standards that have to be met...and then I incorporate the extension standards for magnet that strategically accelerate higher than 3rd grade...and then plan activities and learning modes so the kids can decide what they're doing on which day and how they're going to accomplish it. They've actually helped mold some of the playlists since the first one with their suggestions....it allows for lots of choice while still meeting the standards. Now you may be thinking...what on earth are you doing, Mrs. Wills, if the kids are now in charge of their learning??? Well, I'm meeting one on one with each kid daily...and that alone has changed instruction. I am able to see what your child is working on and meet with them about something that helps THAT child...just him or her. I'm able to look at their work, catch errors and misconceptions, and give direct instruction right then. I also am part of their group discussions...I sit and listen and sometimes help the discussion along. I truly wish you could all sit in and see your little people doing BIG people work. Is it all wonderful for everyone? Nope...nothing ever is. If your child has trouble focusing or staying on task, this is tough because I'm working with individual students, so I'm not standing over them and reminding them to stay on task...they are having to self monitor which isn't easy for everyone. They also have to manage their time. Oh! Not only that, but each day they write a progress goal AND a learning goal, so they can tell you exactly what they're learning/working on. IT IS VERY COOL and I am loving every minute of it. Now, let me be honest...the first playlist I wrote took...wait for it...SEVEN hours! But that's seven hours of front loading that lasted two weeks...my third ELA playlist only took four hours, so I'm starting to get the hang of it. Please feel free to send me an email or a note if you have any questions about this new education trend...I love talking about it! Needless to say, I have no pictures in ELA from the past month due to meeting with every kid almost every day!!
We are wrapping up Quarter 3 with our opinion essays...they wrote one that was a choice topic and one that went with an article about our brains...and they wrote amazing essays! Our last writing unit will be fairy tales...fractured fairy tales...and it's one of my favorites! Here are some pix of your kids writing...its fun to see where they all choose to sit and be productive.
So...Science has been pretty awesome in Quarter 3...we've been studying weather and climate! We worked in cooperative groups to make our own weather instruments and used them to observe the weather and make some predictions. Did you know the clouds give us hints as to what the weather will be? So does the wind direction! We also had Gary McGrady, a meteorologist from Fox 5 News come and talk to us about weather! It was so awesome. Take a look!
This past month we also had the Maryland Agriculture Bus at our school. This is something that the PTA funds each year and is a wonderful experience for the kids. Each class gets to visit two separate times to do hands on science experiments that all can be connected to the environment and agriculture. Our first visit was all about the best hand washing techniques. We got to put "fake germs" on our hands, view them under an ultra violet light and then, as partners, test two different hand washing techniques to see which one got our hands less germy. We were all kind of surprised at one of the results...ask your child about it! Take a look...
We celebrated PI DAY in March...what a fun day! We read about Pi, heard songs about Pi, wrote poetry using Pi (piku poems), and then we measured and calculated Pi! We had PI all day and then added the E for the afternoon as we enjoyed so many different PIES while we worked. Thanks to all of the donated pies and to Mrs. Grossman and Mrs. Morgan for helping out that afternoon! Take a look...
And hopefully you've seen the prior post with the Wax Museum video link on it, but I seemed to have left out QUITE a few pictures, so I will post them below...your kids were sooo good and they should be so proud of all of the work they did!
So if you've made it all the way to the end...pat yourself on the back...that's impressive! Three other big things have happened since I've last blogged...UES and CES raised over SEVEN THOUSAND food and hygiene items for the Urbana Food Bank!! Then UES raised over $1400.00 for the American Cancer Society! And last...staff got to go to Annapolis and celebrate our State Blue Ribbon recognition...our schoolwide celebration is Wednesday, April 18th...more to come on that!
As always, thanks for your support of all we're doing...and please send me any questions or comments through Remind or email...I will get back to you as soon as possible. During baseball season I am the announcer at all varsity home games, so my afternoons and evenings are pretty busy, but I will always make time for you guys.
Enjoy the rest of your Sunday!
