Summer Time is Learning Time: Part I

As last week’s Summer Solstice marked the official start to the season of warmth and outdoor fun for those of us living in the northern hemisphere, it also reminded me that my season of learning and growing has also begun.  While I try to stay abreast to current trends and research in education throughout the academic year, I find it difficult to tackle any serious new learning projects or professional development texts when school is in session.  Summer vacation is my time to learn and attack new projects regarding my classroom or curriculum.  I sincerely value the large blocks of time to sit down and read a new book on educational pedagogy or revise my unit plans for the following year.  I feel like a kid at Christmas during summer vacation, as I am able to do my best work to prepare to make the next school year the best one ever for my students.  As Christmas in July begins on the Hallmark Movies and Mysteries television channel today, I jumped into my summer work feeling very festive and jolly, if not a bit hot too, as it’s almost 90 degrees Fahrenheit in central New Hampshire.

As the bright slices of sunlight cut through the trees outside my window, I reflect on the first of several professional development texts I have chosen to tackle this summer to grow as an educator and allow my students to blossom and transform into the best possible version of themselves.  Book one on my leaning tower of literature filled me with brilliant ideas and excitement for the upcoming school year.  The Morning Meeting Book by Roxann Kriete and Carol Davis is chock full of stellar ideas and simple ways to incorporate Social-Emotional Learning into each and every day in the classroom.  While I utilized the Morning Meeting format many years ago when teaching second grade, I wanted to review the structure and learn some new activities and ways to effectively incorporate this practice into my fifth grade classroom.  I mean, I did conduct my version of a Morning Meeting in the classroom this past year, but it was a hodgepodge of ideas and activities that did not follow the structure put forth by the Responsive Classroom folks.  We occasionally discussed serious topics and played some games during that time, but there was no routine or consistency to it.  Knowing how much fifth graders crave and need routine and structure, I decided to brush up on the proper Morning Meeting procedure.

It was so refreshing to be reminded of the importance of each part of the Morning Meeting process.  Skipping parts takes away from the integrity of the concept.  Sure, teachers can adapt the stages of the Morning Meeting to fit their schedule and needs, as long as the entire process is completed in some sort of routine manner.  Reading the Introduction and seeing the structure of Morning Meeting laid out in print form, I, at first, balked at the four steps.  “I teach fifth grade,” I thought to my self, “I don’t really need to start with a greeting.  That’s so childish.”  However, as I delved deeper into this treasure trove of a book, I began to realize that providing students with a safe place to feel like they matter and are seen on a daily basis is so crucial to their emotional and cognitive growth as humans.  So, I changed my perspective on the greeting and will be incorporating this component into my Morning Meeting.  Because of the specific research and anecdotes the authors included in the book, I was able to see the importance of each phase of Morning Meeting.

The big takeaways for me…

• I will begin each class day with Morning Meeting following the whole-school Community gathering that takes place at my wonderful little school.  I want to provide my students with a safe place to have a voice and be recognized and appreciated for the diversity and perspective they bring to the class community.  I will start each meeting with a formal greeting activity of some sort.  I have decided to begin the first day of school with the same fun and insightful greeting I utilized last year: The Spiderweb Greeting.  It’s a tangible way for the students to learn each other’s names while also beginning to see the interconnections that exist in our fifth grade class.  The activity is short and simple: I would begin with a ball of yarn, introduce myself to the class, choose a person in the circle to greet with a “Hello” or “Good morning,” and then pass the ball of yarn to them, while still holding onto the start of the yarn.  Once everyone has introduced themselves and greeted a classmate, the circle resembles a knotty spiderweb.  I would then engage the students in a discussion about the story that this strange tangle of yarn weaves.  What can we learn from this knotted mess?  What’s the metaphor?  Like last year, I hope that this opening greeting will be a wonderful springboard into the richness of conversation and discussion that will be had all year.
• After not setting expectations for sharing at the start of this past year during my Morning Meeting, I needed to occasionally cut off students when they spoke so that we’d be able to have more than five minutes of Math class.  Reviewing the chapter on Sharing reminded me of the vital importance of setting clear expectations for sharing during Morning Meeting.  It starts with modelling and a discussion that will allow students to observe and notice what is expected of them.  I want the students to learn the value in being succinct and respectful of others.  Having clear rules and a protocol for how students will share during Morning Meeting will make the process valuable and effective for us all.
• The sharing component of Morning Meeting is a truly effective and easy way to allow students to practice and learn how to effectively listen, question, and be empathetic when interacting or conversing with others.  As children and tweens are stuck in that very selfish stage of cognitive development, it’s crucial that teachers provide their students with opportunities to learn how to look outside of themselves.  Teaching students how to ask effective questions that will elicit a meaningful response from the speaker, be mindful and caring listeners, and empathize with the speaker in insightful ways will help the students learn how to be compassionate humans.  Research tells us that negativity spreads like the flu virus, but so to does positivity.  If we can create a culture of kindness in our classrooms through the purposeful teaching of listening and responding, we will be helping our students while also making the world a better, nicer place in which to live.
• I loved learning about all the fun class activities that I can now use in my Morning Meeting.  The book was full of engaging and fun ideas.  While I had previously heard of a few of them and even used some in the classroom last year, many of the activities mentioned in the text were new to me.  I can’t wait to start the year with A Warm Wind Blows.  This interactive game will get students moving and learning about their classmates on day one.  I love it!

Although summer vacation just began, I can’t wait for the first day of school after having read this amazing book.  I want to jump right into my first Morning Meeting.  Unfortunately, I have some time to wait before I can do that, but on a positive note, I also have much more time in which I can learn and grow as an educator.  Yah for me!  So, as I turn on my air conditioner and cozy up with a warm cup of hot cocoa with mini marshmallows while watching a classic Christmas movie on Hallmark Movies and Mysteries, I wish you all a happy summer filled with much learning, growing, and festive fun.

When One Door Closes, Look Ahead for Another to Open

On this cloudy Father’s Day morning, I can’t help but revel in the wonder of two night’s ago: my son graduated from high school on Friday night.  Wwwhhhooo-hhhooo!  If I had some fireworks available to me and wasn’t afraid of shooting them off, I would totally do that right now too.  After many years and months of trying to help him see the light, he got to the end of the tunnel.  He made it, with much help and support from his teachers and aide.  While the ceremony was long, as his class was quite large, the speeches were phenomenal and Mother Nature kept the rain monsters at bay.  After the big event, he was beaming with pride.  He also seemed a bit surprised that he had successfully graduated.  My father turned to him at one point and said, “I’m surprised you did it,” and my son replied, “Yeah, me too.”  It was a very special moment.  In the car ride to his graduation dinner celebration, he said, “Now onto Milford Academy and then college.”  On graduation night, he was already looking ahead to the Post-Graduate school he will be attending before going to college.  He’s already set his sights on his next goal.  I love it!  He’s definitely got my energy for goal-setting.  So, to my son, I say, “Congratulations young man.  You did it!  Now, keep kicking butt as you look ahead to your next challenge.”

Much like my son, I’ve begun to think about my next school year.  As my fifth graders officially became sixth graders on Friday morning, our last day of school at BHS, I’m already thinking about changes I’d like to make in my classroom for next year.  Although I felt as though this past academic year was highly successful, I don’t ever want to stop growing, thinking, and reflecting.  There is always room for change, as I told my students this year, “Nothing or no one is perfect, not even your amazing teacher.”  As the door on the 2018-2019 school year has closed, it’s time to find the next door to open.

Things I want to tweak or change for the 2019-2020 academic year:

• I want to switch up the posters and decorations in my classroom.  While things looked good this past year, I didn’t super love the way I hung stuff on the walls.  I feel as though I can do better.  I want to strive for making it look more professional.  I want to create a fun sign for the Reading Nook and Maker Space in my classroom.  I want to attach the posters to the wall in a more avant-garde way.  I want conjure up the emotion and rawness of Jackson Pollack while still maintaining the elementary feel of a Harry Allard book.  I’m not sure exactly how I will do this, but I am going to bring some change to the decor of my classroom this summer.
• I want to change-up some of my Social Studies and Science units.  Will I still do a unit on the Native Americans?  I’m not sure.  With the Community Unit that kicks off the school year, I dig into the native tribes that once resided on the land that we now call Hopkinton.  Is it overkill to then follow up that unit with another one on the same topic?  While the students seemed to enjoy that unit, I feel as though I could also use that time to teach them a unit on civics and what it means to be a citizen of the US.  With a pivotal election on the horizon, helping students understand what it means to be a citizen seems to make a lot of sense to me.  I also plan to make some minor changes to the other units I will update for next year based on the feedback I received from my students this year.
• While the history teacher uses the online application Classcraft to help motivate students, I’m not sure if I want to make use of it in the fifth grade.  While the sixth, seventh, and eighth graders seemed to enjoy using it this past year, I worry that it tied them to their computers too much.  In this techno-verse in which we live, it’s very easy for people to zone out and stay connected to a screen, and I don’t want that to happen to my students.  While Classcraft does seem really cool and offers some amazing features, I feel as though I need to spend some time this summer really contemplating the decision to utilize it or not for the fifth grade.
• I want to jazz up my Math class a bit.  As I had much success with the games I used in class, I want to dig even deeper into that concept for the upcoming year.  I want to investigate the cool Math For Love curriculum to see if it would be an appropriate supplemental curriculum for next year.  I want to find even more math games to use in the classroom.  I want to begin each Math class with an activity, problem, or game.  I want to help my students see how much fun Math can be.
• I want to find more engaging games to incorporate into our Morning Meetings for next year.  The students loved the activities I used towards the end of the year, and I want to find even more games that help foster problem solving and critical thinking while allowing students to develop their social-emotional skills.

I think that’s it for now.  My summer vacation is still young and so this list may grow as September draws closer.  I’m excited to challenge myself this summer and continue to grow and develop as an educator.  Although the end of a school year is filled with bittersweet emotions, it is also a wonderful time to reflect and think ahead.  So, like my son is already doing, I am looking forward to next year’s wonderful class.  Big it on, I say.

Reflecting on my First Year Teaching Fifth Grade

As the end is vividly within sight now, I’m feeling nostalgic.  I still remember the first day of school as if it were yesterday.  My students were so quiet and well behaved because they were so nervous.  They were curious and excited about their upcoming year in the fifth grade.  Then there was our first Marble Party.  I believe that was the Glow Party.  They had so much fun.  The glow in the dark paint is still visible on the walls of my classroom.  I can’t forget our trip to the Sargent Center.  Despite the rain, the students had so much fun playing and exploring together.  The hook they made at the metal forge still hangs in our classroom.  What about the Fifth Grade Science Exposition?  This was the first time the students presented to the entire school.  They were so nervous, but they knocked it out of the park like Ted Williams hitting a baseball.  Then there was the Hopkinton History Expo at the Historical Society.  What an amazing opportunity for the students.  They were able to share what they learned with the greater community in the space where we began our unit back in September.  The way we celebrated the holidays in festive ways.  I’m a sucker for Christmas.  What about our trip to the Boston Museum of Fine Arts?  The kids had so much fun viewing the original pieces of art we looked at on our computers during our unit on Mesopotamia.  Of course, I can’t forget our unit on Astronomy that just happened to coincide with the release of the first images of a black hole.  We watched the press conference and everything.  My students were so into it.  Then there was our trip to the planetarium.  My students were in awe the entire time.  I had to clean up their drool from the floor afterwards because they mouths were open in amazement for the entire show.  Even now, the excitement generated from the Betterment Project is palpable in the classroom on a daily basis.  Awesome experiences aside, my favorite part of the year has been watching and observing my students grow and develop as readers, writers, thinkers, problem solvers, mathematicians, scientists, and friends.  I have loved celebrating their successes with them.  In fact, in school on Friday, I met with each student to do just that.  I went through and highlighted some of the ways in which they have grown throughout the year so that they leave school feeling successful and happy with the progress they made this year.  What a magical year it has been for us in the fifth grade.

Reflecting on my first year teaching fifth grade, it’s difficult not to think about how I’ve grown as an educator throughout the year.  I began the school year very nervous.  Would the students like me?  Would I be in the right dress code?  What happens next in our schedule?  With so many new things to learn, I was sure that I would forget something, but other than forgetting to put my cape on one morning, I didn’t.  I was able to figure everything out at my wonderful new school thanks to my supportive and caring colleagues, my phenomenal and kind headmaster, the amazing Judy, and my silly and compassionate students.

While I’ve always thought that having control over my students, the curriculum, and my classroom was of the utmost importance, I came to realize this year that giving up control and allowing the students to have a voice in the decision making process was far more important.  Instead of trying to make it my classroom, I became open to making it our classroom.  I asked the students for input on classroom organization, and we re-situated the desks and chairs on several occasions throughout the year.  Before we went on any field trip, I had the students vote on whether they wanted to go or not.  In every case, the students unanimously voted to go on our many off-campus excursions, but the point was that it was their decision.  They chose to go.  Letting go of the reigns a bit also helped to foster a mutual respect and a huge amount of engagement from the students.  Before each new unit, I asked the students for their thoughts and ideas on how they would like it to be set up.  What type of activities and projects did they want to complete?  What did they want to learn about regarding the particular topic?  They loved coming to school and learning because we were learning about things that they had said they wanted to learn about.  Our final Betterment Project came out of this concept of giving students ownership.  They chose their project ideas, and the care and time they are committing to completing them shows that they are totally engaged in this project.  I definitely became way more open to becoming the guide from the side instead of the sage on the stage this year.  It felt good to let the students steer our ship.

We trust our students at BHS to do the right thing, and in most cases they do.  When they don’t, we work with them to learn from their mistakes.  Failure is a part of the learning process.  Because we trust our students, I was able to do lots of things with my students this year that very few other schools would ever allow.  My students played with fire and knives as part of our outdoor, Forest Friday program in the fifth grade.  The students learned how to safely start and extinguish a camp fire.  They also learned how to whittle and carve wood.  Aside from some very minor finger scrapes, my students remained injury free throughout the year despite being allowed to use knives and fire in and out of the classroom.  My students were all amazed and very happy that we put so much trust in them.  “At my old school, we were never allowed to use anything sharper than dull, child scissors.  If we ever brought a knife to school, we would have been kicked out.  The school certainly never gave us knives to use in school,” they often shared with me.  The students love feeling trusted and respected.

While my first year teaching fifth grade is about to come to an end, my journey and time at this amazing school is just beginning.  I will be able to continue to watch my students grow and develop as they move into the sixth, seventh, and eighth grades.  I will be able to help inspire more students to reach for the sun and make the most of every moment in the fifth grade.  I will be able to learn even more from my students in the coming years.  Sure, I am very sad to say goodbye to my current fifth graders in a few short days, but I’m also so proud of the wonderful young people they have transformed into this year.  I have learned so much from them.  In the near future, my students will be helping to run the world.  Who knows, I may even have a future president in my class.  What a year it has been.  With five days to go, I’m filled with excitement, sadness, happiness, and love.  I love my students and I love my school.  It doesn’t really get much better than this.

The Value in Project Based Learning

For teachers, it’s totally normal to get nostalgic and a little sad during this time of the year, as the end is near.  Our amazing school year that began back in 2018 is two weeks away from being over.  Our remarkable and wonderful students have made so much progress and now it’s time for them to move on.  I still remember the first day of school as if it were yesterday.  It was about 95 degrees in my classroom and I had sweat through my shirt by 9:30 that morning.  My students were nervous and excited.  In fact, they made up a new word to describe just that very emotion.  They call it “nerited.”  My nerited little sponges were full of curiosity and wonder.  Now that the close of another school year is within sight, I am feeling nerited.  Did I prepare them effectively for their next steps?  Are they truly ready to move on?  I think the bigger question is, am I ready to let them move on?  This being my first year at the Beech Hill School, I feel so very lucky to have had such a wonderful and amazing class of fifth graders.  Each and every one of them are remarkable in numerous ways.  I don’t want the fun to come to an end, but as Robert Frost wrote in one of his most famous poems, “Yet knowing how way leads on to way,” time stops for no one and my little fifth graders aren’t so little anymore.  They are ready for their next journey, their next path.  (Wiping away tears as I reflect on my wonderful year.)  But hold on, while the end is indeed near, it’s not here yet, oh no.  We still have two glorious, and what I’m sure will be, crazy weeks to go.  Although it may be easy to look out onto the horizon and see June 14, my energy is focused on the present, the now.

To keep my students focused on the now, and to help them hold back any tears that may be welling up inside, this past week, I introduced the final, cumulative assignment to my class.  It’s the project to end all projects.  It’s the Big Kahuna of Kahunas.  This is the project that will make all other projects seem like just another day in the dentist’s chair.  We’re talking major project here.  In fact, this isn’t simply another project.  This is something far different.  You see, this is a cross-curricular, integrated, behemoth, project of epic proportions.  This, ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, is, wait for it…  The BHS Betterment Project!  That sound you hear is the thunderous applaud and screams of amazement.  While I have utilized Project Based Learning in the past, this is the first large-scale project that I have ever created.  This project has its tentacles reaching into our Language Arts curriculum, our Social Studies curriculum, our Science curriculum, and our Social-Emotional Learning curriculum.  This is the big time now folks.  I feel a bit like that person in the circus that steers the show, tells funny jokes, and explains all of the various acts.  Yeah, I feel a bit like a circus clown.

Before I get too carried away with my silly antics, I should get back on track.  So, the project involves the students creating some way to leave their mark on our wonderful little school.  What could they do that would enrich the lives of our school’s community members?  How could they make our campus and school even better than it currently is?  Once they brainstorm their idea, they begin constructing it.  Click here to learn more about this phenomenal project.

This week past week, I introduced the project to my class.  Excitement was definitely in the air.  They were pumped for this project.  Immediately, almost every pair of students had an idea for their project.  The first step was to flesh it out, bring it to life a bit more.  I had them complete a project proposal via Google Forms to allow them time to really think about their idea.  How will it benefit our tiny little school?  What materials will be needed?  Are we invested in this project enough to work outside of school if the need arises?  I then met with each group to discuss their idea with them.  I posed questions to each partnership to help them truly think through their idea.  The positive energy was amazing.  The students were so excited to jump into this project.  They loved it.  On the first day, I asked the students what allowed them to work so well and stay so focused during the various work periods we had for this project.  Their response, “Because this project is awesome.  It’s real.  We are actually doing something that makes a difference.  We’re changing our school for the better.”  At hearing their responses, I almost jumped out of my skin and ran around the classroom jumping for joy.  I felt like that guy from that movie about baseball.  “If you create the right project, they will work and love it,” I believe one of the characters said at one point in the film.

Throughout the week, the students worked on their different projects, making the school and our community better.  Each group is totally invested in their project and tasks.  It’s amazing, and I get to observe it all.  On Friday, I walked around the school in awe, watching my students work like busy little BHS Beavers working on their projects.  I didn’t have to remind anyone to stay focused on the work at hand.  I was able to bask in the glory of their hard work and awesomeness.  It was amazing!

The Projects

• One group is making a community garden in an area that at one time did have a garden on it, but has since turned into a grassy meadow.  They spent much of this past week trying to cut down the grass and get to the dirt of the matter.  As we have a landscaping company take care of mowing and trimming the grass, we don’t have many garden tools or lawn care items available to us at the school.  However, this did not stop that group of dedicated young ladies.  Oh no.  On the second day they were outside and the grass became too long for them to simply pull out of the ground by hand, they asked for the mother of all grass cutting tools.  “May we use the scissors to cut the grass,” they asked with authority.  Holding back laughter, I replied, “Of course.  Give them a try.  That is one way to cut grass.”  Later that same period I went outside to check on them.  While I thought for sure that they would be complaining about how the scissors are useless and not really making a dent in cutting down the grass, they were hard at work on their hands and knees snipping the grass with the scissors.  They seemed incredibly content cutting the grass with small little scissors.  Their perseverance was phenomenal.  Knowing that we had two weeks and not two months to complete this project though, I brought in a weed whacker for them to use the very next day.  Although they liked that the weed whacker got the job done much more quickly than the scissors, they almost seemed to miss the quiet nature of cutting the grass with scissors.

• Another group decided to create and operate a school store.  As our school is but seven young years old, we don’t have any sort of school store for the students to purchase things like snacks, pencils, or school swag.  Two dedicated fifth grade boys want to change that.  Their goal is to grow this store into something that will sell all sorts of fun things like that to the students on a daily basis.  However, they do realize that they need to start small in order to become a giant like Amazon.  They worked diligently to create a spreadsheet that will document their earnings and expenses, make posters advertising the new school store, and research and then select the few items they will start selling first.  This past Friday marked their first day of business.  They were so excited to open that they spent the entire work period prior to the Grand Opening, setting up the store, reorganizing the price tags, and making sure that everything was just right.  It was so fifth grade.  They raked in about $20 on day one, and were planning to buy new items this weekend so they could reopen again on Tuesday of next week.

• The third group wanted to find an easier and more student-friendly way to organize the books in our class library.  While the students can use the 5-finger rule for finding a new book, these two students wanted to make it even easier for future fifth graders to find books on their reading level.  So, they found a system for labeling the books that they liked and began re-shelving our class library this past week.  They went with the Accelerated Reader system of classifying books.  They used colored stickers on the spines of the books to denote their level.  They created a key for the students to use as well.  But, they didn’t stop there.  No, they took it a level further.  They then organized the books by genre.  So, each genre shelf or section is organized by reading level as well.  If you’re looking for a historical fiction book that is above the fifth grade reading level, they’ve got several for you to choose from.  It’s so cool.  I can’t wait to unveil this system for my new students in September.

• The final group wanted to do something that would help more than just our school community.  They wanted to help our local town community too.  As we spent a lot of time at the start of the school year learning about the town of Hopkinton and it’s rich history, the students seem to be more aware of things outside their immediate zone of proximity.  This partnership decided to build a free community lending library that would be housed near the road, but on our property, for all to use.  We will stock it with donated books first and see how the community takes to it.  This week, they designed and started constructing the small library house.  As our town has zoning laws that must be adhered to, I sent the students to Town Hall to find out what they might need to do in terms of fees or paperwork.  It turns out that, as long as the structure is on the school’s property, no paperwork or fees are required.  That was good news.  This experience was a valuable one for the students to understand and realize that things don’t simply, magically happen, there is much procedural work that takes place behind the scenes.  Being an adult is hard work.

While class projects are wonderful and fun for the students, the engagement factor usually fizzles out after a day or so.  However, with this real-life project that has genuine outcomes for the school community and beyond, the students remain 100% invested and engaged because it isn’t just a fun thing to do, it’s the real-world.  They are doing something that matters and will make a difference in our community.  They are gardening, earning money, learning about zoning laws, and determining how to better help future students.  They are doing adult things like adults do, and I think that is the piece that is engaging them and keeping them motivated.  Project Based Learning allows for students to learn real-world skills as well as grade-appropriate skills in an engaging and fun manner.  Most of the learning that happens in projects like the one my students are working on now is hidden from the students.  The group running the school store doesn’t realize that they are practicing math skills as well as the economics of supply and demand while developing a store and selling snacks and drinks to their peers.  PBL experiences weave the learning discretely into the project itself so that the students don’t fully comprehend how much learning and school work they are actually doing.  It’s all about subterfuge, baby.

Instead of spending the last few weeks of school finishing chapters in our Math textbook or reviewing what was learned this year, I’m engaging the students in an exciting project that will help them give back to our school and greater community.  I want my students leaving the fifth grade feeling like they made a difference, learned a lot, made life-long friends, and created memories that will stick with them for a lifetime.  Before I start sobbing again, I’ll wrap up this week’s blog entry with a quote from one of my students, “They looked gross at first, but then I tried them and realized they were super soft and chewy.”  Here’s the big question, was he referring to an actual food product or sticks he found outside during Forest Friday?  Ponder that.