Tools of the Classroom

The last few years, Arlington has adopted a program called Tools of the Mind.  In short, to really function as a learner children need to learn more than a set of facts and skills. They need to master a set of mental skills: the tools of the mind!

Many people can cook: they can throw pasta in a pot and heat up a jar of Ragu.

But a chef!  They are usually known for their great skill.  People don't tune into shows like Chopped and Iron Chef to watch someone open up a cook book and read a recipe!  These are skilled people who know how to put ingredients together into a delicious meal.

The Tools of the Mind program is based on Vygotsky.  He felt until children learn to use mental tools, their learning is largely controlled by the teacher.  But if they are able to master mental tools, they can become in charge of their own learning by attending and remembering in a purposeful way.

And when you have 5 minutes, here is a great video on Executive Functioning, featuring one of the creators of the Tools of the Mind program.

Paperwork

Thank you for stopping by to fill out my forms online!  There is so much paperwork at the start of the school year so doing it digitally will help us both out!  If you have any questions about the information, please let me know.

Please click here to fill out helpful information for me to have.

A Place Called Kindergarten

Welcome to Kindergarten!  The school year brings nervous excitement for parents, children and even teachers!  Here is a list of great books to act as an introduction or conversation starter for you and child.

The Kissing Hand....Audrey Penn
Look Out Kindergarten, Here I Come....Nancy Carlson
A Place Called Kindergarten...Jessica Harper
Countdown to Kindergarten...Allison McGhee
Froggy Goes to School...Jonathan London
The Night Before Kindergarten...Natasha Wing

Click here for more ideas!

And don't forget everyone's favorite cat, Pete!
Pete the Cat, Rocking In My School Shoes...Eric Litwin

To the Moon!

Jack and Annie's latest adventure has brought us into the future and onto the moon! I think the scenery came out great!  I love having our full moon in the classroom right now.

This week for our literacy stations we painted a moon and stamped craters into it, and wrote an opinion of whether we'd like to live on the Moon or on Earth.

 We learned that the moon is made of rock, and while I couldn't find any Moon rocks laying around, the fourth grade lent us plenty of different sandstones to observe.  The children made a scientific drawing and labeled three things they noticed.

The tricky station this week was reordering a scrambled sentence that was a fact about space!  The children were up for the challenge and did great with this task.  

Exploring in 3D

One of my favorite math units and an important geometry standard is learning about 3D shapes!  Students should be able to describe the faces, vertices and edges of each shape.

I gave the students 3D shapes and real world pictures to sort into cubes, cylinders, spheres or cones.  They also replicated 3D shapes using cubes and made cubes or pyramids with marshmallows and toothpicks.

They looked at geoblocks and matched ones that had the same face.

They were also given the challenging task of making 3D shapes with clay.  This was interesting because some students still made flat shapes and had a hard time understanding what it meant to be a 3D shape.  

Thanks to Harry Kindergarten, we rocked out to this tune this week!

The Amazon

It's been a jungle around here as Jack and Annie took us into the Amazon rain forest! 

The children worked hard on our rainforest!  We've added snakes, sloths, parrots, frogs and monkeys.  It is such a great mural to make.

This is the first year I've embarked on making rain forest dioramas!  I love this project so much and I **think** the kids are sharing my enthusiasm!

In math I gave the children two different shapes with the task of making a rain forest animal.  Their creativity is amazing!

Walk Like an Egyptian

Recently Jack and Annie brought us to the Egyptian Pyramids. The children learned facts about Ancient Egypt and worked on scenery and props to decorate the classroom.  

We have been doing slideshows to learn about Ancient Egypt.  After the slideshows the kids pick a "fact" that they learned.  Slowly the children are adding one or more sounds to their words.  I love scaffolded writing because every child can feel like a successful writer!

The Egyptians made mud to make houses.

Cats hunt mice.

Pyramids have tricky tunnels.

Egyptians used pottery.

The children learned about amulets.  Amulets offered protection for the living against things Egyptians considered evil forces (sickness, floods etc.)  The gemstone, image and shape were all significant to whomever made or wore it. 

After Thanksgiving we will be acting out Mummies in the Morning while other stations pretended to be "Life in Times" of Ancient Egypt.  They will pretend to build pyramids: the children will communicate their ideas and have some trial and error with different shaped blocks.  

The children also painted beautiful, Egyptian inspired sunsets!