Week 3 Wrap-Up

One weekly highlight is Friday morning's spelling spinner game, following the test.  A random student's name is chosen from "the sticks."  Next, they tap the board and then the virtual needle spins and falls on "describe" (the least favorite), "sculpt," "act," or "draw."  Strangely, this week it landed on "describe" most often.  

While the class determines which word is being communicated, they're encouraged to use open-ended instructional conversation stems such as, "How can you explain why the word is…?"  Click here to see more examples.

In the video above, Sasha's illustration isn't even close to completion, when Penny's hand shoots into the air.  Using the process of elimination, and her knowledge of Sasha's interests and personality, she narrows the choices down to ones that can include an illustration of a person doing something, and which ones Sasha prefers.

With almost a month behind us, the year's off to a wonderful start.  Congratulations to everyone who went to lunch bunch every Friday in August for completing all homework assignments!  They will get to choose a Cubbeecraft, or Desktop Gremlin to create on Tuesday.

Desktop Gremlins offers free paper sculptures built without glue, tape, or knives.  Each character has a unique story, and there is even one for Kazu Kibuishi's Amulet graphic novel.

Print them on 8.5 x 11 photo paper, cut out the pieces, then put it together.  Click the images above, or right here to get started.

Cubeecraft offers foldable figurines from popular movies, games, and TV shows.  The cuts are more challenging than Desktop Gremlins, and require parents' help.  Click the figures below, or right here to see more free, downloadable characters.

Thanks to everyone who brought box tops in last week.  The money buys supplies for the school gardens, so keep them coming!

Week 3 Wrap-Up

The week ended with a first taste of mindfulness during morning meeting.  "Find Your Stone" is a cooperative game from Thich Nhat Hanh's book, Planting Seeds: Practicing Mindfulness With Children.  While seated in a circle, everyone was handed a small stone behind their back so they couldn't see it.  For a few moments, we discussed texture, weight, shape and size while they focused their awareness on their stones.  The stones were collected, then placed in the middle of the circle to see for the first time. By turn, each student found their stone and explained (with amazing certainty) how they recognized it.

I read about the stone game Thursday night, and decided Friday would be the right time to introduce mindfulness into our morning routine.  Friday after school, another third grade teacher reminded me that Monday we'll begin a unit on rocks and minerals, which begins with comparing and contrasting the physical characteristics of rocks.  It's funny how some things happen at just the right time.

The stones we explored Friday morning came from a North Georgia mountain stream.  Click here to see more.