A typical day in the classroom

Each morning, we begin our day with a loving-kindness meditation and basic yoga postures to get ourselves ready for a day of learning. We follow that with morning meeting, including the pledge to the flag, calendar time, a spelling review game, and a meeting about our day ahead. The students then write responses to various prompts in their morning journals and share with their classmates. Each week, we have a different theme, so after our morning meeting and journal sharing, we do math and literacy centers and hands-on activities related to the theme. When it's time for Google Meets, we sit together and listen to their school-based teacher teach. Following Google Meets, we work on the assigned work and then have specials. Our specialist teachers are amazing! After specials, we have lunch and recess, followed by reading groups and shared reading time. Finally, we end with themed centers based on social studies and science objectives. We end the day with our loving-kindness meditation and then head to the cul de sac for carpool. It's an incredible day. 

 

This is our classroom. We love spending time here.

We have lots of different spaces for learning and creating, both inside and outside. 

We love civil and structural engineering!

We studied how bridges, roads, and tunnels are planned, designed, and created. Then, we made some of our own! 

We learned how to create structures with strong bases. We talked about the strength of triangles and how to construct tall structures that don't break under pressure. We watched a really cool Ted Talk about various companies and colleges that have created structures with marshmallows and pasta. We learned why some methods work while others fail. 

We learned about why bridges and tunnels are important to the infrastructure of a town. 

We designed and created a functional 17-foot tunnel to carry a marble from a second story deck to a fire pit. We learned how to measure distances and use measurements to plan our tunnel. Then, we collaborated to deign a tunnel that could be constructed in pieces to assemble and disassemble inside and outside. 

We had so much fun learning about maps and how to give and follow map directions using directional words and relative distances. 

Our Morning Meditation

 We begin each day with a loving-kindness meditation and basic yoga postures to help us get ready for a day of learning. 

We are hands-on learners, and we love to express ourselves.

 One of the best things about having a small class is that I get to learn what makes each student come alive with excitement. Then, I am able to use that knowledge to tailor every lesson to what the students love...in this case, it's football, monster trucks, money, and crafts.

We got super creative with our manipulatives, making ones, tens, and hundreds out of painted beans, craft sticks, and glue. 

It was so much fun to learn to tell time to the minute, and to build a solid foundation in elapsed time. These kiddos will be more than ready for a return to school in second grade!

During the 2020 election season, we held our own election, complete with advertising campaigns, commercials, debates, and an actual "election day" with ballot boxes and ballots. The biggest difference was, of course, the slate of candidates. Our class campaigned for Chocolate Chip Cookies vs. Sugar Cookies. In the end, to my surprise, Sugar Cookies won! Still, we enjoyed both kinds of cookies with milk to celebrate the democratic process. 

Another awesome thing about having a small pandemic pod is that we were able to celebrate all of the holidays with each of the student's family traditions. We were able to learn so much about each other and the community around us.

Why do plain old worksheets on addition and subtraction with number lines when you can turn it into a game of Twister?!

We enjoyed honoring Dr. Martin Luther king, Jr. by researching many aspects of his life and having really amazing first-grade-appropriate conversations about his legacy and its impact in today's society. We made banners and posters to present some of our research findings. 

We love to use coins and clocks and all kinds of manipulatives to learn.