normal day, Student-centered

A Day in the Life of…

Pernille Ripp

I was asked by Kim to describe a typical day in my classroom to show how I fit it all in, so here I go.

First bell is at 8:15 and my students start to trickle in then, and by trickle, yes, it takes a while for all of them to get there.  They know they have 15 minutes until math starts so in those 15 minutes they have to sign in, read the morning message, work on geography and spelling for the week, help correct grammar on the board, and hand anything in.  Most students have extra time so they end up chatting with friends, filling water bottles, or reading.  1 or 2 minutes  prior to my math timer going off I will run through the day with the kids so that they know what to expect.  I also showcase any special events in my morning message to diminish questions.

At 8:30 math begins, we have a routine every day for the first 5 minutes which include a fact test based on the given day and a hypothetical test questions where they have to come up with 3 wrong answers and one right one.  After that I start my lesson by explaining the goal to them, asking for previous knowledge, and then we start.  I try to limit my talking so often they share in their groups or show me solutions to examples o white boards etc.  By 9:00 I better be done with the lesson so that students can work on their math work and I can work with kids that need extra help or even an extra lesson in something.  We have all the way until 9:45 for math, which is such a huge help.

15 minutes for recess and students come in for 70 minutes of literacy.  The first 10 minutes is snack time so we will often correct the two grammar sentences from the morning and then discuss the lessons goal and check in with student progress.  Every Monday we then do a 20 minute exercise called weekend web, Tuesdays we take 20 minutes to infer meaning behind a selected poem or song (often we sing the song as well), Wednesday and Thursday are dedicated to whichever writing project we have going, and Friday we do 15 minutes of writing Op. Ed.  The remaining time is dedicated to at least 20 minutes of read to self or someone, in which I meet with my daily book club or single students that need an extra conference, and beyond that we work on our writing projects.  It is quite amazing how much we get done in those 70 minutes!

Social studies or science are taught in 45 minute blocks, again we discuss the goal of the lesson (2 minutes max), relate to previous lessons and then are off.  My students rarely need a lot of instruction, in fact, they beg me to not talk at them too much because they would rather just get to work.  I think it helps that at the introduction of any kind of new project we discuss goals, expectations and timeline for it so the kids are keenly aware of the direction we are headed and the purpose of it.

So as you can see, there is nothing magical in my room, just a sense of urgency because we have a lot of fun things to do and learn about and the kids dig that.  We are never in a rush though, just rolling along at a good pace.

learning, plans, week

What’s in Store this Week

Pernille Ripp

With this wonderful day to just reflect on the world, I ended up reflecting on all of the great projects happening in my classroom this week, so why not share it.

In science, we continue with our crayfish studies, however, the kids decided that it would be more fun to create a crayfish documentary rather than just a research paper.  So we are busy researching the questions they have come up with, then writing scripts and finally filming the scenes.  I cannot wait to see the end result!

In social studies, we will finally get to work on our Early Explorers of Wisconsin Fake Facebook Pages.  Thank you to all of those who submitted templates to me.  Students have only been told the backstory of exploration in Wisconsin but have no clue what project they will work on yet.  They are so excited that they begged to do social studies on Friday, we didn’t have time though.

In reading, students are working on their chosen author studies.  I am doing my own alongside them on Neil Gaiman, so I have to decide how to present my information.  It has been great to see the varied approaches to how to do this project and once again, students are showing their excitement by continuously asking whether we will be doing the project or not.

Writing is exciting this week as students finish their Why Tales (excellent writing here) and we start on our next project.  The kids have been really into “whodunit’s” lately, so I am toying with the idea of turning our picture book project into a “whodunit” instead.  The main goal is transition words and voice, which can be accomplished through many methods.  I think in the end, I will let the students decide.

Math is a mixed bag of assessments.  We have weird pile of tests we need to get through such as the mid-year assessment, but after speaking to my students about it they didn’t seem too worried.  They told me that they knew what the purpose of these were; “To help them learn better.”  We also discussed that they could do the tests in whichever order they choose, they can jump around between tests, and I will bring in lots of bubblegum.   Plenty of math game breaks will be provided for those who want them and we will get through it as we usually do.

There will be plenty of little extra’s added in, such as music/poetry Tuesday where we will be discussing the great song “Pride in The Name of Love” by U2.  Op.Ed. Friday’s topic has not been chosen yet, and we have a geography bee to go to on Thursday.  School is a magical place indeed.  

education reform, school staff, Student-centered

If Kids Ran the School

Pernille Ripp

Last week I asked my students to blog about what they would change if they had invented school.  While some may think their answers predictable, I think they offer valid suggestions as we move forward in our educational reform.

  • More Recess – while easily dismissed as impossible, I think that this being the top response shows that students need more breaks during instruction.  I do sometimes provide an extra recess if the weather is nice, but often there simply is not time for a full recess experience.  What I can do on a regular basis, though, is to give them partner talk time, free choice for a couple of minutes or even just shift activities more often.  Anything  to offer them some chance for movement and resetting of their brains.
  • 4 Day School Week – It was not that students wanted less time in school, in fact, they suggested longer school days so that they could have 3 days off to be with their family.  I have discussed how much I value family time myself so I can understand the time to just be a kid and to let all of the new information sink in.
  • Allow electronics.  After a recent lunch with my students I was not surprised to hear that most of them had received an Ipod Touch or something similar for Christmas.  I believe, as many do, that the way of the future will be students supplying personal electronic devices alongside schools.  What a great way to incorporate known tools into our learning environment.
  • More choices.  Whether it be choosing your teacher, your room, your learning partner, or just the project, students were begging for more choices in their day.  While I feel my school allows students many choices, this was a great reminder to constantly challenge myself to offer more choices than I perhaps have felt comfortable doing in the past.
  • More fun.  Students wanted to play more math games, chew bubble gum, have lunch with their teachers, play more in the room and just be more creative overall.  

What do you think your students would make their priority?  Is there a way to incorporate ideas from this into your room?  I am certainly trying to.   If you would like to see their full responses, visit our kidblog and leave them a comment or two.

students

A Student Nominates their Person of the Year

Pernille Ripp

We nominated our Person of the Year today and this is what one of my amazing students wrote:

     My person of the year is Martin Luther King Jr. because if he didn’t do what he did I wouldn’t be in here with my fantastic teacher and awesome friends.  I, instead, would not have friends, teachers, or rights.  He was willing to make people’s lives int he future better even if he was not the best. 

     Martin Luther King was a great man and I am glad him and other people like Rosa Parks were born.  He did not care if people bombed his house or threatened him.  If he was not born, my dream of becoming a football player or baseball player would never be close to coming true.  The reason I chose Martin Luther King is he made my life the best it could ever be.  That’s my person of the year; Martin Luther King Jr.

To see the post and leave Lewis a comment, please go to his post.