Sunday, November 21, 2010

Thanksgiving Lessons~ 2010

This past week my Brentwood School first graders took a break from the rigorous first grade curriculum to study a bit of American history...the journey of The Pilgrims to America. We spent the week learning about the Pilgrims' experiences, their ship~ The Mayflower, and the first Thanksgiving feast. Our national holiday really stems from the feast held in the autumn of 1621 by the Pilgrims and the Wampanoag to celebrate the colony's first successful harvest.

The Pilgrims' brave adventure began in 1620 when The Mayflower left Plymouth, England with 102 passengers and about 30 crew members on board. During the 66-day voyage, the Pilgrims faced many storms, two deaths and one birth. On November 11, 1620, The Mayflower reached what is now the shores of Massachusetts.

A highlight for me was seeing the children create charming oil pastels and watercolor paintings of The Mayflower. We recently studied vocabulary words in a Transportation Unit that included learning nouns like 'cargo' and 'ship'. I think this may have enriched their understanding of The Mayflower voyage! As the children drew their beautiful depictions of this merchant ship, they learned that it brought the English Colonists to New England in 1620. It was not at all like the cruise ships that many people travel on today.The Mayflower didn't have private cabins with windows and beds for each person. There were no TV's, air conditioners, fancy meals, shops, or swimming pools. Traveling on the ocean 400 years ago was a very different experience than it is today.

Most ships at that time were merchant ships. This means that they were made for carrying cargo, like barrels of food or clothing, or big pieces of wood, from one place to another to be sold. Before The Mayflower sailed to New England, it had been sailing around Europe carrying food and cloth. This cargo was probably stored in the lower decks of the ship, in one big open storage area. There were no windows on this deck because windows might let in seawater, and then all the cargo would get wet. A little water would leak in anyway, so this area was always cold, damp, and dark.

The storage deck also had very low ceilings. They didn't need to make the decks very high because barrels and boxes weren't very tall . The ship was built this way to save space for the decks where the sailors lived and to make the ship safer. A ship that was too tall might tip over and sink in the water.

The crew lived on the upper decks. There were about 26 crewmembers on The Mayflower on the journey from England. The Master, in charge of sailing the ship, was Christopher Jones (we would call him “captain” today.) He probably had his quarters, or living space, at the back of the ship, called the stern. This was the driest and most comfortable area on the ship.The common sailors, or regular workers, had their quarters at the front of the ship, or bow. There were also officers on The Mayflower, who were responsible for sailing and navigating the ship.

The ship carried 102 men, women and children in 1620, on its only trip to New England. So, where did the Pilgrims live on The Mayflower? That's right, they all had to live in the dark, damp, cold cargo decks down below the crew's quarters. The passengers were 'the cargo'!

Each year the children at Brentwood School will hear varied details of this important slice of American history in their classrooms. I hope our study of the Pilgrims' mode of transportation helped to bring our first grade vocabulary lessons to life.

For further study visit:
http://www.scholastic.com/scholastic_thanksgiving/voyage/

Happy Thanksgiving to my Room 24 families!
http://familyfun.go.com/thanksgiving/

Sunday, August 15, 2010

Getting the School Year Off To a Great Start!

It's so true that the role of the family takes center stage when it comes to supporting the learning process in a child's life! I recently listened to an interview of educator Cheri Fuller, author of 'School Starts at Home- Simple Ways to Make Learning Fun' talking about equipping kids for lifelong learning. She stated that more than 50 research studies show that when parents get involved in their child's learning, their kids are more likely to stay motivated. But what does that look like practically?

Establishing worthwhile routines can help. Just like the athlete who needs to put a regimen in place to be at his peek, your first grader needs basic routines to stay motivated.'Rou-tine':is defined as "an unvarying and constantly repeated formula." Consistency is the main ingredient!

Parent educator, Barbara Colorosso puts it this way:

"Our children are counting on us to provide two things: consistency and structure. Children need parents who say what they mean, mean what they say, and do what they say they are going to do. Our goal as a parent is to give life to our children's learning—to instruct, to teach, to help them develop self-discipline—an ordering of the self from the inside, not imposition from the outside."

Here are my picks for the top four daily routines to establish with a first grader:

1. Get studying! Set up a daily study time. Get into the habit of sitting down in a quite location, free of distractions, same time, same place where you and your child can focus on the homework assignments and get that sense of accomplishment from finishing a task. Remember to affirm your child for genuine effort rather than intelligence. Intelligence praising can lead to an attitude of 'I don't need to study."

2. Value writing! Good thinking and good writing go together. Reading and writing go hand in hand. Write notes to your child and value what they write, displaying those precious pieces.

3.Practice communicating! Ask your child to share a highlight of his/her day. Children who are communicative and respectful to parents will be to other adults as well. Daily face-to-face conversation, free of distractions can help a child relax and focus at home and at school.

4. Enjoy reading together with 'paired reading'! "Paired Reading" is a practice strategy that helps children improve their reading skills. It combines two powerful techniques:
*the tutor and the child reading together and * the tutor letting the child read alone while providing encouragement and supportive coaching.
1.) Start out by agreeing on a set time each day to read together for about 5 to 15 minutes.
2.) This technique can be used with assigned reading. After that, let the child choose from a selection of grade level appropriate books from your home collection or the library.
3.) Use a starting signal where you will both read the text aloud. "Together Reading" means you will have to adjust your speed to meet the child's needs. The reading should still have some flow so it sounds natural.
4.) If the child hesitates or misses a word, give the child the correct pronunciation and,if needed, the definition.
5.) Your child can tap you at anytime to signal that he/she wants to read independently. At this point you become a cheerleader, making lots of positive comments and giving help when needed.
6.) At the end of your session have a simple, relaxed conversation about what has been read.

I would love to hear of what works in your home! Please share a comment or two about the routines you find helpful.We're all in this together, for the children's sake!

Friday, May 7, 2010

Changes
My second graders are putting the finishing touches on their Open House projects and the 'end-of-the-year party' is being planned. It's time to wrap up another second grade year. This time will be different though as I set my sites on a new endeavor. After 13 years straight teaching second grade, I will be returning to the first grade classroom at Brentwood School! Although I've been teaching primary-aged children for the past 30-something years, each and every class has been unique. That's what I love about teaching...it is ever-changing and never boring! Looking back, my first assignment was in 1977 in San Francisco as a student teacher in a first grade classroom at a three-story school in the Western Addition of the city. The next year I started my career teaching a first/second combo class in the Bay Area suburb of Hayward, Ca. Then my husband and I decided to move our young family to the picturesque farm community of Brentwood, Ca right on the edge of the central valley in East Contra Costa County. In the fall of 1987, I began teaching reading intervention in our delightful hometown. Over the past 25 years in Brentwood, I've had the privilege of teaching kinders, first, second, and third graders to the best of my ability. I can truthfully say that I value each and every teaching position I've been given, especially because of the people I've met along the way. Each of these interesting and worthwhile assignments have become a part of my teaching experience. As I ride the wave of change once again and plunge back into first grade, I'm glad to say that my teaching career remains a dynamic adventure. And for that, I am very grateful.

Monday, March 1, 2010

Paired Reading the Dr. Seuss Way!

It's Dr. Seuss Week at Brentwood School. It's a time when the children enjoy the rhyme and repitition of Seuss-style literature and his humorously bold and colorful artwork Most second graders have moved through the beginning stages of reading and are now working on reading smoothly and focusing on meaning. Books by Dr. Seuss can get you far when it comes to developing a smooth and fluent oral reading presentation. I'd like to recommend using Dr. Seuss books for 'paired reading' as a powerful motivator to boost your child's literacy growth.
"Paired Reading" is a practice strategy that helps children improve their reading skills. It combines two powerful techniques:
*the tutor and the child reading together and * the tutor letting the child read alone while providing encouragement and supportive coaching.

1.) Start out by agreeing on a set time each day to read together for about 5 to 15 minutes.
2.) Let the child choose the reading material.
3.) Use a starting signal where you will both read the text aloud.. "Together reading" means you will have to adjust your speed to meet the child's needs. The reading should still have some flow so it sounds natural.
4.) If the child hesitates or misses a word, give the child the
correct pronunciation and,if needed, the definition.
5.) Your child can tap you at anytime to signal that he/she wants to read independently. At this point you become a cheerleader, making lots of positive comments and giving help when needed.
6.) Have simple, relaxed conversations about what has been read.

If Dr. Seuss books are used with this type of program everyday for 12 weeks you will see noticeable results!