Skeens become balls, research becomes info in expedition

 

They had waited so patiently looking at all the colors that I purchased from Walmart with the $100 given to each teacher to use in our classrooms. We needed more yarn to learn to knit--got needles too-- and the yarn will become the scarves that we sell Feb. 11 and March 3 at the Winter  Market at the 1912 Building from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. raising money for the Humane Society of the Palouse. The kids had a chance to socialize while working on their small more skills. There were many different levels of ability. The next step is that we have 5 kids that can teach knitting and they will start this week teaching one crewmate each. That would have started last week, but SNOW came!!

 This how far  the kids got in a half hour of rolling- 7 finished.

Seeing how much these kids enjoy each other is really a pleasure.

Presenting to the whole crew the information they collected during the reading. They had to defend why it was essential.

 These  pictures are part of the academic block. The week before we had been in the first case study learning how to research this time period we are in with plenty of resources. The symbol of study was the Statue of Liberty. The picture of Frances, Jared, and Forest is them explaining how they kept to the Guiding Question as their focus when reading through information. Because they did this they were able to finish in a timely manner and so they presented what they had learned from their reading and how they stayed focused. Learning to decide what information is essential (which we defined in the Learning Target for this part) helped this triad to work together. They also set up how they would work together. That is where the crew is now, making sure to set up a protocol within the group to get everything done and make sure everyone is part. If there are problems, I step in and help them sort and mediate the conversations. Working together is an ongoing learning process and as the triads settle into another 8 days of research, each triad will get more done. The pictures below show kids working together and figuring out who will do what during the research time. Each triad gets two academic blocks at the computers using the sites that I have bookmarked to help. Plus there are over 30 books from our library, my library and the Latah Library district.
The week before we did the spiderweb of what information they will need to find out for their dozen years. Seeing the kids sift through material is good because it helps them skim and scan and then reread. 

Celebrating Outside of School Reading Habits!!

 5/6 Crew on the old Administration steps on our way to the College of Education's Library to check out books!

In the library choosing books to check out.

Careful selection requires opinions.

Agreeing on a good choice.

For R3 or Raucous Readers' Round Up, the kids shared healthy snacks and read silently in class for 40 minutes. ONE of the activities they planned on they day's schedule.

 Here the kids are playing board games with each other. They really enjoyed socializing.  This R3 was special because they felt such success in understanding that the behavior of each matters to the benefits for all.

The details in the games are important. Each group spent time going over rules--developmentally justice and fairness are very clear still--very black and white. This will change in the next year especially for the sixth--the word 'relative' will replace the work 'absolute' in many areas.

Contemplation and critical analysis are satisfying things to do.


Keep your kids reading!!!!

The  period of the schedule lasted an hour and a half. It worked out well so that all the games got finished. Many of the kids played new games to them. The way the 5/6 talks and listens to each other is something we all could learn from.