Week 4 - Character Silhouettes and Working Memory

The seven -, eight- and nine-year-olds in Room 5 have been working together to track and discuss the characters in our read-aloud book, The Year of the Book.  As kids this age move from reading shorter books that center around one topic or a handful of characters, to longer books with lots of information or lots of characters, they often need some time to practice putting all of the pieces together.  Longer text places a big demand on what cognitive researchers call working memory. For a nice overview on the idea of working memory and why it's key for learning, check out this TED talk by Peter Doolittle.

These students are taking notes on character silhouettes we created by outlining a character on a big piece of paper.

Part of what Doolittle talks about is that working memory is a limited resource - life places a lot of demands on our attention.  Fortunately we can tap some inherent skills kids have to help them absorb, process and retain information.  These are natural ways in which people turn sensory information into meaning. This is why we've been working on making mental images while we read, and tracking what's happening with the characters on the large silhouettes. Doolittle talks about the power of "illustrative thinking" to help us understand and remember. If you have a sensory image attached to new information - be it a sound, a smell or a picture - it will be more meaningful and long-lasting.

Students interact as they add their thinking to our growing notes on the silhouette.

Another aspect of inherent strength we have been tapping into is the power of discussion.  Students have lots of opportunities to discuss the book and the characters in a variety of formats.  We talk whole group and in smaller groups.  As the kids add their thoughts to the silhouette, they take in each other's ideas.

Writing on the large paper gives everyone lots of room to add their thinking.

This all feeds into another key element of learning - synthesizing new understandings into big ideas. In the coming weeks we will sift through all of the notes we have taken and work through some bigger questions - how have the characters changed? what have they learned? what does this teach us about life and the world? 

We use the collective thinking to hash out what's going on with the characters and think strategically
about what's most important for us to understand.

Week 3: What a week!

We are really getting into the groove.  This week we launched some new aspects of our learning and got even deeper into others.

We continued to work on writing about ourselves by using the character trait vocabulary we've been learning through our read-aloud book.  We also got our new personal spelling dictionaries and learned how to do some peer editing.  

We had our second successful Friday Math Jam with lots of parent helpers.  

The students really enjoyed all of the time working in small groups. 

I was grateful for the time to work one-on-one with kids and get to know them better as mathematicians.

This was our first week of 

Science.  We began by studying fundamental scientific skills and strategies.  This week we focused on observing the world around us. We studied all of the great rocks students brought in and some leaves from around the school.

This ties in with our work in Art, where we started learning about observational drawing.  We challenged ourselves to really LOOK at the things we are drawing and practiced by drawing each other - first, without looking at the paper, second, only looking a little at the paper, and third, by looking 50/50 at the subject and the paper.  The results are pretty hilarious.  One student said "It looks like you drew me in the blender!"

Mr. Lauer came in and set up our new computer cart. We practiced logging in and creating documents.  Up next, turning text documents into multimedia presentations!

This Week’s News

• Open House 9/16
• Homework
• Two Hour Late Opening on Wednesday, 9/17 for Teacher Training

Open House/Back to School

I hope you can join us Tuesday evening at 6 for our Open House.  We will meet on the playground to introduce the staff and then head into classes to mingle.  I will not be making a formal presentation but we will be signing up for conference times so be sure to stop in.  

Homework

This week I am introducing the Spelling and Math practice routines.  

For Spelling we did a quick assessment to get a sense of your student’s developmental level.  This determined the list of words that I gave to them.  We will adjust along the way if it turns out that the words are too easy or too challenging.  On the cover sheet there are two columns, ‘Write’ and ‘Spell and Check’.  For ‘Write’ they simply copy the words once in that column.  For ‘Spell and Check’ they cover the words with another piece of paper and try to spell the words without looking and then check them.  The attached sheets have related grammar and writing practice.  

For Math we have some simple practice and review exercises.  I will adjust the activities to challenge and support as I get to know our mathematicians a little better.

The reading log is optional and there is not reading comprehension activity this week.  Please return the homework on Friday!

Thanks and I hope to see you soon,

Mark

Our first two weeks

What a great start.  We have learned so much about each other, played some high energy team building games and written brilliant sentences about ourselves.

We are getting familiar with the materials we can use to extend our understanding and practicing strategies that make learning fun and successful for everyone.

I have had such a great time getting to know my new students and their families.  The best part is always watching the students sparking off of each other's ideas and passions.

Tomorrow we'll share the drawings students did based on the mental images that came to them while reading.  Over the coming weeks we will work on this strategy for making deep meaning and connecting to what we read.









Tomorrow will also be our first Friday Math Jam.  A few family members who were in the building indicated that they would be willing to come and help run a few math stations. I will reach out to everyone else who is interested in coming or taking work home to help out as our routines fall into place.  As always, you are welcome to stop by or contact me whenever you have a chance.






Thanks to Ms. Layman for the PE parachute photo.