Sculpting with scissors and Subtracting Traditionally

I have to admit that the most daunting thing about joining the brilliant Lewis community is Art Night.  I love Art.  I make Art.  I love teaching Art.  But teachers at this school teach some amazing stuff.  Fortunately my class is filled with a bunch of what we now called "creatives" - makers, designers, artists, and crafters.  Give them some materials and some tools and you suddenly have a room full of remarkable experimentation.  Art everywhere.

One of the projects we are preparing for Art Night is cut paper sculptures.  This emerged from student interest in a pop-up book that Dakotah shared.  We looked at some techniques for making three-dimensional figures out of paper.  Because we had already put in so much time learning Origami techniques, the students were able to jump right in.  Here are some of the initial experiments.

            

Third graders have been very diligent in taking their State tests over the past weeks.  Though we won't see the results of the tests any time soon, both Mrs. Zimmerman and I were impressed with how hard the kids worked.

Second graders have been working on adding and subtracting with larger amounts.  We have studied a few different techniques for combining and taking apart larger amounts.  None of these has been the traditional algorithm, aka how most adults were taught in school.  You may have caught wind of so-called Common Core math and how it is wildly new and different and confusing. First off, math teachers have been helping kids learn multiple ways to attach a problem for a long time - this is not something new or invented by the creators of Common Core.  Second, none of it is really confusing if you know that knowledge of multiple strategies is intended to build students' number sense - their grasp of our system of 10's and how amounts can be assembled and disassembled.  Mr. Lauer shared this video with us at a staff meeting earlier and I think it is worth watching again if you are interested in learning a little about why we teach arithmetic the way we do.

We have finally taken a headlong dive into studying the traditional method for adding and subtracting, carrying and borrowing.  This page from Khan Academy has some helpful tutorials if you are interested in doing a little online learning and practicing with your student.

Mountains on Maps and Reading on Computers

A student uses the "Stop and Think!" strategy while watching a BrainPop video.

It has been a real mindset switch for me having a full class set of computers for my students all the time.  So often a kid comes up to me with a big question and I start to answer or prompt their thinking and then say "I bet you could look that up!"  With this steady access, though, it is important that we give students the same level of skills and strategies for using digital resources effectively as we do for using print.  To right the proportion, I broadened the scope of our reading comprehension strategy study to include digital media.  We are now working on "Monitoring for Meaning" (knowing when you don't get it and working to fix that) with print articles, textbooks and online media.  It was revealing to me how much more easily some kids were able to apply the Stop and Think protocol and organizer with BrainPop videos than with National Geographic Kids articles.  Both were high interest and engaging, but I think there is something about the linear progression of video that makes it more concrete that you can pause.  You can literally pause!  With attractive infographic- and image-heavy layouts it can be hard to turn off the reading.

Our 3-D map is really coming along.  We took advantage of the sunny weather and did some 

papier-mâché mountain molding on our "front lawn."

I'm hoping everyone can join us Wednesday evening for the debut of our class plays.  We are counting on all students coming.  Please be at school by 6 so that we are ready to perform by 6:30.  There is a school day performance on Thursday at 2 PM if you can join us for that. 

These guys worked hard on this mountain but this batch of paste did not work out. They had fun anyway.

These three painted a small section of our map's West Hills.

Noodle tag!

Finding our terrain

To give students a sense of the built environment around them and how it works, we did a quick design study of building techniques using recycled milk cartons.  I rustled up four garbage bags full of milk cartons, a preponderance of them chocolate milk cartons, and borrowed a second hot glue gun from Ms. Speer. Thanks to Sophia's mom, Erica, Billy's mom, Sue, and Airamay's dad, Jahny, we were able to assemble some remarkable structures.

As ever the best element was the critical dialogue that happened between students who'd decided to collaborate.  There was a lot of putting together and taking apart, question asking and argument making. This quick immersion in architectural thinking will return later as we add urban infrastructure to our Portland map.

We also took a moment this past week to take stock of our class library.  There are a lot of books and a lot of books that no one is choosing to read anymore.  Table groups chose tubs to tidy and remove books that could either be retired or donated to another purpose.  I realized a beautiful Robert McCloskey book that had been read beyond salvation - loose pages and torn corners - would serve as good mentor art for water color landscapes later in the year and so I saved some of the beautiful illustrations.

Airamay's chicken coop, which has been the source of a lot of news recently, finally got a full presentation.  We learned all about different breeds of chickens, how to check their health, and what goes in to maintaining a healthy brood.

Maps so far

We have two big projects underway.  First is creating a three dimensional representation of the Portland Metro area, in the hopes of teaching students regional geography and history.  Last week we knocked out the giant canvas map project with great help from Megan Lee, Beckett's mom.  Mr. Lauer joked that I would be smelling tempera paint for days and sure enough, we used a nearly a gallon of green.  It turned out beautifully and I am excited to start adding features to it.  I already have a few volunteers to come work on it but would love more, if you find yourself with any availability.

The other project we started recently is a more personal set of mapping exercises that build students own sense of home and personal geography.  We started by creating maps of the school from memory.  Small groups worked to show as much as they could of Lewis' built and natural environment.  It was fascinating to see the spectrum of balance between small details and global perspective.  This is segueing nicely from the poetry we started recently, centering around identity.

Maps and Milk Cartons

Well, Spring Break sure went quickly, but based on a survey I did with the class this morning, it sounds like everyone had a wonderful time.  The trees outside of our classroom are fully leaved, the daffodils have come and gone and mason bees are buzzing the clover and dandelions in the field.

In the coming weeks we will be embarking on a study of Portland geography and history.  To start off  we will be making a three dimensional map of Portland.  I stopped by the Ace hardware on Woodstock after school to pick up a canvas drop cloth. We will use a projector or overhead to blow up a schematic of Portland that the kids will paint.

Which brings us to milk cartons.  I casually asked Kathleen if it would be possible to get some milk cartons for rendering Portland architecture and POOF! there were two large sacks of rinsed milk cartons on my carpet when I got back from picking the kids up at recess.  The class quickly found ways to manipulate the cartons so that they would be easy to work with. They were so engaged in ways to fold and stack.

As soon as we have the canvas "terrain" ready to go, 2nd-graders will be creating 3D versions of important building in Portland.  3rd-graders will be creating their renditions of Portland's iconic bridges.

We will need lots of help bringing this all together so be sure to drop me a line if you have a moment.  Look for updates regularly on Twitter by following our class @LewisRoom5.

Performances and Poetry

This week our class started a five week long residency with dramatic artist Michael Wehrli.  The students, despite some initial nerves, are loving it.  They ease into the eventual stage production through theater games, acting exercises and improvisation.  Let's face it, we are pretty stacked with comedic and performative talent in this class, so I look forward to a great show.

Adam gives Bella ideas about  line breaks in her poem

Since only half of my actors only go to their drama workshop at a time, I get to work really closely with the other half of the class.  This first week I am taking advantage of the time to do some really hands-on revision and editing work.   We took some time to model what an effective partner feedback session should look like, sound like and feel like. 

"You could read it this way or this way!"

 It was heartening that after some thoughtful listening and talking everyone decided that there was still a lot of work to do on their writing.  It is always energizing to watch writers take up each other's pieces and find new life.  As a no longer young person it heartening to know that these kinds of conversations will continue in the world that our students make after we are gone.

Your news for the week of 3/9

Spring has sprung a little early and the class was excited about the "snowing" cherry blossoms just out our window.  They are also excited about pretty much everything.  This is an energetic room of learners.

We have been working on some quick poems in anticipation of National Poetry Month in April.  The first one was the "I look like a girl" poem, based on the book of the same title by Sheila Hamanaka.  Now we are working on a slightly (okay, much) sillier poem.  Here is an excerpt.

I Know Someoneby Michael Rosen
I know someone who can take a mouthful of custard and blow it down their nose.
I know someone who can make their ears wiggle.I know someone who can shake their cheeks so it sounds like ducks quacking.
I know someone who canthrow peanuts in the air and catch themin their mouth.....and that someone is                                       ME.

A silly poem for sure.  The kids love it and are coming up with great versions of it.  What makes it successful for everyone is the simple repeating structure.  There is a sentence stem that they use to keep them going, slotting in details from their lives. They love the twist at the end, too. Today we looked at ways to add some serious ideas to their poems to give some depth.   Look for some student poems soon.

I will be out for the next two days at a teacher training.  I will miss the class but look forward to the opportunity to learn alongside my colleagues.  This also means that we have to cancel the second Ping Pong Paddle Party tomorrow.  We will reschedule soon!