Growth Mindset & The Power of "Yet"

Have you ever heard your child say things like, "I can't do math. I'm not smart enough", or "I'll never be as good as her"? That's called having a Fixed Mindset! In our classroom this year, one of my main goals is to help build and support a positive learning community, and in doing so, help students develop their own Growth Mindset philosophies. In short, having a Fixed Mindset means that you believe intelligence is fixed, and that effort does not have anything to do with success. On the other hand, having a Growth Mindset means that you believe that your intelligence can be developed, and you believe in the power of "yet" (I can't do that...YET). Here's an infographic outlining what it means to have a Fixed vs. Growth Mindset.

In class, we began by learning specifically about the two mindsets, and discussing how we all have Fixed Mindsets about something! We watched a short clip about our brain's elasticity, and what happens to our brain when we continuously do easy things, and what also happens when we continuously choose to challenge ourselves. Ask your child at home!  In pairs we talked about the wall posters (pictured below) and how we can use them in our daily language.

Since this discussion, we have been referring to "mindset moments" constantly! I love how students have been reminding each other when they hear Fixed Mindset talk, and how they recommend a new way to approach a challenging situation.  Each week, we will spend a few moments referring to this philosophy. I hope this new way of thinking inspires you to notice when you may have a Fixed Mindset, and encourages you to approach learning and effort in a different way.

Fourth Grade: The Daily 5

If you haven't heard already, we've finally launched The Daily 5, and the results so far have been truly remarkable. In short, The Daily 5 is a literacy structure that teaches independence and gives children the skills they need to create a lifetime love of reading and writing. It consists of five tasks (Read to Self, Work on Writing, Word Work, Read to Someone, Listen to Reading) that are introduced individually. When introduced to each task, the children discuss what it looks like, sounds like, and feels like to engage in the task independently. Then, the children work on building their stamina until they are successful at being independent while doing the task. Once they are successful, the "real" daily 5 begins. Check back later for another post about that!

We've also charted ways we can be independent during Read to Self and Work on Writing. These charts are called I-charts (I for independence). Here we are building Read to Self stamina. Ask us how we're independent during this task!

Below is our stamina chart. Look at how far we've come in just 4 days of practice!!!

In addition to Read to Self, we've also built stamina for Read to Someone and Work on Writing. 

Ask your child to tell you more about our options during Word Work and Listen to Reading!

Fourth Grade: Community Building

Welcome back, everyone!
We have had an exciting and busy first few weeks of fourth grade in room 22. I'm so glad to be learning and teaching with each one of you this year. We all have something unique to bring to the table, and I can't wait to get to know everyone.

If you haven't already heard by now, the first few days of Fourth Grade were AWESOME! We spent so much time learning about one another, hearing stories of summer, and playing cooperative challenge games. The most important activities within these first few days are those that involve community building.

Building a classroom community is my top priority as an educator. In a true community of learners (including teachers) a support system is built in which we can all feel comfortable sharing triumphs, tragedies, and pieces of joy from our everyday lives. We are safe to take risks, to grow together, and to develop into our true selves.

The first community building activity we did together was the Cup Challenge. Students were grouped in 4s (or 3s) and were challenged to stack 7 cups in a pyramid. Sounds easy, right? Not so much!! They were not allowed to use their hands, feet, etc. at any time, and could only move the cups with the string/rubber band contraption provided. Check out some of us in action!

The next day, we had a circle conversation about why communities are important, and what it takes to build one and maintain one. After, students were given boxes of spaghetti and marshmallows to build a marshmallow community! The one and only rule was that each student's structure, road, etc. MUST connect, in some way, to another person's.

The following week, we had a chance to sit down together and talk about what kinds of things we will each need to feel successful, safe, and happy this year in room 22. Our list of brainstormed ideas barely fit on our whiteboard! Here were some of our ideas: be responsible, respectful, nice, kind, don't bully, include others, listen, try your best, do the right thing, tell a teacher when you see bullying, be helpful, don't run in the halls... the list goes on. Together, we then worked on grouping and combining our ideas into a set of succinct thoughts. Room 22 is proud to announce our Class Promise! *Check back tomorrow morning for a photo of our poster, signed by each of us!

Soil Scientists

Our newest science unit is a hands-on discovery of soil, an incredibly interesting, accessible material that surrounds us in our daily lives, both figuratively and literally. As soon as we began our unit, discussions among students were centered around the idea that soil is important for many reasons. After an impromptu lesson on food chains, we all agreed that without soil, we couldn't survive, even if we aren't vegetarians!

Earlier this week we each constructed our own compost bags from soil and compost materials around our school's perimeter. In the bags we put damp soil, and a handful or 2 of composting leaves, twigs, etc. A few lucky scientists even ended up with some bugs!

After exploring the local soil and compost, we added live earthworms to our bags. We brainstormed a list of predictions regarding what the worms will do in our bags. Unfortunately, earth worms do not transform very much. Students were pretty bummed about that, until they saw their worms burrowing holes in their soil!! 

Next, we experimented with three types of materials: natural clay, sand, and humus (not the snack!). Students used 4 out of their 5 senses to describe each material. They also observed each material being shaken in a test tube, and predicted what would happen after the mixtures settled overnight. 

G'day Mates!

Yet again the scholars of Room 9 are jet-setting across another ocean, this time for Australia, the land down under! Australia is home to many unique animals, landmarks, and types of climates. To begin our unit, we discussed together what we already know about Australia. Most of our ideas included things about kangaroos and koalas. Next, we brainstormed questions we have about Australia. We have done this in the past - it's known as a KWL chart. We list what we Know, Want to know, and Learned (at the end).

For our first activity, we took a trip to the zoo! Students were split into 5 different groups. At each station, as they opened numbered envelopes including photos and information about a certain animal, they made predictions about which animal they were learning about. 

At the end, after each group rotated to all 5 spots, we came back together and reviewed some of the facts we learned. Did you know that the platypus is a mammal that lays eggs? Ask your child what we call that!

Next, we spent time conducting research on different landmarks, famous places, and important aspects of Australia. As groups rotated around the room watching different videos, reading nonfiction texts, or looking at photographs, they recorded factual information on a poster. There was one catch - your fact must be original! There cannot be repeated facts on the poster. To make things more challenging, students ended the activity in the same spot they began, making it more difficult to add a fact not yet written by another group!

Sensory Images

 

As readers, it's important to be active learners with each book we pick up to read. Recently we have been learning about making Sensory Images while we read. What is a Sensory Image? Try it now. Pick up a book, newspaper, or something to read. Use your 5 senses to make a mental picture in your head. Are you reading a news article about the snow record in Boston? Try using your sense of touch to help you "feel" how cold the air is. 

To begin the unit, we read two books:

 

 

Before we began reading, students activated 4 out of their 5 senses by seeing, smelling, hearing, and touching things that came from the ocean! We checked out beach photos, smelled a bottle of sunscreen, heard waves crashing and seagull sounds, and touched small seashells and sand. Then, students listened to the book as it was read aloud to them, without looking at the pictures. Afterwards we talked about how they made sense of the story. They used their sensory information to make images and movies in their head while they heard the words.

Throughout this unit we will not only be making sensory images together, but we will be challenging ourselves to make sensory images on our own. Today, after reading Dragons Love Tacos (silliest book!) we determined that sensory images help readers do 3 important things:

• Understand the story better
• Keep us more engaged
• Help us with a stronger retell 

Encourage your child at home to make sensory images while he or she is reading!

Pourquoi Tales

After reading countless Fairytales and Folk Tales over the past few months, we zoomed in on a specific type of Folk Tale that explains why things happen and why things are the way they are in terms of animals and nature. Here are some examples:

These kinds of Folk Tales are called Pourquoi tales, literally meaning "why" in French. 

After reading a few examples, we began brainstorming kinds of Pourquoi tales we could write: why a cheetah is the fastest animal; why an elephant has a trunk; why a giraffe has a long neck; why a rainbow is colorful; why the sky is blue... our list goes on! With the help of many graphic organizers, students have been writing their own Pourquoi tales for a few weeks, and they are coming out beautifully. The details are creative, the characters are developed well, and the structure of this writing has been strong. We cannot wait to share them with you!

(Disclaimer: I had hoped we could send these home before February vacation but the wrath of Mother Nature has put quite a damper on our Pourquoi publishing. They will be sent home as soon as we are finished after break!)

How are we the same? How are we different?

The 2 main guiding questions for our China unit of study have been

How are we the same?

How are we different?

By experiencing some of the cultural traditions of children, students, and families in China, we have been able to compare what we know about our day to day lives with theirs. We first began learning about typical meals of students in China by viewing photos and reading descriptions. Ask us about some of the things on the menu!

Our favorite part was definitely when we had the chance to use chopsticks during snack. We watched a video showing us how to use them properly, and then tried it out ourselves!

Last week we also began practicing how to say numbers 1-10 in Chinese! We listened to a silly rap song that includes auditory and visual cues in a catchy rhyming pattern. We'll be continuing to listen and practice. After reading the book My Pet Dragon that aligns Chinese symbols with illustrations, we painted Chinese characters with black watercolor paints, even making up our own. We learned that although the symbols in our language may look much different, we all use them in the same way.