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!
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