My big new learning this year has been implementing The Daily Five (or a modified version thereof) in my classroom.  It’s been just right for the particular needs in my Grade Three class, providing a comprehensive framework that has been helping most of the students to gradually build the stamina to read and write independently for up to 20 minutes already.  This allows me and other adults in the room to meet with individuals and small groups for precision teaching to address very specific learning needs in the area of literacy development.

The Daily Five consists of five suggested literacy activities that students participate in each day for an extended period of time.  I have fond memories of most of these activities being....

Well, okay, it was more of a whale, really, and it was made out of cucumber and cheese, rather than "real" seafood... but given that the whale and the other "characters" on the boys' dinner plate represented actual characters from their recent bedtime stories which our house-guest had been concocting and telling them on an almost-nightly basis, the dish was a big hit with Alex and Simon last night.

I should confess that I did not create this brilliant masterpiece.  I can claim credit only for beguiling the chef with my limited charms, and luring this very special friend into our family home for a while so that she could develop her creative talents in the kitchen and work her magic with the kids in this household.  As evidenced so clearly in the photo above, she has done both!

(I'm kind of hoping for an adult version for myself sometime... maybe little Cessnas made out of eggs, with celery for the wings and propeller?  Or a drumset created from radishes or something.)

Having caught my first cold of the season, I am reminded of the importance of having a comphrensive emergency supply teacher folder. 

None of us likes to leave our class with a stranger; most teachers spend hours putting together meticulous supply plans with every detail laid out for the

One advantage to being sick (yes, I finally succumbed what everyone else in our household has had for the past week!!) is that you get to stay in bed a little, which means some time to finally update my website.  As you can see, I opted for a somewhat simpler design, and ditched the photo at the top of every page.

Big plans to study circuits for my next flight lesson, and write a nice long blog entry about the ride to school the other day on my shiny, new bike will have to wait... one disadvantage to being sick is that, well, you feel sick!  So, I'm going back to sleep for a few hours...

I wanted to write first earlier this week as I set out at dawn on my bike for the hour-long ride to school.  I wanted to write about the small, green grasshopper that landed on my bell and hitched a ride almost to Royal York Road before I flicked him off into the shrubs by the side of the road.

I wanted to write about the silent student who has not spoken one word in my class this week, but who suddenly is consumed with our new classroom library, and has asked several times for more labels so that he could help sort books for us.

I wanted to write about the new website I finished for Cablehead Airpark in PEI, and all the memories that came flooding in, of summer flying with new friends over green, grassy fields and through thin wisps of cloud and above water in seven shades of blue!

I wanted to write about the first class back at Tyndale, and the fun and chaos of sharing so many stories with my teacher candidates, who had just spent their first week in their new host classrooms.  And of the lunch I shared with a strange new friend, and of Alex’s smiles as he pulls a crazy trick, and Simon’s sweet, crazy hair that he brushes out of his face as he tells his latest joke, or the most incredible harvest moon my girlfriend and I saw out the car window on the way home from a birthday dinner the other night … so many wonderful little gifts from the world I noticed and thought about this week, but never a moment to sit down at a computer and WRITE about them!!!

On my way back to the mainland after my flight lesson this morning, I noticed two airplanes in the circuit, one just climbing out, the other turning from crosswind to downwind.  What an exhilarating feeling, to be flying on a Sunday morning before church!  And, as I waited for the ferry in the terminal, I finally found a few moments to write….

Well, we all survived the first week!  Below are selected highlights from the reflection "exit ticket" I had students complete at the end of the day today (spelling corrected by Ms. Teschow)....

The best thing about this week was:
- the heads we made in art
- reading for 6 minutes
- school is awesome
- I made new friends
- gym, because I had fun

The hardest thing about this week for me was:
- waiting at the water fountain in a line
- when we did math; it was really hard
- nothing really; things were pretty easy

Somethine I did well this week:
- play soccer at recess
- keeping my pencil case clean
- help other people
- write my homework in my agenda and keep organized
- play four square

Something I want to do better next week:
- being respectful and caring
- not to forget things
- I want to be very smart
- I want to be nice to my teacher
- singing "Oh Canada"

The best thing about this week for me was being back in a classroom with children (I spent the past year teaching adults at Teacher's College at the University level). The hardest thing about this week for me was being back in a classroom with children.  :)

Something I did well this week was bike to work and back one day, and manage to call 98% of the parents in my class by Thursday evening.  Something I want to do better next week is to catch up with my advance planning, and prepare a comprehensive supply teacher folder!

6 of them to report on, and RC coming soon enough!!!  My Grade 3's and I have started co-developing some criteria (based largely on the lingo from the Growing Success doc., along with some text my Grade 3 colleague next door gave me)... I decided to use these to create a self-assessment I plan to give out some time in the next few weeks -- check it out here (you will need to scroll down to the bottom of the page!)

The students, TAs, student teacher and I survived our first day in Grade 3!  A million things to write about... below are just a few highlights and reflections:

1. Rules vs. Agreements
I am generally a big advocate of democracy in a classroom.  In particular, I  preach the TRIBES (TM) agreements as an alternative to "rules" in a classroom.  But... for the first time in a LOOOOONG time, I decided on the fly to change the rules, so to speak.  My class is extremely boy-heavy and also seems to have several students who -- as I discovered in the first several minutes -- thrive on structure.  So, instead of the open-ended "classroom norms" activity I had originally planned, I decided to just "give" them the rules:

i. Follow instructions (the first time they are given).
ii. Raise your hand and wait for permission to speak.
iii. Use an indoor voice and polite language (no teasing or swearing).
iv. Be where you are supposed to be, when you are supposed to be there.
v. Use hands, feet and objects for helping, not hurting.

I figure these cover all bases, and today we'll talk about what these look like and sound like in different contexts, so it is clear to all.  :-)  The specificity of the rules also allows for very specific descriptive feedback with any behaviour issues that may arise.

2. Help!
Yesterday I had a student teacher AND a teaching assistent with me all day.  WHAT A DIFFERENCE!!!  I have of course had student teachers before, but with the TA, the room had 3 relatively competent adults at all times.  And you could feel the difference.  Busy class with many, many needs, but with three adults, lots of redirection and instant modification available for the students who needed it, even right on the first day, without all 22 kids having to wait for me!  Every class should have three teachers, lol!

3. Plant Life
The highlight of the day happened at lunch -- I was downstairs in the front hall, showing my student teacher around the copy room and office area, when suddenly the front doors to the school opened, and in came my girlfriend, with a GIANT Rubber Tree for my classroom, and flowers for my desk--she had ridden her bike all the way from Etobicoke, hauling this stuff, I don't know how!!!!!

The classroom looks great, the kids are great, I feel great -- here's hoping for a successful school year all 'round.

One of my favourite "first week" activities to do with students of all ages is an MI survey.

In 1983, a psychologist by the name of Howard Gardiner wrote a book called Frames of Mind: The Theory of Multiple Intelligences.  (He has since published several related books, including MI, New Horizons in 2006.)  Gardiner believes that each person has many different types of intelligence, and that some are stronger than others. 

I like to begin the school year by having students take a short survey, then transfer their results onto a graph.  It's a nice intro to graphing, as well as being a great way to get the students thinking about the diversity of learners in our classroom and their own unique learning profiles within the context of the class.  We post the graphs on a bulletin board entitled "HOW are You Smart?", which makes a great visual for parent night in the fall.

One challenge I have found is how to do the MI survey with primary and/or ESL learners.  I have simplified the language in the original survey I had, however, it is still a little overwhelming for students beginning grade 3, I think.  So, this year I put the survey onto ppt, and hope to find a way to show it visually and read it out loud to my students.  They can transfer the results directly onto their graphs, then cut out their profiles.  (If I remember, I'll post a photo later next week of what this looks like when complete.)

Although the "kid-friendly" version of the MI quiz included above may not be perfect, it still offers a great way to introduce your students to the idea that people may be intelligent in different ways, further, that we all learn differently.

Google "Multiple Intelligences" for a host of alternate versions of the quiz and further info... Here are a few links to get you started:

Armstrong's Intro to DI
Sample Tests

Below is the graph onto which to transfer results.

If you are doing this with your class, I encourage YOU and your student teachers, TAs, or any other adults regularly in your room to participate as well.  It's important for children to see that we are ALL learners!