What IS Important to Elementary Kids
The Daily Five Tip of the Week had a wonderful cover story this week. In it, Lori Sabo writes about the lasting impact Joan Moser had on a former first grader, recent high school graduate. In the end, the former student describes her current self through the books she loves.
Beyond the well-deserved thanks that Joan received I think is a far more important message to all who work with elementary students. What matters to elementary kids, what they will take away, is a love of learning.Clearly, Joan's former student learned to love to read, not from the rigor of the Common Core (which was not part of our educational landscape 12 year ago), but through the nurturing environment created within the walls of the classroom. That environment included coaching this student through some reading challenges, instilling a sense of confidence and independence, and creating a safe and relaxing physical space to learn.Planning for the upcoming year will inevitably include achievement data and plans for improvement. And there will be pressure to meet incredibly (ridiculously) rigorous curricula. But, hopefully, it will also include some serious thought given to what's important - really important - to elementary students. A place and a space in which to learn to love learning.
I did change the desk arrangements around, partly to accomodate a student in a wheelchair and with a wheelchair accessible desk and partly because I just don't want to give up on cooperative groupings of 3 or 4 students. I like grouping my students heterogeneously so that they can talk to each other when they are stuck, need help, don't remember what to do. As you can see from this shot, a large meeting area takes a good part of the classroom. It's important to me to get down on the floor on the same level with the students and this is one way I achieve that.At this time, there are minimal supplies on the students' desks. The empty red writing binder and 5 tab dividers, a word study
test book, a spiral notebook used as a math journal, crayons and a bookmark. Once my class list is fairly final -- on Monday during Staff Orientation -- I'll add a personalized materials. Working in urban schools for the last 20+ years has taught me to be cautious about personalizing materials until the students actually arrive in the classroom. Over the last week my class roster has fluctuated from 18 to 20 to 19 as students move around the district to another elementary school. Students will continue to enroll in the District through the week after Labor Day as not all parents will be familiar with the early start date.Melissa and I read through the cumlative folders and IEPs of the incoming students. It is good to think and plan ahead for these students: How can we adapt and change materials so that everyone feels successful? There are so many questions that need answers.As of today, the physical space is prepared. The first 3 days of plans have been sketched out, and I am as ready as I can be at the moment. Waiting for the first bell on Tuesday with lots of First Day Jitters.
Time Spent: 4 hoursThis morning I loaded up the Jetta with our new shop vac -- more power! -- and began cleaning up the dust from the floor replacement. Here's what was all over every surface, nook, and cranny of my classroom (even behind closed cupboards - this stuff goes everywhere).Cleanup meant first sucking all the dust with the shop vac and then wet mopping it with paper towels and cleaner -- sometimes twice. It was nasty stuff. The floor installers left some panels off and the floor vents took a major beating as well as one of the built in metal shelves. That'll all need fixing by the pros.By the end of the four hours, The room was cleaned up and all the decorating that I plan to do completed. We are a Responsive Classroom school and one of the things we do to build community is to decorate (reference charts, etc.) together. The only exception I made for myself this year is the alphabet chart. Due to a shoulder injury, I didn't take that down -- but if the students have some preferred spot, I will and with help put it up according to the consensus. So here are a couple of shots of the classroom configuration right now:Meeting Area Rug: The classroom library and a large bulletin board abut this area. I have put the easel at one corner (my coat clo
set and 2 storage closets are beyond that) and I keep the snapcubes for our math investigations in a crate under the easel. Also against the wall I have shelves that hold supplies for Writing Workshop (editing/revising pencils, forms, paper, art supplies), a listening center CD player, and a crate of cushions and 2 large beanbags.
Here's a second view from the front of the room. My desk area, 2 clipboard crates, and my collections baskets are to the right. The table barely visible in the foreground is a round table which I use for conducting small group reading or reading/writing conferences.My current thinking (I love that phrase!) is that I will have students keep all reading materials -- independent
book selections, reading binders and any small group materials in the recycled cardboard magazine files (why are the recycled? See the Leveled Library Organization Project) you see on the window shelf. I also will have students keep a reading supply bag in that box - highlighter, stickynotes (cutting a 1/2 pad of 3x2 notes should be enough), bookmark, pencil) - things that take time to locate when moving around the room for Reading Workshop. We create our own Reading Binders using floppy vinyl (red) binders and dividers (more on that later); I'm proud that my students have been very conscientious about taking care of the binders and with one or two exceptions, these are the very same binders I purchased new three years ago. Because there's a very important air flow vent built into the counter directly behind those boxes, I will lay masking tape to mark where the front of the box needs to line up. The blue space behind those boxes is where we generally put a word/vocabulary wall.
The front of the room looks the most bare at the moment. Usually on one end of the white board we record homework assignments and on the other we keep a magnetic chart tracking where students are in the writing process. I also hang a daily poster of our Reading Workshop Schedule at the front of the room. I do use an overhead a lot. Storing it at the end of the second reading/conference table and rolling it into position works for me. I have a rack of frequently used materials (Venn diagrams, blank story maps) on this table so that students can take them independently.When I moved from the Bailey School to the Lincoln School I was excited because of the shelves! The Lincoln was 
constructed one year after the Bailey and the architect apparently didn't think shelf units over the sink area would be all that useful. Luckily, when the Lincoln was constructed a revision was made and the shelves are well used! In fact, I wish there were more of them -- but then that would just encourage teachers like me to hold on to more STUFF. I have a rolling "art cart" in which I keep a minimal amount of construction paper and lots of composition and math paper. On top of that cart, I have a 24-section sorting file that is used as student mailboxes.
This final shot is a closeup of the coat/storage closet area. Over the first 2 doors are pocket folders from R
are gone! Bad news: the replacement required some serious sanding before the new tiles could be laid. Everything in my classroom is covered with a fine, white dust.The new floor, however, looks outstanding. No more wheezing - I hope!
Here's what the classroom looked like after being packed away for the summer and after the custodians removed and replaced all the furniture - including my 5 bookcases full of classroom library books. I don't envy them having to do this each summer.Yesterday was spent surveying what needs to be done so the room can be put back in order before students arrive on September 1. The dust is hopeless -- a wet towel just created cement and didn't really clean off the surfaces, so next trip back I'll bring my shop vac from home. I did manage to wipe down my desk, replace my desktop shelf unit and wipe down the bookshelves.I had left a map of where I wanted furniture replaced after the summ
er cleaning and Kevin, Delores and Mark did a great job of following my map! I'm still playing with the desk arrangements; however. I've always had students sit in cooperative groupings; the U-shape that I mapped just seems strange to me -- so I'll probably revisit the desk configurations. And I will have a student with a motorized wheelchair so I need to rethink the room spacing to accommodate.I'm hoping 2 days will be enough time to get all the classroom layout completed, computers reconnected and dusting completed.