It's June, and I'm finally linking up with Farley for Currently June:
I am currently taking a class every Wednesday from 3:00 until 6:00. The class deals with helping non-English speakers better access the curriculum. The class is required by the state of Massachusetts to renew your certification. Taking this class means less time for blogging which is unfortunate for me because I LOVE to blog so much.
The last day of school is Tuesday, June 24th, which will be a half day for students. Teachers are there all day cleaning up. This year I will be very sad to see my class move on to 4th grade because they're all such great kids. Even they've noticed how fast the year has gone by!
Now it's on to some positive thinking with Jennifer for:
I am currently taking a class every Wednesday from 3:00 until 6:00. The class deals with helping non-English speakers better access the curriculum. The class is required by the state of Massachusetts to renew your certification. Taking this class means less time for blogging which is unfortunate for me because I LOVE to blog so much.
The last day of school is Tuesday, June 24th, which will be a half day for students. Teachers are there all day cleaning up. This year I will be very sad to see my class move on to 4th grade because they're all such great kids. Even they've noticed how fast the year has gone by!
Now it's on to some positive thinking with Jennifer for:
I read these quotes in last Sunday's Boston Globe in the "Uncommon Knowledge" section by Kevin Lewis. He featured these insights:
In a commencement speech this year at the University of Texas at Austin, Admiral William McRaven noted the following lesson from his SEAL training: "If you make your bed every morning, you will have accomplished the first task of the day. It will give you a small sense of pride, and it will encourage you to do another task and another and another."
I made an immediate connection to this thought because I HAVE to make my bed because my mother always made me, and it's a habit - now I now it's a useful and beneficial habit. Now I know why I get so many tasks done during the day. Who knew making the bed was such a BIG deal?
Teachers, Take note: Consider a more minimalist look for your classroom. Researchers at Carnegie Mellon University found that when kindergarten students were taught in a classroom with decoration on the wall - posters, maps, artwork -...they were more distracted and, as a result, performed worse on subsequent tests of the learning material, compared to the students taught in an undecorated classroom.
When we moved to our new school three years ago, we were told not to use Scotch tape on the walls. Well, that means less decorations so maybe less is more, after all.
Tomorrow is Friday! This week sure flew by!
Such interesting quotes! I've always been an advocate of making the bed. I wonder about the kindergarten quote though. What does that say about anchor charts? I've heard too much color can be a distraction to ADHD kids, but I've never heard that tidbit about kindergarten rooms. Interesting!
ReplyDeleteJennifer
Mrs. Laffin's Laughings
I was just reading a FB post from a newspaper that spoke about too much on the walls in classrooms as a distraction. The article was mainly talking about all the "fluff" that we are all or have been guilty of using in the classroom. I know that in my seventeen years teaching, my philosophy of what goes on the wall has changed. I post anchor charts that the students and I have created during our mini-lessons whether they be rules from the classroom or concept related. The cute stuff is minimum and not much "fluff". I know that the items on the wall are meaningful especially when I move them or put something over them and students are walking over to lift up the chart or asking where did that go? My goal is for students to also create mini-anchor charts for their notebooks as reference and to create a class notebook with pictures of the anchor charts for the students to use.
ReplyDeleteWow! June 24th! We added some days for snow days, but that's later than us! I've never heard that before about making the bed. I hate making the bed, but my husband does it. I think his mother trained him. :) I really like the colors of your blog. So pretty!
ReplyDeleteSusan, I once worked in a classroom ...years and years ago that had NOTHING but the minimal. As a student teacher, I was told not to wear jewelry or earrings because "a study" said it distracted children. I have come to learn that a classroom should be a warm and welcoming place-as place where children and adults would want to spend some time. True story, just last week, I had a student from another class say to me "Your classroom looks like so much fun!". A few weeks ago I put a vertical / horizontal sign over a doorway. The children were not in the room for 5 mins. before they noticed....and learned! I guess after 35 plus years of teaching the words "a study" makes me laugh. The only clutter stuff I say that is not a great thing, is stacks and stacks of papers. I feel that when children look around a classroom and think " I wonder....." they begin to think and that is where learning starts. Just my two cents. BTW your classroom always makes me wonder..."what if I did...."
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