Hour Of Code with My Kinders

As I'm sure many of you have heard this week educators are bringing an international focus to coding. Now when I hear about things like this, I usually write them off-how can I do this with my little ones? But after playing with some sites I saw that it really isn't a complicated concept to teach.

This video shows the importance of kids at least knowing what coding is:

There are tons of resources out there, we used the ones from http://code.org/ today.

I introduced the games they had whole group. They had one with Elsa in it, so it wasn't too hard to get them on board. They told her to step forward, to turn right, etc. in order to make a design. The puzzles got more challenging as we went along.

Then I had them partner up and write a code for their classmate to follow. They used arrows to make a path through the room to lead them to a destination.

I learned a few things today: 1) coding is not as challenging a concept as I once thought 2) Kinders can do anything!

We will continue different games throughout the week to drive the importance home. It was funny, one of the videos we watched talked about how literally millions of high-salary jobs will go unfilled because we are not teaching this to our kids. And one of my students asked "do people who do this make more than doctors?". Priorities! :)

The Many Faces of Me

We did self-portraits the first few weeks of school and I wanted to revisit those with the kids. Originally they wrote things about themselves like "I am pretty"--which was fine, but I wanted them to expand those thoughts a bit and write about the different ways they can feel. I took pictures of them with all sorts of different expressions-some were really playful with it. I felt like Tyra Banks for a minute asking them to give me a happy pose, sad, mad, surprised and my favorite---rock star! They took those pictures, glued them to a big sheet of paper and then wrote about the different ways they often feel. Then I asked them to make a border around the outside to give their projects a little more panache!

Here are a few examples to show you  :).

I can be super-crazy.
I can be the rock-and-roll girl.

I can be super happy.

I can be shy.

I can be shy when I come to school.

I can be sad when I come to school.

I am happy when I do not go to school.

I can be silly when I get my way.

I am sad because my  mom don't give me my toy.

I can be happy.

I feel mad sometimes when someone hits me.

I can be happy when it is not raining.

I feel silly when I am with my friends.

Papa Is A Poet

One of my favorite poets is Robert Frost. I know that's a cliched choice, but I really love so many of his poems. I think he uses very simple words to create very deep meaning. I came across this book and thought it would be a great way to reinforce biographies with my kiddos.

This is my Papa (with Ruby pretending to be a lapdog--she adores him!)

Now don't get me wrong, of course I love my father, however he was a graduate of Virginia Tech with an engineering degree. I can tell you right now living with him as someone much more comfortable in reading classes than math was not always fun. He'd give you probability problems to earn your dinner. Homework help from Dad was a punishment. He'd show you 8 different ways to solve for x until you were thoroughly confused. And never could understand why you couldn't get it--the problem is just so easy.

I think it would have been interesting to have a poet for a father. According to the story lots of time was spent observing nature and playing with words. Certainly a different way to grow up! So I asked my kids to write about what it would be like to grow up with a poet for a father, here's what they came up with:

My Dad always takes off when I have vacation,  if my Dad was a poet my Dad wouldn't be able to stay with me.

I would thank him for that. (love the detail of the little sign on the house saying 'poet place')

My house would have a poet office and my Dad will always have to work 24 hours.

I would ask to put poems on the house.

It would be a different life for me.

He would be smart and he writes books.

The Importance of Prior Knowledge

So we are really emphasizing test prep this week (and yes, I hate that those words are coming out of my fingers!)--our standardized testing will take place all next week. Our administrators purchase practice tests that we've been using. I think they are a little outdated, here's one of the questions from the practice test booklet:

I think this is a perfect example of how prior knowledge could be the sole reason a child understands a concept. Not only did my kiddos not know what a walkman was, but when I explained that it was a device where you could listen to cassettes, the next inevitable question was "what's a cassette?". Could they use strategies and figure out the answer, possibly. I can tell you right now, most of them chose the stereo system-something they may have actually seen before. We also had a question asking them to identify the snowsuit which living in Texas they definitely have no prior experience with. 

So I'm in a meeting today where we are talking about next week's Hour of Code. I was very hesitant to commit to doing activities with this in my classroom because I know very little about it. I see the blog and Twitter posts, I know it's happening, but I couldn't envision how I would do it. Well, our speaker is talking about how one little mistake in the code could mess up a program and I have a bit of an epiphany!

I was a teenager in the 80's when personal computers were just really starting to get popular. We had a TRS-80 and a book of programs where we would type a list of like 100 commands and then we could play hangman or checkers. I was coding before it was even the new trend, who knew! So now that I've made that connection, I'm much more confident in going ahead and trying to explain it to my students.

It's those connections to your own experiences that can really bring learning for us!

Kindness Elves

So I came across this idea on Twitter and had to try it with my kiddos!

http://theimaginationtree.com/2013/11/alternative-elf-on-shelf-tradition-kindness-elf-kindness-elves.html

I know a lot of teachers do Elf on the Shelf, but that is just not for me. I have a very diverse class and feel like I'm leaving out those children who don't actually celebrate Christmas. Not to mention I've heard more than one child call the whole process "creepy". :)

I took one of our "buddies"-stuffed animals the kids can take home when they've had a spectacular day, and put a note explaining something they can do in the kindness realm for people today. Already they were talking about how it looked like my handwriting, so tomorrow I'm writing in cursive! But I do think it's a fun way to incorporate ways to be kind this season. After watching all the footage of people out there on Black Friday, I think we could use more of that!

Compliment someone today.

Speaking of kind acts, during a book club that I do after school some of the kids decided to write this note for me with the dry erase markers they were supposed to be using to write titles. I had to laugh:

I 'heart' you from the bottom of my heart and will never forget you, even if you get fired! :)

Ah, kids! Gotta love 'em!

Off To See The Wizard

We have been reading the Wizard of Oz, a chapter or so a day for over a month now. We are at the part where Oz admits he is a humbug and a phony. I asked the kids to write about what they would ask for if they went to see the Wizard--they came up with quite the variety of answers!

superpowers-laser eyes

My favorite answer! Not sure where that came from! :)

for food I am thankful

crayons and pencils because I can write.

Blocks for building

a jewel to compete the necklace and bracelet

Wings please so I can fly

a dishwasher

a unicorn that people could ride when they couldn't walk

A festival like Diwali

Send me back to the beach with Mom and Dad

Thanksgiving Poems

Many of my students are still at the stage of sounding out their words to write. Others are still trying to make that connection between the sounds they know and letters they are writing. However, the progress that they've made already this year is just HUGE! I typed the translations in the corner because I put these together in a class book that they could share with their parents.

What we did was name a food or something Thanksgiving-y and then put an adjective in front of it. I also asked for a title and a summary sentence at the end. Here's what they came up with:

Turkey Big Turkey

Squishy potatoes

fat turkey

happy family 

good toast

yummy chicken

red table

Turkey is good food for you.

                                     
                                                                  Tree for Thanksgiving
                                                                       soft chicken breast
                                                                      mashed potatoes is good
                                                                      macaroni crunchy
                                                                      green beans
                                                                     sweet corn
                                                                      quiet family
                                                                Good Thanksgiving!

Thanksgiving Dinner

Family food

Yummy yogurt

Turkey tabouli

Spaghetti soup

People poor

Tasty milk

Thanksgiving is Beautiful!

The Big Thanksgiving

Healthy turkey

Brown chicken

Chicken breast

Yummy corn

Camel flakes

Chicken corn

Yummy Thanksgiving.

Turkey Day

Good food

Sweet potatoes

Shell macaroni

White potatoes

Happy family

Cold ice cream

Thanksgiving Makes Me Happy!

Funny mom

warm meat

healthy chicken

Green peas

Sweet family

Happy dinner

Happy Thanksgiving!

Thanksgiving

Yummy turkey

juicy apples

happy family

pepperoni pizza

yellow bananas

chocolate cake

I feel happy!

The Thanksgiving Feast

Pork chops potatoes

Banana bread

Turkey leg

Green beans

Delicious fish

Brown beans

My family likes turkey.

The Chicken Soup

Yummy gumbo

crumbly cornbread

red lobster

pinchy crawfish

smooth shrimp

cooking mom

My family loves food!

Thanksgiving

Delicious turkey

squishy potatoes

yummy chicken

gooey macaroni

surprised mom

normal dad

Happy Thanksgiving!

My Thanksgiving Dinner

Soft mashed potatoes

yummy turkey

salty soup

cheesy lasagna

watery water

yellow mac and cheese

I eat my Thanksgiving Dinner!

Thanksgiving Turkey

fat turkey

yummy potatoes

yellow corn

cuckoo family

cheesy bread

orange macaroni

Happy Thanksgiving

Ice Cream

Chicken nugget

good rice

good fries

good burgers

nice mom

nice dad

Thanksgiving is good.

Thanksgiving

brown chicken

yellow corn

ice cream

loud family

I am happy.

The Nice Thanksgiving Feast

Yummy spaghetti

slimy fish

green beans

spongy bread

hot corn

orange potatoes

I love Thanksgiving.

Thanksgiving Day

Turkey fun

yummy turkey

mashed potatoes is good

Yazz sad

good chicken

yummy chicken

good ham

Thanksgiving Flowers

talking family

white chicken
orange juice

turkey dress

colorful mom

hard working dad

I am excited of Thanksgiving.

Thanksgiving

McDonald's breakfast

cheese macaroni

cold sandwiches

ice cream desset

cold water

good mom

Good Thanksgiving

Good Dinner

hard turkey

soft potatoes

wet gravy

yellow corn

nice family

good cake

pretty clothes

A Thanksgiving Table

Hope everyone is having a wonderful holiday! :)