Students will acquire skills to become independent readers, writers, speakers, and listeners.

Conversation Journals and Daily 5

Each morning begins with a an entry in a conversation journal and read-to-self or read-with-someone. This time is also when students can “shop” the classroom library for new books. Creating a space in the classroom writing and reading is valued is incredibly important and helps produce productive, highly engaged students who are developing a love of literacy.  Students work on independence, stamina, and accountability when participating in Daily 5 and completing their journal entries. Most days, we have an interactive read aloud and/or shared reading, where we work on developing our reading comprehension.  Comprehension strategies, including inferencing and visualizing, are introduced and practiced with students as a group, in turn-and-talk partners, and independently.  This dedicated time helps students grow into independent readers with a love for reading.

Intervention and Guided Reading Group

Intervention, at least in my group, was effective in allowing my students to gain independence over their own reading and conversations about books. As the year progressed we moved away from a rigid structure and lessons involving word work and more towards a book club style. Students in third grade read books in clubs where each student has a specific job for each chapter and there is a general focus. Students then lead their own discussions about what they focused on in a chapter or section of a book while teachers mediate but minimally. By gradually releasing control to my students, they thrived and took ownership over their learning. We got the chance to read a few readers’ theater plays, discuss numerous chapter books, and push my students to improve their reading fluency and comprehension to a point where they reached a level P, or the ceiling for second grade. 

Students will work collaboratively and independently across all areas of the curriculum.

Migration and Culture Unit

Students explored culture in a collaborative research-oriented way. First, students defined cultural elements and worked in teams of three and four to find those elements within literature. They had to use their abilities to use one another to find lots of examples for each element within their own assigned text. To conclude the unit, students must work with small groups of three and four again to familiarize themselves with one aspect of one of the dominant cultures in our class. After completion of their own research, they had to share out and work together to share information, again they must communicate clearly, take turns, and spread ideas. In these two lessons, it was clear how collaboration and research coexist. On the other hand, in the introductory lesson, about the Statue of Liberty, and the lesson about migration and their reasoning, students mostly participated in read alouds and worked independently in the activities that followed. This unit embodied how students abilities to understand can and should be focused around collaboration and independent work. 

Engineering Unit

Students worked in partnerships to work through the Engineering Design Process an create a strong, sturdy bridge to hold many pennies. As a class, we thought about the expectations for engineering, which revolved around group work effectiveness. This allowed students to use their problem-solving skills together, using each other as resources and learning tools. Students shared ideas verbally, listened to their peers, and created one model to represent their team. Students were also responsible for completing their own Engineering packets. Both partners must have completed designs with labels, charts, and reflections, placing value on writing independently as well as collaborating verbally. This unit pushed them to truly engage in powerful group work while at the same time having an independent work component.

Students will engage with the curriculum in a meaningful and authentic way.

Migration and Culture Unit

During this unit, our class aimed to embrace, be proud of, and share the cultures represented and experiences had in our classroom. We used culturally relevant texts and authentic cultural elements, provided by the students and their families in the interviews, to engage in deep conversations about different cultures. It was through the interviews/surveys we were able to explore relevant cultures in a genuine, accurate, and respectful way in our class. This unit was designed for students to engage in meaningful and empowering learning, through which they were able to feel proud of their heritage and who they are as individuals.

Students also acted as researcher, embodying the core practices and skills in social studies. Students worked in teams, found evidence and examples, and shared their findings with the group. By beginning to examine culture and migration as a linked topic, students begin to lay the foundation for anthropology and cultural awareness. 

Math Unit

Although this unit did not come to fruition in the expected ways, I attempted to bring meaningful and authentic learning to our math block through the extended meetings. Students would act as mathematicians through the rich online materials and games. They would build their number sense, reasoning, abilities to find patterns, and more. By allowing students to work in smaller groups and give more specified attention, students would make significant growth not only in their mathematical understandings, but in their self-confidence and image of themselves. This unit was built to increase our students’ successes in math, make classroom management easier, but also to show students that each of them is capable of understanding complex math and can accomplish any task in front of them by applying problem solving skills and showing perseverance. 

Students will make connections, both personal and across disciplines, to the curriculum. 

Migration and Culture Unit

When students have authentic representation, personal connections are more than likely to appear. By including accurate and appropriate examples of student’s cultures in the literature and activities, students had an opportunity to teach me and their peers more about their lives and experiences. They could connect the ideas of culture to their own lives at home. Almost every single student showed multiple personal connections throughout this unit. This was important for students to realize that social studies and history are a part of their story and lives. It also made it obvious that we can all learn from each other when we learn about each other. This unit also brought our class community closer and had students curious about the individuals in their own classroom and their similarities and differences. 

Engineering Unit

In this unit, students made multiple connections to prior experiences, other lessons, sometimes in other classrooms, and across subjects, Before I implemented the first lesson, students had been acting as engineers both inside our classroom and in the STEM class. They had worked on the Project Lead the Way unit with Jen and they had worked on engineering with Madi Carleton in the STEM room once a week as a special. They had also read all three of the books, Rosie Revere, Engineer, Iggy Peck, Architect, and Ada Twist, Scientist all by Andrea Beaty. Students had also more than likely had engineering in first grade and kindergarten as well. This allowed them to make connections to all these previous experiences during our bridge building project. Students compared their bridges to beanstalks, houses, and boats they had previously worked on. They compared their failures to those of Rosie, Iggy, and Ada, and knew that perseverance and creativity would be necessary to find a solution. It was through this rich background that students could make those connections to other engineering units and literature. This deepened their overall understanding and thus made the project more engaging and meaningful for their learning.