girl problems

We be havin' 'em.
Plenty of 'em, too.
Aside from enlisting the help of our guidance counselor, Information Literacy teacher, specialist teachers, and our principal, we've been working really hard in class on learning to understand one another.
Communication.
Empathy.
Problem-solving.

As frustrating as it has all been, now that we're knee-deep in our social learning, it's been pretty interesting!

We started with this essential question, a part of our year-long Learning to Learn unit:

How can I contribute to a learning community?

The kids did some personal reflection, and we shared what it should look like, sound like, and feel like in our grade 3 classroom.
Of course, they gave all the traditional answers, all the ones that we, as teachers, want to hear.
These are now our "Guidelines to Happiness" and are posted in the room.
Naturally, that wasn't enough.

We followed up with this:

The kids got themselves together in small groups and brainstormed problems that they have. (The pictures of their work beside are to make their responses visible). 

This was great, because there was a range of them!

So we discussed.

Next, groups chose one problem to dramatize (but with no solution).

As a class, we discussed potential solutions, and kept a running list:

During those discussions, the kids kept talking about how they would feel if it happened to them, or similar experiences they've had, which lead to a mini-inquiry into the word empathy.

They paired up to figure out what it means, thought up some examples, and presented their findings informally with other pairs.

It was a tangent, but a good one, and we'll revisit it next week with some scenarios.

(Isn't that what inquiry learning is about?)

Then, more personal reflection...

Kids wrote in their notebooks to complete this sentence frame: 

I can help others solve their problems because I

Now this was awesome because they were really able to dig a bit deeper, having spent so much time focused on potential problems.

We put on calm.com to set the tone in the room.

Students shared if they were feeling brave.

Then, we made a list together of the skills and qualities that problem-solvers have as they came up during sharing. 

I printed them quickly and the kids signed up as experts in those areas:

Now, if someone is having a problem in our class, they now go to the expert sign-up list and see who might be able to help them.

They actually do this, yes. It's brilliant.

So far this has been a focus in our classroom for the last month.

With the support of my so-fantastic colleagues, girl problems are definitely less!

A few free things and more conflict resolution

Wow - busy week! Those two surprise days off last week have made for a lot of catch-up. We have talked an awful lot in grade two about how to be an effective problem solver...
We started talking about ways to deal with conflicts using the anchor chart. We did some simple writing and a mirror activity for this to help students internalize the steps. We are also helping the little minds understand what to do when by sorting "teacher-sized" and "kid-sized" problems {much like big problems vs. small problems}. We talked about various scenarios where students should Definitely tell the teacher {when someone is hurt or doing something that could get them hurt} and where kids can deal with it on their own {like pushing in the line up}. I got this idea from A Teacher on a Mission; just adapted it for my own room. My class sorted these problems in a T-Chart for a hallway bulletin board. {I realize this is not a fantastic display, but let's all try to focus on the content... I had to very suddenly fill a lesson!}

Now when a kid comes to "tattle" or talk about a small problem, I simply have to ask if it is a teacher-sized or a kid-sized problem. It's working and working so well! Click the picture to grab the T-chart materials I put together if you're interested:

We have moved on to Bucket Fillers and I love love love it. Some of my kids are still trying to wrap their heads around how caring can be shown in intangible ways, but they are doing a great job!

In Math we've been learning about Place Value. Every day we do a simple activity using this place value mat:

Looking to use this in your room? It's on my TpT so feel free to download!

I'll leave you with a cute little shot of Daily 5 Read With Someone {I changed it from "to" to "with" because I think it speaks more to buddy reading...}. It was costume day! Have I mentioned I love the Daily Five in my room? So love it.

Almost holiday time.... :)

- Amanda

Talking about solving problems

This is a tough topic for some little friends. Am I right? Really, it's no surprise - they are still learning to recognize, process, and understand their own emotions. I've found (in my 1.1 years of teaching - ha!) that children really need to be taught skills to solve problems with their peers. I had a lot of hands-on last year, a lot of tattling, a lot of miscommunication, a lot of misunderstandings, and a lot of emotional outbursts among my students. I took quite a few Social Studies periods to teach about problem solving. It started to work. Phew! Saved me. So this year, I have a plan to teach these steps - before the problems start. I hope to have my students follow a four-step plan:
1. Think - Is this a big problem or a small problem?
2. Say - "I do not like that because...." or "Please stop."
3. Ignore
4. Ask - a friend or a teacher for help.
If you're interested in this model, I made titles to create an anchor chart with my group. You can grab it here:

How do you teach problem solving in your class? I'm all ears for new ideas. This week we're doing a fun little activity using our clip chart to help students understand the types of behaviours that are expected at the top of the chart, and those that may get you placed near the bottom... I'm looking forward to it! Photos and credit to come.

And a small peek at my Saturday: 

A new year means a new batch of my scratch cards must be made. I'm looking forward to giving the first one of these out!

- Amanda