Begin

Our Class on NING

The year with students begins today.  I want to look into each child's eyes, hear each child's voice, answer student questions, make children comfortable and spark their curiosity.  How will I do that?

Look into Every Child's Eyes/Hear their Voices: I'll meet them at the door, shake their hands and welcome them by using their name, "Hi ___________, How are you?" and if they don't answer, I'll prompt a response. They'll also have the chance to write a letter telling me of their expectations and hopes for the year ahead.

Answer Student Questions: I'll tell them that I LOVE questions, and welcome questions.  I'll let the students know that they can ask questions by raising their hand, coming to me at a quiet time, emailing me, writing me a note or writing the question on our class social network.  I'll remind them that a true sign of intelligence is asking questions.

Make Children Comfortable: I'll show them my BIG eraser and ask them, "Why do you think I have such a BIG eraser?"  Eventually I'll admit that I have a BIG eraser because I make LOTS of MISTAKES, then I'll remind the students that mistakes are stepping stones to learning and I'll expect that we'll all make lots of mistakes as we climb the stairs of learning this year.

Photo Credit

Spark Curiosity: I'll invite the students to explore our classroom library that includes many, many wonderful books of all readability levels and genre.  We'll play a math game.  I'll review our classroom NING and I'll use questions to start our first interactive read aloud, The Gold Threaded Dress. I'm hoping that the time and effort I put into the classroom design will also spark their curiosity.

Now that the agenda is set, I'm off.  I wish all that read my blog a great day at school, and look forward to reading about your initial days too.

Learning Steps