Happy New Year

January 2016 was rough for me. Coming back to work after maternity leave is always rough... Not knowing where you'll be next year makes it even rougher... For once in my life, the support of my family & friends wasn't enough and I had to seek help from a counselor. Even then, I suffered from my first panic attacks and swinging emotions. It is so hard to stay motivated and positive when you are so disheartened... and I found out how strong & how fragile I am. In some ways, I wish 2016 hadn't happened but, it has built me stronger and honed my focus.

2017 will be transitional year for me. I look to the Pope, the Dalai Lama, and oddly Frank Raegan from Blue Bloods. Stay positive. Find solutions. Rise above the fray. Most of all I will be a voice to the voiceless. I will make sure that I am heard and a part of these difficult conversations that will be coming up. I am ready now, so thank you 2016.

A VERY 3rd Grade Christmas Play

What happens when you let 3rd graders write a Christmas Play?

I had originally planned us to just do a musical number, but the students asked if they could write their own play. They have been obsessed with plays since we did Daedalus the first week. 

We started by each picking a character. There were a lot of changes. One went from Mrs. Claus to a Baker Man to a Baker Woman. Another went from Elf to Santa. Another went from a tree to a gingerbread girl... 

We drafted a story with no real direction. As students changed characters and lines over the weeks, we did draft after draft... Finally, we got some semblance of a story. A Baker with 2 daughters bakes a gingerbread that comes to life. The Elves see the gingerbread girl and try to decide if it should be on the naughty or nice list. After interrogating the gingerbread girl (in the most 3rd grade way possible: by asking a series of multiplication facts "Whats 16 times 2?" and asking her to write in cursive "The elves cant write in cursive because they didn't go to school" ) They determine that since she eats gingerbread, she is a cannibal and therefore a monster and should be placed on the naughty list. At the end, the silent snowman moves which prompts the elves to now wonder if they will have to decide if the snowman now goes on the naughty or nice list. Santa declares No, so they sing a silly song instead. The song was Jingle Bells, Batman smells and they wrote their own second verse which was "Jingle Bells, Tattle Tales. Santa ran away. The elves ran home and reindeers roamed and they said have a good day. hey!" 

Its'a very 3rd grade christmas tale! 

Reindeer Wonderings

Why are they called Reindeer? 

We were practicing spelling christmas words like tinsel, christmas, and snowflake when a student asked why its "reindeer" and not "raindeer" 

A quick google search showed that there are two main theories: 

1) It comes from the old norse word "Hreinh" which means horn. 

2) You use reins for domesticated deer on sleighs opposed to wild deer. 

They liked that second theory: 

-One student wondered if Santa might use "ReinZebras" in Africa. 

-Another student mused about calling SledDogs "ReinDogs" instead... 

Winter Wear in the Arctic

We hit -50 this week.

You couldn't really tell from my classroom. All the girls were in tank tops. LOL 

Some of the students have also been coming into class wearing these gorgeous "canvas boots" This pair had the most amazing beadwork! I need to get myself a pair! Just exquisite! The boys will often have ones with green and blue beading. I'm glad that they dont think that flower designs are "girly."  I make sure to compliment them every time I see them. This is unique and they need to feel pride in these things because if they are to step out of this community, these objects would be unfamiliar to a passerbyer. 

Feeling comfortable with their unique background and their clothes is important. 

Holiday Celebration

The students decided that the STAR at the top of the christmas tree should be our STAR rules for reading (Sit up, Track with finger, Answer on cue, Respect other) 

Religion has a tendency to come up during the holidays. I've done my best to expose my students to all religions. This week we talked about the story of Christmas, the story of Hannukah, St Lucia in Sweeden, Saint Nikolas who became Sainter Klaus who became "Santa Claus". These stories are important, they are history. You dont have to listen to just one. This lead to some great questions like "What is Yule?" "Where did Rudolph come from?"

During reading, some of the kids were still curious and discovered that Epic had some great Hannukah Stories. They found out about Latkes and Jelly donuts are eaten, I told them we could make Latkes later since they thought they sounded good.

I asked my students if I should let my babies believe in Santa Claus. They overwhelmingly said yes, even my student who didn't grow up with him.

We play christmas music with lyrics so they can practice reading to help them with a spelling word scramble. We talked also created a "Naughty" and "Nice" list for the books we read this year. (Island of Dr Libris, Flora & Ulysses, Malala, 13 story tree house, 11 birthdays, Miniature world of Marvin & James, Pax, Dory Phantasmagory...) They were unsure which one the Sharkodile should be on since he was naughty but also nice...

They have been writing their own Christmas Play for the show next week entitled the Naughty & Nice list. It should be very interesting how it turns out. They came up with the plot, characters, and dialogue. One student decided to change characters, so now we have to re-write it.

Teaching another class to @getkahoot!

My students are able to do the math, but they struggle with dissecting the word problems. Our last unit chapter had us writing Multiplication problems. They did not like to do it because it was tedious. So the next day, when the unit was on writing Division Problems, I told them we would make a kahoot with their problems.

Suddenly, the engagement was through the roof. We finished the Kahoot and then played it as a class. Afterwards, they wanted to invite the 2nd grade to come play it. I told them that multiplication & division would be hard for them, but that we might invite the 4/5 graders. So we did!

4th Grade had not done a Kahoot before so each of my 3rd graders paired up with a 4th grader to show them how to sign-in. They then worked in pairs to solve the word problems. It was so much fun and great review for all of them. 

N made medals for the 1st, 2nd, & 3rd Place winners. 

Great way for another teacher to see Kahoot in action. It's such a great tool! 

Role Models

Sometimes its hard to fathom that there is someone always watching. I can see myself reflected in my two-year old. I never realized how much I say "ok" when I am stressed until he started doing it. To most people, ok mean yes. Its an affirmation. I say "ok" as a way to reassure myself that things will be ok. He learned that word from me in that context. So now whenever he gets frustrated, he says "ok ok ok" It helps me know that how he is feeling.

We model respect of student's ideas, failing forward, fairness & justice, and if we have done it right. We'll find it reflected back at us:

One of my students wrote a nice note about our snow trip yesterday: We all had fun (play in snow) even the second grade. From T. 

- The students will correct me if I mispronounce something during reading, which I do sometimes. Its only fair, since I do the same.
-When we can't agree on something, the students will call for a vote and respect the outcome of the majority.
-When its time for them to select something, we will use the "wheel of destiny" to determine who gets to pick the book or the role first.
-We talk about problems and solutions. They take an active role instead of me giving directives. Sometimes we think up consequences (like jumping jacks for getting a wrong answer or forgetting to put up your chair at the end of the day) or sometimes we think outside the box. We had several students keep losing their pencils. We were trying to brainstorm how to make it so that it didn't happen anymore. One student decided to bring in 24 extra pencils, so that we had an extra pencil jar for anyone who might have misplaced theirs.

They didn't want to do the Christmas Play that I was planning on doing for the show and decided that they wanted to write their own. They each picked a role that they wanted to do and helped craft the dialogue. This ensures that they will be doing something that THEY want to do. As a teacher, I have learned to let go of what I want to do and help them achieve something with a similar outcome that they want to do. And it is way better than what I had originally planned. They actively creating their own costumes and sets and writing dialogue. They have ownership. I can't  wait to see it.

They give back what we give them... Its an important fact. If you just demand compliance, that is all you will get. Give them autonomy and they will surprise you.

#PBJHCE2016

Its the annual (Projects by Jen) Holiday Card Exchange! We were put in a group with 30 other classrooms. We were busy making cards to send out and in exchange, they will send us ones too!

We also did our first global mystery skype with a class in Australia. It is amazing how you have to use different problem solving skills for international vs domestic vs alaska only. 

They asked if the bordered the Atlantic, if they were North of the Equator, if they were Africa, If they were an Island, and then if they were AUSTRALIA. They were. 

I was worried the accents would be a giveaway, but my students thought they were in Ireland! LOL We showed them the snow, our sleds, and that it was -25!

We had a sled day on the playground, which was fun. At -25, the snow is powdery not watery. Way different texture, but still so much fun!

Legal Dramatic Play

"Objection" "I rest my case" I was amazed how much law lingo the students already had in their schema.

One of my student's father is the local magistrate. We were reading about patent attorneys & inventors, so we went down the local court house to settle a "patent civil case"

Two students played patent attorneys. Two played inventors claiming the invention. Two were witnesses. One was the judge and one was the court clerk.  They were given a general outline for the court case and they each prepared statements and ad-libbed questions. "Are you lying?" One attorney even prepared video evidence which was shown as "Exhibit A" 

The witness being sworn in by the clerk. The students were curious what happens if someone does lie in court. We were told that was called "Purjury" and that you can get in trouble by it. 

They also asked some great questions "Is it hard to make a decision?" "Are people sometimes sad?" 

It was an awesome real world experience. 

Life Below Zero

We hit -25 on Sunday. The cold is biting. When you open the door to the outside, you get lots of steam where the warm and cold air hit. My lunch froze when I put it down for a second on the way to the bus. Icicles formed on the inside of the windows.

Strangely with the wood stove and furnace, our main problem is being too warm. We wake up dehydrated and are constantly drinking cups of water.

It is also beautiful. There is no wind. In the early morning, the snow twinkles on the ground like little diamonds and as stated before: every sunrise and sunset is gorgeous. We are only getting about 6 hours of sunlight. By 9am, its starting to sunrise and 3pm, its sunset. This means as the students are getting ready to go home, it is gorgeous.

You do start to get cabin fever though. We had a birthday party for James this week and Thanksgiving is next week. Good to have some variety to the routine. We will be happy to visit Washington for Christmas Break.

It really makes you wonder how the Alaska Natives survived this back in the day. Would be so interesting to examine the history and cultural artifacts that were used!

Public Vs. Private Education

I realized today that I dont understand teaching in a Public School setting because I didn't get the American Public School experience. I grew up attending mostly private schools and international schools. I have no real frame of reference for what the classroom is "supposed to look like", that's why I'm so easily swayed by alternative methods.

My baby turned 1 yesterday. My toddler will be 3 and will be able to attend Headstart next year, so this realization really hit home:

1) I had privilege. I never understood that till right now. The people I interacted with, the experiences that I had is not what the average person has. I had teachers who were flexible, I wasn't just part of a huddled mass: I had a voice, I had an identity. I was held to high standards with a dress code & strict codes of conduct. Even now comparing how I speak, write, and spell compared to my husband astounds me.

2) What do I want for my kids? I am now terrified at the prospect of sending my kids to Public School.  My husband went to public school and we have different world views, which I value. I am idealistic and forward thinking, but he is grounded in a bit more cynicism and reality. I see things how they should be and he sees them how they are... and that's a terrifying realization of how our country has become divided.

How can I ensure that my kids get this diverse worldview that I have? Is there a way to transform public education to become more like private education?

Do you do it from the ground up? Leading as a teacher in a classroom...
Do you do it from the top down? As a Superintendent or Principal implementing policies across multiple classrooms...
Do you have to change the law? Write to the legislators to implement the needed changes...
Do you have to change the curriculum? Write & research as a professor at a University...

As this first semester of second year teaching at public school ends, I find myself with a lot of big questions..

Dash & Dot

My DonorChoose Project got funded and so our Dash & Dot coding robots arrived in the classroom. The students were SO excited. It was like Christmas. 

We encountered a small problem. Our ipads could not connect to the robots via bluetooth to be able to code them :( But our tech guy said that the ipads in the second grade classroom could! He would switch them out later this week. We have the xylophone (so they can create music) and the lego, bulldozer, and tray accessories. I can't wait to keep you posted on what creative things the students will do with them! 

Thankful...

We read some Thanksgiving poems this week. We wrote an example together on the smartboard and then I gave the students dry erase markers to draft their poem on their desk before writing it out on paper. 

The Second Grade teacher suggested the dry erase markers. The students are more willing to do drafts with the markers. (We have also used them to drafting stories and doing math problems.)  

I LOVE this poem & illustration. I love to read and I love the fishing analogy. 

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The 6th Grade class did a Thanksgiving play, so they invited us to go to it. 

They did a great job. So great to come together as a K-6. :) 

Connecting Class with Kahoot

We finished reading Pax for the global read aloud. We did a Kahoot Quiz between three classes. 

We also had some survey questions to figure out which of the characters was our favorite and how we felt about the ending! There were 36 students total participating between 3 classes. A little girl in the Illinois class ended up with the highest score. 

We had been tweeting once a week for the last month with these two classes (in Illinois and Florida), so this was a fun way to end the end. The class in Florida is reading Flora & Ulysses too, so we will likely re-connect with them again later in the year. 

I gave my students access to make their own Kahoot this week, so they have been working hard making their own quizzes. I have been really impressed. The best way to learn is to teach, right? :) I have been writing word problems like this to help the students understand HOW to understand what the question is asking. Seeing the student's Kahoot made me realize how successful this actually was. 

We have had some great connections with other classes. Here is our map board with the 4 letters we have received. We are doing the Holiday Card Exchange, so we should have more in the near future! 

Open-ended projects are just the best! This week, we participated in the #marshmallowchallenge. The students were given 10 sticks of spaghetti, 1 yard of tape, 1 yard of yarn, and one marshmallow. They were supposed to make a free-standing tower with a marshmallow on top. (https://docs.google.com/document/d/16PHez0zQJl0FKUHyQJvQu8TXeMpAGnF-4iBofRqVBds/edit)

It was interesting. We had just studied Native Americans who live in the plains, so there was plenty of references of how to make it stand like a "teepee" 

Most concentrated on getting the "tallest," but one group wanted it to "be able to stand up" first. We mysteryskyped with another class in Michigan who shared their towers. 

Afterwards, I put out more spaghetti, tape, and string so the students could attempt a second tower. They learned from their errors on the first tower. It really is incredible the difference between the 1st towers and the second towers.  

And by Friday.... They had really gotten complicated! 

#marshmallowchallenge

3rd Graders thoughts on the Electoral College

We compared the election results to our class election. We talked about how it was important that rules were stated at the beginning and that if you wanted to change the rules, you would have to do it afterwards. Clinton may have gotten more votes, but Trump "stacked more states" (An ipad game the students really like) We can't change that rule for this election (They tried to color all the red states blue) but if we think the rule needs to be changed, we can try to get it for the next election. 

I had asked if they wanted it to just be a 3rd grade vote or a 2nd grade vote. They agreed to let the 2nd graders vote too. T won the election with 13 votes to J's 12. I proposed the question if J had actually gotten more 3rd Grade votes, should she have won the election instead? J thought so because it was "just for 3rd Grade President not President of 3rd and 2nd Grade" and said "we should have a recount" 

My students decided that they should let the whole school vote (The 4/5th Graders had also done an election for Kid President of their class. They opened up voting to the entire community and had all 14 students run.) and then each candidate would get to "stack the grades" and the candidate who stacked more of the grades should win. Why? The felt it was "more better the more people who were voting" 

K, who ran one of the polling stations revealed that she was too busy working and that she had forgotten to vote, but it wouldn't have made a difference because her vote would have gone to T.  We chatted about how a lot of people didn't want to vote because they didn't like either person. "Well its not fair because we can't even vote for real, so if you can you should" 

I'm pretty confident 12 years from now in 2028, they will all be voting :) 

ELECTION DAY 3rd Grade Dramatic Play

 I think more people would vote if they grew up "playing" this way. 

We held a primary where 8/9 students decided to run for class president. We divided them up into 2 parties (Red) and (Blue). The students then wrote a speech detailing what rules they would make up if they were elected president or what projects we should do. "10 burpees for getting lost in the woods, writing a story a week, and exercise (Soccer once a week)" "If you get lost, you would have to skip count to 100 and lose centers for half an hour"  "I would be a good president good helper" "You would have to practice read live and do 5 basketball shots. If you have something wrong in the text book, you have to practice hard spelling words. If you be mean, you have to sit in the corner."

Our rules were you had to: vote for one person from the red team, one person from the blue team and could not vote for yourself.

I was impressed. Each student got at least one vote. The boys race was pretty tight with 5 votes to 4 for their nominee. The girls was spread out, with the winning candidate with 3 votes and 2 with 2. Two people only wrote one candidate instead of two.  I was surprised because I voted too and I was surprised at some of the kids who had gotten a large number of votes.

I made a slide showing candidate slogans and the students made up posters for both nominees. The red team had a great slogan "I will make you proud" The blue team had a slightly negative poster. So I talked to them about why you would want to run a positive campaign.

As the candidates wrote their final speeches, one of the twins brought up that maybe we should be different parties: "like one thinks that everyone should have the same rules and one thinks that we should have different rules"  Another of the twins brought up "I think that here and Germany have different rules and so we should have different rules. If someone from Germany came here to learn Gwichin, it would be hard for them"

The rules for the general election was: I was going to vote, everyone could choose to vote or not, and candidates were allowed to vote for themselves.

We talked about why voting was important and just because you are a boy, you dont have to vote for the blue team. We also talked about endorsements which means that you tell who you are going to vote for. We talked about canvasing and talking to each other to convince people to join your team.

"I'm not voting till he tells me" One of the girl twins declared meaning she was going to listen to the issues before making a decision and blindly voting for her sister on the red team.

In the Makerspace: they created campaign videos on puppet pals "I am Jane and I approve this message"(https://vimeo.com/190778391), used cardboard and cloth to make a polling station, created ballots, and even had a place to "register" to vote. Dramatic Play at its finest. One student became a handler trying to keep the candidate on task (they were trying to do something on the ipad rather than working on the campaign "You are being lazy and it makes me not want to vote for you anymore"), another became a reporter to ask them policy questions "What rules would you make?" Another became a "speech writer" and wrote speech for the candidate (The candidate upon reading their speech: "I dont want to say that, it sounds creepy and weird") They also worried about a rigged election "Maybe people should write their names on their ballots so we know that they didn't vote twice" Another student pulled up his hood and was the "secret service" ("You cannot bother President Travis right now" They made earpieces out of straws)

Secret Service Agent

Second Graders Line up to Vote

Polling station

Second Graders listen to speeches and town hall style questions

Next time I do this, I want to have a caucus... That would be fun!