Texas 2x2 and Research

We had a lot going on this week.  Pre-K was wrapping up their unit on folktales, so I read The Three Little Gators by Helen Ketteman.

For Kindergarten, First and Second Grades, I read a book from the Texas 2x2 list. Each student must read at least 5 books from the list in order to vote for their favorite in April. I read I Don’t Want to Be a Frog by Dev Petty to Kindergarten. In First Grade, I read Hoot Owl: Master of Disguise by Sean Taylor. And, in Second Grade, I read There’s a Lion in my Cornflakes by Michelle Robinson.  All of the students seemed to enjoy the silliness of these stories.

A couple of weeks ago, I had 3^rd-5^th grade students complete an information literacy survey. After reviewing the responses, I have decided on some key concepts to cover throughout the remainder of the year. After we have covered these concepts, I hope to facilitate a group research project on digital citizenship.  This week we discussed what to keep in mind when creating their own groups as well as choosing their own topics.  Most of the students seemed intrigued about what topic we were going to research.

Third, Fourth and Fifth Grade students also voted for their favorite Texas Bluebonnet Award book this week.  The winner will be announced in February and our Bluebonnet Breakfast will be in March.

Student Voice

Yesterday, I attended the Library Information Technology Expo: Unlimited Possibilities (LITE UP) presented by Texserve. Both guest speakers, Shannon Miller and Travis Allen, stressed the importance of student voice.  Student voice is about inspiring and empowering students to take charge of their education. Letting them have a “say” in what they learn and how they learn it.

It was very inspiring listening to these speakers and I hope that I will be able to give my students more of a voice so that they may be heard.  Here are a few articles that help explain more about student voice and ways that it can be implemented into the classroom.

https://www.edutopia.org/blog/voice-and-choice-more-than-what-andrew-miller

https://www.edutopia.org/practice/personalized-learning-enabling-student-voice-and-choice-through-projects

https://www.edutopia.org/blog/five-strategies-more-voice-choice-students-rebecca-alber

Winter

This week I decided to read Winter books to my Pre-K thru 2^nd grade classes, even though in Texas it doesn’t really feel much like Winter with record high temperatures this week.  In Pre-K, I read One Winter’s Day about the kindness of a little hedgehog who enjoyed helping others.  In Kindergarten, I read Winter is the Warmest Season.  We discussed possible meanings of the title before and after reading the story.

For 1^st grade, I read Snowmen at Work.  The students enjoyed seeing all of the possible jobs the snowmen could have. Finally, for 2nd grade, I read Skippyjon Jones: Snow What.  The students really liked the twist on this classic fairy tale.

For grades 3-5, I asked students to complete an information literacy survey to get a better understanding of what they know and like about doing research.  This is to help me with my goal for the year, which is to help improve students’ ability to do research and be successful with it. This survey was a Google form that each student completed.  I plan to have them complete a similar survey at the end of the year to note any progress.

New Year's Resolutions

Every year at this time, people make New Year’s resolutions to help and try to make themselves better people. Some people have the will power and determination to see them through, but most people do not.  This year, I haven’t really given much thought to a resolution, but I think I would try to do a better job of letting go of things that I cannot control in order to have less stress in my life.

With all of this talk of resolutions, I thought this first week back from Winter Break would be a great time to read Squirrel’s New Year’s Resolution by Pat Miller.  This book is an AV2 Fiction Readalong, so I used that to read to the students.

We discussed the meaning of resolution and some students even shared some of their own resolutions.  Some said that they wanted to work harder at school and one student even said that he didn’t want to spend so much time playing video games.  They’re both wonderful ideas!