This week the 5 point scale work continued. Some of the kids continued coloring and labeling their scales while others I was able to take pictures of for each number of the scale. The first graders worked on sharing and joint attention with one another and peers. In my second and third grade group we spent quite a bit of time playing with the iPad camera to make our scales. Those should come home next week. I also read the book, "It's Okay to Make Mistakes" by Todd Parr. I love his illustrations and simple messages of tolerance. I talked about how everyone, including me and all adults, make mistakes. I even was conscious of goof ups with schedules and spelling errors to point mine out and say, "look what I just did! I made a mistake! Am I in trouble? Do you still love me?" The kids seemed to have fun watching me be imperfect! We talked about good and poor ways of handling mistakes. I showed them how I didn't blame anyone else for my errors. The older kids and I also tried an activity from "Cultures of Thinking", which is to make our thinking visible (a win-win) called "Chalk Talk". There were four questions I asked the kids to answer on chart paper with a marker. They rotated through alone to have privacy to answer. Here were the questions I asked 2nd/3rd grade: What behaviors are expected?, What do I remember about Social Detective?, How do I make a friend?, and What do I need Ms. McQuillan to help me with this year? Their answers were pretty spot on and self-reflective for being open-ended questions. It was great to see them try and expose them to a thinking strategy that is part of a model of thinking the district is adopting. I'm excited to watch their skills with this type of questioning grow.
Hope you have a nice weekend and check out our combined blog: Teacher Chat. Ann posted some resources about iPad apps and I posted an informative video about the genetics of autism. Don't forget to check the site often for calendar updates and events. Thanks!
Hope you have a nice weekend and check out our combined blog: Teacher Chat. Ann posted some resources about iPad apps and I posted an informative video about the genetics of autism. Don't forget to check the site often for calendar updates and events. Thanks!