Classroom Photos

Every week, our class chooses one of sixteen habits of successful people. This poster reads, "Successful people listen to others with their ears, their minds, and their feelings." Every Thursday afternoon, we will have a class meeting where the kids have a chance to wear one of the six thinking hats (I will explain these in another picture) and evaluate why that habit is important, how well they worked toward the habit during the week, and what aspects of the habit they feel they still need to work on as a class.



This is our literacy board with groups for both reading and writing. In reading, we have the Puppies, Penguins, Sharks, and Pandas. In writing, we have the Bees, Bunnies, Leopards, and Tigers. These groups are based on ability level in the subject. The students have become much better at working independently in their groups without the direct involvement of a teacher. Also, about three times a week, we have parent helpers come into the classroom during reading and writing groups. The parents are great and I love observing them watch their child in the classroom setting.




These are the student computers that are in a workroom that connects my classroom to another grade 1 classroom. Once a week, one of the literacy group activities will be on the computer. The kids have used KidPix to make an ABC page for a class book, and they have used the Starfall website to practice their "at," "en," and "ig" words. The students are all comfortable using the computers and they look forward to it!



These are some examples of student work hanging up in the classroom. In maths, there are three general topics that we are supposed to cover in Grade 1: numeracy, measurement, and shapes. In this activity, the children traced tangram blocks onto colored paper, cut out the shapes, and created a picture with the shapes. When they are finished, they bring their work to Tanya or me. They tell us what shapes they used and we write down what they tell us about their work.




These are the six thinking hats. They are used to elicit different types of information and thinking. For example, I will remind students who are stuck and can't think of an idea to put their green hat on. These are a fun way to get students to use higher level thinking and evaluate their own learning.

Blue Hat: Thinking about Thinking. What have we done so far? What shall we do next?
Red Hat: Emotions and Feelings. How do I feel about this?
Yellow Hat: Assessing Value. What are the positives? What are the benefits?
White Hat: Information and Facts. What are the facts? What information do we have? What information do we need?
Green Hat: Creativity, New Ideas. What are some ways to solve the problem? How can we work this out?
Black Hat: Judgement. What are the areas for improvement for this? Will it work? Is it true?

Stay tuned for more pictures of my classroom!