Curriculum & Instruction Newsletter
Fair Haven Public Schools
January 2020 - Volume 2, Issue 5
With the first month of the new year behind us, it still amazes me how quickly time passes. January was filled with some fantastic events, new initiatives, and, of course, wonderful learning experiences for our students.
It is at this point in the year where we see students taking an instructional turn. They have half a year of knowledge and strategies under their belts and now use them regularly to make meaning in the work they are doing. With routines and structures in place, students begin to challenge one another's thinking in some amazing classroom discussions, they make conscious decisions on the best methods to be successful, and they seek guidance from their teachers on how to improve, becoming wonderful self-advocates.
It is also that time of year where we all reflect upon the past and create new hopes and dreams for the future. I love this time of year, as it brings a renewed sense of possibility, new challenges, and new adventures! I am so happy to be part of this adventure and hope you enjoy joining me within the pages of each newsletter.
Sincerely,
Cheryl Romano
Director of Curriculum & Instruction
Twitter: @FHCurriculum
PS - I am also trying out something new for the new year! I am experimenting with a different newsletter format, so please share any feedback on this new template!
“Imagination is more important than knowledge. For knowledge is limited to all we now know and understand, while imagination embraces the entire world, and all there ever will be to know and understand.” - Albert Einstein
Project Write Now
I was able to join Ms. Piotrowski's class on the first day of this writing adventure! It was an engaging experience, which encouraged students to be themselves, think out loud, and begin their journeys in writing a picture book filled with interesting characters, conflict/resolution, and imagery. Through the use of mentor texts and story models, students were able to visualize the direction their writing could take and begin to get creative.
This session focused some much needed time and energy into understanding a variety of characters and the problems that can occur in a story. Every child in Mrs. Piotrowski's class had an opportunity to share many ideas, all of which were included in the class brainstorming list. Students were encouraged to think of unique characters and problems, which ranged from mermaids to snakes and from having specific fears to getting a new pet.
The room buzzed with excitement as students each were given a character interview sheet, which helped them to bring their unique character to life. Students gave their characters names, ages, families, and personalities. This activity was just scratching the surface of the work that the students will be putting into their picture books. I can't wait to see what the third grade students come up with and I will be sure to report back in February with some of the final products.
Here is a link to learn more about Project Write Now: https://projectwritenow.org/
Fantastic Gymnastics
In Fair Haven, we are so fortunate to have exceptional physical education programming for our students that addresses so many facets of leading a healthy lifestyle and movement is one of them. In Mr. Ranahan's first grade gym classes, students are immersed in a variety of station activities that introduce them to tumbling and gymnastics. If you have walked the halls of Sickles, you can most certainly hear the excitement coming from the all purpose room when students are in gym class! On this particular day, students had the opportunity to flow through six different stations where they practiced tumbling, balancing, and flexibility. The activities addressed both high and low impact exercises (as you can see from the pictures) and we definitely have some gymnasts in our first grade classes!
The stations students participated in included: Trampoline, spring board, balance balls, rolling/tumbling, stretching, and balancing. In some stations, technology was used to assign the student group specific exercises to practice, making each group's journey unique and fun! Every child was able to take part and feel success as they moved from station to station and with Mr. Ranahan's encouragement, students pushed themselves to try new things and work to perfect some of the skills they had already learned. This class was a high-energy example of how all students can be engaged, enjoy their learning experience, and be exposed to new activities that lend themselves to an active, healthy lifestyle!
Planning and Independence in Literacy
Some people describe executive function as "the management system of the brain." That's because the skills involved let us set goals, plan, and get things done. When people struggle with executive function, it impacts them at home, in school, and in life1.
Creating and maintaining a schedule is one way to help students use executive function skills to their benefit. Fortunately, we have amazing teachers who embrace the needs of our students and teach them how to make a plan that will help them to balance their demands and frame out the time needed for students to accomplish all of their tasks.
In Mrs. O'Grady's 8th grade literacy class, students work on planning and independence. She has taught her students how to map out their weeks with assignments and work to establish deadlines, if they don't already exist. Students backwards map what they need to accomplish in a given time, starting at a deadline in the future and working back toward the present to break up their tasks into manageable chunks. When speaking with students, they also account for their sports, activities, and free time in their maps, ensuring that they have budgeted time appropriately to complete school work in between their lives outside of school.
It was fascinating to see how the students planned. While Mrs. O'Grady provided a model, students put their own spin on how they would organize their time. Some started with checklists, which were used to complete in-class assignments, while others had a whole map of their week to share. The format didn't matter, the execution is what helped students to maintain focus, prioritize, and reach their goals.
This type of goal setting and organization builds a classroom environment where students can engage in several activities at once, as long as they know what needs to be accomplished in a set time frame. Students independently monitor their tasks, which allows for one-on-one support to come from Mrs. O'Grady, providing each student exactly what they need to be successful in real time.
___________________________________________________________________
1 Executive Functioning Issues. “What is Executive Function?” https://www.understood.org/en/learning-thinking-differences/child-learning-disabilities/executive-functioning-issues/what-is-executive-function. Accessed 27 Jan. 2020.
Bubble Trouble
In Mrs. DiPasquale's class, our preschoolers engaged in a two-part activity, which exposed them to an extremely complex concept. But first things first, what detergent was the best?
Three stations were set up around the room, one with liquid laundry detergent, one with powdered detergent, and one with bar soap. As students rolled their sleeves up to get their hands dirty (but super clean in reality), they engaged in each of the three stations to determine which type of soap made the most bubbles. From this activity, they were able to graph their responses and draw the conclusion that the liquid detergent made the most bubbles, therefore it was best for washing clothes.
Following this experiment, Mrs. DiPasquale took the student's data and began a second part to this science lesson. If the liquid detergent was the best to make bubbles, then our preschoolers could certain blow the best bubbles with it as well. Mrs. DiPasquale modeled for students how to blow bubbles on their tables, stack multiple bubbles together, and also put a straw through the bubbles without popping them. Students clung to Mrs. DiPasquale's every word and action, as if she was a magician. After she showed students what to do, they had the opportunity to try at their tables. While some had bubble trouble, some had bubble success, but Mrs. DiPasquale assured everyone that science is hard and they will get it with practice.
Now why is this so complex? Mrs. DiPasquale was laying the groundwork for students to learn about surface tension! This is 100% true...our preschool students were learning about surface tension! Amazing, right? Adding soap to water lowers the surface tension, allowing for bubbles to form and while the experiment didn't talk about specifics, students could see that water AND liquid soap made the best bubbles.