Putting the Garden to Bed

Today we went outside to put the DBS garden to bed! Imagine a dozen fourth graders with spades and rakes in their hands digging up weeds. I am sure you can picture the excitement of this activity.  Once a week the fourth grade has Dartmouth College students come to teach lessons on healthy living. They have been learning about layers of the dirt, composting, recycling, etc.  There job today was to dig up all the weeds in order to make sure the garden was ready for winter.  Come spring, students will be planning and planting the DBS garden.  We had a few surprises today,  it seems that the fifth graders missed a large section when they harvested. We had lots of potatoes, and even found a squash that was left behind.  Every child has a small potato with them that they got to take home from school.  I encourage you to use it at dinner this week as the Dartmouth students will be asking how each student used their potato.  (I realize that they are small. Just do the best you can!)

Wait...you want me to think?

    Students were asked to think today. I know, I know what you are thinking. Aren't they asked to think every day? Absolutely. But today was a little different. Today I pointed out to them that they were thinking, and that seemed to blow their mind.  One student even said, "Wait, you want me to think?"  This made me laugh.  The students were busy observing ordinary things in the classroom.  They spent three or four minutes writing these observations down in their writer's notebook.  Students noticed all sorts of unique things about the room: the Coca Cola signs, the Time Out sign, other students, and even their teacher.  Then after a few minutes of writing I asked them to stop and to have a thought about what they observed.  They were asked to push themselves to THINK!  They were writing things like, "That makes me think that every child needs time to take a break, " or "I realize that the old Coke bottles were so much cooler than today's bottles." 
    This exercise is getting students prepared for writing personal essays. This type of writing is a long way from just telling stories about their lives, but what I was most impressed with was how no one complained about doing the work.  They loved it!  Tonight for homework, students have been asked to observe their every day lives at home. Perhaps they will observe how you eat dinner, or their football practice, or maybe the way their sister plays video games.  Whatever the case, they will observe for a few minutes and then push themselves to have a thought or two about these observations.  I encourage you to ask them about their thinking. Push them to write more, to think more, to explain more fully. 
     YES, I want you to think!

My First Blog!

    I want to start by saying thank you to so many of you for making my transition to Dothan Brook so easy and wonderful. I feel right at home with my new DBS family. I can't believe that October is half over!  It has been an amazing first six weeks.
     My fourth graders have settled into the routine, and they are making amazing progress.  I've seen an incredible growth in their writing. Today we focused on why writers write.  The students learned my favorite quote ever, "No tears in the writer, no tears in the reader!"  They learned that writers have something to say.  They were so excited about being able to write what was on their mind, that they were upset when the writing time was finished. What more can a teacher ask for?
     I have also seen my class start to live the lives of readers.  They talk books, they share the stories with their friends, and they are anxious to get their hands on a book at any point in the day. I was ecstatic today when a self-titled "nonreader" finished his third book of the year and anxiously asked me, "What am I going to read next Mrs. West?"
     This week we got rolling on our second unit in math class.  The Great Wall of Base Ten was built over the '57 Chevy on my wall.  The students had fun figuring out the dimensions, 100 cm x 100 cm and an area of 10,000 sq. centimeters!
     We had amazing Dartmouth students come to teach the students about soil.  They are preparing the students to put the DBS garden to bed next week, and then to plant in the spring.  We also finished up listening to the creative new animals that the students came up with based on the physical and behavioral adaptations of their chosen environment.  I had some very creative animals! Come check them out on the bulletin board outside our class!
     Short week, only 2 more days left to go, but so many exciting things yet to come!