Wordless Wednesday

It's Wordless Wednesday so I'm linking up with Miss DeCarbo and sharing a photo from my class today!

 

Our new play and explore centers opened today!  We had so much fun with the News Project and I was so excited to share what I had prepared for my Kinders.  Today our class Travel Agency opened for business!

 

I am really focusing on play and exploration along with child-centered, project based studies this year.  If you are a lower primary teacher, how do you incorporate play?  If you teach in the upper grades, what are some ways you use student choice and/or projects in your instruction?

 

 

November Currently

Linking up with "Oh' Boy 4th Grade" again for a monthly

"currently" post!

*My family is starting a new tradition for Thanksgiving this year! I have created a "Blessings Tree" in our living room 

Every day this month we will each think of something for which we are thankful, write it on a leaf, and add it to our tree. 

My girls are really excited and thoughtful  about it. 

My husband likes the idea, too, but I did get a bit of an eye-roll when he saw me putting up a bulletin board in our house.

"You can take a teacher out of the classroom, but..."

 

That's a Wrap!

This week we brought our News Project to a close with the final production of a news feature on our field trip to Fall on the Farm. 

First we worked together to edit our photos and videos in Windows Movie Maker on the Smart Board. 

Photo taken by student photographer.

 

The set crew set up the news desk and created a sign.  The camera crew planned the positioning for the final videos.  The reporters created their scripts.  We filmed our last two segments from the news desk to open and close our news show. 

 

 

 

At the end of our Books Alive Party we proudly played our News Project DVD for parents to culminate our project.  The parents were impressed, the kids were eager to share, and I was so proud.

Through this project I learned as much as (or more than) my students!  In the end this project wasn't even really about the news. It became about so much more!  It was about technology and teamwork, imagination and creativity.  It provided a way for ALL students to participate regardless of academic ability.  This project embodied 21st Century Skills and covered Common Core while involving play and exploration. 

 

I learned it IS possible to bring Kindergarten into the 21st Century while holding true to core beliefs about the developmental needs of Kindergarteners. 

WOW!  This opens so many doors for my instruction... "What's next?" you ask?  TRAVEL!  Whether it is "Over the River and Through the Woods," across the Atlantic to the New Land, or to a family dinner in the next town over, Thanksgiving is a time for travel.  So, our dramatic play center will be transformed into a travel agency, the writing center will become a source for travel brochures, the housekeeping area will be the place to pack everything for a journey, and the block center will be a transportation factory.  I can't wait!