Differentiation

We are hitting that time of year when students become more aware of what other students around them are doing and not doing. Up to this point, they haven't really noticed when some students are doing different things than they are.

There are two reasons for this:

1. The differentiations that I have been using have not been very easy for a first grader to spot but they are becoming a bit more obvious.
2. They are becoming more aware of themselves and those around them and how they are the same and different.

I wanted to share with you how I deal with this so you it could help you in your discussions with your child at home. One day a while back I began a crew discussion by asking what day they all lost their first tooth. They looked at me with confusion and explained that they didn't all lose their first tooth on the same day and that some of them hadn't lost a tooth yet. I nodded and then asked them what day they all learned to ride a two-wheeled bike. This time a few of the crew figured out that I was making a point but others still needed to straighten me out and explain things to me. Just to be sure I asked one more question about what day they all learned to walk. Now they all laughed and decided that I was being silly. This is when I talked to them about how we all do things at different times and in different ways and that this is completely normal. I then began to talk about how this relates to learning to read, write and do math. I explained that we were all going to learn to do those things well but probably not on the exact same day. At the time, they seemed to understand - but understanding and feeling okay about that are two different things. We will continue to talk about this and how we all have different strengths and weaknesses but that we all continue to learn. You can help by reiterating this at home.

Homework
Reading ~ Read a good book or two.

More on Differentiation

In an earlier post, I talked about how I try to help the crew understand that we are all different and that we learn at different rates and times. We will continue this discussion for the rest of the year because it is an important topic to the children. It came up again recently when two students went to work in a small group with a parent volunteer. The other students wanted to know why they got to do that and everyone else didn't. This also comes up when any other teacher comes in to work with a student or small group of students. This time I answered by taking off my glasses and handing them to one little boy and asking him to wear them. I choose the little boy carefully knowing that this little boy wouldn't just grab my glasses and put them on. He looked at me with a confused look and said that he wasn't sure he should. I asked him why not and he said because they are for you and I couldn't see out of them and if you don't have them then you can't see either. This allowed me to introduce the idea that we all need different things at different times. (It also totally grabbed their attention to see me without my glasses.) It wouldn't be "fair" for me to make all of the students wear glasses just because I wear them. Most of the them don't need glasses. We then talked about how different students learn things at different time and in different ways and that sometimes they will need to be in different groups within our whole class group. They seemed to understand this at least for the moment. I know the subject will come up again, though.

I also told them that another way the I try to make sure that they each get what they need is that I teach lots of different things even when we are in a whole group. I told them that I try to make sure that everyone will learn something from every discussion we have. That is why it sometimes seems like we get off topic or that I ask different students different types of questions. I want to make sure that everyone is challenged in some way every time we gather together as a large group. Sometimes when I am offering more challenging topics to those students who need it many other students chime in. It ends up raising the level of all of our learning in all areas.

Homework
Reading ~ Read a good book or two.
Math ~ Home Link 5.2 Frames and Arrows Diagrams

Library
We have library tomorrow. Please help your child remember to return his or her books.

Differentiation

We are hitting that time of year when students become more aware of what other students around them are doing and not doing. Up to this point, they haven't really noticed when some students are doing different things than they are.

There are two reasons for this:

1. The differentiations that I have been using have not been very easy for a first grader to spot but they are becoming a bit more obvious.
2. They are becoming more aware of themselves and those around them and how they are the same and different.

I wanted to share with you how I deal with this so you it could help you in your discussions with your child at home. One day I began a crew discussion by asking what day they all lost their first tooth. They looked at me with confusion and explained that they didn't all lose their first tooth on the same day and that some of them hadn't lost a tooth yet. I nodded and then asked them what day they all learned to ride a two-wheeled bike. This time a few of the crew figured out that I was making a point but others still needed to straighten me out and explain things to me. Just to be sure I asked one more question about what day they all learned to walk. Now they all laughed and decided that I was being silly. This is when I talked to them about how we all do things at different times and in different ways and that this is completely normal. I then began to talk about how this relates to learning to read, write and do math. I explained that we were all going to learn to do those things well but probably not on the exact same day. At the time, they seemed to understand - but understanding and feeling okay about that are two different things. We will continue to talk about this and how we all have different strengths and weaknesses but that we all continue to learn. You can help by reiterating this at home.

Homework
Reading ~ Read a good book or two.
Math ~ Home Link 3.11 Coin Exchanges