This week we looked at the book The Best Part Of Me. Students used this book as a mentor text to write about one part of themselves that they loved and why. We first shared orally in a large group about what we loved about some of our body parts. Some students loved their feet for how fast they let them run or how far they could use them to kick a soccer ball. Some students loved their hands because they could use them to pick up toys, food and hold hands. There were so many good ideas shared! Students then chose four different parts of themselves and reflected on why they thought that part was the 'best'. They then wrote out why they thought that way. We paid particular attention to the why question as that required students to think deeply and justify their answers. They then wrote down their thoughts and we took pictures of the 'best part'. We look forward to sharing these with you during parent teacher conferences next week.
We also examined the difference between fair and equal. This lead to a rich discussion of what individual students felt they needed in order to do their best learning. Common themes were quiet places with few interruptions, working with others who do their jobs, keeping hands and feet to self and having personal space. This rich discussion of individual learning differences helped to foster a richer sense of community within our classroom and enabled students to see that while many of them had similar learning needs that there were also differences and we each need to respect these differences and help each other so that everyone can be successful in their learning. We are still asking for students to bring in a smooth fist sized rock for an art project. Please send these in ASAP.
