February was fabulously fun!. We watched Arianne’s message about friendship and unpacked the monthly challenge. We also celebrated Valentine’s Day wearing our pajamas, playing board games and exchanging Valentines. Pink shirt day gave us the opportunity to talk about bullying and it’s impact on relationships between classmates.
Arianne encouraged students to be friendly and make the effort to include new people in activities. She challenged us to spend time learning two new things about students in our class. The students were given a large grid with their classmates names on it. They used the grid to record the new facts they learned about each classmates. We modelled how to ask questions that dig deeper once a surface question has been asked. For example: What is your favorite sport? (hockey) Do you play hockey or watch? What position do you play? How often do you practice?
Students were given several twenty minute sessions to spend time in conversation with their friends. It was fun. There was a lot of chatter but it was productive chatter and it forged links that will last forever.
We celebrated Valentine’s by reading, “Somebody Loves You, Mr Hatch”. This is one of my favorite Valentine’s Stories. The student loved to see Mr. Hatch transformed from his crusty, bachelor, hermit lifestyle into a kind, caring, generous friend. We had a wonderful discussion regarding the importance of “belonging” and how simple acts of kindness can transform and enrich lives. On Pink shirt day we read one of my most favorite Valentine stories, “Hooway for Wodney Wat!” by Helen Lester. We discussed the bullying behavior of Camilla Capybara and marveled at the way Wodney saved the day, just by being himself.
During February, Ms. Mayer, started her nine week student teacher practicum. The class loved her so much. It was so much fun getting to know her and watching her get to know the students.
Curriculum Links
Language Arts
ask questions to clarify information and ensure understanding
discuss, represent or write about ideas in oral, print and other media texts, and relate them to own ideas and experiences and to other texts
experiment with ways of generating and organizing ideas
Health
W-3.7 identify strategies to avoid being bullied in different case scenarios; e.g., communicate whereabouts, get away, say no firmly, avoid dares
R-3.5 develop strategies to build and enhance friendships
R-3.6 demonstrate inclusive behaviours regardless of individual differences or circumstances; e.g., physical, emotional, cultural, economic
We had a lot of fun talking about friendship this month. As always, the students enjoyed watching Lex's video and hearing his ideas about friendship. They had a lot of fun taking on his challenge and making new friends on the playground. To prepare for the challenge, we had a conversation about what kinds of questions they could ask the person they wanted to meet. They had so many good ideas! When they reported back about what it was like to introduce themselves to someone they didn't know, it turned out that they used a lot of the questions we had brainstormed together. Some favorites were: what is your favorite color? and what is your favorite thing to play? We also talked a lot about what it means to be a good friend and times when they had shown that they were a good friend. This is such a caring and friendly class and they really embraced this month's theme. The pictures are of the students practicing meeting someone new and asking them questions.
Friendship - everyone needs one. But how do we make a friendship work? I must say, I am very fortunate to have a great class this year! A class who rises up to all the challenges we place upon them and who accept everyone for their differences. Because of that, talking Friendship in February was easy for us!
Being in grade 6 and 7, friendships can sometimes be difficult to navigate. On an ongoing basis we are always working on healthy friendships and especially healthy "girl" friendships. Most of our students have been in the same class together since Junior Kindergarten. That's 1,710 days on average spent together so far! Wow, that is a lot of days. So, at this age we start to see some "frustrations" emerge. This month we focussed on branching out of our comfort zone and making deeper connections with another student whom you wouldn't typically spend as much time with.
Our classes took the lead for Pink Shirt Day, wearing their Pink Shirts proudly and making a Pink Shirt Promise. We talked a lot about cyber bullying and healthy online relationships and how those relationships affect our everyday life. Each student made a Pink Shirt Promise of their own, dedicated to making the world a more tolerant place. In order to educate our school community, as a class we decided to make Anti-Bullying Infographics to share with the school. They included information on who to reach out to if you need help, and what you can do to help a friend in need.
February was another fast and busy month for us in 6A and 7A, and we are very much looking forward to our upcoming March Break and jumping into Leadership with both feet upon our return!
This month we focused on friendship. It was a lot of fun to help my students get to know each other better. We started the month by watching Lex's video. He discussed the power of friendship and my students agreed that friendships can help us get through hard times.
In the video, Lex challenged my students to get to know people better. In order to build our classroom community, I set up 'interviews' between pairs of my students. They asked each other three questions:
1. If you could have lunch with any famous person who would it be and why?
2. What do you like to do outside of school? 3. What is your favorite school subject and why?
Students were paired with someone in the class they didn't know very well. They started by asking each other the interview questions. After they discussed the interview questions students continued to get to know each other by asking their own questions. Students learned that they had a lot in common, even if they didn't usually talk or play together. It was a great class building exercise and I hope students made some new friends!
What a wild month it has been! At the beginning of the
month, just as we started talking about friendship, we found out that one of our
science fair teams was going to the Regional Nunavik Science Fair in Inukjuak.
This took place the 13th to the 16th of February. Here is
a peek at the proud team explaining their project to a judge.
These guys were so excited to get to go, and we had crazy
fun time taking plane rides, learning more about science and presentations, and
eating Beluga (a generous gift from our host family).
Then we got back and had a blizzard, and then we finally got
a chance to sit down and watch Jesse’s new video on friendship. The kids were
so excited to see a new video after so long and Jesse gave us a great
challenge. Find someone in your class that you do not hang out with and learn
two things you have in common, and two things that are unique about each of
you. I was so proud of the students as they worked on this. They worked very
hard on this challenge and were excited to learn some similarities and
differences about people that they thought they already knew!
We followed up this activity by watching a read aloud of Chesters Way . This is one of my favourite stories about friendship. We had a great discussion about friends that are different from us, and why that might be a good thing.
Then came Pink Shirt Day. Because many of my students do not have pink shirts and it is not easy or cheap to get t-shirts up here, we decided to look at Pink Shirt Day a little differently. Instead of showing support by wearing pink we showed support by acknowledging the kind things that we do for each other every day and by highlighting them. We wrote out "Tickets" every time someone did something kind for us. The tickets included the name of the giver and receiver and what kindness was shown. We then put them in a jar and at the end of the day we pulled out a few to read.
We also designed our own Pink Shirts.
We still have a little bit of friendship to cover. We will be talking about how to be a good friend throughout March while we tackle Leadership! Cannot wait to see how this class can show Leadership in their school (more than they have already!) Thank you Jesse Cockney for a great lesson on making new friends and great qualities to look for in them!
Before we watched Lex’s video on Friendship, I asked “What qualities do you look for in your friends?”. Here are some of the key words students spoke out to the class…trust, nice, respect, funny, believe, loyal, role model, and honest. Friendship is an important topic in our classroom. We have had several students move in and out of our classroom this year. We have also had several arguments arise among groups of friends that we have had to work through. I hope Lex’s message on friendship will stick with my students and they can be the best friends they can be.
Lex’s Challenge
This month Lex challenged us to make a new friend and learn three things about them. Talk about having to use perseverance as well. My students were hesitant to step outside their comfort zones and take on this challenge. I had to encourage them throughout the month to tackle this challenge. Some students took on the challenge within our classroom, while others made new friends in other 5th grade classrooms. A few students made new friends outside of school. I enjoyed learning about their new friends throughout the month. I hope to see more friendships blossoming in my classroom as the year continues.
Friendship Conversations
My students were able to just sit and talk to their friends in the classroom for 10 minutes. They rarely have moments to just talk to their friends so I gave it to them one Friday before lunch. That same day I had my students sit with random lunch friends. We sit in the booths in the cafeteria and they always sit with the same people. (I did learn that my girls switch their booth seats every day so they can take turns eating with each other.) I randomly assigned each student a booth. No one sat with the friends they normally eat with on a given day. There was some push back and complaining, but they quickly turned it around. They survived one lunch out of 185 eating with someone other than their normal friends.
Get to Know Our Classmates
You can see the obvious clusters of friends in my classroom when it comes to lunch, partner activities, and recess. My hope was this activity would allow my students to find something new about their classmates who they do not normally hang around. Who knows? Maybe the clusters will begin to shift. Each student was tasked with asking three classmates (not their current friends) a “Get to Know You” question. Some students only asked three new people, while others went beyond and asked as many students as they could in the time allotted. I had one student ask a different question to all 24 of her classmates. That took perseverance! Afterwards, each student had to pick one student and share what they learned about them. They learned a lot about their classmates from this simple activity. We learned about favorite sports, colors, shoes, movies, music, numbers, activities, etc.
Friends in Our Future Careers
Our annual 3-5 Career Fair was held at school as we try and prepare our students for the future. Each student went into the Career Fair with questions and friends in tow. Some students walked around to the different booths with their friends because they have similar interests. Others walked around with their friends simply because they were comfortable with that person. Some students branched out and walked around on their own and met new 5th grade friends with similar career interests. After the Career Fair we came back to the classroom and shared our favorite and most interesting options.
Devin with Mrs. Stone's dad.
Friendships with 2nd Graders
Each month our school has a day long Read-a-Thon. For 30 minutes, we go to two 2nd grade classrooms and read with our reading buddies. Most times the 2nd graders have books that they want the “big” kids to read with them. Sometimes we bring our “big” kid 5th grade books to read to them. The 2nd grade teachers and I are always in awe of how quiet and engaged both ages of students are while reading. The last Friday of Friendship month was our February Read-a-Thon. Before going to read with our buddies, we each wrote letters about the importance of reading for our 2nd grade friends. Students included tips and strategies for the 2nd graders to become successful readers. Each 2nd grade student also received a handmade bookmark saying “Leaders are Readers”.
Friendship Stories
I pose a new writing prompt for my students to focus on each week. Once again, perseverance was in play. At our school, we are trying to have our 5th graders write a story that is five paragraphs in length. This is an extremely daunting task for most. One week this month, students were to write a story about friendship. Some wrote about themselves with their current friends, while others wrote about made up characters. After writing their stories, they had a friend help edit their work. Their friendship stories are posted on our Classroom Champions bulletin board outside our classroom.
I will say we have had a successful friendship month. Students are still trying to step outside their comfort zones and make new friends. I hope they continue to make new friends, especially since they will be going to different middle schools next year.
Standards
ELA W.5.3 Write narratives to develop real or imagined experiences or events using effective technique, descriptive details, and clear event sequences. W.5.4 Produce clear and coherent writing in which the development and organization are appropriate to task, purpose, and audience. (Grade-specific expectations for writing types are defined in standards 1-3 above.) W.5.5 With guidance and support from peers and adults, develop and strengthen writing as needed by planning, revising, editing, rewriting, or trying a new approach. (Editing for conventions should demonstrate command of Language standards 1-3 up to and including grade 5 here.) W.5.6 With some guidance and support from adults, use technology, including the Internet, to produce and publish writing as well as to interact and collaborate with others; demonstrate sufficient command of keyboarding skills to type a minimum of two pages in a single sitting. SL.5.1 Engage effectively in a range of collaborative discussions (one-on-one, in groups, and teacher-led) with diverse partners on grade 5 topics and texts, building on others' ideas and expressing their own clearly.
Health 5.ICR.1.4 Summarize how to solve problems and resolve conflict without avoidance or violence.
Friendship was a tough one for our class! The challenge was to introduce yourself to different strangers and make some new friends. Being in middle school, our students are set and stubborn with making friends, but took on the challenge anyways. It was great seeing our students interact with students of different grade levels and bonding with people they never talked to or knew anything about before the challenge.
I was not able to snap pictures of this challenge, but almost all our students rose to the challenge in making new friends. Looking forward to seeing our next challenge and what Lex has up for us.
