Goal-Setting in Grade 2 at PPS

What a challenging, yet fun month! We began discussing what a mentor is and the importance of mentors in our lives. We then watched Justin and Tristan's goal-setting video. They stressed the importance of setting goals in order to achieve success in our lives.

Following the sharing of the book "The Girl Who Never Made Mistakes", the children worked in groups to attempt to build their marshmallow and spaghetti tower. I was proud of the perseverance they displayed as the towers continued to fall due to the softness of the marshmallows. It turned out that this activity tied in so well with the main idea of the mentor text. They realized that it's okay to make mistakes and fail as long as you try again!

After again discussing Justin and Tristan's video, as well as watching two other mentor videos, we brainstormed possible goals that the students might choose. I did impress upon them the importance of choosing a goal that they indeed wanted to attain, rather than one that they just thought might be easy, or one that they chose because they couldn't think of anything better. I was so pleased that the students all chose something that they wanted to improve upon in school. There were several reading goals, as well as math and the desire to improve their work attention and focus during instruction.

Because of my passion for baseball, the children wrote their goals on large baseballs. They shared them with their classmates, as well as their parents. Now the work begins! I hope that the children work hard to achieve their goals. I know that they will be so proud when they attain them!

Goal-Setting in Grade 2 at PPS

What a challenging, yet fun month! We began discussing what a mentor is and the importance of mentors in our lives. We then watched Justin and Tristan's goal-setting video. They stressed the importance of setting goals in order to achieve success in our lives.

Following the sharing of the book "The Girl Who Never Made Mistakes", the children worked in groups to attempt to build their marshmallow and spaghetti tower. I was proud of the perseverance they displayed as the towers continued to fall due to the softness of the marshmallows. It turned out that this activity tied in so well with the main idea of the mentor text. They realized that it's okay to make mistakes and fail as long as you try again!

After again discussing Justin and Tristan's video, as well as watching two other mentor videos, we brainstormed possible goals that the students might choose. I did impress upon them the importance of choosing a goal that they indeed wanted to attain, rather than one that they just thought might be easy, or one that they chose because they couldn't think of anything better. I was so pleased that the students all chose something that they wanted to improve upon in school. There were several reading goals, as well as math and the desire to improve their work attention and focus during instruction.

Because of my passion for baseball, the children wrote their goals on large baseballs. They shared them with their classmates, as well as their parents. Now the work begins! I hope that the children work hard to achieve their goals. I know that they will be so proud when they attain them!

September Monthly Summary

September 2016- Goal Setting

   Objectives: Students will set a SMART goal for reading and another goal about a topic of their choice.

Standards: CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.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.

My class started by discussing the importance of setting goals. We then spent time talking about the importance of reading. We use the Guided Reading Level system at my school, so students are aware of their current reading level (a letter A-Z). Students then spent time setting goals for reading. We also talked about how setting short term goals will help them reach their end of the year reading goal.

To follow up on this lesson, we watched the video from our mentor, Lex. My students were really impressed and inspired by his determination. To set more goals, we utilized our digital portfolios. Students created a webpage to share their classwork, information about themselves, and their goals. Students set long term and short term goals on a variety of topics (including becoming better at sports, video games, and school. The great part about students being able to write their goals on the digital portfolios is that they can share the goals with their families. We know the importance of having families involved in reaching goals, so I am excited about this piece.

To create the digital portfolios we used Google Sites. Thanks to Allison Smith for sharing a guide to help my class set these up!