This Year's Classroom

I put streamers up for Meet the Teacher Day and took them down for the first day of school. Enjoy!

This is the view from my desk area. My students sit in groups of four to start the year.

My classroom library contains 2500 plus children's books. The library was "under construction" until I could teach the kids about proper care for our books.

The carpet area where we have our morning meeting and regular read-alouds. The crate stools are homemade. I got the idea from another first grade classroom. They will hold our tools that we need for mini-lessons that take place on the carpet.

My Art Center and Buddy Reading located behind it. Notice the bags hanging in the background. Each one of those contains two of the same book so that kids can practice reading together. This picture is a little bit dark because it was taken facing the huge windows in my classroom- another amazing blessing.

My Guiding Principles

I was recently inspired by Debbie Miller after reading her book, Reading with Meaning, to type up my guiding principles of classroom reading instruction into a list. These, in turn, will guide my instruction each day in my classroom.

1. Learning is Thinking. "The one who is doing the reading, writing, and talking is also the one who is doing the thinking and the one who is getting smarter!" (Miller, 12)

2. Students need to spend lots of time in literature in order for them to learn.

3. My thinking can be revised because I'm a lifelong learner.

4. Children need skills and strategies to actively engage with literature.

5. Know where I am going... having both a big picture in my head as well as a day-to-day plan will help my students to learn the targets of instruction.

6. Plans are adaptable. I need to maintain flexibility to help my students to learn what is relevant and most helpful to them in their current skill level.

7.  I believe in a gradual release of responsibility. This means, I teach, then guide, then allow for students to complete their work independently with lots of feedback.

8. I believe that in order to grow as a learner, both my students and myself, will need to engage in regular reflection.

9. Our classroom community is one of kindness and care.

10. I need to give intentional and specific feedback to my students to help them grow.

11. I use assessment for both myself to guide my planning as well as to show my students how to reflect their understanding.

12. This is not my classroom, it's ours.

13. We read because it is an amazing blessing to learn and grow. Ultimately my students will be able to read God's Word, and be effective followers of Jesus Christ.

We Re-read a Great Book... 3 TIMES!

I read Open this Little Book to my students today... 
3 TIMES because they loved it so much!
Check out this great book. It's one to own. I promise; a real crowd pleaser.

The Real First Day of School

Officially yesterday was the first day of school, but it wasn’t what I expected the first day of school to be like. Truly, I only got about 2 hours with my students. This meant I only had time to read a few books, work on a craft, and enjoy a snack with them. Then I spent twenty minutes teaching them how to leave my classroom, and then they actually left my classroom.

I left the day feeling a little sad.

But then my significant other pointed out that the kids that came into my room yesterday, well you see, I was expecting them to be like the first graders that left me in May. They only left Kindergarten in May, and I get to help them transition into first grade.  And my expectations affected my mood when I came home. This was something I needed to fix.

This morning is likely the only day this year that I woke up before my 5:30a.m. alarm. During my time reading my Bible I discovered my promise for today:

“Yet those who wait for the Lord will gain new strength; They will mount up with wings like eagles; They will run and not get tired; They will walk and not become weary.” Isaiah 40:31

This spoke to my heart today. I was reminded that the Lord wants great things for my classroom. He promises me new strength as I wait on him and do my best to teach these kiddos.

And it was a great day filled with some wonderful moments. Here are some of my favorite ones:

*Random hugs from a few of my students. Let’s be honest, when a six-year-old makes eye contact with you from across the room, and then walks over to give you a hug, it is a precious moment!

*One student who seemed lonely and a little sad yesterday announced at 2:30, “Mrs. MacLeod, I don’t want to leave our classroom.” What a change from his sad expression yesterday.

*A few students offering to help me with organizational things around the room instead of playing. What sweet girls!

*Students fighting over books. This just speaks to my heart. I mean, duh!

*A shy student who I expected to take at least a month to raise her hand to share, raised her hand to contribute more than once. I called on her every time!

So now I sit, the real first day gone by… (my scratchy throat is reminding me of that). I must say, I will wait on the Lord for strength for each day. This is going to be a fabulous year!

A Lesson that I will Never Teach the Same Again

I learned a lesson in Israel, and it's been rolling over in my mind this summer. As a teacher, it has corrected my way of teaching the story of David and Goliath. As a follower of Jesus Christ, it has changed the way I trust in the Lord.

When I first started studying how to study the Bible I learned three main things from a book entitled Living by the Book by the well-known Howard Hendricks. 
1. Observation
2. Interpretation
3. Application
These three sporadically pop up in my mind as I'm reading and studying different passages in Scripture. What these guiding principles have shown me (if completed in order) is how to truly interpret the meaning of the passage of Scripture at hand. I've gone on a tangent... this is not the point I'm trying to make today.

There are passages of Scripture that I've never really done this with because they are stories that I already know. For instance, the story of David and Goliath. 

In first grade, when it's time for David and Goliath, I do a dramatic retelling of this story trying to conjure up the feelings that may have been floating around in David's head as he goes into battle... but what I did was completely ignore some of what Scripture says he actually did when he went into battle against the giant. I skipped observation. You see I had been teaching my students to apply this story by trusting in the Lord when they come up against giants in their lives. This is not the correct application of this story. There are some things that I have missed because I jumped straight to trying to apply this to my life and my students' lives.

Here is what 1 Samuel 17 says:

The Philistines gathered their troops for battle. They assembled at Socoh in Judah. They camped in Ephes Dammim, between Socoh and Azekah. Saul and the Israelite army assembled and camped in the valley of Elah, where they arranged their battle lines to fight against the Philistines. The Philistines were standing on one hill, and the Israelites on another hill, with the valley between them.

Then a champion came out from the camp of the Philistines. His name was Goliath; he was from Gath. He was close to seven feet tall. He had a bronze helmet on his head and was wearing scale body armor. The weight of his bronze body armor was five thousand shekels. He had bronze shin guards on his legs, and a bronze javelin was slung over his shoulders. The shaft of his spear was like a weaver’s beam, and the iron point of his spear weighed six hundred shekels. His shield bearer was walking before him.

Goliath stood and called to Israel’s troops, “Why do you come out to prepare for battle? Am I not the Philistine, and are you not the servants of Saul? Choose for yourselves a man so he may come down to me! If he is able to fight with me and strike me down, we will become your servants. But if I prevail against him and strike him down, you will become our servants and will serve us.” Then the Philistine said, “I defy Israel’s troops this day! Give me a man so we can fight each other!” When Saul and all the Israelites heard these words of the Philistine, they were upset and very afraid.NET

So this first part of the story is pretty hard to mis-understand. There is a battle between the Philistines and the Israelites, and the Philistines have a giant that is taunting Israel. The Israelites are afraid. The ESV version uses the word dismayed. They are quite upset about the possibility of becoming the Philistines' slaves.

So this is where David enters the text of this story. David's three older brothers are fighting in Saul's army. He is spending his time traveling back and forth to feed his father's sheep and check in on his brothers. David comes on this battle scene just in time to watch Goliath taunt the Israelite army. Verse 24 tells us that the Israelites were greatly afraid and fled from him. David's response to their fear is the key to interpreting this story with accuracy.

The next verse says:

David asked the men who were standing near him, “What will be done for the man who strikes down this Philistine and frees Israel from this humiliation? For who is this uncircumcised Philistine, that he defies the armies of the living God?”NET

David doesn't fear this giant. His trust in God is un-compromised despite the circumstances. We all know the rest of the story of David's defeat of Goliath and Saul's army chasing the Philistines out of the Elah valley. 

The settlement pictured is located at the top of the Elah Valley. This may have been the place where David found the Israelites encamped as they spent each day dismayed and afraid of Goliath.

But how I am teaching this story to future students has changed. David's trust in God's ability to deliver Israel from the Philistines in this battle is based upon his knowledge that God had a plan for his people. In the previous chapter of the Bible, David was anointed to be the next king of Israel. "Who can defy the armies of the living God?" David knew his God had a plan. He had a promise from the Lord in his heart that kept him from wavering in trusting God to deliver his people. 

How does this apply to me: I don't have a promise that I will be the next king of Israel. And I'm not going into a battle against a massive man. However, I do have other promises from God's word that are applicable to my life today. My favorite two come from Psalm 84:11 and Matthew 6:25-34. I can walk around this life with these promises bound up in my heart and rely on them just like David relied on the promise of being the future king of Israel. So when I face challenges in my life, I can go back to the promises that are in my heart from the Lord, and my trust in God's fulfillment of these promises means that I don't have to waver. "Who can defy the armies of the living God?" 

I used to tell students to not be afraid of the Giants in their lives. Now I'm going to show them passages of Scripture that offer them hope and truth. And I'm going to tell them to remember these promises as life unfolds. They too can have the trust that David had in the God of the Universe. This story means so much more to me now!

Field Mouse, Holocaust & Friendship

I have had some enjoyable book experiences this summer. Too many to share, but a few blog-worthy.

I recently read Poppy by Avi in hopes of finding a new chapter book read aloud to begin the fall school year. I fell in love. A sweet and adorable field mouse does a nobel deed in standing up to Mr.Ocax the great horned owl. She is on the hunt for a better place for her family to live because they are running out of food at their current dwelling. As I encourage students to overcome things that may seem frightening to them such as going to a new place or beginning in a new classroom with a teacher they haven't met, I think this book will help me re-iterate that quite well. I expect Poppy to become a class read aloud hero. What I also love about this book is that there are other books in this series, so if my students really like it, we can delve into another story written by the same author. It's always nice to have that available. 

When I was in Israel in June, I got the opportunity to visit the Holocaust Museum in Jerusalem. I was impressed with the amazing tribute that the Jewish nation has put together to honor their people and the lives given during this dreadful time. I appreciate that so many high quality books have been written about this period of history because it is something that I hope we as a human race never forget. And it shows just how dreadfully evil man's heart really is if is is allowed to manifest any sort of prejudice. What I also appreciate about literature highlighting this period of history is that there are such a wide variety of perspectives to learn about when studying the Holocaust. Someone Named Eva by Joan M. Wolf is a story about a girl from Czechoslovakia. She is taken to a special run German camp to be trained to be a good German girl to help grow this country that desired to rule the world. Throughout the story this girl does her very best to remember who she is despite all of the psychobable that the Germans are trying to brainwash over her. What a powerful story! I highly recommend this for fourth grade and up if you know a reader that is interested in this period of history.

The View from Saturday by E.L. Konigsburg, I originally picked up because the spine was my favorite color. Then I noticed that it won a Newbery so I knew it had to be well written. Well I was not disappointed. This is a story about the friendship of four children despite their obvious differences from one another. It would allow for great discussion about divorce as so many young people have been through this terrible experience. It would also be a great book to help teach your child how to be a true friend when they might want to judge others based upon the way that they look. If you know a young reader that enjoys random facts, this book contains many. You see, it is appealing for such a variety of reasons! I recommend this book for fifth grade and up.

Waiting with Expectancy

I've been here at school since this morning, and I can't leave...
not because there isn't plenty to do at home or a good book awaiting me in my purse, simply because I'm looking forward to the first day of school. Being in this room brings it all back to me.

I compare it to dating someone new and intriguing, except that phase is over for my life as I am happily married now for two years. But that feeling you get when you date someone new where you just can't stop asking them questions about themself, and you love figuring out how they are emotionally wired or what just makes them tick.

I have the best job! Each year I get to begin the school year by getting to know 20 little people. I get to figure out what they have decided they already enjoy in this life, who makes them the happiest; I love to figure out how they emotionally respond in new social settings, and I get to make them feel safe in my classroom. And of course, they are young learners, so I get to teach them things they have never heard before and gauge the look on their faces when they discover something just completely amazing!!

I will treasure these things up, and I continue to wait with expectancy to see what God will do this coming school year!

Suz