Five For Friday 10-9-15

5.  This week we had an issue brought up at our morning huddle.  Some students were concerned with other students racing up to the flag to stand right underneath it during the pledge.  We took some time to talk about what the flag means and what it means to be an American.  Everyone participated in the conversation about how we wanted to be respectful during the pledge.  The next day students seemed to stand up straighter and do things respectfully.  Students were proud that we could fix our issue in one day and one conversation.

4.  It really seems that students are feeling more comfortable and more safe in the classroom.  We have had some examples of students being comfortable enough to raise their hand and admit to getting the wrong answer and telling us what they did wrong.  This is often the most useful learning experience when we can learn from each other's mistakes.  I am super proud of my class for being supportive of all of their teammates.

3.  I love how hard everyone is working.  I have seen some crushed looks this week because students are holding themselves to the high standards and expectations that I set for them.  I love this moment, because when I see this I can step in and build them back up.  I can take a moment to tell them how special they are and how we all make mistakes.  It is much easier to build up a kid who has high standards then to try to get through to someone who has no standards and can't understand why you don't approve of their behavior.  When we hold ourselves to high standards, we can really build a sense of accomplishment in what we accomplish.  My praise is never fake and I love these kids.  We will do great things together.

2.  We finished We Can't All Be Rattlesnakes this week.  This is a really fun book because of it being written from the snake's perspective.  The most important lesson we took from the book is that we can be proud of ourselves for being different.  The snake in the book realizes that it was okay to be different than other snakes and was proud of his individuality.  We celebrated the things that make us different.  Students also got excited to free write about the book so that they could write about the things that were left out of the ending.  They were begging for writing time at the end of the week.

1.  My highlight of the week was having our Watch Dogs in the classroom on Friday.  It was fun to see a couple dads listening to the kids read their writing.  They did a great job of being supportive and asking some questions to inspire the kids to write more.  It was also fun to celebrate with parents and kids at the pizza reward lunch.  I have the best job in the world and it is nice to be able to interact with parents and see my kids smiling.