Room 1: What Did We Do Today?

Wonder why your kids come home so tired every afternoon? We work them to the bone, that's why. Contrary to popular belief, Hirsch is not all fun and games. Ok, there is a lot of fun...and plenty of games. But we're working hard and our days are packed with learning activities. Take a look at a typical Monday:

9:00

After watching "Kung Fu Panda" for Tani's birthday the previous Friday, one student requested a Kung Fu Panda word search for morning work. Ask and ye shall receive:

This word search, the kids were told, also contains a hidden message...but you have to find all of the words to decode it. We're happy to give you clues, but first lets talk about directions:

If I tell you to look to the south of your puzzle, is that top or bottom? If a word goes from east to west what will it look like? Start from that k and go northeast.

Highly motivating subject+fun directional clues=fun, interactive, regulating morning work. I usually begin the morning with an activity like this at the table. The students know what to expect and it brings us all together in one place to start the day. Those who finish the activity may choose from a menu of independent "What Should I Do?" activities. Here's what Bo chose:

Here's what Jakob chose:

9:45:

After a snack break,

we continued with some academics...

10:00:

Several students are pulled out for OT and speech, allowing us to work in a smaller group. We are learning a multiplication game called "Circles and Stars". Roll the die once and draw circles to represent the number. Roll the die again and draw stars in each circle to represent the second number. Write a multiplication sentence to show the total number of stars.
For example:
Roll 1=6 circles
Roll 2=3 stars in each circle
6x3=18 stars

We played a few rounds together and then made our own "Circles and Stars" books.

As the students worked, several of them had some great light bulb moments, which I recorded on a chart:

What did they discover?

If you multiply a number by 0, it will always be 0.
If you multiply a number by 1, it will always stay the same number.(aka: Multiplicative Identity Property)
If you switch the order of the 2 numbers being multiplied, the product will always be the same. 6x3=18, 3x6=18. We named this the "Switcharoo Trick", but also learned it is called the Commutative Property of multiplication.

10:45:

Some reread our most recent troll, giant and Thor-filled story from Norse Myths:

others engaged in an interactive reading lesson on the Promethean Board, imagining that they are skunks, learning why they stink, and who their enemies are.

and one reader researched bacteria, viruses, fungi, and protozoa in a close up look at Microbes.

Yes, trolls, skunks and viruses. Show me an 8 of 9 year old kid who isn't into one of those topics. Inconceivable.

Several of the students then used their reading words in a reading/spelling/movement activity. Here's how:

First, read the word:

(Yes, seriously. That was Jakob's word from his story. It has something to do with Salmonella, but you'll have to ask Jakob to fill you in on the rest. His knowledge on this topic far exceeds mine...)

My Norse group used spelling words from the latest story, "Thor and the Jotun Outgardloki".

Next, find the magnetic letter tiles in word. They are hidden all over the room...

After the letters are found, the challenge is to make as many new words as possible from your letters. Sort them into categories (2, 3, 4 letter words; spelling patterns, etc). It's amazing how far their reading and spelling has come since starting this activity. The best part: I'm not teaching them to spell these words, they are discovering them on their own! Here are the word detectives at work:

11:15:

By now, tummies are starting to grumble and its time to break for lunch and recess.

12:00:

Immediately following recess, we have Group Reflections time. We use this 20 minutes to process and discuss any disagreements or concerns, reflect on our feelings and celebrate positive achievements. Sometimes we play a quick group game to highlight a discussion. We have been talking a lot about similarities and differences. If a friend doesn't like something that I like, does that mean they don't like me? For example, I want to play with a stuffed animal at choice time, but my friend wants to play with the Legos. Does that mean we aren't friends? I prefer dogs, but Erin prefers cats. Can we like different things but still get along?
Today's game was a version of "Whoonu?"

Each student picked a card to read aloud. We made a chart on the board to illustrate each students' preference for the item on the card and talked about our similarities and differences.

1:00

We broke off into groups for Fairy Tales and Norse Myths. While the fairy tale folks played "Bacon Chase" and read a new version of "The Three Little Pigs", my Vikings compared a 2 versions of the story "Thor and the Jotun Outgardloki" by making a Venn Diagram on the Promethean Board:

Version 1: