Reading
Just as I thought through
my own resolutions last week, I asked my students to do the same. Students
returned from Christmas Break on Tuesday and I began reading class with this
Animoto video of all of my books from #bookaday.
After the video I shared
with my students my Reading Resolutions blog post. We discussed the #nerdbery
and #nerdcott challenges. While my students are not at all ready to join in
those challenges, they did want to participate. As a result I created the ALA
CHALLENGE.
We usually write a book
response once every six school days. For anyone student who wanted to
participate they will read one Newbery and two Caldecott award winners every
month in lieu of the final monthly response. Many students were very excited
about trying this out and rifled through my shelves and headed to the library
to check out books so they could join in.
Writing
In Writing Workshop I
shared my One Little Word (OLW) resolution with my students. I explained the
concept and confided my choice for 2012, BE.
I handed out the list of OLWs I had found on the internet and we split into
groups to discuss what we wanted to work on for the year. The students all
picked a word, either from the list or one that they thought of. They created a
list of ways their OLW applied to them or how it would help them, and then
created a journal about their resolutions for 2012.
Overall I felt like taking
a day to go over our goals for 2012 was extremely beneficial. The students have
seemed more focused for the remainder of the week. Also, some of the students
picked OLWs that were extremely insightful and great goals for themselves. What
type of lessons did you do with your students returning from break? Have you
had them create resolutions before? Was it beneficial?
We usually write a book response once every six school days. For anyone student who wanted to participate they will read one Newbery and two Caldecott award winners every month in lieu of the final monthly response. Many students were very excited about trying this out and rifled through my shelves and headed to the library to check out books so they could join in.
