Back Together at Parker!

Our two opening days were so comfortable and pleasant. Friends greeted each other, classmates were getting reacquainted, and our group began linking back together. I marveled at how easy the transition felt. Sure, many of the children reported butterflies and funny sleep the night before Day 1 (so did we teachers!). The overall mood, though, was easygoing and happy. 

Our multi-age classrooms at Parker offer all of us--students, families, teachers--an opportunity to really know each other during our two years together. We become one version of a family. Students and I immediately fall back into old jokes, share memories, restart and revise routines, and pass traditions on to the 2nd graders now joining us. This idea of "looping" is not a new idea in education but it is not the norm in American classrooms. I know how lucky I am to be in this environment. How powerful it is to hit the ground running with my students each year.

After a brief Morning Meeting on Thursday and Friday, Sara Schuman--our 2nd grade mathematics teacher--and I launched right into our grade level math classes. Off the 2nd graders went with Sara next door. 

Almost immediately, I organized the 3rd graders into pairs and handed them a mathematics exploration from Marilyn Burns, a leading thinker in mathematics instruction. In her book, About Teaching Mathematics: A K-8 Resource, she presents the Consecutive Sums Problem. The challenge is for students to explore whether they can add consecutive numbers together to make a given sum (for instance, 2+3+4=9). The pairs were asked to work with the numbers one through 15. This work taps into students' problem solving and their creativity. They look for patterns, hypothesize and test their ideas, and have to find ways to organize and present their findings to others. They must also deal with the fact that for some numbers, they won't find a solution. The problem solving was a two day process and each pair will present and summarize their findings on Monday. I was there to help the partners get started, offer support to get them out of ruts and/or challenge them to extend their learning. Every pair was self-motivated, engaged and totally productive...on Day 1 and Day 2 of their school year!! Whoop-whoop!

Our new students toured the school with classmates and were welcomed by everyone. The 3rd graders are acting as mentors for the 2nd graders, orienting them and helping them feel comfy.

We topped off our week with our new Muddy Boots Club. K-1s and 2-3s buddied up and we hiked out into the field, to Tire Island, wound down the hill and across the tree bridges, worked our way to the pavilion and back up to the school yard. We stopped midway with Liliana asking us to pause--in silence--and look up. What did we notice? Hear? See?

Can't wait to see everyone again on Monday!