Welcome to our classroom!
The little alcove right outside of our classroom has been converted into our classroom library. Books are organized according to genre, author, popular series, etc. They are also categorized into Non-Fiction and Fiction sections. Students are welcome to borrow from our classroom library and can sit and read here if they like. From time to time, I borrow additional books from the Public Library or our school's library that correspond to various units that we are studying. Our prayer space is displayed prominently in our room as our Faith is the focus of each day. On the wall are our morning and end-of-day prayers, as well as our school prayer. The table is covered with a special table cloth which the students decorated with their names. To make the table cloth, students created their name designs on paper using fabric crayons, and then the images were ironed onto the cloth. On top of our table lies our candle, bibles, prayer books, and coloured cloths to coincide with the seasons in our liturgical calendar. Our Math Wall is a place where we will display all the new concepts we learn this year. After each lesson, activity, or group problem solving session, we will consolidate and share our new knowledge. As students reflect on what they've learned, we will add statements to our Math Wall. By the end of the year, the goal is to have come to understand all of the expectations from the Ontario curriculum. We make use of a Word Wall. Throughout the year, we will display new vocabulary, difficult to spell words, and terminology that is subject-specific. Our Word Wall is colour coded. Language words is yellow, math terms are green, science terminology is purple, social studies vocabulary is pink, and all other words are in blue. Technology plays a big part in our education. In addition to the two computers in our room, our school has a computer lab, and class set of laptops for student use. We also make use of video technology and of course, our website is an online extension of our classroom. The carpet area serves as a nice gathering place for class meetings, read-alouds and mini lessons. It is also a spot that students like to go to when reading or doing small group work. They also like to play board games here during indoor recesses. Finally, this area will be used to gather during classroom prayer services. We are very lucky to have our own private area outside of our classroom for our coats, shoes, and other personal belongings. Our hallway also serves as an extra quiet work area for small groups or individual students when needed. |
Our desks are set up in pods. This allows us to collaborate with each other and facilitate all the group work we do in class. Pods also allow for easier movement around the room and provides us with flat table spaces for big projects. Our classroom expectations were developed by the whole class. Having everyone be a part of the process in determining our expectations, makes everyone more accountable to them. Our expectations are all centred around the theme of respect: Respect for our Faith, for each other, for self, and for our environment. The students used sticky notes to write action statements to show what each category might look, sound, and feel like in our room each day. Organization is a great factor in academic success. Students are learning to keep their desks and books organized through modeling and anchor charts. The anchor charts are checklists that the students can constantly refer to, in order to ensure that their belongings are always in presentable condition. Students are welcome to borrow necessary items from our craft shelf. Paper, pens, pencils, erasers, art supplies, and other office tools are located on our craft shelf. We have a Smart Board in our room. The Smart Board has brought interactivity to our lessons, and is a great visual aid in so many ways. For more information about how Smart Boards work, be sure to watch the video on our home page. You will see many "Bump It Up" walls throughout our school. Students routinely engage in Bump it Up activities which serve to help improve student work. Samples of student work, usually written work, are assessed by the students themselves. They decide what makes the work "Wow" level, "Almost Wow," or "A Work in Progress." They add constructive and concrete feedback based on pre-determined success criteria. Afterwards, students are given a similar assignment to try to create their own "Wow" level work. It is hard to see from this picture, but this is our Published Writing Wall right outside of our classroom. Each student has their own sleeve and throughout the year, as they complete writing assignments, their work will be displayed here.
|