Our first week was four days long because of Labor Day and we got off to a great start! I had been teaching all three 6th grade Science classes and two of the three 8th grade Science classes but this year I only have all three 6th grade Science classes plus a 6th grade exploratory class, so I’m just a 6th grade teacher! This first quarter the other two 6th grade teachers and I will be teaching the Peace4Kids curriculum to all our 6th graders, basically we each have our 1st period homeroom class again during our 4th period. Peace4Kids is really cool and I’m excited to help 6th graders with some awesome strategies. For the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th quarter I’ll teach each 6th grade group the WoWinSchools curriculum! Exciting!
Being only a 6th grade teacher has some advantages especially when it comes to being part of just one grade level team but I’m going to miss getting my kids back in 8th grade before they go off to high school. Even though our schools are small, only about 240 kids in grades 6-8, and our high school is right next to the middle school, many kids are embarrassed to “know” me once they move on to 7th grade and beyond. There are those who still say hi and even those who talk to me but so many of them seem embarrassed to talk to their 6th grade teacher. Not having them in 8th grade will make it harder to re-connect with them in their last year of middle school. We’ll see how that goes this year.
We also had quite a change to our schedules this year. We went from roughly 50 minutes periods to about 80 minute periods! That means I get 30 more minutes of Science each and every day! I’m expecting to do great things with that extra time and I can’t wait to do labs in 80 minutes periods! Because of that extra time I’ve started off the year slowly. The first week we basically took a personality test, did a cool activity (the Marshmallow Challenge, and did an activity to determine how we can have a safe, happy and fun year together. I found this fun 5-minute personality test from someone’s blog I read (sorry, I can’t remember whose blog I got it from) and it was great. Walking around helping kids understand the words on the test was also a great part of the process.
I had intended to have kids re-arrange their teams to get more balanced after finding out their personality type but kids made the teams they chose on the first day work by knowing which personality types they were dominant in and which ones they were strong in even though it may not be their dominant type. They made their teams work and were aware of the different personality types that are needed for successfully getting work done in a group. It was a win-win!
The Marshmallow Challenge went great and kids loved it. They were all on task, participating and working very well together! Then I had kids do an activity that I got from Bill Ferriter to determine how we can have a safe, happy and fun classroom. It’s a great way to have kids learn what they each need to learn in school. We’re still kind of working on it because even with 80 minute periods it still takes two to three periods.
I’m trying out ClassDojo for the first time and so far finding it very useful. Kids really do want feedback on how they’re doing and for parents who want to know how their kids are behaving this is one way I can totally let them know regularly. I love how I can edit the behavior presets to provide detailed feedback.
I’m also trying out ClassCraft with my 4th period Peace4Kids exploratory class and so far kids are loving it! It has taken us three days to get started using ClassCraft and kids are ready and excited to start learning the Peace4Kids curriculum to level up their avatars! Our 4th and 5th period exploratory (like elective) classes are still around 50 minutes so these go really fast.
Next week I plan to start introducing my students to blogging and using our class discussion forum. I’m still going to start slowly by having them start on paper first, to practice. After last year’s disaster where kids hated using technology I’m waiting to have kids use the tech this year and training them more, which having more time in Science really helps. I’ll get them using 3D GameLab soon too.
I’m really enjoying my new 6th graders and am so excited for this year! And on top of having great kids my daughter is in 6th grade and since I’m the only Science teacher I have her in my 3rd period class! 🙂
Here’s a glimpse into our Marshmallow Challenge:
