Measurement Graffiti

Our Time Unit has passed and we are moving right along to our Measurement Unit. To start off this new focus I began our day with more of an inquiry feel to it. We created a “Measurement Graffiti Wall” to see what prior knowledge we all had about measurement. The kids were able to come up with measurement tools, terms, and illustrations. 

From there we made a list of things we could measure in the classroom. This unit is my first topic, besides Social Studies and Science inquiries, that I’m letting the students take charge of. From this list of topics I will then form my lesson plans to tailor to the state standards but also seek the kids’ interests. We are all super excited for this new unit in math!



Now who said math can’t be fun??

GO, JUMP, WRITE, YAY!

Motivation [moh-tuh-vey-shuh n]

1. Providing with a reason to act in a certain way

2. Having a strong reason to act or accomplish something; incentive

As stated from dictionary.com. 

Motivating students can be hard work, but it doesn’t have to be. In this day and technological age, the sky is no longer the limit. We as teachers need to provide our students with everything they need to succeed. And by motivating students above and beyond common expectations will blow their ideas and curiosity out of the water.

We’ve been working hard to motivate our students through literature, theatrics, and various learning experiences. I’ve attached some pictures that reflect such. But Yet sometimes our students can inspire us to reach out and dig a little deeper.

Would You Look @ the Time?!?



These past few weeks we have been working a lot with telling time and understanding the parts of a clock. We’ve gone from the nitty gritty pieces of clocks to creating our own clocks. One of our activities involved making your own time using your body as the hands of the clock to make a time. Peers had to look and decide “What time is it?”

This was a very hands-on interactive lesson to further their interests in time. The ways the kids chose to make their times were also pretty interesting.  We certainly had some fun with it. 

Hip-Hip-HOORAY!

The importance of students writing and the time it takes to write something is to be celebrated. In Already Ready, it is discussed when and why we should celebrate writers. We need to nurture students as students–not just as writers. We need to celebrate the fact that the student is taking the time to write and actually writing. The fact that this child picked up a pencil today and thought, “Let’s do some writing today,” should be celebrated. We need to celebrate their comprehension, no matter how big or small, and on their use of grammar. Does their writing make sense? Are they thinking like a writer? And are we thinking like teachers? We are teaching students not just teaching the subject of writing.

Let’s Build an Enormous Snowman!

It not only takes the support of an adult but the world around us. We don’t allow children to just sit there and struggle all the time. We want to challenge kids and want them to manage on their own–but we don’t want children to give up. We support children with language by listening, talking, encouraging them, and making eye contact. We also need to give children the space to explore the world around them and discover language on their own.

Just like the children working with their peers to build a snowman. Sometimes we take the road less traveled and sometimes we work together to further comprehension of the situation at hand.