Moments from my day

I haven't posted on one of my learning walks in some time, so here's what I saw today (Tuesday).

Blackberry: During a math workshop, some students worked on the problem "I have two cows, two hens, and two ducks. I want to put boots on all of their feet. How many boots do I need?", which gets at counting by groups. Others used beads and pipe-cleaners to make 100s chains.

Laurel: As part of their ongoing Ant Study, students shared the multi-media images of ant farms they had created, and discussed what aspects of the pieces were realistic to actual ant farms.

Sweet Briar: 2nd grade students had a word study lesson drawn from Words Their Way, the developmentally-based approach we are using K-5. They began by reviewing various letter combinations that make long "a" sounds (_ai_, _a_e, and _ay), and then moved onto a word sort for either the long "o" sound (_o_e, _oa_, etc) or initial consonant sounds (_ell, _ill, _oll).

Temescal: During a writing workshop, students worked on drafting new pieces, editing and revising work previously begun, and adding illustrations to pieces at various stages of completion.

Strawberry: Half the students were working on their Fort Ross historical fiction assignments, while the other half was in music practicing for the winter holiday concert.

Cerrito: A spirited discussion of the pros and cons of writing collaboratively, using clips from a recent episode of The Simpsons as a foil. As Mike wrote on the Cerrito Creek blog, "Today was also the first day I have ever shown an episode of The Simpsons in writers workshop, or any TV show for that matter, especially one aired on Fox. Fear not, it was tied intricately to our study of the writer's life, and how books get made. When I caught this episode over Thanksgiving, I couldn't help myself, I had to show it to the students to help them think critically about what they read. Check it out this evening and get a good, deep laugh. We all need it!"

That's autonomy, interdependence, critical thinking, creativity, communication, technological proficiency, and discipline understanding in visible action - seven of our nine learning outcomes.