Communicating

Context

Students were exploring the effects of pushes and pulls, as well as size, shape, and materials on movement. They were encouraged to work cooperatively in small groups to create a structure with ramps to use in their experiments.

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Activity Photo

Teacher Reflection

I heard things like:

• Should we make it taller?
• Can you please hold this?
• Wait, maybe this will work!
• We have to connect it better
• Do you think it (the ball) can go up again?
• What if you put it underneath?
• That’s awesome!
• Here!  What if you try it? (gives another student the ball)

I observed:

• Students making decisions both collaboratively and independently
• Students sharing their ideas confidently
• Students taking turns and using positive language to encourage their peers
• All students making contributions to the creation
• Students persevering when they encountered challenges and looking to each other for support and encouragement
• Students showing innovative thinking and taking risks to try new things
• Students communicating their ideas and needs to one another effectively
• Students being proud to share their creations with others

Context

A class has been developing an understanding that mathematicians make mistakes, take risks, ask questions, work alone and together, and reflect on their learning. They have built, and continue to build, a math community where they feel safe to take risks and can learn from one another. Students regularly do number talks to discuss how they might solve a mathematical problem and explain their thinking. After participating in a number talk, a student reflects on her ability to communicate her thinking during these talks.

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Student Work Sample

• Student work (DOCX)

Student Reflection (based on prompts)

• Prompt: I chose _________ to show how I have been developing my communication skills.
• Student: I chose number talks to show how I have been developing my communication skills.
• Prompt: It shows my ability to communicate…
• Student: In number talks, I feel like we all communicate better in number talks then when we are just doing math on piece of paper it is harder to communicate.
• Prompt: How does this learning opportunity support you as a learner?
• Student: I enjoy number talks because most teachers will just give you paper but instead we get to express our thinking to other people and we get to learn from others and it really feels like a fun thing to do in your class.
• Prompt: I want you to notice….
• Student: that number talks are about how we think differently then others in our class. When you do number talks you are learning different strategies from other people.
• Prompt: I am still learning…
• Student: how to explain my thinking to other people. I find it hard to explain my thinking to other people because I am still learning how to use the right wording to share my thinking.
• Prompt: I will….
• Student: get better at explaining my thinking. One of the ways I am getting better at explaining my thinking is by doing number talks more often in our class and hearing other people in our class and learning how they would say it.

Context

The Teacher’s Voice

Our class read the story What Matters by Alison Hughes and Holly Hatam. The story starts with a boy doing a small act (picking up a can and throwing it into the garbage). He does not know it, but his tiny act has big consequences. The story traces the ripple effects of how the small act makes a difference and results in layers of impact. 

After reading the book, we reflected on our daily lives and brainstormed small acts that we could do. We also identified possible ripple effects for each small act. Students then selected one act that they could do (i.e. pick up pencils that had fallen on the ground) and wrote a story about their selected small act in a style like the one used in What Matters.

• What Matters Assignment (PDF)

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Student Work Video

This student chose to use iMovie to tell her story about a girl who picked up a pencil.

Context

A Teacher’s Voice

R entered kindergarten in September nervously, crying and holding her mom’s hand.  She was terrified to try new things and didn’t know anyone as they had just moved into the community. She cried every morning at drop off and cried every time she had to enter a new space (e.g. library, gym, music room). She was particularly scared of the playground.

When the class went outside, R would stand next to the teacher for the entire recess time. Friends would ask her to come play, but she politely said “no” to every request.  If the teacher moved around the playground, R would follow. After several months, R started moving slowly away from the teacher. She would place one foot on the woodchips and then take a few steps until eventually she walked all the way across the playground.

In November, the teacher was no longer outside with the class at recess and R was beginning to make some meaningful friendships with her classmates.  In class, they were talking about being brave and trying new things. They were also discussing supporting each other when things are hard or when someone needs help, or a hand, or just a friend to be with them. R was lucky enough to have made a lovely friendship with E who took these lessons to heart.

E continued to support R and build her confidence by repeating, “You can do this. I will help you. I will play with you and walk with you on the playground.” E never gave up on R.

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Teacher Reflection

Today, R runs on the playground every day and isn’t afraid to try new things because she knows it will be okay. Her friends will help her, support her, and be there for her. She is now confident and brave enough to support others and often offers to help her classmates when they need a brave friend.

R is very reflective and has grown to be very self-aware. She demonstrates pride and a growing sense of self-confidence that she didn’t have at the beginning of the year.  She has made one very meaningful friendship and, while she used to struggle when that one friend would play with others, she is now learning that it is okay for her friend to play with others. She is also okay playing with others or even on her own.  Yesterday she said to me, “C asked if he could play with me and I said that I want to play on my own right now, but can we play later?” Her face beamed when she told me this and her voice indicated that she was feeling proud and confident.

Student Interview with R

Tell me about the playground when you started kindergarten?

R: I felt nervous because there were a bunch of different kids that I didn’t know.  That made me nervous because I had no friends.  I had no friends because I didn’t know anybody.  I just moved here.

Why were you nervous to go on the playground?

R: I was too scared to climb things.  In the beginning of kindergarten, I felt like I could go on it but I was too scared to. I felt like I should play on the playground but I couldn’t.

How do you feel about the playground now?

R: Now I don’t feel nervous anymore because I play on it every day.

What made you go on the playground?

R: When I growed up I went on the playground.  I persevered like a salmon and then I felt proud of myself.  When I went home I told mommy and daddy that I went on the playground and they said, “I am proud of you.”

How do you feel about yourself?

R: I feel good about myself and I feel brave.  Now that I am brave I tried to go to the gravel field with E.  I felt proud.  It was not scary.  E supported me because she holded my hand and she helped me go down the stairs to the gravel field.  Then we started playing tag together.  Now I have lots of friends.

How did you make friends?

R: I talked to people.  When I talked to people for the first time I felt really nervous but now I feel excited to talk to people because now I have a lot of friends and I can talk to other people. 

 

Student Interview with E

Tell me about your friendship with R

E: We met when I was doing stuff that was funny, she asked me, “Can I be your friend?” and I said, “Yes”. The next day after that happened, we ate lunch together and then we had a playdate and then we had another playdate and then it keeped on going along and now we are friends.

What makes your friendship special and meaningful?

E: What makes it special is, like, we are together and if I am scared, R will help me and she is scared then I will help her.  Just like on Piggie and Elephant when Elephant is too scared to do things so Piggie helps him.  Like when we did our Piggie and Elephant play and R was too scared to talk so I decided we could call the play, “Elephant Lost his Voice” so R didn’t have to talk.

How does your friendship make you feel?

E: It makes me feel good and happy because I also thought on the first day of school that I wouldn’t have a friend but then I met somebody super good for me because it was a good fit because she really loved me and I felt that I didn’t have a friend but then I met her and she was the nicest girl.

How does your friendship make you a better person?

E: Well, I don’t exactly know that one but I will tell you what I do know.  Our friendship makes me a better person because we always play together and if we weren’t friends that I wouldn’t play with anybody.

How does your friendship make R a better person?

E: Because she is super emotional when she doesn’t have a friend by her side and if she didn’t have anybody then she would just be kinda sad but she has me so she is happy.

Tell me how you supported R on the playground this year.

E: Um, on the up top playground she was super scared so she only wanted to go to the down playground so we just walked down there together.  I went on the playground first and then I just said, “R, why don’t you come play with me here?” and she did.

 

Student Work Sample

Context

A Teacher’s Voice

Our class has been learning about ourselves, our families, and our community. We have started to think about the roles we play within those relationships and the rights and responsibilities we have to ourselves and to each other.

This is a very big concept for our young learners, but we found some books to help clarify our thinking. We started with the book, “With a Friend by Your Side”.  This beautiful book talks about the importance of friendship and places value on different types of friendships (ex. silly friends, happy friends, supportive friends).  This led to a lovely conversation about, “What type of friend are you?”  The students were asked to think about who they are in a friendship and place value on the role they play to their friends.  They were each asked to complete the sentence, “My role is to be a _______ friend because ________.”  As always, all the students had some amazing connections and thoughtful answers.

• My role is to be a kind friend because I can support my friend and that makes me happy.
• My role is to be a community friend because we all help each other.
• My role is to be a smart friend because if somebody doesn’t know what to do then I will help them.
• My role is to be a playful friend because I am silly.

Hmmm…I wonder…Do we always play the same role in our friendships or do our roles change sometimes?

 Next, we read a book called, “Thank You Earth”.  This beautiful book is filled with photographs of nature from around the world. The book is a thank you letter to the earth for giving us such a beautiful planet filled with colourful sunsets, peaceful forests, lively creatures and remarkable deserts.  Through our family inquiry, we learned about many different types of families and this book sparked our thinking about being a part of an earth family. The students reflected and said,

• I am responsible for taking care of creatures in our earth family.
• I am responsible for planting seeds in our earth family.
• I am responsible for keeping my brother safe in our earth family.
• I am responsible for watching nature in our earth family.
• I am responsible for keeping the earth clean and recycling in our earth family.

Our final book was, “I Have the Right to Be a Child”.  Immediately, a student asked the question, “What are rights?”.  Before we began reading the book, we decided that “rights” are the things that we all deserve, need, should have and are fair for everyone to expect.  The book explains some of these ideas in kid friendly language, such as, “I have the right to be cared for using the best treatments available to humans” and “I have the right to breathe clean air that’s as pure as the blue sky.”  After each page, we decided that every child should have these things but not every child gets these things depending on where they live in the world.  We are all a part of a global family and we decided that we should all be very grateful and appreciative of having the right to be a child and play and be safe and loved. The students reflected and said,

• I have the right to have clothes.
• I have the right to love my dad and mom.
• I have the right to breathe clean air.
• I have the right to friendship.
• I have the right to play with supporting friends.
• I have the right to have a name. 

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Student Work Samples