In our grade 2 class, we have been writing letters, thank you notes, morning messages, and home-school journals since the beginning of the year. So, during our class meeting today I asked the children the following question: what counts in a thank you note? This is the final list they came up with: 1 –… Read more

We’re still in the dead of winter here in Calgary; it was -36 degrees Celsius with the wind chill today. It hasn’t stopped snowing since mid-November. The children have had more indoor recess this year than I’d care to think about. Everyone’s patience, including my own, is wearing thin. It’s report card time and parent… Read more

Another brief anecdote about my son…a few days ago we had a lot of snow in a short time in Calgary. Driving to work in the morning was treacherous – no snow days here. When it was time to go home I saw a teacher walking away from the parking lot. I stopped my car… Read more

Today, unlike other days, my son didn’t want to listen to the radio on the way to school. Instead, he wanted to count to a very high number. Unfortunately, I can’t remember which one right now. Suffice it to say that this is a personal project of his that keeps increasing in size over time.… Read more

In the current climate of teacher bashing, increased standardized testing, and the push to evaluate teachers by student test scores, it is imperative that teachers, families, and students stand up and say, “Enough!” Although there may be individual projects many of us are engaged in to stop the tide of mediocrity and the destruction of… Read more

I have just joined the Read to Me – Picture Book Reading Challenge. I have committed to reading 200 picture books to a child between now and Dec. 31, 2011. I will be blogging about the books I choose to read and my experiences reading to individual children. I will be doing this at school… Read more

OK. My daughter read a recent post I wrote on this blog and she says I’m too hard on myself. Instead of beating myself up about what didn’t go well in my classroom she wants me to celebrate all the things that do go well. So, here it goes, my end-of-year present to myself –… Read more

At the end of the day we have a closing circle in my classroom. It is intended to give the children and me a moment of quiet and reflection at the end of the day in the same way that morning meeting energizes us to spend the day learning and playing together. Depending on how… Read more

At the end of every marking period, my grade 2 team asks students to give themselves report card marks on a modified one-page sheet with descriptors similar to those on the report card that teachers are required to complete. The children score themselves on a scale of 1 – 5 in the same way that… Read more