Celebrating Learning

"I knew by instinct and training that students would learn more, and with more joy, if adults from their home lives shared in their school lives. I wanted to welcome families into our first grade classroom in ways that would engage them and allow them to appreciate the children's accomplishments.  I kept searching, asking myself: What's the most important thing our classroom community can share with adult visitors? The answer I arrived at was "our learning"—which is, after all, the heart of all we do at school!"

by Leigh Weaver

Responsive Classroom Newsletter: 

February 2009

 On the last day of first grade, our CREW members became the experts by teaching their parents all about the case studies from our 2nd learning expedition, The World is our Garden.  Students confidently spoke to their parents about their investigations and experiments as scientist.  Each child shared their recordings in important science journal.







 Parents asked questions as students clearly presented information they had learned and inferences they had made.  Students went through the scientific processes and showed pride in their hard work towards high quality work.

  

Students discussed which FCE Habits of Character they used throughout the 12 week expedition.  The kids were truly the experts as teachers stood in the shadows as the coaches and facilitators.   The excitement during this Celebration of Learning was contagious. 

As readers and writers, we researched multiple sources of information to include experts, i-Pads and non-fiction texts (books and articles) to help us with our research.

 Students led parents through experiments and scientific conversations that included findings the students had and questions they answered.

We hope you can visit the FCE outdoor classroom with your smart phone.  We created an audio tour which includes important information about healthy vegetables and unique garden organisms that help our garden thrive!