How do you learn about your new class? Do you play Tic Tac Toe get to know you game? Do they create a poster about their favorite activities? Do you play 3 facts and 1 opinion? I have done all of these in years past, but this year I am going to try something new.
I have been pondering how to introduce Wonder Jars as well as Wonderopolis and I believe I have found the answer. I have decided to start the year with looking at past wonders that I know last year's class LOVED. For example Wonder #100 (What is a Milestone?) Wonder #152 (How Does a Species Become Endangered?) Wonder #162 (What is Pi?) We will probably even eat pie and have a little Word Study integration. I plan on looking at a wonder a day and just talking about it but more important in the beginning is to ask the students what would be some artifacts that would represent this particular wonder. I know this would have them think differently about the wonder as well as begin to hook them on the site.
Connecting all of this back to getting to know my class after 2-3 days I am going to model for my class my artifacts that tell about my life. I will bring the artifacts in and explain why I have chosen them. I will ask my students to bring in a few artifacts that would describe them and encourage them to share about different parts of their life. Right now I am thinking about taking their picture and having them glue it in their writer's journal as an anchor picture for future writing projects.
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| My artifacts that I will bring into my classroom. |
