What do you WANT to learn?

School is a mix of what we NEED to learn and what we WANT to learn...or at least it should be! I sometimes get caught up in the plethora of what the state says they need to learn that what they want to learn gets ignored. So, today, for Math, I asked them what they wanted to learn and we did just that! How did your kiddo feel about this idea?

In our morning meeting, we shared one word for this weather and then played coseeki. We earned 2 potato head pieces for our day with the sub yesterday and since we picked what we wanted to learn in math, decided to switch things up and flip flop Math Workshop and Reading Workshop. We read independently and then tried to understand the poem, "Reward" (from StoryWorks) and all of the metaphors within it. We had a fire drill in the midst of our discussion but when we came back, we switched to a little Writer's Workshop where we decided that "said" is dead. We created a poster with words we can use instead of said. I signed planners today, after we wrote our assignments down and then we went to Art (Mrs. Bowers is back!), lunch and recess. After recess, we continued reading brown girl dreaming, where today, her little brother, Roman, went to the hospital because he had been eating paint chips off the wall, which contained lead. Jacqueline's siblings are starting to find things that identify them (brother-chemistry and science; sister-super smart...) and wondering her identity. Next, we moved on to Math where some practiced long division with decimals with me, some took the test and others practiced for the test. After we got the NEED to know completed, we moved on to the WANT. :) Next, we did a little more writing by using macaroni as quotation marks?! Yes. Ask your kiddo for more details. Finally, our day ended with building our penguin dwellings.