Welcome to our classroom blog! The new school year is in full swing, and our third graders have been busy settling in, learning about each other, and beginning to shape the year ahead.
One of the first things we’ve worked on is building our Essential Agreement — a set of promises we make to each other to help create a positive, respectful, and caring classroom community. Together, we talked about what kind of environment we want to learn in, and how we can all contribute to making that happen. Listening to one another, being responsible with time, and supporting each other’s ideas came up again and again.
We’ve also been exploring the big idea of Cultural Identity. Students have shared where they come from, what languages they speak at home, special family traditions, and things that make them proud. We’re discovering just how much we can learn from each other when we take time to listen and celebrate our differences.
Something exciting this year: students are helping shape their own daily flow. That means not only choosing how they spend their learning time, but also taking charge of daily routines like cleaning up the classroom, getting ready for lunch, and even thinking about how and what we do when we eat together. We’ve had great discussions about different kinds of food we`re served, what it means to be a good lunch buddy, and how we can make lunch a calm, respectful, and enjoyable part of our day.
Of course, all this independence comes with challenges — like remembering to tidy up after ourselves or making sure we’re using our lunch time wisely. But we’re working through those challenges together, using reflection and problem-solving to make each day smoother than the last.
We’ve also been working on ways to solve problems together — like what to do when two people want the same materials, or how to speak up when someone isn’t listening. One of our favorite strategies so far? “Stop. Breathe. Speak with Kindness.”
