A New Year, A New Blog!

Welcome to my new classroom blog!  I have been looking for a new way to communicate with parents and caregivers so that you will have a better idea what we are up to for over six hours a day.  I thought that I would try blogging.  I have been teaching my students to try new things, challenge themselves, and embrace things that aren't easy.  I am taking my own advice!  Please bear with me as I learn new technology and create new pathways among my neurons (ask your child what I am talking about!)

A Great Start

The school year has been off to a great start as we have been learning routines, rules, expectations, and what life is all about in fourth grade.  We are a fantastic group of respectful, responsible, and ready students and were the first class in the building to fill our Paw Print chart and earn a reward.  Today we filled our second Paw Print chart and will be celebrating our 3 R's again this week! 

Growth Mindset

We started the school year off by learning about growth mindset.  We watched a lot of videos and did some activities that taught us that our brains are always growing.  In fact, when things get difficult we are actually "growing" or strengthening the neural connections in our brain.  We talked a lot about failing, but not giving up.  We even learned about famous people who failed, picked themselves up and kept going.  Oftentimes our children see a famous person such as Patriots quarterback Tom Brady and think that these people must have been born that way.  What children don't see is the hard work, dedication, and oftentimes, failure that went on in the person's life.  A full definition of growth mindset is below along with a link to a video that I showed in the classroom.

To go along with Growth Mindset, each student chose an inspirational quote that they decided to make their motto this year.  Each student took their motto and made one for their desk, locker and a large poster in art class to put up somewhere in the school.  Hopefully these posters will help to inspire others!

Fixed Mindset vs. Growth Mindset

In a fixed mindset, people believe their basic qualities, like their intelligence or talent, are simply fixed traits. They spend their time documenting their intelligence or talent instead of developing them. They also believe that talent alone creates success—without effort. They’re wrong.

In a growth mindset, people believe that their most basic abilities can be developed through dedication and hard work—brains and talent are just the starting point. This view creates a love of learning and a resilience that is essential for great accomplishment. Virtually all great people have had these qualities. ~ Carol Dweck

Famous Failures Video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=dT4Fu-XDygw