J-Factor & Giveaway!

How do you bring the J-factor into your teaching?

 

At my school, we are constantly reflecting on bringing the joy into learning. Not "obvious" joy like dance parties or other brain breaks, but joy in presenting lesson material, reinforcing expectations, and recognizing hard work.

 

We have a wide variety of teaching styles at our school and joy may look very different from classroom to classroom. Also, what works for kindergarteners most likely won't have the same response from third graders (although, you never know!).

 

I secretly (well, not anymore) think I have the very best position in the school. I literally tell myself that 5 times a day (not everyday, but most days!). Why? I get to work in small groups with hands-on materials and usually willing participants ;)  It's pretty easy to bring the joy in small groups, although it's not always easy to CONTROL the joy from my students!

 

I also feel lucky to teach alongside two terrific educators this year. I'm working with a new co-teacher (not new to teaching) who brings joy easily to everything she does! I can't even pinpoint what she's doing, but it's definitely there. She's calmer than calm even in the many laughably awful (her words) situations that can occur in a first grade classroom.

 

This week,  I walked into her room during a comprehension lesson (text to self connections) using the book Chrysanthenum. This teacher was about halfway through reading and I glanced at the 25 little faces sitting at the carpet. They were ALL sitting still, mouths hanging open, completely mesmerized by their teacher reading to them. It was SO magical to see! She has the same challenges and "big personalities" in her room as any other room, but you would never sense it when you are there. I'm so thankful to be working with her this year & hoping whatever she's doing rubs off on me!

 

This week, I was using number bonds with my students to compose and decompose. We've been doing this with teddy bear counters, dry erase markers, you-name-it... On Friday I introduced magnetic wands & chips. One of my students got so excited, he fell out of his chair! The j-factor was definitely present during this activity!

 

It took a few tries to get these action shots!

 

 

 

Have a super Saturday!


UPDATE - if you've read this far, thank you very much! :)

I'm so happy to announce this HUGE giveaway:

Congrats to Liv to Teach on reaching 500 followers at her TPT store! To celebrate, she's having a humongous giveaway - click here to check out her blog & enter. It's the first group giveaway I've ever participated in...I donated my Silent E Learning Activities pack:

Please hurry...there's only 7 days left to enter!