Awakening Genius in Every Child

"Every student is a genius" declares Thomas Armstrong, author of Awakening Genius in the Classroom.  According to Armstrong the meaning of genius includes 12 basic qualities:  "curiosity, playfulness, imagination, creativity, wonder, wisdom, inventiveness, vitality, sensitivity, flexibility, humor, and joy."

These are exactly the qualities that are recognized, valued, and awakened every day in every child in the K/1 classroom, and every classroom in the school.

Armstrong explains how certain influences in school "shut down" the genius in children.  For example, this is what Armstrong has to say about the extensive use of worksheets:  "Students spend their time filling in the blanks, circling the right item, drawing arrows from the apple to the A, and solving row after row of math problems instead of being curious, creative, or inventive with regard to the real world.  Some children may go through an entire year of schooling filling out more than a thousand of these forms and bringing them home to parents who believe that worksheets represent meaningful learning experiences.  Worksheets have nothing to do with genius, No genius ever attributed his or her success to a worksheet.  No museum contains examples of great worksheets.  These are bureaucratic devices that fit in well with an assembly-line model of education but do nothing to inspire, awaken, or enliven the genius of children or adolescents.  No student has ever come back to a teacher after 30 years and said, "You were the teacher who changed my life! Ever since you showed me that worksheets with the A on one side and the apple on the other, my life has never been the same!" More likely, students' lives were changed for the worse when they came to school and discovered that the vitality of life had been reduced to an 8 1/2 X 11 inch piece of paper with specific commands printed on it.  They find that their life has been changed for the worse by the message:  There's no real work for geniuses in this place (see Smith 1986)."

This is the time of the year when parents make decisions about the "right" school for their children.  Please tell others about our wonderful school and invite them to our February open house.  I am very passionate about this school because it gives me the freedom and support needed to help awaken genius in my classroom.

Enjoy the photos of our young geniuses!

Have a great week,
Liliana

After reading Sir Cumference and the Dragon of Pi  the first grade mathematicians tested  the interesting number of Pi on circular objects.  The "Pi" adventure will continue...........mainly because of the children's high interest, curiosity, and hunger for discovery.

More ways to make shapes.  See last post for other ways.

Creativity, imagination, and inventiveness in the Block Center

Making crystals in science class

 

While looking for ice crystals, we found animal tracks too!

Writing the morning message is a meaningful writing experience.  Sharing it with the class is an exercise in self-confidence, public speaking, awareness of audience, and just plain fun! 

Fun in the snow!

First Grade Math, Science, and more.......

The K/1's came back to the warmth of the classroom and the cool snow covered fields and woods.  Snow was such a welcoming sight!

Back in December the first grade mathematicians began exploring geometry.  They brainstormed what they know about shapes and what they would like to know.  They described pattern blocks and explored creating geometric designs.  The first graders loved reading The Greedy Triangle by Marilyn Burns and explored the possibility of turning the story into a play. The children explored describing and drawing triangles. They enjoyed reading What's Your Angle Pythagoras?  They searched for angles in the classroom and discussed how the size of an angle might help in constructing things. The children are continuing to investigate finding combination of shapes to fill in an outline.  They use pattern blocks to fill in different parts of an outline. They find ways to keep track of how many of each kind of pattern block they used, and find the total number of blocks.  Presently the children are exploring rectangles and are moving into exploring and describing the characteristics of 2-D shapes.

In Science with Kate the K/1's are exploring snow.  The children had fun looking at snow through a magnifying glass on a sunny day, which led to the discovery of rainbows also. In the classroom the children investigated ice cubes.  They also hiked to the creek to look for ice.  They are looking forward to going back to the creek next science class.  The K/1's will continue to explore crystals for a bit longer then will begin investigating rocks and minerals.

In Language Arts, among the usual activities, the children are also taking turns writing the morning message.  This is one way for the children to work one on one with the teacher on writing.  Also The K/1's are enjoying studying Jan Brett.  They are excited about acting out The Hat.  We will be working with Susie in art to put it all together and act it out for an audience.  I will let you know soon about the day and time of performance.  We have a word wall of winter words and the children are playing games to learn the words at everyone's instructional level.  We will continue to explore our unit on winter and will keep you posted.

Have a wonderful week everyone!

My own Show of Work!