After 10-15 minutes of team work, we paused to reflect. Using our Guidelines for Team Work Rubric, we evaluated our behaviors, considering areas of strength and places for growth.






At the end of the contest, we celebrated our many successes! Awards were given for the tallest, most unique, best design, and most creative use of materials. We then had a really great group discussion about what went well, what felt hard, and things we might do differently when working in a team - and on difficult tasks - in the future.

Our next challenge posed the same goal: build the tallest, free-standing tower. However, this time, the materials included dry spaghetti and mini-marshmallows. Once again, teams were randomly selected to encourage students to work with, enjoy, and appreciate the styles of different peers.



Again we used the rubric at the beginning, half way through, and at the end to set goals and reflect.




Students were intrigued that their personal goals and reflections often changed based on the team with which they worked!




We had another very thoughtful post-discussion. Again students considered what went well, what areas were challenging, and appropriate goals for the future. (We are always trying to Be More Awesome, right? :-)

Our final community building challenge of this week was based on a free set of dice from Chik-fil-A. For real! (Inspiration comes from many places! Thank you, Tara Mulvey!) Each side of the die had a theme: fame, family, best, worst, most embarrassing, etc. Under each theme was a series of questions to help us learn more about each other. Even though many of my 4th and 5th graders have been together since Kindergarten, I think it is important for students to not only know each other, but to feel "known." This helps to create a safe environment where children can try new things, take risks, make mistakes, and be themselves - all critical building blocks to success.


I typed up the questions on cardstock and, using a modified version of Kagan's Cooperative Grouping Strategy "Fan, Pick, Read, Answer," we set out to learn more about one another. (Again, with the goals of respectful listening and speaking in mind!) Students, again worked in randomly selected teams to promote understanding, friendship, and respect.



Questions/prompts included:

• Tell about a time you laughed so hard you could not stop.
• Describe the worst hair cut you've ever had.
• Have you ever had to speak or perform in front of an audience? How did it make you feel?
• Tell about something you did that made you feel proud.

Next week we will begin Math Quest, a dystopian book study, and Problem Based Learning. Stay tuned!

After watching Kid President, we examined some of the ways we are awesome. As you can imagine, many pieces of paper were needed. :-) We then looked at ways we could be "more awesome." I shared my personal goals for a more awesome year with the students and modeled how I tried to create goals that were meaningful, specific, relevant, and realistic. (Not exactly "SMART" goals, but in the same spirit.) Using a "Be More Awesome" pennant, each student brainstormed goals for the first nine weeks.












Our completed goals are on display in the classroom.








For those of you who would like to try this out with your AWESOME class, you can find a free copy of the banner here.



Thanks for checking in! I hope your first few weeks of school have been awesome!

1. Accept and celebrate all of the ideas that students offer – even the ones that are wacky or off the wall! When brainstorming, the goal is quantity, not quality. Generating ideas is the first step in effective problem solving! Students can always revisit their ideas later and decide which ones are worth keeping.

2. Encourage “piggybacking” or building on the ideas of others. Creative thinking does not exist in a vacuum. People learn from and thrive on the inspiration and ideas of others. Encourage students – not to copy – but to build on, develop, and extend the ideas of their peers.

3. Model it! Creative thinking is a skill that can be learned! Just as we would provide instruction and support to help our students understand fractions or physics, we need to do the same for creative thinking. Our students have tremendous creative capacity and it is our job to help them identify and develop it. One of my favorite ways to model creative thought is described in tip #5; students often learn best from their peers.

4. Creativity takes time, so give students time to think, try out new ideas, and invent. Creativity can be integrated throughout the academic day with strategies like open-ended questions, project based learning, and student choice. I also like to specifically carve out time in our day to focus on creative thinking. Because the school day is so jam-packed, and much of our instructional time is mandated by others, I tend to use creative activities, like "Brain Food," as:

• Bell Ringers: My students can arrive anytime between 7:30 and 8:00. This 30 minutes can pose a challenge! While I want morning work activities to be worthwhile, I don’t want students who arrive at 8:00 to be “penalized” for missing this time. I love using creativity exercises as bell ringers because my students who are present are meaningfully engaged and developing essential skills, but it does not put other students “behind.” 
• Center Activities: I often have a “Creation Station” as one of my center rotations in both math and reading. Divergent thinking activities are perfect for this spot! Students can tackle the tasks with independence AND at their individual level of readiness. 
• Anchor Activities: Creative thinking activities are a great resource for my fast finishers! I give each student a “Brain Food” packet and if they finish early, they can pull it out and be actively engaged. 

There are other fun, meaningful ways to incorporate creative enrichment into the school day, but these are a few of my favorites.