Weekly chat for excited 1st grade teachers who love to learn and share ideas. Participants are interested in a variety of topics including literacy, math, technology, play, inquiry, and being the best educators they can be!
We are discussing the importance of play tonight. If you haven't heard of Global School Play Day, please check out this link. https://t.co/AaEBYpSKej#1stchat
Q1 Have you participated in Global School Play Day before? If so, please share your thoughts. What were your take aways? If not, check out this link. https://t.co/AaEBYpSKej#1stchat
A1 I have not participated in Global School Play Day before, but after looking at the article I LOVE this idea and want to use it in my classroom this year!! #1stchat
A1: I have done it. The first time I only did it for a few hours. But I saw the value. Now I do it a full day. Love to just observe and note what Ss do during play. Reveals so much. #1stchat
Q1 Have you participated in Global School Play Day before? If so, please share your thoughts. What were your take aways? If not, check out this link. https://t.co/AaEBYpSKej#1stchat
Excited to discuss this tonight! #1stchat Thinking of when we had "fort day" last year as an incentive and the Ss turned our room into a big fort! I think this would be a good day for it! #1stchat
I had different things during the day, coding the robots, hot wheel challenges, building challenges, and then some free play. This year thinking about bringing things from home #1stchat
Children need unstructured play to develop problem solving skills, use their imagination, construct their own meaning of things... They often show you learning you didn't know was there, it's amazing to watch and listen #1stchat
Q1 Have you participated in Global School Play Day before? If so, please share your thoughts. What were your take aways? If not, check out this link. https://t.co/AaEBYpSKej#1stchat
A2 #1stchat Unstructured play in my room could involve students building with blocks, Lego, knex, drawing with stencils in the writing centre or playing with puppets.
A2- Our Ss would do unstructured play when not in a workshop with us (team-teaching): loose parts, outdoor games (nearby), making things with recyclables, etc. Anything really #1stchat
A2 I do something in my classroom on Fridays called "fun friday". I will include 3 activities that are more structured that the students can choose to do or they can choose to do free time with class games. They love it! #1stchat
Children need unstructured play to develop problem solving skills, use their imagination, construct their own meaning of things... They often show you learning you didn't know was there, it's amazing to watch and listen #1stchat
A2: unstructured play -- I came to Grade 1 from a Kinder background 3 years ago where play based is the way to go. Morning bins is one of the great ways I give them unstructured play #1stchat
A2: I guess my structured play would be teacher led games. Unstructured play is when I allow them free time to explore the centers and our recesses are unstructured. #1stchat
A2 #1stchat My classroom is an immersion classroom and its amazing to see the Language development that comes from unstructured play time. As well as problem solving and conflict resolution.
Structured play is play that is teacher centered such as a classroom game and unstructured play is student centered where ss use their imagination and creativity.#1stchat#conversechat
A2. I do morning tubs every morning and I love watching the Ss creativity, interaction, and conversations with each other when they are allowed to explore and play with tools. #1stchat
this is the first time I'm hearing of GSPD and it reminds me of "field day" my elementary school conducted! love the concept of no electronics!! #1stchat
Some of our students moved from unstructured play into more project based, or began to lead their own workshops as time went by. All the ideas were student led. Their confidence grew and academically they did NOT miss out at all. Quite the opposite #1stchat
My one frustration with my "free time" is that so many go straight to their iPads. I sometimes have to say no iPads just to encourage other things. #1stchat
My one frustration with my "free time" is that so many go straight to their iPads. I sometimes have to say no iPads just to encourage other things. #1stchat
Some of our students moved from unstructured play into more project based, or began to lead their own workshops as time went by. All the ideas were student led. Their confidence grew and academically they did NOT miss out at all. Quite the opposite #1stchat
Which is all the more reason to give them other ways to be creative. Our Ss could use the iPads to create movies, stories or record their activities to post to a digital journal only. We deleted any game apps. #1stchat
A2 Having options of structured and unstructured play for my Ss helps all learners. My quiet students like structured activities while others thrive on unstructured play. I feel that by offering both options, the needs of Ss are being met. :) #1stchat
It was quite interesting. They developed agency and ownership, and when they came to do their learning sessions, they were so much more focussed and keen. Some (boys) even chose to write stories during their play time #1stchat
A2 We have 30 minutes of unstructured play at recess every day. I also have fun Friday most weeks where Ss can choose to play with games or any of our building/STEM materials. #1stchat
A2 - Structured is 'play to learn' prescribed by me (e.g., math centres). Unstructured play may be a provocation where the Ss run with something completely different than I intended, or simply allowing free play & thus oral language development, it's amazing what they do #1stchat
Q3 Think of one lesson or unit that you currently teach. How can you incorporate more play into it? Would you anticipate better outcome? What might be an obstacle? #1stchat
A3 #1stchat One unit I could incorporate more play into is our addition and subtraction unit in Math. I think allowing students to play to demonstrating the act of joining and separating, or using the cash register and playing store, would better help illustrate this concept.
A2: I have never been inside a 1st grade classroom, but I would assume structured play would happen during small group time. Unstructured play would look like structured chaos! (Which is wonderful) #1stchat
A3: Any topic could incorporate play. An example, have students play and act out their writing before they write. Maybe puppets or props. Moving from play to structure may be difficult for young ones. #1stchat I think it will help them with ideas.
We are currently teaching maps and globes. I want to allow them time to play with and assemble a town and give directions. An obstacle might be getting enough items to build a city for small groups.
#1stchat
A3 #1stchat One unit I could incorporate more play into is our addition and subtraction unit in Math. I think allowing students to play to demonstrating the act of joining and separating, or using the cash register and playing store, would better help illustrate this concept.
A3: I don't have my own classroom yet, but I'm discovering that incorporating play in any subject can help deepen the understanding of the content to ss #1stchat#conversechat
A3: We are piloting a new math series this year and I really like the "workplaces" that we do which are math games/activities. Gives Ss more "play" even though its structured #1stchat
I can see where teachers have a hard time letting go. Everyone wants to be structured and in control (or at least I do). It's all about trust! #1stchat
Art projects to go with month/holiday, a science station, crafts, Ss can choose from our game shelf, card games, animals, paper dolls, etc. We recently made crystals using Borax! My Ss were so intrigued by this and even suggested making rock candy next time! :) #1stchat
A3. I incorporate play into science and my students love it. But trying to figure out how to incorporate it into reading to make it exciting besides a readers theater. #1stchat
Q3 Think of one lesson or unit that you currently teach. How can you incorporate more play into it? Would you anticipate better outcome? What might be an obstacle? #1stchat
A3: I do a lot of structured play in both language arts and math. Much of my choice homework is game centered. As I am thinking about what to add, I am seeing how much I actually do. #1stchat
A3: We have been learning a lot about number talks in Math for the Child. I think that there are a lot of playful opportunities in number talks. Possibly making the book a play? #1stchat
A3: not sure if this is play, but for Harriot Tubman, I set up the underground railroad all over the school and they have to solve place value clues and look for the quilt squares to find the conductors to freedom #1stchat
It's also logistics: noise, space, time. I was lucky to be team teaching so we had extra spaces for the noisy unstructured activities, more ways to create rotations and time #1stchat
In reply to
@HannahJBlanton, @mflicek1, @lekadegroot
A3: We are starting an animals unit and beginning our study with their body coverings. I'm hoping that by introducing the unit with hands-on materials, my students will be more interested and engaged! #1stchat
Q3 Think of one lesson or unit that you currently teach. How can you incorporate more play into it? Would you anticipate better outcome? What might be an obstacle? #1stchat
I have a Dr. Seuss biography unit coming up soon. I have 2 tubs of Dr. Seuss stuffed animals and puppets. I think I need to add more explore/playtime with those. #1stchat
I think our geometry unit is a great place to add in play. Lots of time with pattern blocks and polydrons. Last year I challenged my class to use any of our manipulatives or building sets to to see how many 3d shapes they could make. #1stchat
Thanks. I have a three drawer cart and the top drawer has our bit box. Basically any time we have colored paper students take any bits that would be thrown away and put them in there. Second drawer has different scissors and glue. Bottom drawer has markers. #1stchat
I did Fluency Fun Day on Fridays last year. It was basically a readers theater but the students chose books, poems or wrote a story, chose how to share/perform, who to read with. Very structured but they had a lot of choices. #1stchat
We do this each year when studying mapping & the local community. 100% student driven. It's amazing to watch all 20+ of them collaborate, plan, research and create together. Incorporates math, social studies, art, non-fiction texts, repot writing, media works, etc... #1stchat
A4 - problem solving, innovation, collaboration, respect, sharing, oral language, vocabulary development, perseverance, growth mindset, social skills and learning that is meaningful and personally relevant to themselves #1stchat
A4: I agree with problem solving, communication and then add- independence, self motivation, and self reliance (meaning entertaining self rather than needing to be entertained.) #1stchat
A4: Students will learn problem solving skills through PBLs and unstructured play time. Giving students time to discover solutions on their own will make more of an impact than if we teach them the solutions. #1stchat
Q5 So... Global School Play Day is February 7th. What will you do? What are your plans? Structured or unstructured? What do you hope to take away from this experience? #1stchat
A4 I really like the idea of students bringing items from home to play with. I want to have time for unstructured play and just observe my Ss in their element of play. I really liked the idea of toys that do not require batteries as well. Time to unplug and play!! #1stchat
A5; Well I'm going to add in free play and let Ss bring games (non tech) from home, but I still will do our hot wheel challenges and allow use of our dash robots and OSMOS if they want #1stchat
A5: Total unstructured! Student choice 100%. We'll talk about what they want the day to look like and I'll help facilitate that. Excited about this! #1stchat
A5: Hmmm, maybe a bit of both. Thinking of trying for half day if full day is not possible this year. Want to get my teammates on board also. I'd love to have Ss build a fort that day also. Loved that last year. Bring in toys and board games. #1stchat
A5: Just looked at calendar-Feb. 7 is a half day for us due to professional dev. I also have 2 specials in that half day, but may try unstructured play in the one hour and 45 minutes I have of teaching time that day. #1stchat
A5. 1st I need to learn more about this event. It's my TTESS goal focus. So I'm glad to have jumped on here tonight to learn about this and more ideas to use in my classroom. But I don't have any ideas right now. #1stchat
Q5 So... Global School Play Day is February 7th. What will you do? What are your plans? Structured or unstructured? What do you hope to take away from this experience? #1stchat
A5: I am hoping to do a full day of unstructured. I will put some things out that they can use and allow them to bring to school. I will observe, take notes and have them blog about the experience the next day. #1stchat
A5: If I am in the classroom on Feb. 7th, I will make it a point to have some unstructured play, possibly a PBL, to see how my students problem solve on their own. #1stchat
