Awesome stuff in the classroom or at your child's school

[bisous]

What are your child's teachers or schools doing right now that you just LOVE. I'll bite. DS1 is in 5th grade. Three days a week they run first thing in the morning. They start the year with just two laps around the blacktop but gradually increase the length until at the end of school they're running like 30. I like this for so many reasons. I like it because it is quality physical exercise that, mixed with twice a week PE, means DS gets physical activity every day. I like it because it helps get his morning energy out. I like that it builds. My little kids have a lot of energy but I feel like the process of sitting for class every day somehow they lose the ability to really run like that.

I like that DS2 is doing Daily Five in his classroom. That means that the teacher is working individually with DS every single day and he's hitting five different strategies for literacy every single day in addition to centers and more traditional group instruction.

What's going on in your child's school or class that you really love?

[94bruin]

In Kindergarten, DD1 ran a lap every morning around their play yard track. I thought it was great.

This year, DD1's teacher plays the ukulele. It's a bit of fun sprinkled into their daily lessons. Of course, yesterday, DD1 was repeatedly singing the main melody to "Take Me Home Country Road". We'll see what the song selection is for the rest of the year, lol. Her teacher was also a Peace Corp volunteer somewhere in Africa, so she's learning a little bit about life in Africa.

[keh602]

I love Daily Five too. And hooray for exercise every day!

I also love that DD keeps a friendly letter journal. Every Friday she writes a letter in the journal (so far only to me ), and then I reply over the weekend. At the end of the year we'll have a notebook full of our letters to each other. Such a neat exercise for a lot of reasons--educational and otherwise.

[hillview]

DS1 goes to private school
DS2 goes to public school

DS1's school has 45 mins before school of supervised play (gym, games, etc) that you don't pay for
DS1's school had a mild dress code that includes a $10 athletic shirt which he loves and I do too! Makes getting dressed easy and not $$
DS2
DS2's class does responsive classroom which SOUNDS like a great idea .. waiting to see how it works.

[Sweetsunshine]

DD did the friendly letter journal thing last year in first grade. It was so fun at the end of the year to read through it. And you really saw the handwriting and writing quality progress too. She went from three sentences to a whole page.

[anonomom]

DD1's 4th grade teacher has "interesting words" homework once a week. They need to find two words in a book they're reading that are new and interesting to them. They write down what they think it means then they look it up in the dictionary for the actual meaning. It is such a great way to encourage DD to pick up more challenging books.

DD2 is in kindergarten and they're using letter land for reading. I don't know much about it, but so far she loves it. I'm a fan of anything that keeps her engaged and happy.

[♥ms.pacman♥]

running first thing in the morning sounds AWESOME, good for them for doing that!! i would love it if when my kids went to elem they had that. i know especially my DS is full of energy and needs some sort of outlet for it/

ds is in junior Kindergarten. every week they are doing a letter, color and shape and my (rather OCD) DS LOVES it. They also have this huge flat screen thing (not a TV) in the classroom....i don't know the name of it..but it seems like it's essentially a giant iPad because it is touch screen. after 5:30pm they have abcmouse on it where kids play music etc. When i show up at almost 6pm i have to drag DS out of there, he doesn't want to leave.

dd is in pre-school at the same school. i am really loving the on-site field trips they have been doing (DS class too) they did one where they got to ride ponies, and then another lady coming over to talk about gardening, growing veggies, etc. One time a policeman came to talk about safety, etc. I am amazed, this all is way cooler than anything we had when we were kids!

[smilequeen]

My kids' school added a Makerspace this year. It's a HUGE hit.
We've always had daily PE and I really really appreciate that.
This isn't new, but our 2nd grader has a classroom economy program that they love.
My 4th grader already had an overnight outdoor education trip this year.
They put in a new preschool playground this year that my little guy loves

[hellokitty]

Ds1's teacher is the one in charge of the school veggie garden. He's also big on science and taking the kids on natute hikes behind the school for hands on experience. He prs up preschoolers with an older elementary student, last yr my preschool got to participate and this yr my oldest one gets to participate.

Our PTO is moving away from selling crap for fundraisers. Yay! Last yr the readathon fundraiser that I headed up was such a success, we were able to buy new playground equipment for the school. I think this yr they are going to try a walkathon or jumpathon to mix it up and stagger them every other yr. I am so much more supportive for fundraisers like this then ones where they make you sell gift wrap or frozen food. The kids are putting in an effort and getting something out of it too.

[Cam&Clay]

DS2's class does responsive classroom which SOUNDS like a great idea .. waiting to see how it works.

Responsive classroom is fantastic. I was actually an trainer for a while. We don't use it any longer at the schools I work in and I miss it terribly. I use many of the strategies at home with my own children.