SAGE Class Rules

This (rotational) week, as we are getting settled into our routine, we will be talking about expectations and class rules.  The rules we have posted in our classroom are below.

 Our SAGE Class Rules

1. There is no such thing as a dumb question or answer. 
2. This is a safe place to try new things.
3. It’s okay to say, “I don’t know.”
4. If you don’t understand, ask.
5. If you still don’t understand, ask again.
6. Be respectful of other peoples’ feelings and ideas.
7. It’s okay to disagree– try explaining your ideas.
8. It’s okay to be yourself, originality is in!
9. None of us are perfect.
10. This is a safe place to make mistakes- jump in a give it a try!

I am also incorporating an affective lesson on handling challenging work, frustrations and success.  I want the students to realize that when they are given work at their instructional level they will make mistakes and occationally feel frustration.  This is a good thing because it shows us we have an opportunity to learn something new.  We need to learn to get past our fear of failing and persevere to master the information or task. 

Having a "perfect"/-0 paper doesn't mean much if the work was easy. It is not the paper we need to hang on the refrigerator.  Praise your child for the paper that is -2, 3, 4 or even -5 as long as they stuck with it, made the corrections and learned the concept.  Then we are praising our children for their effort, not for a meaningless perfect paper.  Celebrate the moments when your child has to work to achieve success!

Welcome to Mrs. Koch's Primary SAGE Center Blog Site!

We have an exciting year of learning ahead and we invite you to join us on our journey. Each rotation day has its own blog that you will find in the links to the right. After each SAGE day, I will post an update there about our challenges, struggles and successes. The students will also have an opportunity to contribute their thoughts, ideas and opinions to our blog. We plan to include their writing, art work, research projects, photos, videos and technology projects on their rotation blog. I encourage you to sign up for email updates and/or an RSS feed from the individual rotation blog of interest.

Besides documenting our journey, our blog will also have a list of upcoming events, links to useful articles, tools and Web 2.0 applications. You can find these helpful links within the resource tabs along the top of this page. I will continue to add to them throughout the year. If you have an interest in or concerns about additional topics, please let me know and I will see if I can provide helpful resources.

As this is the first of our posts, we want to provide some basic information about "blogs" and "blogging." The link below will take you to a short Common Craft video, "Blogs in Plain English."

Feel free to share your thoughts with us throughout the year by commenting on our posts. We are excited about our year and we are glad you are along for the ride!