Over the past few weeks, Kindergarteners have been working on learning about goals and growth-mindset. We talked about goals as "something that we work towards accomplishing". When we implement a culture of growth-mindset in our community, we understand that when we put effort into something we are doing, we are taking steps to be successful in whatever that thing is! We often use the language that "when we practice, we grow stronger". With this unit on goals, children worked to understand that our goals get stronger (and we grow stronger too!) when we actively practice these goals. Every child picked a 'reading power' to set as their goal, and throughout this unit we worked on our goals through Reader's Workshop, Writer's Workshop, Fundations, and most notably, Academic Choice! Keep reading to learn more about the hard work we have been doing. 😀
We started learning about goals and growth-mindset by reading and discussing the book 'The Magical Yet' by Angela DiTerlizzi. In this book, we learn that when there is something that is hard for us to do, we are always accompanied by The Magical Yet; this creature teaches us that while there may be some things that we cannot do right now, we simply cannot do them 'Yet'. If we work hard, we will be able to do them some day! We used this book to learn about what goals are, and steps that we can take to work on them. We also learned that because everyone is different, everyone will have different goals that they are working on.
'The Magical Yet' by Angela DiTerlizzi. (If you have not read this book yet, I highly recommend it! It is truly a magical book.)
It was very exciting to meet The Magical Yet in our read-aloud!
After we learned about what goals are and how we can work on them, every kindergartener picked one of our Reading Powers to set as their goal. Some Reading Powers are universal 'Stars', meaning everyone can already do them really well! These include: pointer power (pointing to words as we read), picture power (using pictures to read a story), pattern power (using a pattern in a book to read the words), and partner power (working with a friend to learn and grow). However, other Reading Powers are ones we are still working on growing, and these are the following Powers that students could choose to set as their goals: sound power (using letter sounds to figure out words), sight word power (recognition and application of sight words), book talk power (retelling a story), or persistence power (using all of our powers together). Each child got to decide on their own which goal would best support their growth as a reader.
Using sticky notes, children put their name on the Reading Power that they selected as their goal.
Because 'goals' is an abstract concept, we wanted to have a concrete way that students could think about their goals, think about working on their goals, and have a visual to solidify their thinking. Each child drew themselves working on their goal; they carefully used pen and then added color to bring their pictures to life! Families learned about their child's goal at the student-led conferences in March, and these pictures were hung up on our 'Goal Wall'. Take a look at some student samples, and then keep reading to learn about how our Goal Wall grew over the coming weeks!
Cullen's goal was sound power. He drew himself reading his alphabet chart!
Eleanor's goal was persistence power. She drew herself working on reading everything in her book basket and being persistent with these tools: her sight words, her alphabet chart, and a book!
Sullivan drew a powerful metaphor and compared persistence power to climbing a wall; sometimes you fall back down, but you can be persistent, get back up, and try again! Then you will get to the top!
Over the next few weeks, we talked during Academic Choice about connecting our play to our reading goals. Children thought about their goals when considering where they wanted to play; they realized that they could actively work on growing and strengthening their goal while they played! Some children made little books, some made labels, and others spelled out words in the Word Building Loft or with the letter tiles in Big Building (just to name a few examples).
Elsie's goal was persistence power, and she shared how she was persistent in the Word Loft when she wrote the word "chiwowo" (chihuahua). Look at all those sounds she heard in that big word!
Acadia's goal was also persistence power, and she was being persistent when she wrote a little book about how to make a trap out of science magnets!
Kiki's goal was book talk power, and she worked so hard to copy the words in a book from her book basket; she said that once she copied the book, she could practice retelling it!
Lyra's goal was sound power, and she took her book 'See Me Dig' up to the Word Loft, and used her sound power (and persistence power!) to carefully spell out the words from her book. How many sounds do you hear in the word 'dig'? Hint: try tapping and blending!
Every child had at least one piece of evidence showing that they worked on their goal. Our last activity was a celebration of the hard work that we did in growing our goals. When we share our work, we give each other 'stars', or something that we liked about each other's work. Instead of verbally sharing our stars, every kindergartener got two special star-shaped sticky notes, and got to write or draw stars for two different friends. This activity showed how much we support each other as a community; we are proud of our friends and the hard work they do every day! Every child had at least one star on their goal, and every child was careful about making sure that everyone felt included!
Our final 'Goal Wall'! Look at all that evidence, and all those stars!
Hunter is carefully writing a star for a friend! Hmmm, I wonder which goal he chose to put a star on!
Elena's goal and stars. Friends liked her book about how to draw a turtle, and noted how persistent she was!
Briana practiced her goal (book talk power) when she made a book about how to 'make a chwowu'. Friends liked her pictures that she drew!
Brianna worked on sound power in the Word Building Loft, and friends showed smiley faces and love; we love the hard work that everyone put in!
Every kindergartener worked so hard throughout this unit on goals and growth-mindset. They should all feel very proud of their work, and I hope that they take the values of both goals and growth-mindset as they continue to grow as learners!
As a quick side note, thank you families for letting me teach your children for the past four months. I have loved getting to know them, and they are all incredibly special to me; they have taught me so much, and I am so thankful to have been with them. This will be my last blog post, but this was a special one for me to end on. I hope you enjoyed reading it!
