Using Noticings and Wonderings in the Classroom!

People always ask me about my Noticings and Wonderings board when they visit my classroom, so I thought that this morning I would share one of the best things I learned from the IFL trainings.

Noticings and Wonderings are just like exit tickets, but with a twist that the kids LOVE!

When we finish some of our lessons, we do Noticings and Wonderings.  The great thing about Noticings and Wonderings is that is gives the kids a choice of what to write.  (This is a must have for any evaluation lesson!)

The kids can write a noticing about the lesson or their own learning.  The can write something they are wondering about or unsure of.  This is a great chance for a child to tell you something they don't understand without having to say it to the while class.  Or my favorite, answer the question on the board or make own up of your own.  This one takes some time to teach because I always have a few folks that want to make up something that deals with another lesson.  I always remind them that what they put on the sticky note has to be able what we just did.

The kids write on sticky notes and then stick them to this board.  Nothing fancy, but they sure do love to this!

Here are a few of the kids notes from Friday's lesson on adding 2 digit numbers.

This student wrote a noticing and answered the question  that I wrote on the board.

This kiddo made up with own problems to solve.

Sometimes I go over some of the sticky notes before we move to the next lesson and sometimes I save them for the next day.  It just depends on what I see in their writing.  I really love using this and more than anything the kids can't wait to do it.

I also wanted to share on of my favorite October stories!  Where's My Mummy?

This is an adorable book about a little mummy that just wants to play instead of going to bed.  I use it to teach adjectives.  I read the book to the kids and we talk about it during our reading block.  Then, later on that day we bring it back out and talk about adjectives.  We make these cute mummies and the kids make lists of all of the adjectives in the story to cover their mummy.  It is so much fun and makes a cute decoration in the hallway for October that isn't Halloween.

Here is the book!  What isn't to love about this little mummy?

Here is the display I put up in the hallway.

OK - so I am not the best drawer.  I wish I was, but I do try.  I made tracers out of manila folders and the kids traced and cut out their mummies.   They wrote their adjectives in their best "spooky" writing!

I hope everyone has a fantastic Halloween week!  I know the kids are so excited!

Happy Teaching!
Tracy