I have a pretty good feeling that this semester is going to be one of my favorites. My kiddos go CRAZY when I pull out the markers or use PIXIE. They just love it! I am hopeful that this semester will teach me new ways to incorporate graphics into my classroom. VIsual thinking is one of the best ways to show little ones (and big ones!) how to solve a problem. My goal for the next few weeks will be to not only teach using visual thinking but also teach the little ones how to look, see, imagine and show!
The first lesson that came to my mind when thinking about looking, seeing, imagining and then of course showing was our unit on habitats. The kids were given a big tub full of plants and animals that belonged to a certain habitat but were not sure which one. They were first told to look through the tub. The next step was for the kids to try and see if they could find any similarities and start grouping the animals into groups. The third step was for the students to think of away they could teach their classmates about the habitat they found in their tub. The last part was the presentation. Many students chose to use pixie to draw and select stickers to represent their habitat, while others just used markers. I just loved seeing all of the different ways the kids chose to display their findings!
