Mr Hammerlund

In August our elementary team discussed what we would focus on for the year in our monthly elementary assembly. The last two years we focused on the environment and our responsibility towards it. At the end of last year I suggested that we group students into multi-age groups, give them a few periods a week for a month in which to work on a project, and then present what they did at our monthly elementary assembly. Well, that  idea did not fly. So this past August when discussed what our theme should be I suggested thinking and helping students develop better thinking strategies. Then I suggested that we, as a team, read Making Thinking Visible . This time, it flew. I bought the book last year, and read some of it, but I was excited to get a chance to read it with my colleagues in a "book club" setting. We read Chapter 1 last week and we discussed it. It is interesting reading and discussing the book with others and seeing their insights. I am looking forw...

If only this student learns how to make a friend this academic year, it will be a success. Just before we were starting our reading time today, a new Japanese-American student who started today came up to me and said, "Mr. Hammerlund, how can I make a friend?" I told him that was a great question but we were doing reading now. "For now," I said, "could you read with this boy? His name is Jonny." Jonny is also a Japanese-American boy who started this year. I saw Jonny sitting by himself so I asked the new boy to go read with him. A few minutes later the new boy again came to me and asked again how to make a friend. I told him that I wanted to talk to the whole class about how to make a friend and we would do that after recess. A while later he came back up to me and said, "Mr. Hammerlund, I think I know how the make a friend." I thought he might. When the time came, I talked to the whole class about how to make a friend. For f...

Today was one of those days. I switched around two lessons in my mind and almost missed our collaborative session with the kindergartners. Then when we were making our family trees, I forgot to cut the construction paper in half. I was apologizing to my class telling them that I made a mistake. I was hamming it up a little expecting them to say it was OK, but instead I got: Mistakes are welcome! We learn from our mistakes! They do listen.

When I was in seventh grade I remember my teacher reading the Gary Paulsen book Hatchet . (All this time and I didn't know he was born in my hometown until just now when I looked up how to spell his last name. In Minnesota there are many Paulsons/Paulsens, Andersons/Andersens, Olsons/Olsens.) In the book, the protagonist has to survive in Canada with only a hatchet. I remember one part vividly where he has to get his own food and I remember making connections to my own life. To this day I can still remember how I felt landing in the icy water and finding my own shelter. Edited with GIMP In the first of the  7 Keys to Comprehension is that of a "Motion Picture of the Mind". When talking about reading in the past, I have always told my students to "paint a picture in my mind". When I say that phrase I always get this image of an impressionist painting that is bleeding paint and the colors are almost swirling around. Do my students see that? What do th...