New Year's Resolutions: Learning How to Talk to First Graders

I still consider myself a "learner" when it comes to how to talk to and respond to first graders.  Sometimes I feel like I'm that guy from the Sprint ads.  "It's not complicated."  Meanwhile they sound like little aliens who speak a language separate from mine.  Today's Morning Meeting discussions was another one of those learning experiences.  The topic was New Year's Resolutions.

I found a cute bell shaped freebie here for a writing prompt.  It looked like a simple but bulletin-board-worthy page that would hold enough visual interest but more importantly be something that a least a few kids might one day look back on and cherish or chuckle.  "This year I will..."

After wishing them all a happy New Year and telling them this is a great time for setting goals, I asked if they knew what a goal was.  Once we cleared up it has a meaning other than a point in soccer, (it's something you want to/plan to do) I told them today I wanted them to think of, and write down a goal. 

I didn't make it multiple choice, but I did model several goals that they might want to select:

1.  Learn 100 sight words.

2.  Answer 30 math facts in 3 minutes.

3.  Clip up to the top of the behavior chart.

In fourth grade, I discussed how goals are more likely to be met when they are quantifiable.  You need to know if you met your goal or not.  "Get better at math" was not acceptable for fourth graders.  With first grade, I wasn't sure I could get that point across, but at least they had a model to work from.  Plus I wanted to set an unspoken expectation that they would be school related (although depending on the kid, I allowed some non school related goals).  And sure enough, several kids picked one of the above goals, and a few came up with their own goals that had a number.  I was impressed!

On the other hand, here were some of our exchanges:

1.   E:  I will do 100 kicks in one day.  (Once I got clarification that it was for karate I told him this is a great goal to work towards).

2.  R:  I will do 100 drawings in a second.

Me:  ...Is that attainable?*

R:  ...what?

Me:  ...Is that possible to do?

R:  *shakes head.*

Me:  Try again.

R:  I will do 100 drawings in ten seconds.

Me:  Try again.

R:  I will do 100 drawings in a minute.

Me:  You seem very determined! 

3.  N:  I will kick a ball over my house.

Me:  There's just one problem with that goal.  If you achieve it, you will lose your ball.  Trust me, I know; I was six once.  I had the same goal.  I still haven't found my ball. 

N:  *makes a face*  I don't care!

Me:  Okay then.

Then once I heard everyone's goal and we were wrapping up the discussion, a student asked me what MY goal was. 

That was a big deal to me.  I felt like a real part of this group.  At the beginning, I thought this age group was still in the self-centered stage.  I was not really expecting, or prepared for being asked!

As a result, I had to fall back on what I told my fourth graders.  I've always made a conscious decision NEVER to tell my students about my weight loss goals.  I fear that opens the door to judging and comparing so I feel like it's best to keep that one to adult company only.  Instead I was very honest and told them, "My goal is to go to bed earlier.  I go to bed too late." 

Some looked interested, some surprised, a few admitted, "I go to bed too late too."  I said, "It's not healthy, so I need to get more sleep."

*Now, I know what you're thinking.  Did you actually use the word "attainable?" 

Yes, I did.  And I stand by it.

I know this word is "too big for little kids."  But in this instance, I felt like it was a great teachable moment.  We were having a discussion about goals.  The word attainable is a word very much related to this topic.  It is a word that is fairly simple to derive meaning from using context clues in the discussion we were having.  I believe a few of my top learners followed what I was saying.  And I got to know the little girl who I asked pretty well.  She is the type of kid who will ask questions, (she love science and write her own "research reports" independently) and she did.  I wouldn't have said that to just any kid in my class, but in this instance it was a good time to do so.  Don't be afraid to ever use big words with little kids!  

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