Notice and Wonderings as a First Day of School Activity

Mindfulness

I like to start class with mindfulness because my sixth graders are transitioning into class at different times.

The classroom lights are turned off, music is playing, there is either the agenda on the board, or a "See, Think, Wonder". Once I notice most of my students have arrived to class, I will start them off doing breathing exercises, or guide them through a positive meditation.

Luckily I'm at a school that has implemented mindfulness from kindergarten to high-school so most of my students have already had experience with mindfulness.

Mindfulness will usually last 5-10 minutes depending on what's on for the day.

Notice and Wonderings

I will often have a math-related image as a "See, Think, Wonder" or "Notice and Wonder" allowing students to use the initial mindfulness time to make observations.

After mindfulness, I posed the following questions to the group:

What did we notice and wonder about this image?"

Here were some of the students' responses:

• I noticed that the numbers are increasing clockwise.
• I noticed that there are multiples of 3 happening.
• I noticed that there are prime numbers.
• I noticed that some numbers have the digit of 3.

As a first day of school activity, I had the following images printed on A3 paper with the following questions:

• What do we notice and wonder about these pictures?
• Which picture best represents how you are feeling right now?
• How you feel about math?

I placed one image on each group's table and had students rotate through writing their thoughts underneath the picture.

Some of their thoughts included:

• Math is complicated like the school of fish.
• Math is tiring.
• Math is an endless journey.
• I am like the young plant. My math knowledge is growing.
• Math is something we need to strive towards and practice.
• Math is like a tornado. It is very confusing.