I am convinced that part of the lack of life skills exhibited by my students stems from the lack of experience brought forth from parents who do everything for them. Recently, I became aware that the majority of my class can not successfully and consistently unlock a door with a key. One of my coworkers relates that during the 3rd grade, she was a latch key kid who opened her door daily and stayed home alone for 30 minutes until her dad arrived home. Another coworker revealed that she had to find a way home every day. Recognizing that society has changed since these 30 somethings were in elementary school, I still can't help but think that the kids I'm teaching today have way fewer life skills than those who were in my classroom even 10 years ago.
When studying displacement in science today, I was trying to explain how cooks use water in a measuring cup and displacement to help measure ingredients. Students were unfamiliar with Crisco, shortening or lard, so we shifted the example to butter. They were without information and without knowledge of anything related to shortening or pie crust ingredients. We just carried on.
What can be done about this? Well, my friends, I am instituting a game show time every week in my classroom. I am going to give silly prizes for the winners. I will have students open board games, learn to play them by reading the directions, and then award the winner. I will have students answer life skill questions and earn prizes. We will have races to solve logic puzzles. I am hopeful that this will help bridge the gap. I am going to keep careful records to see if the games increase their critical thinking skills and their general life skills.
I have also added some things to my stations/centers, but we can talk about that next time.
What are you doing to build life skills in your classroom?
You need to answer before the buzzer! :)
First published 1/11/18
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