I decided to search for a blog about spelling. My first graders are excited about their weekly spelling tests and activities leading up to the test. Some teachers feel like words are too hard for first graders and sometimes they think expectations are set too low. I found an awesome blog called 36 Pages or Less: The California Ephemera Project Blog. In this blog you get to see what a first grade spelling test looked like in 1870. Not only did these students have to spell really tough words, but they had to know the root, definition, prefix and suffixes of the word. This blog reminded me that as a teacher always keep your expectations sky high! If you teach it and expect it, your students can do it! Please check out this spelling test from the past. What would your test score be?
http://36pagesorless.wordpress.com/2010/10/27/spell-supercilious-1st-grade-spelling-test-from-1870/
What a neat choice! It is very interesting to see historical educational materials! The project on ephemera seems to be intriguing. I am not too familiar with blogs so this blog at first would not stand out to me as a "blog." I agree with you and with the comments on the blog that our expectations for children in the first grade have certainly dimminished over time. I am a firm believer that children will rise to your expectations!
ReplyDeleteFirst, when you add you a link.. Highlight it and choose link and past the URL there too.. so it will be clickable.
ReplyDeleteI admit I looked up the word.. and I am surprised that a spelling test would fit under their project.. but it was interesting.. I wonder about how email will be viewed .. as something that was not meant to saved.. or text messages.. A lot of people are worried about science history because current scientists will not have any "papers" to share.. For example.. something like http://profiles.nlm.nih.gov/LL/
If you have not seen True Grit the dialogue is based on the way people talked back then.. which added a very interesting take on it..
Oops and then I did not link that link myself.
ReplyDeleteI immediately looked at our fridge where we keep our son's spelling list for the week and of course thought of all of our ticket stubs from concerts and movies that we keep. It is super cool to me that someday they will be historical. I had to look up what Epherma was as well. I love learning a new word and definition!
ReplyDeleteFirst of all, wow do I feel like a terrible speller! Secondly, this was a super interesting blog choice. I do not know that I have ever really thought about how expectations have changed so significantly over the years, and this was neat evidence of just how things have shifted. I loved that you and M. Redbird both stressed the importance of high expectations for all students. I think that kids are unlimited in what they can achieve, and it is great to see a conversation between teachers about the importance of setting a high bar.
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