Lesson 0.1, Unit 0. One period. Ten slides.
Do now
- Take an index card from the door. Sit at the table with your number.
- On the card: your first name, and one thing you already know how to do that a family needs.
- Cook one thing, watch a little kid, fix something, find a deal, sew a button, anything.
- One line. Do not talk yet.
Teacher notes
The board says this before anyone walks in. Every day starts this way. Cold call four cards; write the four skills on the board.
Six objects, six units
- Everything on this board fits under one of six units.
- By June you will have done all six.
- Watch the tray.
Teacher notes
Image: a towel being lifted off a tray with a wooden spoon, a coin, a baby sock, a paint chip, a needle and thread, and a can of beans.
Pull the towel. Hold up each object as you name the unit on the next slide.
The year map
- The spoon: Kitchen Skills and Smart Eating. You cook real labs.
- The coin: Me, My Goals, My Money. You run a stock market simulation.
- The sock: Growing Up, Getting Along. You plan a babysitting kit.
- The paint chip: Spaces We Live In. You design a room.
- The needle: Make It, Mend It, Wear It. You sew something you keep.
- The can: From Farm to Table. You trace a food from the farm to the plate.
Teacher notes
Six units, one a marking period and a half. Say it once: the first cooking lab is on day 16. Students fill Part 1 of the handout.
What you already do
- Every skill on the board is already in one of the six.
- Find yours. Write it in the home column.
- "Nothing yet" is allowed.
- Star two units where you already have a skill.
Teacher notes
Model with one do now card: "eggs" goes under Kitchen Skills. Six minutes.
Who is at this table
- Go around. Say your name, your skill from the card, and one thing you can offer this table this year.
- "I am calm." "I am fast at math." "I can translate." "I am not afraid to talk first."
- The recorder writes the four offers on the table card.
- Sentence starters: My name is ___. I can ___. I can offer ___.
Teacher notes
Six minutes. Walk and listen. Note the tables where one person does all the talking; that matters on day 3.
What you can count on
- I will tell you the day before if anything hot or sharp is coming.
- The board will tell you what to do before you sit. Every day.
- When the lights blink and I count down, hands go empty and eyes come here. You practice that tomorrow.
Teacher notes
The line behind this slide, said out loud: "Kids do not learn from people they do not trust. So here is what you can trust."
Two more things
- Mondays start with a quote on the board and one sentence about it.
- Nothing in the first five days is graded.
Teacher notes
Image: a calendar with Monday circled.
The hope card
- The unit I hope to reach first is ___.
- Why (two sentences).
- One thing I can offer my table this year.
- Tear it off and hand it in.
Teacher notes
Four minutes. Grade 6: one sentence. Grade 8: also the unit you think you will like least and what could change your mind.
The count
- Three people read their unit and one sentence.
- Hands up by unit. I write the six numbers on the board.
- They stay up all week.
Teacher notes
The count is tomorrow's do now opener.
Tomorrow
- Tomorrow: the room tour. Where everything is, and the reset cue.
- And a game where you describe a picture and someone else has to draw it.
- Bring nothing. The board will tell you what to do.