Learning Traits

     My students are in first grade.  Their attention spans are extremely short, so in order to get them to focus on a lesson we need to have the students sit for a few minutes and then also allow them to move around.  I will be having students sitting quietly, as well as having them move to the floor to chart our information on a classroom bar chart.  At this age students have to be exposed to the information several times before they are completely able to understand and remember what they are learning. That is why I will expose my students to the information and processes we will use in this lesson several times before we actually perform the lesson.
    In first grade, most students are still very interested in school and are motivated to learn; however, students will be more motivated to listen and pay attention if the lesson has to do with something that interests them.  In order to make students more interested in this lesson, each day we review the weather, I will ask one student to come to the bar chart and graph the data of the weather on the chart.  First grade students get very excited to come in front of the class and help the teacher.  I expect a lot from my students, but they need little breaks in order to concentrate the rest of the time.  Therefore, to maintain students' work habits I will allow my students to have small breaks throughout the day so they can release their energy.