This morning was interesting because I taught all morning, except for one mini lesson. I also pulled two new guided reading groups. I met with red and orange groups today, and tomorrow I will meet with yellow and green. Blue is the only group I haven’t taken over yet. I also did a mini lesson on comprehension and a mini lesson on the –y chunk of the week. –y is a difficult chunk to me because it’s not exactly a chunk of letters. The idea was for students to get words like “cry” and “sky” and “fly” but they also thought of words that end in y like “Sunday” and “dirty.” I clarified with my CT beforehand that she wanted just words that end in y and sound like “eye” at the end, but it was hard to explain without them coming up with other sounds. For my comprehension lesson, the Smartboard went crazy on me and adobe was “auto scrolling” through my whole document. The kids were in awe of this and I had to get it to stop. By the time I got it to stop, it was at the end of my document, so I needed to scroll back to up to the beginning to get to the page we are on. The class was kind of chatty while they were waiting but I thanked those students who were doing the right thing and the rest of them fell into line soon after. In guided reading, I introduced new books to each group. I introduced the book first and then went through some vocabulary. I think I will keep these same books for the next time I meet with the groups and do a little retelling and journaling activity with each of them.
This afternoon, I taught math as usual. I tried to differentiate the activities a little more by having a more difficult worksheet for those who finished early. This was good but hard to keep track of. I had a Smartboard activity running in the background for those who finished the first 2 worksheets. I’m trying to get away from doing this, but it works so well that it’s hard. Tomorrow I may have them use my CT’s fact triangle sheets games or something else new.
I sent one girl to the nurse this afternoon because she told me repeatedly that she felt like she was going to throw up. At first I thought she’s forget it but she kept complaining and she usually doesn’t complain about stuff like that so I sent her. When she came back she seemed fine and my CT seemed disappointed that she had gone to the nurse. I felt like I had done something wrong, but I was worried about her and I thought I’d rather be safe than sorry in that situation.
When the kids came in from recess, I got them in line to go to gym. We walked down to the gym in the hall pretty well, with no excessive noise or anything. My CT noticed that they haven’t been packing up as well and that they are leaving things in their chair bags and on their tables, so they need to do a better job packing up. It is something I will try to watch out for over the next few weeks.
Monday, February 28, 2011
Thursday, February 24, 2011
Busy Thursday
I had my third observation today and it went ok. It was quick because my supervisor was late. I started my lesson on main ideas with a video and then we went through a quick activity on the Smartboard. Then I pulled a guided reading group. The group went well – it was my first time meeting with them – but they were pretty squirmy. I know I need to develop some strategies to keep them in their seats better while we work. It was a good little book to read through and the story spinner worked well. It is a spinner that we can use – each students spins and then answers a question about the book (setting, characters, ending, beginning, problem, etc).
This afternoon I did a word sort, making meaning (comprehension), a jeopardy game, read aloud, and fair shares in math. The word sort and making meaning and jeopardy all went very well. I had them write the word sort words in their journals today instead of having them come up to the Smartboard directly. This worked because they were all focused on something. I think the next time I do it, I will either have a pre-made worksheet for them to fill out, or I will have us all write it in our journals together, all at the same time. Some students fell behind and they were worried that they weren’t keeping up.
I had them put their journals back and take a lap around the room to come back for making meaning. I put them into partners and we first talked about how they talk when they talk to partners. They showed me how they sit and how they whisper to partners. We then read through the book again and I asked them a few questions to talk to their partners about. They did very well with that too.
Jeopardy worked really well today. I separated the class into 4 teams, and I kept the money in a “bank” up front. I was going to start them all with $500 each, but I knocked them down to $400 each when they were all talking. The group was, in general, really well-behaved, and I only had to fine two teams once or twice. At the end f the game, we counted each team’s money and I gave the money to someone on each team. I told them to try to divide it evenly among their team members. The group was good during most of the read aloud as well. The end of the read aloud and math began to get a little crazier. We talked about fair shares in math. I started our talking about the jeopardy money and how they split their prize money. I liked using that as a lead-in. We then did a few examples on the computer and they had a worksheet to complete. I let one student be “teacher” and run the Smartboard game. I didn’t realize that the game I had selected had a time limit for “free users” of the website, so after a certain amount of time, the game stopped. I had to quickly pull up an older game so they could keep going. Meanwhile, I was checking worksheets. That is hard to do because they all want to get up to the Smartboard and I can only check one at a time. Meanwhile, other students have questions and they keep coming up to me and asking their questions. It took many reminders that they need to stay in their seats, work quietly, and raise their hands for help. I called them back up to the board and they started to chat again and act very disappointed when I said the game was over. I asked them if they’d rather play that or Around the World. They got very excited about Around the World, but the game didn’t happen. They were very loud getting ready for the game, so I told them we wouldn’t be able to play. I explained to them that they needed to keep their self controls and because they weren’t able to, we couldn’t play. Instead, I had them clean up, pack up, and put their heads down on their desks. I dismissed them to recess when they were all settled down with their heads down.
After recess, the kids came in very loudly, and 3 girls came up to my CT and I in tears. Apparently one boy had punched and kicked them. We called all of them, along with the boy, up to talk. He apologized to them and they shook hands and agreed to be friends. My CT wrote a note home to the boy’s parents. He didn’t seem to have done it meanly, and he was upset that he hurt them. It sounded like a game that got out of control. I felt a little bad for him, as well as for the girls, but I think it worked out ok.
Finally, we had an uneventful computers class before dismissal. Overall, it was a good Thursday, and I felt good after teaching a pretty full day.
This afternoon I did a word sort, making meaning (comprehension), a jeopardy game, read aloud, and fair shares in math. The word sort and making meaning and jeopardy all went very well. I had them write the word sort words in their journals today instead of having them come up to the Smartboard directly. This worked because they were all focused on something. I think the next time I do it, I will either have a pre-made worksheet for them to fill out, or I will have us all write it in our journals together, all at the same time. Some students fell behind and they were worried that they weren’t keeping up.
I had them put their journals back and take a lap around the room to come back for making meaning. I put them into partners and we first talked about how they talk when they talk to partners. They showed me how they sit and how they whisper to partners. We then read through the book again and I asked them a few questions to talk to their partners about. They did very well with that too.
Jeopardy worked really well today. I separated the class into 4 teams, and I kept the money in a “bank” up front. I was going to start them all with $500 each, but I knocked them down to $400 each when they were all talking. The group was, in general, really well-behaved, and I only had to fine two teams once or twice. At the end f the game, we counted each team’s money and I gave the money to someone on each team. I told them to try to divide it evenly among their team members. The group was good during most of the read aloud as well. The end of the read aloud and math began to get a little crazier. We talked about fair shares in math. I started our talking about the jeopardy money and how they split their prize money. I liked using that as a lead-in. We then did a few examples on the computer and they had a worksheet to complete. I let one student be “teacher” and run the Smartboard game. I didn’t realize that the game I had selected had a time limit for “free users” of the website, so after a certain amount of time, the game stopped. I had to quickly pull up an older game so they could keep going. Meanwhile, I was checking worksheets. That is hard to do because they all want to get up to the Smartboard and I can only check one at a time. Meanwhile, other students have questions and they keep coming up to me and asking their questions. It took many reminders that they need to stay in their seats, work quietly, and raise their hands for help. I called them back up to the board and they started to chat again and act very disappointed when I said the game was over. I asked them if they’d rather play that or Around the World. They got very excited about Around the World, but the game didn’t happen. They were very loud getting ready for the game, so I told them we wouldn’t be able to play. I explained to them that they needed to keep their self controls and because they weren’t able to, we couldn’t play. Instead, I had them clean up, pack up, and put their heads down on their desks. I dismissed them to recess when they were all settled down with their heads down.
After recess, the kids came in very loudly, and 3 girls came up to my CT and I in tears. Apparently one boy had punched and kicked them. We called all of them, along with the boy, up to talk. He apologized to them and they shook hands and agreed to be friends. My CT wrote a note home to the boy’s parents. He didn’t seem to have done it meanly, and he was upset that he hurt them. It sounded like a game that got out of control. I felt a little bad for him, as well as for the girls, but I think it worked out ok.
Finally, we had an uneventful computers class before dismissal. Overall, it was a good Thursday, and I felt good after teaching a pretty full day.
Yesterday's mini-blog
Morning meeting went well. I made up a greeting today where they just shake hands and tell each other how many loose teeth they have. I did that because I have another greeting that I like that I want to save for tomorrow morning. For our activity, I had them decorate CDs that I will make into tops for the class. Now I just need to hot glue marbles and handles to them all. Because they had been sitting a while for morning meeting, I had them get up and jump around a few times before sitting back down to focus on coloring. They enjoyed using permanent markers on the CDs. We gave them each a color and they used that for about a minute, then they passed it to the left and used another color for another minute, then they did one more pass, so everyone got 3 colors.
I didn’t get to reflect much on my afternoon because it went by so quickly. I taught my math lesson and did my read aloud. I spent a lot of time at night looking up quick energizers and activities that I can do for when the class starts to get antsy. I hope to use a lot of these ideas soon.
I didn’t get to reflect much on my afternoon because it went by so quickly. I taught my math lesson and did my read aloud. I spent a lot of time at night looking up quick energizers and activities that I can do for when the class starts to get antsy. I hope to use a lot of these ideas soon.
Tuesday, February 22, 2011
Tuesday (that feels like a Monday)
This morning went really quickly. I was prepared to do a new greeting, but my CT asked me to do the nametag greeting where we put their nametags in the middle of the circle and one person at a time picks a nametag and greets that person. We had a lot of shares because two students just came home from vacations in Aruba and Disney World. They both wrote vacation journals. We decided to let them each share a page of their journal every day of the week. We did our morning chart and a quick activity where one person went in the middle, blindfolded, and had to try to guess the object in their hands. It worked pretty well because we had an activity to do with our buddy class – a 4th grade class that they meet with a few times throughout the year. Today we were decorating candy filled bags for March Madness. After the activity, we had about a half hour for Daily 5. I did Words of the Week, and then we were going to choose one round, but we decided to do a mad minute. They are getting better at mad minutes – this was 4 minutes, with 10 subtraction problems, using larger numbers. They are getting harder, which is why we cut it from 30 problems back down to ten.
After lunch, I taught the whole afternoon. We did poetry first. They class was acting a little silly. The poetry and handwriting lessons went smoothly. I started giving some more time outs when they were getting unruly. My CT was glad I did that. For poetry, they pretty much know what to do already, so it was simple to run through. For handwriting, I had students come up and write the words on the Smartboard since we had some time. After handwriting, the making meaning lesson went really quickly. The students got into partners and I read the story to them, stopping at a few points to ask them to talk with their partners about something in the book. It worked well. My CT suggested that I review with them, next time, how they should sit with a partner (EEKK – Elbow, Elbow, Knee, Knee) and do a practice question to remind them how we use whisper voices and then look back up front. Also, the signal is a hand up to tell them to stop talking. I will use these tricks next time.
Math today started out well. My first game for ordinal numbers didn’t work, so I brought up a new one. My CT was glad I had a back-up idea…I was too. While it was loading, I put four markers on the ground and had them put them in order however I said (red is third, blue is forth, black is first, green is second, etc). After the car racing game, we did a few different types of review problems for the math test. They were not paying much attention, so I gave a bunch more time outs to the students who were instigating and had to stop a few times to make sure they were paying attention. My CT advised me to do a mini stretch or something when they start getting antsy like that. I will remember that for next time. We then had them go back to their desks to start the math test. We got through a little over half of it before we ran out of time. I collected all their tests and we will finish it tomorrow after our problem solving lesson.
After lunch, I taught the whole afternoon. We did poetry first. They class was acting a little silly. The poetry and handwriting lessons went smoothly. I started giving some more time outs when they were getting unruly. My CT was glad I did that. For poetry, they pretty much know what to do already, so it was simple to run through. For handwriting, I had students come up and write the words on the Smartboard since we had some time. After handwriting, the making meaning lesson went really quickly. The students got into partners and I read the story to them, stopping at a few points to ask them to talk with their partners about something in the book. It worked well. My CT suggested that I review with them, next time, how they should sit with a partner (EEKK – Elbow, Elbow, Knee, Knee) and do a practice question to remind them how we use whisper voices and then look back up front. Also, the signal is a hand up to tell them to stop talking. I will use these tricks next time.
Math today started out well. My first game for ordinal numbers didn’t work, so I brought up a new one. My CT was glad I had a back-up idea…I was too. While it was loading, I put four markers on the ground and had them put them in order however I said (red is third, blue is forth, black is first, green is second, etc). After the car racing game, we did a few different types of review problems for the math test. They were not paying much attention, so I gave a bunch more time outs to the students who were instigating and had to stop a few times to make sure they were paying attention. My CT advised me to do a mini stretch or something when they start getting antsy like that. I will remember that for next time. We then had them go back to their desks to start the math test. We got through a little over half of it before we ran out of time. I collected all their tests and we will finish it tomorrow after our problem solving lesson.
Thursday, February 17, 2011
Tired
Morning meeting was easy today because we did it like we do on Fridays – choice greeting and activity. The class chose the maraca greeting where we spin the maraca and greet whoever it points to. We started our shares, but there was a surprise fire drill. I was proud because the principal selected our class as a model class because we walked out so quietly. He had us go in first so the whole school could see. I made sure to praise them for that complement from the principal when we came back inside. We got right back to our shares and chart. We had to do a quick activity and they chose “Yes No.” My CT and I took turns coming up with Yes or No questions to ask. There is a laminates Yes and a laminated No that we put on the floor. They move to either side to answer our questions. It is a simple game, but a lot of fun, and it’s interesting to learn about the class.
We did Daily 5 and during the first round I sat with two students who missed our last math test and we did that. They both did very well, but needed a few reminders about how to do some problems. I wasn’t surprised because the test was on things from about a month ago. We also did their spelling test today too and they all did very well. They are great at practicing their weekly word lists.
After lunch, I had them sir on the floor to play a word jeopardy game. It used a variety of “A” sounds like –ay, ai, a-e, etc. They had sheets with a word bank and I split the class into two teams. I think it would have worked better if I split the class into 3 or 4 teams instead. The teams were big and it got a little talkative – until I started fining them for talking. When teams got a question right, they would get play money. When I heard too much talking, I would take a hundred dollar bill from the team. That worked really well. The word sort went well too. We did a sounds again, and I had them, one at a time, come up to the board to move words into the correct column (long a, short a or oddball). My CT suggested that next time I have them write the words down in their word work journals or on a whiteboard. I didn’t have time this time, but I may do that next week to switch it up.
We had a quick video in pit for President’s Day and then we had snack. I picked a book they already read in library, but they enjoyed it anyway, and we did one madlib. Then it was time for their science test. We did a quick review and I even told them some of the questions beforehand. We talked about what the answers could be. I then gave out the test and I went through each question with them. I had a student read the question, then I repeated it and clarified it. I told them how to respond and to put their pencils down and eyes on me when they finished so I knew when to go on to the next question. I graded them after school and found that most of them did vey well. The hardest question seemed to be “name as many different ways things can move as you can think of.” I was surprised because that seemed to be the easiest to me. I guess because that is so open-ended, it was more difficult. I tried to give them as many hints as I could without giving it away. We had gone over the same question in pit yesterday. I think only 3 people got all 3 words we talked about.
After I collected their tests, I told them to come up front for math. I had a basic plan, but I don’t think my plan was detailed enough. I had the idea to do a game they had already done with cups and counters, using the worksheet we had, but it didn’t work out very well. I paired them up, but we had an issue when one student didn’t want to be with the partner she was put with. I told her they needed to work together, but she would keep moving away from him. I finally got them to sit together, but she wouldn’t play the game. Meanwhile, the rest of the class was laying with the counters and talking loudly and it took so much time just to get set up, that we barely even got into the lesson. I was disappointed with myself that I couldn’t get it under control enough to play the game. I know they already know how to do this because it was something they did during my first or second week there, so maybe they were bored because it wasn’t challenging enough too. When I asked them for answers, they all knew the answers right away. So, at least I know they understand the concept, but it was disappointing to not end my teaching today on a good note. Students are off tomorrow for an In-Service day, so hopefully, on Tuesday I’ll be well-prepared to come back and make all of my lessons work.
We did Daily 5 and during the first round I sat with two students who missed our last math test and we did that. They both did very well, but needed a few reminders about how to do some problems. I wasn’t surprised because the test was on things from about a month ago. We also did their spelling test today too and they all did very well. They are great at practicing their weekly word lists.
After lunch, I had them sir on the floor to play a word jeopardy game. It used a variety of “A” sounds like –ay, ai, a-e, etc. They had sheets with a word bank and I split the class into two teams. I think it would have worked better if I split the class into 3 or 4 teams instead. The teams were big and it got a little talkative – until I started fining them for talking. When teams got a question right, they would get play money. When I heard too much talking, I would take a hundred dollar bill from the team. That worked really well. The word sort went well too. We did a sounds again, and I had them, one at a time, come up to the board to move words into the correct column (long a, short a or oddball). My CT suggested that next time I have them write the words down in their word work journals or on a whiteboard. I didn’t have time this time, but I may do that next week to switch it up.
We had a quick video in pit for President’s Day and then we had snack. I picked a book they already read in library, but they enjoyed it anyway, and we did one madlib. Then it was time for their science test. We did a quick review and I even told them some of the questions beforehand. We talked about what the answers could be. I then gave out the test and I went through each question with them. I had a student read the question, then I repeated it and clarified it. I told them how to respond and to put their pencils down and eyes on me when they finished so I knew when to go on to the next question. I graded them after school and found that most of them did vey well. The hardest question seemed to be “name as many different ways things can move as you can think of.” I was surprised because that seemed to be the easiest to me. I guess because that is so open-ended, it was more difficult. I tried to give them as many hints as I could without giving it away. We had gone over the same question in pit yesterday. I think only 3 people got all 3 words we talked about.
After I collected their tests, I told them to come up front for math. I had a basic plan, but I don’t think my plan was detailed enough. I had the idea to do a game they had already done with cups and counters, using the worksheet we had, but it didn’t work out very well. I paired them up, but we had an issue when one student didn’t want to be with the partner she was put with. I told her they needed to work together, but she would keep moving away from him. I finally got them to sit together, but she wouldn’t play the game. Meanwhile, the rest of the class was laying with the counters and talking loudly and it took so much time just to get set up, that we barely even got into the lesson. I was disappointed with myself that I couldn’t get it under control enough to play the game. I know they already know how to do this because it was something they did during my first or second week there, so maybe they were bored because it wasn’t challenging enough too. When I asked them for answers, they all knew the answers right away. So, at least I know they understand the concept, but it was disappointing to not end my teaching today on a good note. Students are off tomorrow for an In-Service day, so hopefully, on Tuesday I’ll be well-prepared to come back and make all of my lessons work.
Wednesday, February 16, 2011
Guest Teacher
My CT was in this morning before school started so I saw her along with the sub that is working with us today. My CT left right before the kids came in. I ran morning meeting again, which went ok. We played the place value game, and still, despite shuffling the cards, the answers went almost around the circle. It skipped around a little more, but not enough to keep them from predicting who would be next. It still worked out ok. I hen had them take two laps around the room and come back to their spots so the guest teacher could start Daily 5. Instead of choosing Daily 5 centers, we did read to self, then read to buddy, then word work. I talked to one student a little bit because he said he couldn’t concentrate. I asked him why and he said he couldn’t stop thinking about music. I asked him if a song was stuck in his head. He said yes – it was a Doors song “Break on through to the other side.” I told him that I noticed he has good taste in music and I sang some of the song to him. I told him he needed to read to himself, even though sometimes it’s hard with a song stuck in your head. I told him he could have the song playing in the background in his mind as he reads. He seemed to like that idea and he started reading.
After Daily 5, we did a quick activity with them finding words in their Quickword books – similar to a dictionary, to spell them correctly. They got about halfway through it before lunch/recess. After lunch, the sub worked with them for writing. They had to write, “On Valentine’s Day I enjoyed…” and then write a few sentences about the things they enjoyed on Valentine’s Day. Most of them wrote a lot of wonderful sentences. A few students needed some extra help and could barely come up with one or two. We had a few of them share their sentences as well before pit. At pit, we did a jeopardy review game on the Balance and Motion unit. The game went well and we asked a lot of questions that will be on the test. We will do the test tomorrow and then that unit is officially over. Then I’ll pick up the “Making Meaning” portion of the day, which we do when we don’t have pit. It is a reading comprehension program. I read over the next lesson and it looks like a good one. They work in partners to talk about the story together and discuss what happened, retell it, and think about how the characters feel.
Math today was fine. We did problem solving, so it was an easy lesson. They weren’t paying much attention though, even though they knew how to do it with no problem. We played the same game as yesterday after math, counting by tens. Everyone picked 10 to start with, so when we do 5’s, I will have them pick random numbers from a hat or something so that they all start at harder numbers.
After math, we just took them to music and after that it was time for dismissal. It was a pretty good day overall.
After Daily 5, we did a quick activity with them finding words in their Quickword books – similar to a dictionary, to spell them correctly. They got about halfway through it before lunch/recess. After lunch, the sub worked with them for writing. They had to write, “On Valentine’s Day I enjoyed…” and then write a few sentences about the things they enjoyed on Valentine’s Day. Most of them wrote a lot of wonderful sentences. A few students needed some extra help and could barely come up with one or two. We had a few of them share their sentences as well before pit. At pit, we did a jeopardy review game on the Balance and Motion unit. The game went well and we asked a lot of questions that will be on the test. We will do the test tomorrow and then that unit is officially over. Then I’ll pick up the “Making Meaning” portion of the day, which we do when we don’t have pit. It is a reading comprehension program. I read over the next lesson and it looks like a good one. They work in partners to talk about the story together and discuss what happened, retell it, and think about how the characters feel.
Math today was fine. We did problem solving, so it was an easy lesson. They weren’t paying much attention though, even though they knew how to do it with no problem. We played the same game as yesterday after math, counting by tens. Everyone picked 10 to start with, so when we do 5’s, I will have them pick random numbers from a hat or something so that they all start at harder numbers.
After math, we just took them to music and after that it was time for dismissal. It was a pretty good day overall.
Tuesday, February 15, 2011
Chatty Tuesday
Morning meeting went well again today. There were no shares, so it went quickly. I was a little bit concerned that there haven’t been many shares these past few days. I hope we have some tomorrow. I was surprised to learn it isn’t required to have at least 1 or 2 a day. Sometimes it seems like there are many, but sometimes it seems like there are very few. My activity was called “chief” or “copycat” where one student hides his/her eyes and then another is selected as the leader. The leader does motions and then the hider comes out and tries to guess who the leader is based on who is the first one to change movements. It worked well, but they got chatty and we stopped the game a little short to give them two laps around the room so they could settle down.
I ran my first guided reading group today with yellow group. It was interesting and fun to work with a small group. We read through the vocabulary words and went over the few that they didn’t know. Then we read through chapter 1 together and we went through the first two comprehension questions. We also started putting the vocab words in alphabetical order, which was something they haven’t really done much of before. I taught them how to look at the second and third letters of words if there is more than one word on the list with the same beginning letter. We then went into the first chapter and read it out loud. Then I asked them the comprehension questions and we talked about it. There were a lot of tangents and them talking about random things, so I think next time I do it, I will try to focus them a little better. Hopefully as we get into more chapters when more things happen, that will be a little easier. I plan to meet with them again on Thursday.
The afternoon was definitely crazy. I need to get better at being a little more stern and giving time outs when I know someone is instigating the rest of the class. I gave two time outs today but I could have even given more. My CT said that today was just one of those days all around, when the class is extremely chatty. She said she’s had classes in the past where she has felt like all she did was stop activities and send the class back and have them put their heads down for 2 minutes. She said it gives both them and you a chance to think. I probably could have used that today. I always feel the need to keep moving along and moving forward, but I need to get better at stopping, repeating steps, giving time outs, and stopping activities when it’s needed. Hopefully I will get better at that in the next month or so. When the class came in for recess, my CT had them come in and put their heads down until the library teacher arrived. It helped settle them down, at least for the time being. Library class was held in the classroom today. It was interesting to hear what they did. They did a lesson on President’s Day and read a book about the Presidents. Then they colored in pictures of George Washington and Abraham Lincoln. The class was chatty for the librarian too, and my CT talked to them afterwards. She explained that the way they were behaving was not ok and that she knows they can do better. They agreed and hopefully tomorrow will be a better day. We will have a sub in tomorrow, so I’ll be interesting to see how it goes.
I ran my first guided reading group today with yellow group. It was interesting and fun to work with a small group. We read through the vocabulary words and went over the few that they didn’t know. Then we read through chapter 1 together and we went through the first two comprehension questions. We also started putting the vocab words in alphabetical order, which was something they haven’t really done much of before. I taught them how to look at the second and third letters of words if there is more than one word on the list with the same beginning letter. We then went into the first chapter and read it out loud. Then I asked them the comprehension questions and we talked about it. There were a lot of tangents and them talking about random things, so I think next time I do it, I will try to focus them a little better. Hopefully as we get into more chapters when more things happen, that will be a little easier. I plan to meet with them again on Thursday.
The afternoon was definitely crazy. I need to get better at being a little more stern and giving time outs when I know someone is instigating the rest of the class. I gave two time outs today but I could have even given more. My CT said that today was just one of those days all around, when the class is extremely chatty. She said she’s had classes in the past where she has felt like all she did was stop activities and send the class back and have them put their heads down for 2 minutes. She said it gives both them and you a chance to think. I probably could have used that today. I always feel the need to keep moving along and moving forward, but I need to get better at stopping, repeating steps, giving time outs, and stopping activities when it’s needed. Hopefully I will get better at that in the next month or so. When the class came in for recess, my CT had them come in and put their heads down until the library teacher arrived. It helped settle them down, at least for the time being. Library class was held in the classroom today. It was interesting to hear what they did. They did a lesson on President’s Day and read a book about the Presidents. Then they colored in pictures of George Washington and Abraham Lincoln. The class was chatty for the librarian too, and my CT talked to them afterwards. She explained that the way they were behaving was not ok and that she knows they can do better. They agreed and hopefully tomorrow will be a better day. We will have a sub in tomorrow, so I’ll be interesting to see how it goes.
Monday, February 14, 2011
Valentine's Day
I ran most of the morning activities today. We did a heart greeting for Valentine’s Day and an activity with candy hearts. I gave every student a candy heart and they had to quietly walk around giving each other little peeks of their hearts. They had to be able to find friends that had the same color hearts. We ended when everyone was in a group. It was a good, quick, and quiet activity that went really well. The greeting had the students make a heart shape with their hands and greet each other by saying “Happy Valentine’s Day.”
After morning meeting, we did words of the week and chunk of the week. I used my own poem for chunk of the week (-and), but I am looking forward to the next chunk because we have a song for it again. I like the songs better than the poems because using poems make it seem too similar to the weekly poetry lessons.
We went to lunch after 3 rounds of Daily 5 activities. I sat in on my CT’s guided reading groups again and I think I will pull yellow group for the first time tomorrow to start our Magic Treehouse book. After lunch we did a quick writing activity where the kids wrote about their favorite things about Valentine’s Day, people they love, things they love, etc. We stapled them into mini books that they could take home.
Finally, it was time for the Valentine’s Day festivities. We started with snack and a read-aloud book about Valentine’s Day. Then, one at a time, students were called to get their boxes and valentines. One table at a time gave out their cards. When that was finished, we had them pack up and clean up so we could go to another classroom where the grade was having their ice cream, party. We were very close to running out of ice cream, but we made it, grabbing a few extra ice cream cups from the cafeteria. We gave them choices of toppings, chocolate syrup, and whipped cream. They watched Charlie Brown’s Valentine’s Day and enjoyed their ice cream. Luckily, after that was recess and gym and then dismissal. That gave them time to burn off the extra energy from the party before they went home. Overall, it was a fun day and the class was better than expected.
After morning meeting, we did words of the week and chunk of the week. I used my own poem for chunk of the week (-and), but I am looking forward to the next chunk because we have a song for it again. I like the songs better than the poems because using poems make it seem too similar to the weekly poetry lessons.
We went to lunch after 3 rounds of Daily 5 activities. I sat in on my CT’s guided reading groups again and I think I will pull yellow group for the first time tomorrow to start our Magic Treehouse book. After lunch we did a quick writing activity where the kids wrote about their favorite things about Valentine’s Day, people they love, things they love, etc. We stapled them into mini books that they could take home.
Finally, it was time for the Valentine’s Day festivities. We started with snack and a read-aloud book about Valentine’s Day. Then, one at a time, students were called to get their boxes and valentines. One table at a time gave out their cards. When that was finished, we had them pack up and clean up so we could go to another classroom where the grade was having their ice cream, party. We were very close to running out of ice cream, but we made it, grabbing a few extra ice cream cups from the cafeteria. We gave them choices of toppings, chocolate syrup, and whipped cream. They watched Charlie Brown’s Valentine’s Day and enjoyed their ice cream. Luckily, after that was recess and gym and then dismissal. That gave them time to burn off the extra energy from the party before they went home. Overall, it was a fun day and the class was better than expected.
Friday, February 11, 2011
Crazy Socks and Candy Hearts
It’s crazy sock day! I ran morning meeting today and I guessed correctly that we’d be doing the shoe greeting so everyone could see everyone’s crazy socks. Everyone puts one shoe in the middle of the circle and one at a time, someone picks a shoe and greets that person. They also get to choose their activity on Friday, so we played Magic Squares. That is my favorite activity so far too. The teacher comes up with a pattern of “stepping stones” using sample size carpet squares. Going around the circle, each student takes a turn trying to figure out the pattern of where to step. When they hit a wrong square, the teacher rings a bell and the next person tries.
During Daily 5 today, my CT didn’t pull any guided reading groups. Instead, for the mini lessons, we had the students present their power points. We made sure they were all fixed up and then we emailed them to their parents after they were presented. We’ve already gotten some great parent replies.
My CT was out for the afternoon, so I worked with a substitute teacher. I taught all afternoon. I had lots of reminders on my desk to make sure one girl was packed up to leave early at 1, to share one more power point that we didn’t get to, to share parent emails privately with the students who got replies, and the try to get students who didn’t guess the candy heart jar to put in their guesses. I got everything done except remind the students whose parents sent emails. All of my lessons went well except at the very very end of the day. I had the class graphing candy hearts in math and they got a little out of hand. I was embarrassed when another teacher from a neighboring classroom came over and asked us to keep it down. The sub I was with is not yet certified; she has an emergency certification from the state, but will be pursuing her teaching certification in the coming year. I felt more experienced than her. She didn’t do a whole lot to help me manage the class, so I felt really on my own. That plus me giving them candy hearts really made them crazy. At the very end I told them that I was really sad that they couldn’t keep their self control and that I don’t think I’ll be bringing in any more candy for future math games. The worst was when we played around the world right after math. One student made it all the way around the world and when he made it he yelled “I MADE IT ALL THE WAY AROUND THE WORLD!” Everyone erupted laughing at the outburst. That was when the other teacher came by to ask us to quiet down. The day ended quickly and I was exhausted. I’m very glad it’s the weekend.
During Daily 5 today, my CT didn’t pull any guided reading groups. Instead, for the mini lessons, we had the students present their power points. We made sure they were all fixed up and then we emailed them to their parents after they were presented. We’ve already gotten some great parent replies.
My CT was out for the afternoon, so I worked with a substitute teacher. I taught all afternoon. I had lots of reminders on my desk to make sure one girl was packed up to leave early at 1, to share one more power point that we didn’t get to, to share parent emails privately with the students who got replies, and the try to get students who didn’t guess the candy heart jar to put in their guesses. I got everything done except remind the students whose parents sent emails. All of my lessons went well except at the very very end of the day. I had the class graphing candy hearts in math and they got a little out of hand. I was embarrassed when another teacher from a neighboring classroom came over and asked us to keep it down. The sub I was with is not yet certified; she has an emergency certification from the state, but will be pursuing her teaching certification in the coming year. I felt more experienced than her. She didn’t do a whole lot to help me manage the class, so I felt really on my own. That plus me giving them candy hearts really made them crazy. At the very end I told them that I was really sad that they couldn’t keep their self control and that I don’t think I’ll be bringing in any more candy for future math games. The worst was when we played around the world right after math. One student made it all the way around the world and when he made it he yelled “I MADE IT ALL THE WAY AROUND THE WORLD!” Everyone erupted laughing at the outburst. That was when the other teacher came by to ask us to quiet down. The day ended quickly and I was exhausted. I’m very glad it’s the weekend.
Thursday, February 10, 2011
T-H-U-R-S-D-A-Y Thursday!
I ran morning meeting again today along with a 6th grade peer mediator who did a greeting and activity on self-esteem. We did morning meeting a little out of order this morning, starting with shares, then doing the greeting and activity, then doing chart. We did that because the peer mediator came a little bit late to our classroom. I observed by CT doing guided reading groups today too. I will pick up the highest level next week. I watched a lower level one too and then I helped a parent volunteer by copying pages for books the class is making at the “work on writing” center. My CT was talking to the parent for a little bit while the students watched a video on beginning-middle-end. After the video, I talked to them a little about it as my CT finished up. The whole class was really well-behaved this morning, and the boy from yesterday who came in with his mom seemed much happier than he was yesterday but also much more behaved.
After lunch, my CT took time to do her lessons because she will be out tomorrow afternoon. I will do my planned lessons tomorrow with the sub. Pit was fun and I’m glad I only have one more lesson to do in this unit besides the review. The class really enjoyed the rolling wheels lesson, and we had a video of Bill Nye the Science Guy doing motion experiments that they loved. We used it to finish off the lesson, but didn’t finish it. That’s good because we can continue it if we run short another time. The class had fun during math today using calculators to count by 2’s 5’s and 10’s. I demonstrated it on the Smartboard using online-calculator.com. It was hard to find a calculator that did it the right way. Some don’t keep counting if you just keep hitting the equal button. Each of the students needed some help once they got a calculator of their own to use. They still need more practice but seem to be getting it much better now.
The end of the day went quickly again because they had indoor recess and computers. They mostly finished their power points so that is exciting, and many will present them tomorrow. My CT will also email them to parents. They are all really proud of their presentations.
The day ended when one of the school buses broke down and all the kids came back into the building. We did a lot of calling parents who were waiting at the bus stops to let them know that another bus was on the way. Luckily the new bus came pretty quickly and we were out of there about 20 minutes later than usual. It was interesting to see how the school handled it. The principal came in and we had the whole bus of kids sit in the pit. They asked for a cell phone number for moms that would be waiting at the bus stops so they could let everyone know that a new bus was coming and the kids would be home soon. The principal encouraged parents not to come pick up their kids to avoid confusion.
After lunch, my CT took time to do her lessons because she will be out tomorrow afternoon. I will do my planned lessons tomorrow with the sub. Pit was fun and I’m glad I only have one more lesson to do in this unit besides the review. The class really enjoyed the rolling wheels lesson, and we had a video of Bill Nye the Science Guy doing motion experiments that they loved. We used it to finish off the lesson, but didn’t finish it. That’s good because we can continue it if we run short another time. The class had fun during math today using calculators to count by 2’s 5’s and 10’s. I demonstrated it on the Smartboard using online-calculator.com. It was hard to find a calculator that did it the right way. Some don’t keep counting if you just keep hitting the equal button. Each of the students needed some help once they got a calculator of their own to use. They still need more practice but seem to be getting it much better now.
The end of the day went quickly again because they had indoor recess and computers. They mostly finished their power points so that is exciting, and many will present them tomorrow. My CT will also email them to parents. They are all really proud of their presentations.
The day ended when one of the school buses broke down and all the kids came back into the building. We did a lot of calling parents who were waiting at the bus stops to let them know that another bus was on the way. Luckily the new bus came pretty quickly and we were out of there about 20 minutes later than usual. It was interesting to see how the school handled it. The principal came in and we had the whole bus of kids sit in the pit. They asked for a cell phone number for moms that would be waiting at the bus stops so they could let everyone know that a new bus was coming and the kids would be home soon. The principal encouraged parents not to come pick up their kids to avoid confusion.
Wednesday, February 9, 2011
First Wednesday in a While
I ran morning meeting this morning and it went pretty well. Our greeting was the “friendship claw” which is a gesture I learned at an underground comedy show in Brooklyn. The only problem I had was during the activity. We played Wonderball, and the ball goes around the circle and whoever it lands on it out. The ball landed on one student who does have some behavior and anger issues, and she got very angry and upset and would not move out of the circle. I told her to take a time out but she wouldn’t budge. My CT needed to take her aside and talk to her. She basically asked her how she could have handled that better and that she can’t act like that in school. The rest of the game went very well, and we had a winner. I had the class do a cheer for her – there is a list of cheers that they do and I had her pick her favorite for the class to give her.
I did my math lesson this afternoon and the problem solving lesson went pretty well. The problems are pretty easy for them to solve. After problem solving, we had some time, so I had them get into a circle and play “Sparkle.” We counted by 2’s and had the people who said 16 and 24 sit down. The afternoon wiggles were certainly hitting them hard. I had to wait for them to quiet down a few times, so we didn’t have enough time to get out calculators like I wanted to show them how to check their work on their skip counting worksheets. We will work on that tomorrow though.
I seems like next week I will pick up my first guided reading group – the highest reading level. My CT gave me a great unit on a Magic Treehouse chapter book that I think I will use with them.
A parent came in in the afternoon with her son who is in our class. He left early, but he told him mom on the way out that he got two time outs. His mom asked why and he said he didn’t know. They came back to ask my CT and I. We explained what he was doing and came up with a plan to send home a sheet every day to celebrate the times he does not get time outs and to explain why and time outs were given. I felt a little pressure trying to explain to the parent why I gave her son a time out, but I felt it was justified at the time. He was being silly and misbehaving but nothing specific. Anyway, that wasn’t too bad and we all agreed that that behavior plan should work well. It’ll be interesting to see if his behavior is any better starting tomorrow.
I did my math lesson this afternoon and the problem solving lesson went pretty well. The problems are pretty easy for them to solve. After problem solving, we had some time, so I had them get into a circle and play “Sparkle.” We counted by 2’s and had the people who said 16 and 24 sit down. The afternoon wiggles were certainly hitting them hard. I had to wait for them to quiet down a few times, so we didn’t have enough time to get out calculators like I wanted to show them how to check their work on their skip counting worksheets. We will work on that tomorrow though.
I seems like next week I will pick up my first guided reading group – the highest reading level. My CT gave me a great unit on a Magic Treehouse chapter book that I think I will use with them.
A parent came in in the afternoon with her son who is in our class. He left early, but he told him mom on the way out that he got two time outs. His mom asked why and he said he didn’t know. They came back to ask my CT and I. We explained what he was doing and came up with a plan to send home a sheet every day to celebrate the times he does not get time outs and to explain why and time outs were given. I felt a little pressure trying to explain to the parent why I gave her son a time out, but I felt it was justified at the time. He was being silly and misbehaving but nothing specific. Anyway, that wasn’t too bad and we all agreed that that behavior plan should work well. It’ll be interesting to see if his behavior is any better starting tomorrow.
Tuesday, February 8, 2011
Crazy Tuesday
I was really looking forward to morning meeting this morning because it was my first time leading it. Unfortunately, 6th graders from the Environmental group came to our class to do a morning meeting activity. So, my morning meeting duties got pushed to tomorrow. I did, at least, get to run the daily chart reading and shares. Tomorrow I will do the greeting and activity that I had planned and I will also run the meeting on Thursday and possibly Friday as well.
My CT told me that this Friday she will also be taking half a personal day because she needs to go with her daughter to an appointment. I will be teaching all afternoon, so it won’t matter much. It should be interesting to see how that goes though. I think I will feel more comfortable being more on my own, but we’ll see.
The afternoon went by pretty quickly. I did handwriting, poetry, science in pit, and math. Handwriting went very well. Poetry was a little harder because I thought I was running short on time, though I wasn’t. We squeezed poetry in, but the class started getting a little rowdy. Our TA was a sub today so he had also given the conflicting instructions to what I had given them. I told the class to freeze and repeated my directions, then I told them if they had already done it the other way, that is ok too. Pit wasn’t bad today either – I ran it myself. It was difficult getting volunteers to get the zoomers working well – I had to practice them for days just to figure them out, so they weren’t the best tools to be using, but a few kids got the hang of it after a few tries. They seemed excited to try them back in their classrooms. I set up a little science center in my classroom with all of the materials from our pit experiments so that we can work on them when there is spare time. They are especially useful during indoor recess.
The first grade teachers met today during specials to plan for the next few weeks. We planned our Valentines Day party for Monday as well. It looks like after our Balance and Motion unit, the other student teacher and I will trade off with the other teachers like they usually do for pit lessons, and we will go back to having pit every other day instead of every day.
My CT told me that this Friday she will also be taking half a personal day because she needs to go with her daughter to an appointment. I will be teaching all afternoon, so it won’t matter much. It should be interesting to see how that goes though. I think I will feel more comfortable being more on my own, but we’ll see.
The afternoon went by pretty quickly. I did handwriting, poetry, science in pit, and math. Handwriting went very well. Poetry was a little harder because I thought I was running short on time, though I wasn’t. We squeezed poetry in, but the class started getting a little rowdy. Our TA was a sub today so he had also given the conflicting instructions to what I had given them. I told the class to freeze and repeated my directions, then I told them if they had already done it the other way, that is ok too. Pit wasn’t bad today either – I ran it myself. It was difficult getting volunteers to get the zoomers working well – I had to practice them for days just to figure them out, so they weren’t the best tools to be using, but a few kids got the hang of it after a few tries. They seemed excited to try them back in their classrooms. I set up a little science center in my classroom with all of the materials from our pit experiments so that we can work on them when there is spare time. They are especially useful during indoor recess.
The first grade teachers met today during specials to plan for the next few weeks. We planned our Valentines Day party for Monday as well. It looks like after our Balance and Motion unit, the other student teacher and I will trade off with the other teachers like they usually do for pit lessons, and we will go back to having pit every other day instead of every day.
Monday, February 7, 2011
Monday Again
This morning, I arrived early to observe the peer mediator session before school. They introduced an activity for morning meeting where the mediators will go into classrooms and give students a paper heart. They will read a story where a child’s self esteem gets knocked down. Each time something happens to hurt the student in the story, the class crinkles their heart. At the end, all of the crinkles represent something that hurt their self esteem. While I was listening to that, I helped the other student teacher set up for our pit lesson this afternoon on tops. We got doodle tops and tops made out of straws to show the students. We also found a video on YouTube to introduce the tops lesson.
I taught the words of the week and chunk of the week this morning too. The words of the week lesson went very well. I am getting used to doing that. The chunk of the week was a little more difficult because the chunk was “-ing.” Many of the students wanted to use verbs like “running,” “jumping,” “swimming,” etc. But the chunk was really for words that had –ing as a part of the word, not as an ending (like ring, thing, swing, spring, etc.). That was probably something I should have clarified beforehand.
After lunch, I did the science and math lessons. In science today, I co-taught with the other student teacher in pit. We started the Motion part of the Balance and Motion unit. The subject was tops. We showed a video about spinning tops that the class really enjoyed. They got a little too excited though, and we needed to get them back on task after the video ended. There wasn’t a whole lot to this particular lesson, so we had to stretch out the material a bit. Most of the lesson consists of having a class make tops of their own, but with a large group of 62, we couldn’t do that in that time period. Instead, the classes will have opportunities to make tops later in their own classrooms. We used a document camera on the floor to show the tops spinning on the ground. That worked really well because everyone could see.
I wasn’t 100% sure what to do for math today, so I was really surprised my lesson went so well. I had a few Smartboard games and a cool interactive hundred chart to use to show patterns of numbers, and a basic plan, but it didn’t seem quite long enough. We counted by tens first, then fives. Then we did a worksheet together. The class was getting antsy so I told them I had another worksheet or a game and we could do the game if they were well behaved and quiet. If not, I said we’d have to go back to our desks to work on the worksheet. That helped them settle down a lot and we played a Smartboard game using the hundreds board. When that was over, I still had a chunk of time to fill. On the spot, I decided to give each table one blank hundreds chart. We started with the captain and we had them quietly pass the paper around, each student adding the next number. I told them that when their table finished, they needed to turn the paper over and put their heads down so I would know they were done. Table 1 finished first. I used the game to explain to the class my new incentive board. Since we had filled up our hundreds board, I designed a new board with hearts that had each students’ name on it. I explained that they could stamp their hearts instead of signing the hundreds board. When they get 5 stamps, they’ll get to pick from the surprise box. Then they get 10, they can pick from the rewards chart. The winning table got to be the first four to stamp their hearts.
I taught the words of the week and chunk of the week this morning too. The words of the week lesson went very well. I am getting used to doing that. The chunk of the week was a little more difficult because the chunk was “-ing.” Many of the students wanted to use verbs like “running,” “jumping,” “swimming,” etc. But the chunk was really for words that had –ing as a part of the word, not as an ending (like ring, thing, swing, spring, etc.). That was probably something I should have clarified beforehand.
After lunch, I did the science and math lessons. In science today, I co-taught with the other student teacher in pit. We started the Motion part of the Balance and Motion unit. The subject was tops. We showed a video about spinning tops that the class really enjoyed. They got a little too excited though, and we needed to get them back on task after the video ended. There wasn’t a whole lot to this particular lesson, so we had to stretch out the material a bit. Most of the lesson consists of having a class make tops of their own, but with a large group of 62, we couldn’t do that in that time period. Instead, the classes will have opportunities to make tops later in their own classrooms. We used a document camera on the floor to show the tops spinning on the ground. That worked really well because everyone could see.
I wasn’t 100% sure what to do for math today, so I was really surprised my lesson went so well. I had a few Smartboard games and a cool interactive hundred chart to use to show patterns of numbers, and a basic plan, but it didn’t seem quite long enough. We counted by tens first, then fives. Then we did a worksheet together. The class was getting antsy so I told them I had another worksheet or a game and we could do the game if they were well behaved and quiet. If not, I said we’d have to go back to our desks to work on the worksheet. That helped them settle down a lot and we played a Smartboard game using the hundreds board. When that was over, I still had a chunk of time to fill. On the spot, I decided to give each table one blank hundreds chart. We started with the captain and we had them quietly pass the paper around, each student adding the next number. I told them that when their table finished, they needed to turn the paper over and put their heads down so I would know they were done. Table 1 finished first. I used the game to explain to the class my new incentive board. Since we had filled up our hundreds board, I designed a new board with hearts that had each students’ name on it. I explained that they could stamp their hearts instead of signing the hundreds board. When they get 5 stamps, they’ll get to pick from the surprise box. Then they get 10, they can pick from the rewards chart. The winning table got to be the first four to stamp their hearts.
Friday, February 4, 2011
Thursday's Post
posting on Friday morning because I didn't get a chance to get on here last night:
Well we had another snow day yesterday. I am all planned up through the end of next week, so I finally took a day to (mostly) relax. I fixed up a few lesson plans and did some work on the Drexel discussion boards, which is sometimes tough to fit in, but besides that, I exercised and cooked and tried to enjoy the day off.
The morning went by quickly and I didn’t have any lessons to do. The afternoon was pretty crazy though and I did a lot. It was definitely tiring. I went too long on my handwriting lesson. It was a new type of handwriting lesson, so I hadn’t tried it before. Instead of writing letters, they were writing words. I had them bring white boards to the front and practice writing. Then I had volunteers come up to write the words. Then they went back to their desks to complete the worksheets. I realized that this took too much time, and they did get plenty of chances to practice on their worksheets, so next time, I think I will just demonstrate the words on the white board or Smartboard and then have them go back to do their worksheets. That should speed it up. Because that lesson went too long, I have a mini word work lesson that I need to squeeze in tomorrow. I think I will try to do that after math tomorrow, since the math lesson tomorrow is a pretty quick one.
My science lesson in pit was ok today. It was my first time doing it alone. It was a little difficult to get 62 kids under control, but the other teachers helped when I needed it. I think I’ll get better at it, but 62 first graders are difficult to manage. They did seem to really like the lesson, which involved using wire and clothespins to balance a pencil on its point on top of a popsicle stick. The kids were definitely excited to try it and amazed to see the pencil balancing. I think the next few lessons will be even more exciting. Vanessa teaches on tomorrow, so at least I’ll get a little break while we go to pit.
Computers was pretty cool, and the class had fun putting together more of their power point presentations.
Well we had another snow day yesterday. I am all planned up through the end of next week, so I finally took a day to (mostly) relax. I fixed up a few lesson plans and did some work on the Drexel discussion boards, which is sometimes tough to fit in, but besides that, I exercised and cooked and tried to enjoy the day off.
The morning went by quickly and I didn’t have any lessons to do. The afternoon was pretty crazy though and I did a lot. It was definitely tiring. I went too long on my handwriting lesson. It was a new type of handwriting lesson, so I hadn’t tried it before. Instead of writing letters, they were writing words. I had them bring white boards to the front and practice writing. Then I had volunteers come up to write the words. Then they went back to their desks to complete the worksheets. I realized that this took too much time, and they did get plenty of chances to practice on their worksheets, so next time, I think I will just demonstrate the words on the white board or Smartboard and then have them go back to do their worksheets. That should speed it up. Because that lesson went too long, I have a mini word work lesson that I need to squeeze in tomorrow. I think I will try to do that after math tomorrow, since the math lesson tomorrow is a pretty quick one.
My science lesson in pit was ok today. It was my first time doing it alone. It was a little difficult to get 62 kids under control, but the other teachers helped when I needed it. I think I’ll get better at it, but 62 first graders are difficult to manage. They did seem to really like the lesson, which involved using wire and clothespins to balance a pencil on its point on top of a popsicle stick. The kids were definitely excited to try it and amazed to see the pencil balancing. I think the next few lessons will be even more exciting. Vanessa teaches on tomorrow, so at least I’ll get a little break while we go to pit.
Computers was pretty cool, and the class had fun putting together more of their power point presentations.
Tuesday, February 1, 2011
No-Snow Tuesday
I’m glad today isn’t a snow day! It seemed to be heading in that direction based on the weather forecast, but I woke up this morning to find that it’s not so bad out yet and school is going on as scheduled, for once. This morning I met with the other student teacher to set up our lesson in pit again. We realized it’s a shame the way they do these lessons in such a large group. The experiments are shown to the whole group with a few volunteers. Then, they might try it in class, but most of the time, the classes never get to it. It almost defeats the purpose of the learning by doing that these lessons are built around.
The students learned about nouns today in their mini-lessons. They seemed to pick up on them faster than adjectives, and I still feel that it would have been easier to teach adjectives after nouns, but this is working out ok. There was a great activity on the Smartboard that gave a list of words and they needed to drag them into either a “nouns” or “not nouns” bin. The rest of the students gave a “thumbs up” if they thought it was a noun, and a “thumbs down” if they thought the word was not a noun. A new activity was also added to the “work on writing” center, which the students seem to enjoy. There are mini pre-made books and the students can write their own story in them, and illustrate the book as well. As they finish, they can put them in a bin to share with the class. This addition made a lot of students choose to work on writing, and we had 2 students share their books with the class. We noticed that the books, only 3 pages long (plus a cover) were probably too short for them, so we are going to run off pages and give them the ability to add more pages if they need to.
Pit went pretty well today. It was our second time co-teaching and it worked out even better, probably because the experiment we did was a little more complex. It involved balancing a triangle and an arch on a popsicle stick. We had a bunch of volunteers come up and try it, and I really felt like the students were getting the concept of counterweights and balance points. We used a scanned image of a worksheet with different scenarios on it to try out. It worked well to have the students give either thumbs up or thumbs down to let us know if they thought the shapes would balance. That works really well with such a large group of kids.
Math, on the other hand, was crazy. I was teaching trading ten ones to make a ten, and it was definitely a tough concept. The other student teacher taught the same lesson to her class today too and had the same issues, so that did make me feel a little bit better. I asked my CT if there was a better way to explain it and she basically told me that it really is a hard concept and that I explained it well, but we just need to review it more and keep reinforcing it and going over it. Because it was a tough concept, I felt that I was losing them a lot of the time. At the end, we played “around the world” with addition flash cards. They really enjoyed the game, but were getting silly. I told them a few times that it didn’t seem like they were shaped up enough to play. I gave quite a few time outs as well. It would work for a second every time, but then it dissolved again. My CT told me not to be afraid to just stop the game and have them sit down with their heads down at their desks if they can’t control themselves. I may need to use that strategy sometime.
The end of the day went quickly. My CT gave me her midterm evaluation of me that she is sending to my school and I was happy with what she wrote. I feel like I’m really learning a lot, so much more than I ever could have learned in regular classes about teaching.
The students learned about nouns today in their mini-lessons. They seemed to pick up on them faster than adjectives, and I still feel that it would have been easier to teach adjectives after nouns, but this is working out ok. There was a great activity on the Smartboard that gave a list of words and they needed to drag them into either a “nouns” or “not nouns” bin. The rest of the students gave a “thumbs up” if they thought it was a noun, and a “thumbs down” if they thought the word was not a noun. A new activity was also added to the “work on writing” center, which the students seem to enjoy. There are mini pre-made books and the students can write their own story in them, and illustrate the book as well. As they finish, they can put them in a bin to share with the class. This addition made a lot of students choose to work on writing, and we had 2 students share their books with the class. We noticed that the books, only 3 pages long (plus a cover) were probably too short for them, so we are going to run off pages and give them the ability to add more pages if they need to.
Pit went pretty well today. It was our second time co-teaching and it worked out even better, probably because the experiment we did was a little more complex. It involved balancing a triangle and an arch on a popsicle stick. We had a bunch of volunteers come up and try it, and I really felt like the students were getting the concept of counterweights and balance points. We used a scanned image of a worksheet with different scenarios on it to try out. It worked well to have the students give either thumbs up or thumbs down to let us know if they thought the shapes would balance. That works really well with such a large group of kids.
Math, on the other hand, was crazy. I was teaching trading ten ones to make a ten, and it was definitely a tough concept. The other student teacher taught the same lesson to her class today too and had the same issues, so that did make me feel a little bit better. I asked my CT if there was a better way to explain it and she basically told me that it really is a hard concept and that I explained it well, but we just need to review it more and keep reinforcing it and going over it. Because it was a tough concept, I felt that I was losing them a lot of the time. At the end, we played “around the world” with addition flash cards. They really enjoyed the game, but were getting silly. I told them a few times that it didn’t seem like they were shaped up enough to play. I gave quite a few time outs as well. It would work for a second every time, but then it dissolved again. My CT told me not to be afraid to just stop the game and have them sit down with their heads down at their desks if they can’t control themselves. I may need to use that strategy sometime.
The end of the day went quickly. My CT gave me her midterm evaluation of me that she is sending to my school and I was happy with what she wrote. I feel like I’m really learning a lot, so much more than I ever could have learned in regular classes about teaching.
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