back from break...realia

Over the break I went to Memphis for the 40th Martin Luther King march and events. I had an amazing time, and saw much of the south. It was great to be able to bring back a lot of information and excitement to my children. It was amazing how many of them reacted to all my experiences. One of my kids is really into the election and he really got a kick out of the idea that I got to meet and have a picture with McCain. I'll write more about all the experiences.

writing celebration

We had our 2nd writing celebration today. That was an experience! It can be so difficult to work something out with multiple teachers. It wasn't exactly how some of us originally planned, but we just had to deal with it. Things happen even when you don't want them to. I'm not exactly sure how I will handle it next time, if there is one that is. Sometimes it can't be all in some people's hands, so it makes it sort of difficult to deal with. I know it's part of getting along within a grade level, but I can't help being a bit bothered after some of us put the time and energy into what we all discussed.

1st newspaper lesson

I wrote this down with a pen, but now I'm adding it to my blog. Last week I did my first newspaper lesson. The children were so excited to see the papers, which I thought was great. I first gave them time to look at the paper and look at what they want to read. I then went into my introduction to the paper. That went okay, though next time I do the introduction I'll make sure and only give the kids the front page which was all that was needed at the time. I also needed to be prepared to answer some tough questions from the kids after them seeing some of the articles. I don't know why I didn't forsee that happening. There was an article on the front page about rape. Yikes, that was a first for me. Thinking it'd be easier to do it all while the papers were out, I went ahead and did the next lesson which had the kids doing a lot of searching, cutting, and then gluing. This took a long time to finish, and boy was there a mess afterwards. I should've realized that it took me awhile to do, and just imagine how long it'd take kids who aren't used to reading the paper. Next time I'll separate the lessons. In fact I'll even separate the coat of arms lesson into 2 parts and only have the kids look for a few things at a time. Live and learn. Right now I do have a time frame on my lessons so it's a bit different.

indenting

Why is it so difficult for children to remember to indent each paragraph? We have been working on this all year long. They're publishing, and they keep forgetting, even after I remind them right before they are about to do it. Then they want to put the editing mark, and I asked them to show me in a published book where one was. Of course they couldn't. Sometimes they do it, but it's so haphazard. I guess one day it'll get stuck in their head that way. Or at least I hope it does. Their writing test was pretty good. Two weeks left before we go off track. There's a lot to do before that.

been awhile

It's been awhile since I blogged...computer issues. I'm back. I've been reading my kid's writing test on how to make a peanut butter sandwich, and some of them are quite funny. I have one who decided to put bologna in his, but he did carry it through, and he actually did his best writing on a prompt so far, so I guess the bologna didn't ruin his sandwich for me. Kids can be soo funny. They say the darndest things. When I was trying to decide who she hold up each fish for Read Across America, on of the students said, "you should have X..... hold it." I couldn't help it, I laughed a bit, then I caught myself. He didn't really get it anyways, but it was funny. Kids know. The line was: "And some are very, very, bad." Only 2 weeks left before we go off track. It's disappointing that the few who did say they would go to intersession will not be able to do so. One of them has defnitiely been improving, so hopefully she'll continue to do so even though she'll be away from school for a few weeks.

my old 3rd grade teacher

Last night I had a great experience that inspired me. As I was driving by, I saw a lady walking that looked just like my 3rd grade teacher, so I stopped, and it was her. We had a great discussion about teaching, and how it was "back in the day" when she first arrived in Califoria. It was amazing to hear some of her interesting stories, especially since she actually started her teaching in Long Beach at our school. She has inspired me to do some more research about race here in California, especially in years past. I have always wanted to write about something like that, and she gave me a great idea. It was such an exciting moment in my life! I hope one day that'll happen to me with one of my students. She taught me 30 years ago. Wow!

It seemed like my writing mini lesson went well, until I was watching all the results. I had to reteach about 1/4th of the class. I had watched this lesson at another school when I was in the BTSA program, and it was actually done with kinder. Of course I did expect more from my 2nd graders. Many of the kids did well. In a few days I'm planning on doing something similar to what I just did. We'll see how that goes.

What a great opportunity. I enjoyed watching another colleague. It gave me a few good ideas that I'm going to use in my class. Though I'm friends with this person, I had never been in her classroom. I really need to walk around and see everyones classes. Oh my goodness, I can't believe how disrespectful one of my students has been. He is completely challenging my authority. I hope his day in the detention center will help him. We'll see.

I always enjoy the chance to see other teachers teaching. I was able to see a mini lesson on writing in K. It's quite different than 2nd and 3rd. It was interesting to see how they start out. My last children finished the unit writing test. Over all, the writing part of the test went pretty well, of course it was a friendly letter, which seems to be easier for them. I think them seeing a good grade might motivate a few of them to work harder on their other writing too. My new student wrote a beautiful letter. I'm kind of scared that letter writing is becoming a lost art since everyone emails now. I always loved to write, and I hope that my students leave school loving to write too!

new year

We're getting back in the swing of things, however there has been a lot of issues coming up. We have talked about keeping your hands to yourself at all times, mutual respect, and all of the tribes agreements, but it's not taking now. After Mr. Hammond's talk, right after recess, there wasn't much change either. They seemed like they were all listening. We had a tribal circle at the end of the day, and as always most all of the kids said what they don't like, and then said what they'll work on. I don't know. They've all been saying the same thing for awhile now. Though 2 of the boys who had gotten in trouble were very disrespectful during the circle. I did get one funny answer. Fernando said he was going to work on making sure that he always follows the Tribe agreements, then he said that he was also working on becoming a Scholar. It was funny the way he put it, especially since we weren't talking about it at all.
I've had some personal issues, and maybe that's why I'm extra sensitive to things right now. Yikes, the kids seem like they're getting it, then they take an assessment....and oh myyyyy.