Trick or Treat!

10/29/10

Happy Halloween!

I dressed up as Wonder Woman today - somehow I beat my cold into submission just long enough to make it through the the day! The students were so adorable! They all dressed up and were psyched to see that I had dressed up as well. Parents were all around taking pictures! The 5th grade students are the only ones who are allowed to dress up, so they look forward to this day from kindergarten!

The entire 5th grade parades through each of the classrooms in the school! Every classroom is filled with little kids captivated by the costumes of the big-time 5th graders. Priceless!

The rest of the day was a piece of cake. Pizza party, Monster's Inc, read aloud (by yours truly), and then a Visions announce by the student who is tabulating the challenge tickets.

After school, I went into Boston (miraculously still feeling okay), to catch up with some friends who were in town. I ended up running into more friends (apparently there was a higher-ed conference in town) which was fun. I went to dinner at Lir with a good friend from grad school, and my RD (junior & senior year) from Syracuse joined us. I hadn't seen him in five years, and it was so much fun to catch up! Apparently, I made both of their trips to Boston - WINNER! My RD had some of his friends join us and they also brought friends - including another friend of mine from grad school! We bumped into each other at the conference location, and then because higher ed is such a small field, she ended up being invited to hang out with my friend. Love it. With two weekends in a row of seeing amazing friends, I'm starting to feel like I really can make it through this semester.

Second half-day of the week

10/28/10

Surprise! Another half-day today! Good thing because I was up at 2:00 am with a runny nose - and wasn't able to fall back asleep. Surprisingly, I pulled it together and got to school by 7:00 am! I quickly deteriorated and by the end of my math lesson, I was a sniffling mess.

PLC groups met again today. We reviewed the 2 digit divisor problem once again, and gave the students another quick assessment to see if they were understanding the process. My (a) student got the problems correct, while the (ni) and (p) student did not. We're going to continue to work with these students next week. I will have to think of creative ways of getting them to understand the concept, because the repeated practice is just not sticking.

The math lesson went well though! I taught how to multiply and divide with zeroes! So much fun! Crossing off, counting, and tacking on zeroes to find the product or quotient very easily!

I'm now off to work on response logs, then heading to bed!

Math Observation

10/27/10

Continued on with the science lesson from yesterday. After they got back from music class, I tempted them with challenge tickets - 5 review questions, 5 challenge tickets. The questions were:

1) How many poles do magnets have? (2)

2) What are the names of these poles? (north and south)

3) (active question) Using the down and doughnut-shaped magnets, demonstrate how the poles repel each other. (like poles = hovering magnets)

4) (active question) These two magnets are stuck together - why? (opposite poles attracting each other)

5) What is the name of the stone that ancient Greek and ancient Chinese farmers discovered was magnetic? (lodestone)

They then watched a BrainPop video that reviewed the information that was covered in yesterday's lesson. Love BrainPop!

In today's lesson, the students got to experiment! The tables teams were given random objects (paperclip, popsicle stick, steel nail, aluminum foil, paper, plastic disk, etc.) and had to find out if the items were attracted to magnets. The students used my new graphic organizers to log their predictions, write out their procedures, categorize their results, and answer a reflective question. I used the X-Men character, Magneto, to jazz up the document. We talked a little about Magneto, his powers, how magnet is in his name, and how he attracts metals. It was a nice connection to their pop culture lives - and students loved talking about comic books in an academic setting! (Next stop - ComicCon!)

I was observed by my BC Supervisor in math - teaching how to use "mental math" with division. I got to practice with the class before mine so that I was prepped and ready to go for my observation. Good thing that I did, because I made a couple of mistakes - I really wasn't as familiar with the subject as I would have liked to be, but I didn't know what I would be teaching until yesterday morning. Yikes!

I did use the SmartBoard well throughout the lesson - PowerPoint presentation, and graph paper to demonstrate the concept. I used the term "friendly numbers" when describing numbers that are products of our multiplication facts, and "landmark" numbers - numbers ending in 0 (10, 20, 30, etc.). The idea is to take a division problem and break it up into easier parts so that you can do the math in your head. Example:

72 / 4

Break the number into 40 + 32. Friendlier.

40 / 4 = 10; 32 / 4 = 8. Add 10+8, and you have your answer: 18.

In the PowerPoint slide show, there was a picture of cartoon smiley faces - one with braces. I told the class about my orthodontic journey (from 2nd grade to 10th grade) and how I loved it the whole way through! They got a kick out of the story - but I think that some were just happy to hear that an adult survived having braces!

I broke students up into working group pairs. To do this, I looked back at their math MCAS scores from 4th grade. I partnered "needs improvement" students up with "proficient" or "advanced" students. They worked together on workbook pages that had practice problems for mental math.

My supervisor loved the lesson and had lots of accolades! We also had the three-way mid-term conference with my CT and supervisor. They both agreed that I was ahead of the curve and producing high-quality work! I write this not to boast, but to add perspective to me being hard on myself. When it feels like I'm drowning, I'm actually flying high in the eyes of others. I and take a deep breath...

...for a few minutes.

It was then on to PLC groups where I was to work with the group of students who had a difficult time with 2 digit divisor problems - all three of the students I'm working with were put into this group this week! So, it is true what my CTs told me at the beginning of the year - students of all math levels will bounce around in to the various PLC groups throughout the semester! We didn't do anything fancy in the group - just put an example on the board, worked it out as a group, then gave them another problem to work on. I noticed that the advanced student flew through the problems - he understands the concepts, so his mistakes come from rushing through the material. My needs improvement and proficient student benefited from the help. They need to see the process and repeat it a few times for extra practice.

After school, it was back to work! Correcting spelling homework and reading response logs well into the night. But, I must say that my shoulders did have less weight on them.

Exploring Magnets

10/26/10

Sometime between when I went to bed last night, and when I woke up, I decided to give myself a break. I had an epiphany: over the last three weekends, I was sick for two of them - once with a head cold, and once with a 48 hour stomach flu (over the holiday weekend, of course!). I am being too hard on myself - I'm producing high quality work and an unsustainable pace. Time to cut myself some slack!

I checked in homework and lead Morning Meeting today. We greeted each other by singing the phrase, "One, two, three, four, come on (insert name) hit the floor!" The student enters the circle and shows off some dance moves. The chant continues as he/she dances, "We're so glad you're here today - hooray, hooray, hooray!" There's even a little "raising the roof" action in the latter part of the cheer. Amy gave me a compliment that I was "right on" keeping the students in check and focused during homework check-in/EMA. YES!

I taught grammar - possessive pronouns - this afternoon after watching Ms. Conrad teach it once. Her PowerPoints are very thorough and make it easy to jump into teaching the lesson without much prep. I think it went well - and I was able to get the students to transition on time!

Directly after, I taught the science lesson on magnets. It was a really fun lesson! I redesigned Amy's documents over the weekend to be more user-friendly and to be better organized/esthetically pleasing. Amy observed my lesson and had some great feedback. She said that I am coming into my own as a teach, and that it's exciting to see. Apparently, I have a natural presence in front of the class!

In the lesson, I discussed how magnets have two poles - north and south. When you put opposite poles together, they attract one another. If you put like poles together, they repel each other! The best part of the lesson was when I had a student stick strong doughnut-shaped magnets onto a dowel with like poles facing each other. The magnets HOVER! It's the coolest thing! You can literally see the force fields working against one another!

After school (half day), I sat in a few parent-teacher conferences. They were interesting to observe. I did find myself wanting to contribute and jump in - wanting to let the parents know how fantastic their children are! It was a good experience to go through - especially watching Amy prepare for the meetings. She looked through all of the assessment scores from fourth grade, wrote comments about their social behaviors, and collected information from the other teachers about how each student performs in their classes. Lots and lots of prep work!

I went home and frantically prepared my math lesson for tomorrow. Those lesson plans are torture, BUT they do prep you for every step of the lesson. After I finally finished the plan, I had to move on to correct response logs, create strategic pairings for the math lesson, add pieces of evidence to my PPA+ binder, and think of goals for my mid-term evaluation tomorrow. It was a long night...with a few tears, but I finished it all up and was in be by 10:30 pm.

Case of the Mondays

10/25/10

After one of the most fun/soul fulfilling weekends in a long time, I had a serious "Case of the Mondays" today. I woke up and decided that I had not gotten enough work done over the weekend, that I was behind in every front, and that I was doomed to not pass this semester. Amy told me I was being too hard on myself, but I just couldn't shake the guilt and the stress that's been piling up.

Onward and upward with the day.

I transitioned the students from the beginning of the day to Art class - only to be treated so poorly by the Art teacher, that I left her room fuming. Normally, I walk the students down to the room and she takes over from there. Today, she chased after me in the hallway yelling, "Ummm...EXCUSE ME!" I didn't realize that she was talking to me so I kept walking - she said it again and added, "You need to get in here - we're having a little trouble with seating arrangements, AND I need you to drop of a computer to a teacher for me."

Ah, okay. Never once did she use my name OR treat me with respect. She explained with a huge attitude that the students were sitting at the wrong tables. I explained that we had recently changed table partners and they probably just sat in their new seating arrangements. She looked at me like I was dumb, and then said, "Well, what are you going to do about it?" Though I was fuming inside, I was very polite and handled the situation. Took an survey of who wanted to revert to old seating arrangements or stick with the new seating arrangements. They all wanted the new arrangements. I thought I was done, but the teacher insisted that I "Go ahead and fix it." I fixed it in an orderly fashion, then began to walk out. She once again said, "UMMMM EXCUSE ME!" and insisted that I rewrite the names of the students on her seating chart. I left again - thinking that all of my duties were finished, but she chased me down in the hallway, "EXCUSE ME!", and threw a laptop computer into my hands, saying, "Bring this to so and so..." I smiled and said, "Absolutely, no problem!" and left.

I got back to the room and was fuming. I explained to Amy how I felt and she was very upset at the behavior of the Art teacher. She is going to talk to her about her inappropriate tone that she used with me. I really wanted to look at the Art teacher and just say, "Listen, I worked at the Art Institute of Chicago and know a thing or two about art. Treat me with some respect - I'm a future peer - not your servant." But, of course, I didn't say that and kept it professional.

When students came back, I taught "R Controlled" Spelling. When an R is directly after a vowel, it controlls the sound of the vowel (fur, car, sir, etc.). I told them that they were pirates for the day and we practiced saying "Arrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!" It was cute and they loved it!

I stayed after school super late today to work on the magnet science lesson with Jen, and to help Amy file all of the student assessments into binders for parent conferences this week. After working in reslife for the past 12 years, I know a thing or two about organizing binders efficiently! I had a system all set up and ready to go for us to power through the documents - we finished in less than 20 minutes! Must be a new record!

I feel good about the magnets lesson for tomorrow. I think it's going to be a lot of fun!

The BC 2007-2010 Crew - Back Row: Austin, Luis, Daymyen, Conor. Middle Row: Lenny, Alison, Denise, Judette, Kate, Cameron. Front Row: Me, Tanika, Colleen, Taryn.

Such amazing people!

Oktoberfest

10/22/10

The principal announced over the intercom this morning that there were a lot of absent teachers. Yikes! The colds are going around like mad! Ms. Conrad is totally sick with a head cold, but she was a trooper and came in today - thank goodness!

Both Amy and I forgot to look over our response logs last night, so we tried to work on them, but neither of us had time. She had to run off to a meeting, and I was organizing students into groups for Social Studies and setting the room up for EMA/Morning Meeting. We decided to just give

them back on Monday.

I checked in homework by myself officially today! It was a fun experience, but it was tough to keep on top of the students while checking over the homework. I had to do some serious multitasking! I'd look over the math homework while asking students to quiet down or ask if they were reading the morning message and following directions. Amy was watching me from afar, and complimented me later in the day for being on top of everyone.

She was pulled out for a meeting before the day had started - follow up from yesterday's student in crisis incident. It was up to me to make sure that the students took their spelling test and got to chorus on time. The students were a bit rowdy and I had a hard time getting them quiet - I utilized a number of classroom management techniques, but they still wouldn't listen. Finally, after lots of patience, they quieted down - but it took so long that we missed morning meeting. They were upset, but it was a good lesson for them to learn.

I taught math again today - 2 digit divisor long division! It's a tricky subject, but if they follow the steps, they are destine for success. The lesson went really well, and I even threw in a few tips about rounding the divisor to estimate how many times it will fit into the dividend. The one thing that Dr. Morse and I both emphasized was for students to show their work - because there are so many steps to long division, it's easy to make a mistake, but by showing work (and using scrap paper when necessary) students are less likely to make careless mistakes.

No sooner did I finish up in math and switch to science when Dr. Morse asked Ms. Wink if she could steal me back. She had just gotten a phone call - her daughter had a fever and needed to be picked up from school. Dr.Morse needed me to pinch hit for her! YAY! what a compliment! I was happy to help - and I totally hammed it up! I taught it so much better the second time.

In SS, the students were separated into 5 Native American tribes - groups that they will be learning in for the next several weeks. After getting their assignment, they read packets about their tribe. Ms. Conrad asked me what my plans were for after December. I said that I was hoping that somebody would get pregnant, which made me laugh in my head because it reminded me of a hilarious Tracy Morgan clip that my friends and I were obsessed with a couple of years ago. Anyway, she and I had a great conversation about how I can go about getting a job - she suggested that we talk about it on Monday over lunch. YES! That made me feel pretty awesome!

After school, I stayed after with Jenn and Amy to go over the magnet lesson. Amy was thrilled with the improvements we made to the PowerPoint and planned to make with the handouts. It should be a fun lesson.

I was so excited to go to "Oktoberfest" with the 5th grade teachers, but everyone dropped like flies. Ms. Conrad was sick and went home, Dr. Morse left school early, Mrs. Callahan and Jenn both had commitments, and Amy was exhausted from yesterday. I came close to backing out, but I decided to stop by - hey, I bought cookies, might as well stop by. I'm glad that I did! I only stayed for about an hour, but it was nice to see the teachers out of the work environment. It was also nice to see that they are friends - after coming from a job in which I was friends with almost everyone I worked with, it's nice to know that colleagues can be friends outside of work in elementary education too!

I left Oktoberfest and drove to BC to hang out with those former work friends. My friend Judette was in town from San Francisco and a bunch of us met and made dinner. We sat around the table, laughed, and caught up. It was a great way to end my week! Good food, great friends, fun memories.

I finished reading "Poppy" by Avi. It's a story about a field mouse who takes on the self-appointed "leader" of Dimwood Forest to avenge the death of her love, and to save the future of her family. It was a quick read and very entertaining. I also loved that the the main character is a girl - she is clever, brave, and ends up outwitting the evil dictator. A great read that is part of a series - it would be easy for students who like this book to keep on reading the other two books. There are many illustrations throughout the book, which can help young readers to transition to chapter books.

Looooooooooong Division

10/21/10

I checked in homework today under close supervision of Amy - I think that I did a pretty good job. Just as we were transitioning to morning meeting, a student came to me holding his glasses in two spots - completely broken. I tried to tape them back together but the location of the break made it very difficult to fix. I consider myself an expert with working with duct tape, but this break was nothing that my handiwork could fix. Thus started a very long journey to find superglue - which ended the student and up in the custodian's office. Even he couldn't fix the glasses with superglue. I tried to make the student feel better by joking that we would just draw a scar on his forehead and call him Harry Potter for the day - which made him laugh. I asked the custodian if he had electrical tape because I thought it would be a better management tool for holding the glasses together. The student asked, "What's electrical tape?" I immediately turned the question into a teachable moment: "Well, remember last week when we studied conductors and insulators of electricity? Electrical tape is an insulator. Electricians use the tape to wrap copper electrical wires so that the circuits stay in place and are insulated - which makes the circuits safe. Behind every light switch, there is a piece of copper wire wrapped in electrical tape!" The student loved this real-world example and I think that he got a kick out of having his glasses taped in an insulator. In the end, the glasses were not wearable and he called his parents to have them grab a spare from home. All that wo

rk and there was a spare pair at home?! Hilarious!

Today we started loooooooooong division in math! Dr. Morse introduced the topic to the students, and I walked them through a few problems on the SmartBoard. So, do you remember the five steps of long division?

Division

Multiplication

Subtraction

Check that your answer is less than the divisor

Bring down the next number

Lots of kids remember the phrase "Does McDonald's Sell Cheese Burgurs?"

Cute.

Later in the day, one of our students had a tough day. It was a student in crisis moment that required Amy to fill out a lot of paperwork, involve many administrators, and have some hard conversations with the student. I could tell that it was really hard emotionally on Amy.

She was gone from lunch on, so I took over the rest of the day - which was mostly independent work, so it wasn't too hard to cover on the fly.

I went home with little to do because my magnet lesson got postponed until next week. I was relaxing and enjoying the one free night, when BAM! I received a voicemail from my supervisor - asking where my lesson plan for tomorrow was. OH NO! I completely forgot/the days slipped away from me. I called her in a panic, but she was so understanding! Thank goodness! We rescheduled for next Friday - when I'll be dressed up as Wonder Woman. Crisis averted.

Land Bridge

10/20/10

Today I worked with Ms. Conrad to teach a lesson on the Bering Strait land bridge that once stretched from Asia to Alaska. I observed her for one period, then attempted the lesson for my class. I panicked right before the lesson began, so we decided to co-teach the lesson. She covered the major concepts - like why we measure time in BC/AD (dancing around the religious aspects of the dates), and what a theory is. I got to handle the fun part! A dramatic reenactment of the land bridge appearing during the ice age. Students played glaciers, the ocean, the Bering Strait, animals, and humans. I read a story in a dramatic voice about the Ice Age, and how the water of the Bering Strait and the Ocean receded, leaving a land bridge between Asia and North America. The students stood on a piece of butcher paper with the outlines of Asia and North America outlined. The animals and humans walked over the land bridge and ended up in North America. Tah-dah! A nice theory of how humans ended up on our continent.

Too hard on myself

10/19/10

I woke up today and realized that I'm being way too hard on myself. I'm totally bummed out that I haven't written my lit review for my inquiry project yet. I've been beating myself up about it, but I had a moment of clarity this morning that I need to cut myself a break. The two prior weekends, I was sick - first with a head cold, then with a stomach flu. Because of my long commute, the only time that I have to work on this paper is over the weekend - well, I can't work when I'm that sick. There's only so much that one person can do. I know that I need to keep up with the paper, but really, I still have time to get it all together.

We had QC today, and I have to be honest that I feel that the QC is a waste of time. We've got so much else to do - having to read the articles, then write a reflection paper is just the straw that breaks your back. Having said that, I really did enjoy the article. It helped me to think about Social Justice, and what that looks like in a classroom. Students standing up to bullies - that's social justice in elementary school. The article also helped me to think about where I would like to teach - I've been thinking about urban teaching, but wondering if I can even relate to those students. It was inspiring to think that, yes - I can. If I do end up working in an urban area, I hope that I can serve these students to the best of my ability.

Lynne and I met up for coffee (I got a milk shake) at the Chocolate Bar today. It hurt to pay $5 cash for a milkshake when just a few months ago, I got it for free! We talked about the challenges of the semester and reviewed how far we have come. It was a nice conversation!

Inquiry was a phenomenal release tonight! We talked about the challenges that we're all facing, and commiserated with each other. I stated that I felt like I was drowning - Audrey's response: "Good! No, that's good! I'm there with you - I'm drowning too! I think if you don't feel that way, that you're not caring - you're not doing what you should be doing." Audrey. How are you so amazing? Lynne and I shared with her after class that every class is just a moment of clarity - and that what we really need to do is follow her around all day so that we can stay on task. It will all be okay. One by one it will all get done!

Bully on the bus

10/18/10

A student arrived to class just before 9:00 am - the students were already at art class. I noticed that his eyes were red - it looked like he had been crying. I asked him to sit down, I then asked him if he was okay. He said that he wasn't - that there was an incident that had happened on the bus. He was hit by a bully on the bus.

Two weeks ago we talked in Morning Meeting about what to do if you receive unwanted attention from a bully. This student really listened during the discussion. As soon as he got off the bus, he marched himself to the principal's office and told what happened. The principal did a great job handling the situation, and the student felt supported.

Ms. Wink had a great conversation with the student and she invited him to stay in the classroom and read and just "chill" instead of going to art. He seemed relieved that he had the time to calm down, wash his face, and be fresh-faced when he saw his class.

I was in a funk today - mad at myself for not getting enough work done over the weekend, fearful for the amount of work that lays ahead of me. I also had a headache - there's something about this building that gives me headaches (I've been told that this is common in this building). I very rarely get headaches, but have had a large number of them since starting this semester. Ms. Wink and Mrs. Callahan both checked in on me - it's so nice to know that I'm surrounded by such caring people!

This evening, I started reading the response logs of 2 students per night. The topic of the RL was Text-to-Self. They needed to take a segment of their free-reading book and relate it to a story from their life.

Pajama Day

10/15/10

Today was pajama day! Ms. Wink called me in the morning to tell me that she had emailed parents last night to let them know that it was pajama day. So fun! Sadly, because of the dress code at BC, I'm not allowed to dress down - but I decided to bring my Snuggie just in case there was a moment that I could whip it out!

I got to school early to plan with Ms. Wink, but I ended up getting pulled in to help out Dr. Morse with a craft project. YES! Glue sticks are like an additional appendage for me! By the time I finished, it was the beginning of the school day. Planning postponed.

The students were so psyched to wear their pajamas, and Ms. Wink told them that there was a surprise for them later in the day....what will it be??

Math was fun today! Dr. Morse and Mrs. Callahan dressed up like the deputy and the sheriff to explain how to do 2x2 digit multiplication. The deputy (the ones digit in the multiplier) lassos the ones digit above - drops the ones into jail (under the equal sign) and carries over the tens. Then the deputy lassos the tens digit, adds the carried value, and drops it in jail. Then the sheriff comes back to town and puts the deputy in the hole for taking over her job while she was gone ("0" place value hold in ones column under the deputy's product). Then the sheriff does her work, carries numbers and places values in jail. At the end, all of the numbers are added up to create the total product. It was a cute show.

Ms. Conrad was absent today, so Social Studies was just a focus on math work. Students worked on "math boxes" which are problems to work on in their Everyday Mathematics workbooks. As I was helping students, I realized a few things: 1) students don't know how to divide. 2) students don't know their multiplication facts. 3) they were taught these wacky ways to multiply that are screwing up their thinking when it comes to traditional algorithms. I'm all for students getting the conceptual understanding of math, but not at the expense of them being able to complete a simple math problem. I was doing this stuff in 3rd grade, and knew how to complete long division problems by the end of 4th grade. I'm a little worried that they're not going to be ready for algebra, geometry, trig, and calculus.

Because Ms. Conrad was absent, I was sent to co-cover her classroom for one period. It was mostly a transitional period that consisted of me taking them to PE, recess, and my favorite part of the day - journal buddies with the kindergartners! I entered Mrs. Bella's classroom and fell in love with the Ks! They are just so little and cute!!! I also loved Mrs. Bella's classroom - it was perfect - every corner was meaningfully decorated with words, visual instructions of how to construct numbers and letters, a painting station, a pumpkin investigation station, student self portraits and crafts areas that were just perfect. Everything was perfectly organized and neatly put away in its own spot. I had a very nice conversation with Mrs. Bella - I complimented her on how inspiring her room was, and she was grateful for the compliment. She said that she had been teaching for 35 years and that it took a while to get things right. I also said that I fell in love with the students, she smiled and said, "It's hard not to - they are just so darn cut at this age!" She and I continued to to talk about the profession, and she asked me what grade I wanted to teach. I said that I liked the older students, but after visiting her room, it was hard to not want to stay. She laughed, smiled and said, "It takes a special kind of person to work with the Ks - not that I'm extra special - just a certain kind of patience. If you're looking for the give and take of conversation, you really do need to go 3rd or above." Such great advice. I do want that give and take, so it will be important for me to look for jobs with grades 3 and above. The Ks are so cute though...

When I returned back to Ms. Wink's class, she announced the surprise - Movie Day! The students were given a huge kudos by being allowed to watch a movie! Ice age 2 - The Meltdown! The students were so excited and loved every minute of it. Watching the movie with them reminded me of just how young they still are. They laughed at things that were more slapstick than funny, but it was cute to watch. Some of them are so tall, it's easy to forget just how young they are.

Ms. Wink and I ate our lunches in the background, planned for next week, and ate slices of my left over birthday cake. It was perfect!

There's a new Deputy in Town!

10/14/10

I arrived at school today and Ms. Wink had switched the seating arrangements - again! It was her last ditched effort to get the students to stop being so chatty. They are chatterboxes! She also bribed them with 4 vision awards if the students came in, read the morning message, and kept each other silent. They worked so hard to keep each other quiet - they were totally focused. They then transitioned into Morning Meeting where Ms. Wink lead a discussion on how to keep each other quiet during the day. For the remainder of the day, they were complete angels!

I gave a math lesson today on one digit by two digit multiplication problems.

I also administrated the spelling test today. Yeah - look at me getting up in front of the class more and more!

Sweet 16's turned 31!

10/13/10

"So now Sweet 16's turned 31"  ~Bob Seger

My mom called my name as I was getting out of the shower at 5:30 this morning - "Em, 95's closed...Happy Birthday!"  Yup - 95 North was completely closed due to an accident - all traffic was being rerouted to Route 1 - 4 lanes of highway traffic onto Route 1.  Yikes!

I decided to wait it out until they opened up 95, so I didn't leave until 6:45 - which is about a half hour later than I usually leave.  But, I got to hang out with my dad for a bit this morning, so that was fun!

I made it to school in pretty good time, and was pleasantly surprised by the ride.  I took Route 1 from Plainville to Dedham - the scenery was marvelous.  The leaves were brilliant in the morning sun, and I passed by lakes that glistened and were covered in a haze of fog.  I finished up the rest of my PPA+ and dropped it off at the office.  All of the teachers were sweet and wished me a happy birthday, and one of the female student from another class - who gives me a hug every day - gave me a super-cute homemade birthday card.  

My lesson was on conductors and insulators of electricity.  I started off the lesson with SCIENCE THEATRE! - a live action enactment of electricity going through a conductor, then being blocked by an insulator.  I had students play a battery, electricity, electrons, and a light bulb.  An additional student was used to announce the scenes as "Material A" and "Material B".  I picked the students based on their social behavior in previous classes - half of the students were well behaved, while the others were more "active" than others.  I figured that it would be good to give those students a positive way to focus their energy in class, as well as to receive positive attention as opposed to negative attention for being disruptive.  I also gave the most prominent part - electricity - to the student who is most challenged by the science material.  He LOVED being the center of attention, and star of the science lesson. 

Each of the students wore a xeroxed piece of paper that had an image that represented their material/science theatre part.  So, the battery had a giant battery on a piece of paper, the electrons had giant circles with subtraction marks, and the light bulb was a light bulb.  The students ate it up and hammed it up!  Once the scenes were completed, I had the rest of the class join us in the meeting area to discuss what just happened.  Why did electricity go through one material but not the other?  

I updated Amy's PowerPoint and added the Simpson's Professor Fink a the "host" of the presentation.  Professor Fink has a distinctive voice that is fun to imitate - so I had students take turns reading the PowerPoint presentation while doing an impersonation.  They LOVED it!

After the presentation, students handed out definitions for conductors and insulators.  I had them divide and conquer (a skill they are learning in language arts) the definition sheet by highlighting and underlining the important words.  After that, I handed out bags filled with materials that conduct or insulate electricity.  The students used a graphic organizer to predict if the materials were conductors or insulators, then they built simple circuits to test the materials.  After they recorded their results, we reviewed their findings as a whole class.  They then went out to recess and I stayed inside to review my lesson with my supervisor.

The students who acted in the science theatre kept their xerox tags on for the whole lesson.

To summarize her results - it was a slam dunk!  She actually said, "If I didn't know, I would have thought that you had been teaching for ten years!"  AWESOME!!!  Not bad feedback for my first day of 31...

For lunch, the teachers bought pizza for everyone.  It was so sweet!  During lunch, Ms. Conrad asked that I cover her last class - she needed to leave to take care of an urgent issue.  No problemo!

Her class is filled with adorable students.  They were excited to have me teach a lesson - they see me everyday, but rarely have me in their class because I rotate with my class.  The student who gave me a birthday card spread the word that it was my birthday - so the whole class sang happy birthday to me!  A great way to end the day!

Oh, and a few of the students who acted in the science theatre kept their xerox tags on for the whole day.  They just happened to be the students who typically act out in class.  

When I got home, my dad and I celebrated the beautiful weather by sitting out in the side yard and watched the golden hour sun reflect on the changing leaves.  

For dinner, my parents, brother and his fiance all went to dinner at a new restaurant in our downtown.  Very fun times.  We then went home and cut cake - after which I promptly went to bed!

Worry wart

10/12/10

I had a really good conversation with Ms. Wink about my lesson tomorrow.  I was having a hard time wrapping my mind around the elements of the lesson.  The science lesson is about materials that either conduct or insulate electricity.  It's a simple concept - materials that have loosely bound electrons (conductors) will allow the electrical current to pass through.  Materials that have tightly bound electrons (insulators) will not allow the electrical current through.  I had a great ideas, but kept getting tripped up by this one mini lesson within the larger lesson - parts of an atom.  For those who have been exposed to atoms before, it makes sense to explain conductors and insulators through visuals of atoms - to see tightly or loosely bound electrons around a nucleus makes great conceptual sense.  However, to 10-year-olds who have never learned about atoms before, I just thought that it would be confusing.  I realize that I'm a worry wart, but I just want the lesson to be engaging for the students.

Ms. Wink agreed with my thinking, and we decided to cut the atom segment out of the lesson.  Suddenly, the mental block was lifted, and the lesson came together in my mind!  It was a half day, and Ms. Wink had a meeting to go to, so I worked on my handouts and amended my lesson plan.  When she returned, I did a dry run of my lesson for her.  She pretended to be a student through the process, and had great feedback for me!  I took her suggestions and tweaked the Conductors and Insulators lesson so that it would be ready for tomorrow.  

10/8/10

Longest commute yet.  there was an accident on 95 today, so I took Route 1 all the way up to Exit 15 on 95.  The idea was to bypass all of the traffic, but Route 1 was jammed as well - I guess I wasn't the only one who had that idea.  I also almost got into an accident.  A car pulled out in front of me (the person didn't look to see if anyone was coming) and I didn't have time to stop.  I laid on the horn and swerved just in time to barely miss the car.  I'm not exaggerating when I say that I was about a foot away from hitting the car.  It was a miracle that no one was in the lane next to me when I swerved!  My heart raced for the rest of the ride.  Total time: 1 hour, 15 minutes.

I facilitated Morning Meeting today, but it was sadly cut short because we had some things to go over with the class.  We were able to do the greeting (thumb high-5), and an activity, organizing ourselves by birthdays, silently.  The activity was a bit of a bust, but I think we could do it again with more strategy and more time.  Ms. Wink was supposed to talk about the controversy over the celebration of Columbus Day, but she got called to a meeting.  I thought about saying something, but after the activity was finished, it was time to go to chorus.  I hope that we talk about it on Tuesday.  It's good to be honest with children about the history of our country - some of it is exciting, and other parts are not so great.  Both contributed to making our country what it is today.

I spent most of the day correcting Social Studies assessments - filling out a blank copy of a world map and titling all seven continents, all five oceans, the equator, prime meridian, and the northern and southern hemispheres.  Most students did really well - a few were tripped up with Europe - I think because it is such a small area to write the name in.  But, alas, Europe is not located in Russia.  Others thought that the Arctic Ocean was located by Antarctica (it's the Southern Ocean), when it is really located in the north pole.  One student really concerned me.  She didn't even know where North America was - I think she only got the equator correct, and I think that was because that was already labeled on the map.  She is in the intergrated program, and I hope that she is getting the support that she needs.

Math was completely frustrating.  I was sent to the library with half of the class to have them start working on their math blogs.  I a) have never used seen or used this math blog before and had no idea how to use it; b) don't know how to fix technology when it isn't working properly, and c) cannot keep 12 student silent (a requirement when in the library) when they're totally excited to make math blogs.  They also only had about 15 minutes to get down there, start the blog, and return to class before the other half was sent down.  This was because chorus got out late today.  

We had grammar today and we learned about pronouns.  Thank goodness, because I never really got this concept.  Turns out I did get the concept, but I just never knew the name for it.  She, he, it, they, them, that, we, us, are all examples of pronouns.  They are the words that take the place of nouns.

I facilitated the Spelling Test today after PE.  Giving tests after PE is just a bad idea.  The students are hot, sweaty, smelly, and thirsty.  They're wired up as well.  I wrote out the instructions on the board while they were in PE, so that we were ready to go.  I passed out spelling booklets and had the students grab their spelling word list (they get to choose 10 words from a bank of 30) and their response logs, which they were to work on after they finished their test.  It was such a mess.  Half of the students forgot their words at home and had to sort through piles and piles of Ms. Wink's paperwork to get their words from a homework assignment.  

I expressed my frustration with Ms. Wink about how I could'nt get the experience to run smoothly, and she said that it was common at the beginning of the year for the process to take a long time.  Apparently students always forget their lists at home.  This seems like there should be a better way of having a list for the students.  I'm going to think about this and suggest that we implement something in future weeks.  

I helped another student find a book - this time, it was Lois Lowry's classic "Number the Stars."  She was looking for a piece of "realistic fiction" and I told her that I had just the right book for her.  One of my favorite books!

The principal, Mrs. Lamberti, came to talk to the fifth graders today about their behavior in the lunch room.  The teachers were expecting more of a talking to, but the principal gave more of an "I understand it's hard to sit still in the lunch room" talk.  She also showed up late and talked for so long that the students were 10 minutes late to lunch - which meant that our lunch was cut short by 10 minutes.  The teachers were frustrated with the whole process and asked for a meeting with the principal after school.  This was the first time that I saw the teachers frustrated with the principal - I think they generally feel supported by her and this was an unusual misstep. 

I was in charge of passing out homework today - I was left with very little time, and the students didn't want to pay attention.  I did my best, but it was a challenge.  They left school late, but I did get everything done - and the Asperger's student gave a great presentation on the update of challenge tickets.  He was so funny and he even cracked a few jokes.  The students love this process and look forward to his updates.

Because the students had to leave, they didn't have time to clean up the classroom and stack the chairs.  Ms. Wink said that she would do it, but she had a meeting right at 3:00 pm.  I ended up gathering the students and brining them outside for their pick up (usually Ms. Wink and I do it together).  I went back to the classroom and stacked the chairs, picked up the floor, and wiped down the tables.  Ms. Elias came into the classroom and said, I want you to look a the hallway."  Oh no!  Did I have to pick up their cubbies as well?  I walked outside and looked down the hallway - my class was pristine.  He class was a pig sty - papers and bottles and sweaters strewn all over the hallway, leaving Ms. Elias to clean it up.  She looked at me and said, "I think I need to have a talk with my students about this hallway behavior."  I smiled and looked back at her and said, "Our class talked about proper cubbie etiquette and cleanliness two weeks ago in Morning Meeting - looks like they're following their own rules!"  SUCCESS! 

First Math Test!

10/7/10

The students loved the new set up of the room, but were a little dramatic about the change..."How will I know where to sit?!" (The tables are labeled.)

Today we had our first math test!  It was interesting how the teachers work the tests.  In Early Morning Activity (EMA) Ms. Wink gave the explanation of how math tests work.  She also switched the seats of students so that there were no more than 2 people at a four-person desk - unless there was a study carroll present.  Students were given an hour to work on the test, and were allowed to stay later if they needed the extra time.  This time cut into math class, but students were given a multiplication assessment in that class, so they weren't missing any instruction.  If students finished early, they had to sit for a half hour without doing anything - no reading, no free write.  This was to encourage the students to take their time, read the directions thoroughly, and to double and triple-check their work.  

When the students finished, I corrected their vocabulary-matching portion of the test with Ms. Salas.  Most nailed the vocab, earning 18 points towards the final score.  All of the tests went to Dr. Morse, who was in a small room correcting all three of the classes' tests.  

Math was taught by the intern, Ms. Elias.  The students took a multiplication assessment on math facts from the 0s through the 12s.  The facts were scrambled about so that the students couldn't just add numbers to get the answers.  I corrected my class, Ms. Elias corrected her class, and we split the other class.  It took FOREVER to correct those sheets!  There were something like 160 problems - multiplied by 36 kids - that's 5,760 questions - YIKES!  I managed to correct them by the end of the day - thank goodness! 

I sat in on a PLC meeting today, which ended up being a discussion about a grammar assessment.  Because we haven't started a new math lesson yet, we're going to use the PLC time for a grammar assessment.  Awesome!  I hope that I get possessive/plural nouns!  (Dr. Morse was still correcting tests.)  We also talked about the Morning Meeting messages.  Ms. Conrad had created the messages for the first 5 weeks of school, so it was now our turn to create messages.  They split up the days of the week: Ms. Wink - Monday; Ms. Conrad - Tuesday; Dr. Morse - Wednesday, Mrs. Callahan - Thursday.  Hmmmm, what to do with Friday?  Let's give it to Emily!  YES!  I'm so excited to be part of the MM creation team!  I did a term project on the Responsive Classroom, so I feel like I am qualified to participate in the process.  Bring it on.

For the second day in a row, the fifth grade students had very poor behavior in the lunch room.  The lunch monitor had chocolate milk spilled all over her.  Unacceptable.  Ms. Wink had another discussion with the students and brought the principal in to have a discussion about the behavior of the students.  Tomorrow she will speak to the whole fifth grade team.

Math test were handed back to students today - I am amazed that Dr. Morse was able to get it all done!  Ms. Wink went over appropriate test score viewing reactions.  Students were told that they could not share scores on school property, because frankly, it's not their business.  Also, it can hurt the feelings of other students if they did not get the grade that they wanted.  I am happy to report that the student who at the beginning of the year responded that she found "EVERYTHING" about math challenging, got a 100% on the test!  

I met with Ms. Wink again today after school to amend my schedule - things change quite quickly in this team!  It's great experience for me to learn how to roll with the punches, be flexible, and still find time to meet all of the minutes requirements for on-task, on-topic learning.  We also reviewed the math test scores, and were very impressed at how many of our students performed on the test - some of the students who we were concerned about got scores in the 90s and even a few 100s!

Happy 28th birthday to my brother, Ryan!

Cartesian Coordinates for breakfast

10/6/10

Ms. Wink told me that two students were going to come in for help with Cartesian Coordinates.  I offered my services right away - after all, it's math - and I love me some math!  Two boys showed up - one who scored "advanced" in his 4th grade math MCAS, and one who scored "needs improvement."  They were both confused with Cartesian Coordinates.  I asked them what they needed help with and the both said "graphing."  I told them that I understood how it could be a little confusing - CC graphs are very different from line plots and bar graphs, which are pretty similar.  The big difference is that the intervals are marked on the x and y axis line, not in the space between the lines.  I explained that this was because they were graphing individual points, not clumps of data.  Stating this seemed to create an ah-ha moment for both of the students.  The advanced student got it right away, while the needs improvement student needed a little more review with placing the interval numbers on the line instead of between lines on the x and y axis.  It will be interesting to see how they do on the test tomorrow.

Rainy days and...Wedesdays?  Yup, they still get me down.  It's such a bummer to drive to work in the dark, start work in the dark, and go home in the dark.  It's so gloomy.  How do people in London stay positive?

We had two indoor recesses today - it's hard for the students to stay inside all day - they really do need movement breaks to get out all of then energy in their little bodies.  

I've been helping more students find free reading books - one student in particular always seems to search me out when he needs a book.  I set him up with some of my favorite Judy Blume books over the past few weeks: Superfudge, Otherwise known as Sheila the Great, and Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing.  He loved them all, but he wanted to move on to another author.  I had just finished reading "Holes" by Louis Sachar, which I thought he would love, but both copies are being read by other students now.  I found another book, "Dogs Don't Tell Jokes" by the same author.  It's about a boy who wants to be a comedian.  This student wanted a funny book, so I thought it might be a good fit.  I asked him to tell me what he thought about the book - a few pages in, he came up to me and said, "Miss. Donahue, this is such a funny book!"  Success!

Lunch was a debacle today.  Students were out of control, were throwing items, and were rude to the lunch monitors.  Ms. Wink and the other teachers had a discussion with the students about their behavior, and how it is not to continue.

I forgot my lunch today.  Drat.  I realized it on the way to school, but with an hour-or-so commute, there's no turning back.  I ended up ordering pizza after school.  It was gross and greasy, but I was hungry.  Ms. Wink and I discussed which lessons I would take over in the upcoming days and weeks.  Because the students switch classes and teachers, it's a bit of a logistical nightmare, but I still think that I'm getting the best deal by having three teachers to learn from.  I also discussed the data I would need for my inquiry project on PLCs.  MCAS scores from last year (this is when I found out where the students from this morning's activity fell in the bell curve), test scores from tomorrow's test, and the PLC assessments from last week.  Not a problem.  She handed me nearly everything on the spot.  Love having a teacher who shares data willingly!

After we chatted, Ms. Wink and I decided that it was time to rearrange the room.  We both felt that it was much needed.  Her desk was in the corner of the room, and she found that when sitting there, it was hard to keep an eye on the students in the back.  I totally agreed.  Ms. Wink had told me in the morning to think of how to rearrange the room - and with my wealth of home improvement show watching experience (I wrote my Master's thesis on Extreme Makeover: Home Edition - so I watched a ton of home improvement shows as "research"), I was ready for the challenge.  I studied the room all day and came up with some ideas.  We both agreed that her half-moon desk should be in the center back of the room by the windows.  We placed that desk there first.  We also wanted to create more space for the morning meeting area - which was pretty cramped before.  By moving her desk out of the way, that opened the space up considerably.  It also opened up the white-board, which was half-blocked by the original placement of her desk.  Ms. Wink uses this area for writing and for overhead projection.  It is now large enough where an overhead projection and written instructions can be placed on the board at the same time.  We moved the hexagon table from the center of the room to the back of the room - which allowed for easier movement around the back exit, the light switches, and the pencil sharpener.  All-in-all, it was a great switch!  I'm excited to see how the students react!

Ms. Donahue has a raspy voice

10/5/10

Today I made my triumphant return to class.  Ms. Wink told me that the students were asking about me over the past two class days.  Awwww...so cute!  In the morning, the students all filed in to the hallway and asked me how I was doing.  My voice was a little raspy from the cold, which actually ended up helping me to get them to quiet down throughout the day. 

One student updated me on her status with the Boston Ballet's Nutcracker auditions.  Since the beginning of the school she had been updating me about he love of ballet, her 2008 & 2009 parts, and her excitement to try out.  

Two weekends ago she auditioned, and she found out over the wee

kend that I was sick.  She was thrilled to announce that she 

received TWO parts (literally bouncing up and down with excitement and flashing a huge smile)!  She will play a mouse and a Bon-Bon (one of the children who comes out from under Mother Ginger's dress).  She'll dance in 11 of the performances, and I promised her that I would go to one of the performances.   

I led the morning meeting today - a last minute decision because Ms. Wink had to go to a meeting unexpectedly.  It wasn't the best meeting, the students were very talkative and didn't fully participate.  They did like the activity - we had a pile of index cards in the middle of the room with a student's name on each card.  The students picked up a card, then walked over to that student and said "Good morning, (insert name)."  They loved the activity - it was the second time that they did the activity, so I had them explain the instructions to me because I was teaching a lesson in another class when they first tried it.  It was great to see the students take ownership of the morning meeting activity - and I think that they loved teaching the teacher.

In math, we reviewed material that was going to be on the test.  The class split up into groups for specific instruction - I was given Cartesian Coordinates.  YES!  I helped out 5 students and walked them through the graph construction process.  I reviewed how to title, label, and display intervals on the graph.  I stressed that these are all important parts of the Cartesian Coordinate graph, and even if they forget how to graph the provided data, they will get partial credit for titling, labeling, and placing the intervals on the x and y axis.  Additionally, once they have all of that information on the graph, the provided ordered pairs (x, y) are just points to plot on the graph.  They already did all of the hard work.  We practiced plotting points, and the students got to draw the points on the white board, which they loved.

On a funny memory note - a student was absent today for growing pains.  Growing pains!  Oh, how I forgot about that terrible pain!  I'm fairly short, so I didn't have the pains for long, but I do remember the pain that growing does cause.  I also remember my 6'5" brother growing inches overnight and being in excruciating pain.  Bodies are amazing...and a little weird!

Sick Day part 2

10/4/10

Ms. Wink texted me and told me to stay home for one more day.  It was the best medicine.  I could literally feel the difference from 10am to 3pm in how I felt.  I know that I am ready to return tomorrow!

I finished Holes on Sunday, and started When You Reach Me by Rebecca Stead.  I finished this book this afternoon - couldn't put it down.  It's about a girl, Miranda, who lives in NY in 1979.  She is raised by her loving mother, and her boyfriend Richard, who is a delightful character, is usually around the apartment.  She has a small circle of friends; some fade in and out of her life throughout the story, which is very true to the social life of a 12-year-old.  Miranda is obsessed with the book A Wrinkle in Time by Madeline L'Engel (1963 Newbery Medal Winner), and is fascinated by the idea of time travel.  Miranda mysteriously starts receiving notes from a mystery person who appears to be able to predict the future.  After Miranda figures out who the notes came from, she has a moment of clarity and awe.  The book is organized in short chapters that are titled like categories in the game show $20,000 pyramid, a show that we learn Miranda's mother is to appear on in the near future.  It's a delightful read!  (2010 Newbery Award Winner).  

Sick Day

10/1/10

I stayed at home today and completely rested...or tried to.  It's so hard to rest when you can't breathe because of a runny nose.  

Last week, I decided that I was going to try and read a popular children's book each week.  Hopefully this can last for a while.  Last week I read Maniac Magee by Jerry Spinilli.  What a delight!  It's a story about a boy who is orphaned and runs away from his guardians.  He bridges the black/white town line and makes friends in both neighborhoods and with both races along the way.  His innocence is endearing to some, confusing and frustrating to others.  It helps him to find caring temporary guardians, and also gets him into some trouble.  A must read. (1991 Newbery Medal Winner).

I'm now reading Holes by Louis Sachar.  It's about a boy, Stanley Yelnats (yes, his name is a palindrome), who is falsely accused of a crime.  He is sent to a boys work camp as punishment.  There, he and other boys must dig wholes in a dried up lake.  He ends up finding a key element to finding a fabled buried treasure.  Surrounded by unethical adults, Stanley makes some tough decisions to stay true to his ethics - and some amazing things happen because he did.  (1999 Newbery Medal Winner).

This is... JEOPARDY!

9/30/10

I worked with Dr. Morse today and was able to help with a unit review.  She had this neat Jeopardy PowerPoint presentation that had sound clips from Jeopardy.  Too fun!  I observed her for the first period, then taught for the second and third periods of the day.  It was only a half day, so that was pretty much all of the day!  So much fun!

I woke up today with a little tickle in my throat and tried to kill it with EmergenC.  It got worse as the day went along...

Though it was a half day, I stayed to go to a workshop about PLCs.  It turned out that it was really a full staff meeting, that only used about 15 minutes to talk about how the PLCs were progressing for everyone.  I didn't learn a thing.  I felt terrible, but my illness just got worse and worse as the meeting went along.  I left right after the meeting and Ms. Conrad told me to not come in on Friday - that it was better to rest up and return healthy.

Done.

Reading Buddies and PLCs!

9/28/10

Today I witnessed the cutest thing ever: 5th graders reading to 1st graders!  First, I forgot how small the 1st graders really are.  Tiny.  The 5th graders tower over them, and I tower over the 5th graders - at 5'4", that isn't saying much.  The 1st graders got to pick out books that they wanted the 5th graders to read to them.  It was so exciting to see even the most challenging students behave so well and be nurturing to the little guys and gals.  This is a must do when I have my own class!

Speaking of challenging students...today Ms. Wink received so many complaints about the noise level of the class when transitioning, she had to assign spots in line.  How embarrassing for them!  Even with the assignments, they still were loud!  I don't understand why the students are taking so long to get the drift...

Today was the first day of the PLC implementation.  Yesterday, the teachers got together and reviewed the assessments that were completed by the students on Monday.  The students were divided up into "Focus Groups," and I was assigned to the enrichment group - the students who totally got the graphing concepts.  YES!  Mathletes!

I worked with the 5th grade intern, Jenn, to create a learning extension about bar graphs.  We took measurements of sugars and protein in various cereals and created a data set for the students.  It was approved by Dr. Morse, but she suggested that we swap the order of the "x" data and the "y" data so that the students didn't just assume that data on the left of a T chart will equal "x."  Well, that ended up tripping almost all of the students up!  They spent so much time trying to figure out how to sort the data out, that they got totally confused.  Some tried to add in the names of the cereals, when that was just not necessary.  I think it would have been better to just keep the data as it was and ask more probing questions on how to interpret the data after they created the graph.  I would have rather had them spend their time interpreting the data rather than being frustrated with a small, unnecessary trick.  

Math: Students learned the difference between numeric (numbers) and categorical (names or categories) data.  They seemed to grasp the concept fairly quickly.

SS: Today was all about The World Map.  Students took the period to properly label and color a copy of a world map.  It was great to see the different styles and quirks that the students have.  Some rushed through the project, while others meticulously colored in every nook and cranny of the map.  

Spelling: We reviewed closed syllables (cat) where the consonant bullies the vowel into being a short sound - all closed syllables end in a consonant.  Ms. Wink then introduced the students to open syllables, where the vowel sound is long (rhino).  An open syllable ends in a vowel.  I love that I'm learning so much about spelling!

The Cleanest Cubbies Around

9/28/10

Today I ran the Morning Meeting which began with students sitting in a circle and giving each other "thumb high-5s" - which looks like students about to play thumb wars, but end up giving high 5s to each other with their thumbs.  They got a kick out of that.  

I prompted the students with two discussion points, which each followed with a student-only discussion:

1) What do you do when you don't know know what to do in class?  The students offered the following suggestions: 

- look at the board to see if the instructions are written

- ask someone quietly at your table

- look around to see what others are working on

- (last resort) ask the teacher

2)  How do you think we’re doing as a class at keeping our cubbies clean and our hallways clear?   

- don't bring too much to school - only take one sweater, or one jacket

- make sure to empty it out at the end of the day

- place your backpack carefully on to the hook so that it doesn't fall off and out into the hallway

- make sure you're putting things into your own cubbie (many students found others' items in their cubbies)

- if you accidently knock something out of someone else's cubbie, pick it up.

At the end of the day, every single cubbie was EMPTY and the hallway was clear!