"Behind Your Chairs..."

Today was another 2 hour delay day, which was so wonderful!  Again, delays make the day just fly by even faster. I realize I am completely spoiled by this schedule :).  It was really awesome to be at the school for 2 days in a row, starting to sink in that this is my life now.  It's an interesting transition going from college student to teacher.  I find myself wondering when is there time in the day to do simple things like go pay an electric bill or get to the gym. I'm learning that planning out my time is going to be incredibly important.

One of my favorite parts of the day is getting all the kids together and in the room at the beginning of the day.  It really feels like family coming together.  I hope to have a strong community in the class at all times. During Reading today Ms. Johnston did some testing with some students and I checked homework and we went over a practice EOG passage.  The class really did great on their work.  I'm always so proud of them.  I had them give themselves a pat on the back for correct answers.  After this they worked in their groups again.  Their flow maps are starting to come together.  There were some issues with working together. As a teacher, I often wonder why kids struggle working together.  You always seem to have one student that is bossy and others that don't care at all.  I realize more and more that this is true amongst most people working in groups.  It's often not easy when we try to work together.  We have to learn that sometimes you sacrifice what you want in order to help your team. I tried to teach this to one group that was having difficulty.  I had them explain to me what a team is.  I then told them that in class, we are a team and we work together.  It seemed to work and when I observed later in the lesson they were working great together!


Math flew by today but was also fun. It was great seeing the whole class really engaged in their learning!  In our Science class the kids gave them a worksheet about bones.  Boys seem to be especially interested in the skeletal system.  They had a reading passage to read and questions to go along with it.  One thing that is difficult is the kids often just search for an answer in the text without reading. (I'm guilty of doing this too!).  I find myself telling them, "You must read. When we read we learn things.  We aren't playing hide and go seek with the questions!"  I am learning to take my own advice on this too. :)

Overall, today was another really great day!  Tomorrow is the first day without a delay...so 5:45am is coming way too soon.  Hoping to find a good balance this semester.  One thing I can honestly say that every moment I'm in the class with the kids I am more and more affirmed this is my calling.  That's an amazing feeling to have.

Challenge of the Day: I want to get our Math class thinking! One way I think we could do this is by giving them a Problem of the Day to work on when they first come in.  Anyone know of some good resources let me know! They are at a low level but are trying hard.  I want to implement some that are fun for them.

Quote of the Day: When we were in line to use the bathroom a few boys were all laughing really hard.  I went up to them and asked, "Boys, what is so funny?" They kept laughing and one said, "Our music teacher....she said something funny."  I said, "Can you repeat it" (with a big smile on my face).  They said, "Yes...she said for us to get behind our chairs.  Behind is like saying butt hahahhaa."  As silly as this is, I found myself laughing with them.  I love the innocence and humor of children.