Thankful for a short week
Trying to teach an energetic group of third graders is tough. Doing it while being sick is even tougher. Now, I'm not talking about "race-to-the-bathroom-praying-you-will-make-it" sick; this is just a case of stuffiness, an occasional cough, and a bit of a sore throat that gets pretty raspy by the end of the day. Just that good-old common cold that comes with the territory and what DayQuil was made for.
I'll be perfectly honest--this was not my most productive week. I longed for those quiet moments of the day. Taking a day off to rest up probably wouldn't have done much, and making sub plans is sometimes just as much work as being at school, so the short week really helped make it easier.
This week brought about some changes in our classroom, and it was exciting! We are into our Daily 3 and Daily 5 groups for math and literacy. I've been chomping at the bit to get these going, and the students are handling it pretty well (for the most part). There are a couple specific students who need some regular reminders of the expectations, but it was time to transition to our regular routine. Some personalized "practice" times at recess should hopefully clear up the issues I am having with my couple of students and help to make this time productive.
Writing was a real challenge for some of my students this week. Not so much the actual act of writing, but just their general squirreliness during my mini-lessons, especially Monday. I had a few extra eyes in the classroom that day from some of my colleagues, so relied on them for some feedback and recommendations. One idea was to use a brain break. I had used them more frequently earlier in the year when we went for longer spans of time without a lot of movement. On the flip side, however, I think the regular movement every 15-20 minutes for Daily 5 rounds in the afternoon is getting the kids wound up before writing, which we have at the end of the day. So using this brain break recommendation, I pulled up a breathing and stretching video on GoNoodle. The kids were showing a lot of the similar behaviors as Monday when the video first began, but a majority of them were much calmer and attentive by the end and ready to settle in for writing (not all of them, but much better than Monday :-) Another recommendation we are going to try during writing is ClassDojo. I have used this in the past, and the kids like it, but it adds some extra work that needs consistency to be successful. However, with the extra hands that I have in my classroom, it will run a lot smoother. My colleagues who join my class during writing time will be giving out ClassDojo points to students who are showing attentive listening during lessons. So my homework for this weekend (on top of the stuff I need to get done from my unproductive week...) is to set up the students in ClassDojo. And on Monday, at the beginning of writing time, I will start writing time with an explanation of how our classroom guests will be watching for students who are doing a fantastic job with our classroom expectations. Something tells me it will be a pretty successful lesson! I'll let you know next week...
Mindfulness thought for the week: Be the best version of you.
One of my students had this on a shirt she was wearing last week, so I wrote it down to remember it and used it this week. She was pretty excited when I showed the thought for this week :-)
I'll be perfectly honest--this was not my most productive week. I longed for those quiet moments of the day. Taking a day off to rest up probably wouldn't have done much, and making sub plans is sometimes just as much work as being at school, so the short week really helped make it easier.
This week brought about some changes in our classroom, and it was exciting! We are into our Daily 3 and Daily 5 groups for math and literacy. I've been chomping at the bit to get these going, and the students are handling it pretty well (for the most part). There are a couple specific students who need some regular reminders of the expectations, but it was time to transition to our regular routine. Some personalized "practice" times at recess should hopefully clear up the issues I am having with my couple of students and help to make this time productive.
Writing was a real challenge for some of my students this week. Not so much the actual act of writing, but just their general squirreliness during my mini-lessons, especially Monday. I had a few extra eyes in the classroom that day from some of my colleagues, so relied on them for some feedback and recommendations. One idea was to use a brain break. I had used them more frequently earlier in the year when we went for longer spans of time without a lot of movement. On the flip side, however, I think the regular movement every 15-20 minutes for Daily 5 rounds in the afternoon is getting the kids wound up before writing, which we have at the end of the day. So using this brain break recommendation, I pulled up a breathing and stretching video on GoNoodle. The kids were showing a lot of the similar behaviors as Monday when the video first began, but a majority of them were much calmer and attentive by the end and ready to settle in for writing (not all of them, but much better than Monday :-) Another recommendation we are going to try during writing is ClassDojo. I have used this in the past, and the kids like it, but it adds some extra work that needs consistency to be successful. However, with the extra hands that I have in my classroom, it will run a lot smoother. My colleagues who join my class during writing time will be giving out ClassDojo points to students who are showing attentive listening during lessons. So my homework for this weekend (on top of the stuff I need to get done from my unproductive week...) is to set up the students in ClassDojo. And on Monday, at the beginning of writing time, I will start writing time with an explanation of how our classroom guests will be watching for students who are doing a fantastic job with our classroom expectations. Something tells me it will be a pretty successful lesson! I'll let you know next week...
Mindfulness thought for the week: Be the best version of you.
One of my students had this on a shirt she was wearing last week, so I wrote it down to remember it and used it this week. She was pretty excited when I showed the thought for this week :-)
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