This and That... Here and There...

Sheesh! It has been a long time since my last post. I've definitely been VERY busy and VERY tired! The good kind of course. :) I come home each day exhausted and beyond ready for my life to start. Grown up life is hard to adjust to compared to having class from noon-4:00! Here's some highlights from the past couple of weeks...

I absolutely LOVE how many opportunities there are for students to learn and discover on their own without direct teacher instruction. This has been most apparent in Math. The lesson we're currently working on is mass. Prior to that, we did a unit called "Cubeland." (Look it up if you haven't heard of it. GREAT unit for teaching volume and height.) Each of these units has allowed students to try things out and figure out methods that work the best. Students are much more engaged and interested when this is the method of teaching used. Definitely noted for my future classroom. :)

Subject change... We found out yesterday that we will be getting a new student! Woo hoo! Should be fun. :) I'm interested to see if they are ahead or behind our students.

Yesterday the students played a concetration game for Block 10 +/- 9. An amazing Saint 2nd grade teacher from another school made fancy PowerPoints for the Smart Board to go along with this unit (and many others). The students were so excited! They broke off into teams (evens against the odds). Their goal was to find an addition problem and its matching solution. I love to see them so excited about learning!

A strategy my cooperating teacher uses in her classroom is P.A.T. which stands for Preferred Activity Time. Students can earn and lose minutes throughout the day. At the end of the day students can do an activity of their choosing. This may include working in their stop folder, reading silently, listening to a read aloud, free time, etc. It normally ends up being about 10 minutes we squeeze in sometime at the end of the day. This is such an easy strategy to implement and a great motivator for the students!

Speaking of motivators... students also can earn virtue stickers for demonstrating the "Blue Valley Virtues." These include self-discipline, acceptance, perserverance, compassion, respect, honesty, responsibility, kindness, and cooperation. They'll do anything for a virtue sticker! These stickers can be redeemed for various prizes and rewards at the end of the month.

I guess I should also give an update on what I'm actually doing here! I'm going over morning work with them along with the learning targets. I'm GRADING. I'm also helping out with spelling pre/post tests. More GRADING. I do some of the Vocabulary and Social Studies lessons as well. Did I say GRADING?! My cooperating teacher has done a really great job of easing me into everything and making sure I'm comfortable. How could I forget... GRADING?! Let it be known, I'm loving every minute of all of it. :)

Well friends, I have 3 dozen muffins to make for seminar tomorrow. Say a prayer for me... I'm cooking! Stay posted. I'll be doing an Economics lesson soon! Eek!

Squeezes and smooches, Miss Lathrop