My Class's Read-Aloud after lunch

This book, "Key to Rondo," is one I picked up at our school's book fair a couple of weeks ago. I have to tell you, from the back it looked interesting, but once reading it aloud to my class, I am a huge fan.

The book takes you into a world within an heirloom music box, where cousins Mimi and Leo learn more than just liking each other--they learn how to work together to try and save the world their family has both rescued and condemned. Full of secret passages, surprisingly familiar characters, and a refreshing twist on the "Jumangi"-like elements, this book is one I would recommend to anyone from Sarah to Aunt Janet, and everywhere in between.

Sleepy Wednesday

Today was a full day. Apparently there can be two Mondays in one week; my students proved it today. I am hoping that tomorrow is like yesterday; it was a fun day and we had a lot more involvement in the lessons.

I have had some fun doing some quick assessments on my students this week. We are learning plotting coordinate pairs by putting points on a graphing plane. Yesterday and today we had "mystery pictures" that could only be revealed if they followed complete instructions and connected the right lines. We did an outline of Utah and a 3-d image of a house on the coordinate plane...and within about ten seconds, I could tell which ones weren't with me. I have been stressing the importance of following instructions in several of my routines (i.e., in my Morning Math Problem, I will show five plotted points and ask them to name THREE. Even with it underlined, they still don't read that I only want three points named...so I give them a "way to go, I am glad you can find all the coordinates, but I can only give you points if you followed all the directions." I think it is starting to sink in.

This is an interesting group to teach. None of them have ever worked with a textbook before (their math last year was primarily worksheets and packets, through a spiraled curriculum called "Excel Math") so I have been learning to teach skills like finding the directions to the problem set, how to organize the paper on which you write your answers...even how to navigate certain pages. It is quite the experience.

That's what's new... I love my work, and I am pretty energy-less by 4pm. Catch me on a Saturday at about 7 am...then I'll be a little more alert. Gone are the days of sleeping in, but I am kind of liking the targeted bedtime of ten o'clock.

Looks like tonight I am 18 minutes past curfew. Time to go to sleep.

Oh! But not before announcing, proudly, that my students earned the privilege of watching their first Planet Earth of the year! I'll let you know what they think.

Jungle Fever

Every few days my roommates Ashley, Kim, and I decide to chill and watch another episode of Planet Earth, as narrated by David Attenborough. Yes, we are in love with his syntax and intonation-- I don't know how I would be able to watch Fungi grow over time-lapse photography if not for his brilliantly British turn of phrase.

Tonight we watched Jungles... and I realized that my fear of deep ocean diving might also translate to a secret fear of intensely populated places with surrounding flora and fauna. Not claustrophobia, per se, but more of....I don't know if I could be in the Jungle for more than a few minutes unless I were wearing a biohazard suit or something. It's amazingly beautiful, but I was a little freaked out that fungi spores can grow out of ants and help control populations.

That's just the kind of detail my kids would go nuts over...all 25 of them. I am loving teaching school, and we are currently working on earning the watching of an episode of P.E. When the spell the title on the board (each letter earned when a teacher gives my class a compliment) then we get to watch the episode. Currently, they have three letters earned for "Ocean Deep." I thought we'd start off with a particularly interesting one. I just can't get over the "Wonderpus Octopus."

This world is crazy...and I love it. I love learning about its plants, microbes, animals...and most of all, its fourth graders. Teaching, while busy and slightly exhausting, is well worth every hour.

Only slightly busy....

Well, it's a Saturday, and I have officially finished the first week of school. It went much better than you might think, actually--and I am convinced that I have the best class in all of Utah. We are the best ones at lining up in the hallway, to be sure.
My 25 kids have begun to know me...and even like me, I think. We are really beginning to establish a classroom community-- after four days of school, they are already working well in groups, asking me for math homework, and telling me that they wish they had more time for reading and writing!
Some of the big motivators for them this week have been table points (I have three rows for my desks, and each row is a table. They can get points by trying the morning math problem and turning it in, by being the first ones ready for instruction, by being the best listeners, etc. Every Friday, we tally up the points and then the winning table gets a treat. This week, they got chocolate chip granola bars, and the other tables got Starbursts.) and they also were very excited about being assigned their vocations.
In my class there are about 21 different kinds of vocations, and after teaching them what the word meant, we would take a few different ones per day, read the description, answer questions, and do a role play. That way, everyone (hypothetically) should know what they are supposed to do. Yesterday, they earned the right to receive the vocation, and each kid got a business card with their vocation, salary, and description of services offered and privileges maintained. I chose the staffing of the vocations randomly (pulling out the ever-useful popsicle sticks with their names written on them) and I was very proud of my kids. Without any urging, they gave each announcement a round of applause. These might be the best group of kids in all the world.
It is certainly a diverse group of learners. I have a student who is on a reading level C (which is typical Kindergarten or low 1st grade, rather than 4th grade) and I have several students who are far beyond grade level and are in the school's GATE (Gifted And Talented Education) program. It will be a challenging year, but I've already seen some exciting successes with my students.

Sorry to have been so busy. I will try to upload some pictures of my classroom setup eventually. Many thanks to Janet for the regalia from China--my kids are fascinated by it!

I need your input!

All right. The reason for starting this blog was so that I could practice and then make one with my classroom. Now I am actually going to create my classroom blog (which, sorry-- has to be accessible to parents only). I need ideas: what should I call my classroom blog?
Here's some info if it helps:

1. I am the teacher.
2. I am teaching 4th grade.
   
3. That means Social Studies is UT history.
4. My classroom theme is Asia.

Suggestions and entries are due by this Friday, August 8th, 12 noon MDT. Yes, that is the day the Olympics start.

I Have the Key!

Yesterday I got the key to my classroom. There was something genuinely exciting about putting that key in the lock, turning it right--no wait... that didn't unlock it. Left--oh, maybe it was the other way...well--third time's the charm, and I am into my classroom.

There were no lights, and seeing a quiet classroom by windowlight, desks lined up, and white board in front of me was a special feeling. This is it, and I can't wait.

Walking around the school last night, I saw a few teachers and what they are doing to set up their rooms. I had to remind myself that they've been teaching for over 5 years, and there's no way I am supposed to have as much amazing stuff as they do. They were great about giving ideas and sharing resources, though.

One of the best tips I got last night? Set up an extra desk with a blank name card, materials, etc. That way, if you get a new student the first day, they can see that you are ready for them with all of their supplies, and all they have to do is put their name on them. The 3rd grade teacher, from which this recommendation came, says that in the past few years she's done this, she's noticed that it contributes more to excitement and less to first-day anxiety.

A random tip that I got? When putting kids to sleep who are scared of monsters, have them use the "Monster Spray" (a mixture of water with a little fabric softener). That way, the kids can spray their closets and beds, and they can smell the light fragrance and know that no monsters will get out from under the beds.

Gotta love teaching in an elementary school.