Back in the old'en days!

Yesterday, the fourth graders at my school ventured out to the Bob Bullock Texas State History Museum. I was well prepared and knew my class would be well-behaved.

We started out seeing an IMAX movie about Texas, which I really enjoyed. I sat next to Victor during this movie, which I also really enjoyed. He seemed to love the movie and also asking me which city every clip was of. After the IMAX, we had some time to view the exhibit before lunch. My kids broke off into their groups and went to work on their assignments. (Yes, they had an assignment!) There were specific parts of the exhibit that they had to answer questions about or compare to another part. As the teacher, I took the most difficult group of kids. They aren't necessarily badly behaved, but this group of kids tends to get over excited and that affects their behavior in a negative way. I took these guys for myself so I wouldn't have to later get onto them for not listening to the chaperons.

Overall, the reports from the chaperons were all wonderful! The kids were very well-behaved, followed the agreements we made about behavior in a museum, and represented our school positively. Now, we were not the only school at the museum. There was a school from another city who must have not discussed museum etiquette. While I had my group looking at part of an exhibit, this other group of kids pushed their way in front of my class and was grabbing everything. They were also running around other places and yelling loudly. I once asked them to not yell, but it was ineffective. I would have been completely embarrassed if it was my class behaving in that manner. In the same respect, I do understand the struggles of managing all of them and am grateful that I didn't have to take last year's class to the museum. Regardless...if my kids had behaved like that, we would have sat in the lobby instead.

We are taking one more field trip later this year and I am very excited about it. We head to a Christmas Tree Farm that sets up "A Little Bit of Texas Tour" for 4th graders about Texas settlements. My favorite part is the tetherball at lunch time...this is when I get to show all these 4th graders how to REALLY play tetherball. I should tell them to start practicing now.

Editing

Today we talked about editing and peer conferences. I introduced the 3 steps we were going to use for editing and how to go through each step. Using the 6 traits of writing, they would first look in their paper for certain things for ideas and organization, then word choice and voice, and lastly sentence fluency and conventions. Each step had some steps within. They were to do the steps themselves, then with a buddy, and then conference with me. It seems pretty straightfoward, but of course, there were always more questions. I don't mind questions because then I know the kids are trying to understand. I 100% prefer it to the students who sit at their desk because, "I don't know what to do." Unfortunately, I have a questioner who never gets anything...even the answers I give him.

R: "What do I do now?"
Me: "You need to look at your paper for these things. Once you see them and check for mistake or things you need to change, sign your name on that line."
R: "So, I just sign my name on this line?"
Me: "No. You need to check for these 3 things in your paper first. Do not sign your name until you have done that."
R: "I'm going to sign my name."
Me: "NO. You need to read your lead, conclusion, and the middle first."
R: Moves to sign his paper.
Me: "Wait! You need to underline your lead in red."
R: Underlines whatever he feels like (or so it looks).
Me: "What did you underline? Where is your lead?"
R: "What are you talking about?"
Me: "Remember last week, we talked about engaging leads. We even hung a poster on the wall and looked for them in books we were reading. We were all supposed to be writing our leads for our paper last week."
R: "What do you mean?"
Me: "Does your lead (I point) use one of our types listed on that poster?"
R: "What poster?"
Me: I go point and begin reading some of them.
R: "What am I supposed to do?"
Me: "You need to read the lead types and figure out which you want to use. How about dialogue??" (I give example specifically for his paper.)
R: "Where am I supposed to write it?"
Me: "Right here between the lines. We leave these lines to have space for changes later."
R: "But I can't write there, I have to write on every other line."
Me: "I know, but that space is there so we can use it when we need it...like right now."
R: "What?"
Me: "Go sit down and ask a friend what you're supposed to do!"

Peanut the Squirrel

"Tonight your homework page is called 'Peanut the Squirrel'. We talked about the difference between character traits and character feelings yesterday. You are going to read about Peanut and use the back to write some of his traits and feelings. For example, if Peanut lost his nuts, he would be sad or upset. If he got more nuts today, he would be happy and excited. Now, if Peanut was able to keep track of his nuts, he would be responsible. If Peanut kept track of his friend's nut, he would be trustworthy. Do you all understand what your homework is?"

How many of you found this explanation as inappropriate as I did? While these words were coming out of my mouth, all I could hope is that one of my students wouldn't pick up on the inappropriateness of my directions. If this had been last year's class, I wouldn't have ever thought about saying these particular words in this particular order, but this year, my class is so sweet that even if they did get it, they never brought it to my attention.

Never Leave a Rolling Chair Unattended

YAY...it's finally Friday! It was a good week and we accomplished a lot. I also learned a bit more about the abilities of my students. And along with all of that bizness, I have also gained some great stories...Let's start with the odd balls...I mean unique students in my class. I truly don't mean odd balls, but rather, children who are out of the ordinary model students.

This student who I will call Kevin is a very capable child. He is on grade level in every area. This child has one thing going against him. His body and mind are unable to concentrate on anything he does (also known as a form of ADHD). I am constantly redirecting this child back to work. He NEEDS me to stand around him in order to get him back on task the moment he is off task. I understand that children need a bit of down time and that is not what I'm referring to, but it is more of the kid tying himself in his chair with his jacket instead of working. He is also the child who lays out his jacket on the ground during dismissal in a very meticulous manner in order to sit down for 2 minutes before the line heads home.
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Victor is another story. Literally, another story...
He is the student I have with special needs. Today he did a few humorous things, which is a usual day for him. He has a great personality, is very entertaining, and is really a joy to have in class (regardless of the extra attention he requires). Today as I was helping him write and turned around to help other students. When I returned to his desk, he was holding the sharp end of his pencil in his ear. I took the pencil out and he immediately began apologizing. I explained that it's not safe to put pencils in your ear because you could poke things out in there.
"What could I poke out?"
"The inside of your ear."
"Where's that?" And he continued on. He also began saying that his ear at first didn't hurt after poking it and then he see-sawed back and forth about whether or not it hurt. He also then tried grabbing my finger and putting it in his ear. I had to inform him that, "My finger does not go in your ear."
This all may sound a bit odd to you, but this is the usual day in the life of Victor. In the life of Victor today, I also left my rolling/spinning chair unattended near his desk. When I returned after helping other kids, he was sitting in it and spinning around. It was funny, because I know none of the other kids in my class would have tried that (at this point in the year).
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"Ms. L, my mom said I will probably have to get braces when I'm older. Do you think I'll look cute with braces?" Of course I responded she would. She would actually look cute wearing or doing anything. She is a miniature 4th grader. She is much smaller than most of the other kids, but what she lacks in size, she makes up for with courage.

I love each and every one of my kids (at this point). They are each unique and wonderful and great students. They have exceeded my expectation with what I was hoping for this year and I go home happy and knowing that I've met my goals for the day. I can't wait to see what the rest of the year has in store.

Teacher Must Have: Flexibility

I walked into my room today and got a glimpse of what hell might feel like. My portable mate had arrived a few minutes earlier and informed me that my although the AC had been on, it was making a very loud and dreadful noise and it was also blowing hot air. She turned off the AC and it continued to blow hot air for quite some time. This was a fantastic start to the beginning of the week.

I don't do heat well (surprising since I live in Texas), and it was showing this morning. I was unable to collect my thoughts and my materials for that day because he heat was affecting the blood flow to my brain. This continued all morning. I knew what I had to do that day because I had planned it yesterday, but it was hard to concentrate on particular tasks and what was next. As the kids were working, many of them were fanning themselves with their folders while I was walking around wiping sweat off of my face, neck, and anywhere else that is appropriate to mention. The concentration of my kiddos was now beginning to fade. I decided we needed a morning break from the heat wave. While on our break, I noticed an empty computer lab with a very large carpet, one that would be perfect for our next lesson. We went back to class to collect our materials only to turn back around and head for the air conditioned room.

I have yet to mention how wonderful and patient my class was during this time. Even though they were miserable and sweating, they stayed cooperative with our situation. (If this had happened with last year's group of kids, we would not have been able to work through their complaining.) After we did a lesson in the computer lab, we had to return to our room with the hopes that the AC was fixed...which it was not. So again, we headed outside with our next materials in hand. We enjoyed a nice read aloud in the shade outside on a beautiful day before specials. Fortunately, the AC was repaired before they returned from specials, but it was disappointing that the room was still warm because it didn't have time to cool off. So...

My portable mate and I planned a last minute lesson that we could do a group activity and avoid my still sauna-like portable. I can say that this was the last time we had to avoid my classroom today, but am thankful for my students' flexibility (even children who rely on routines). It was a rough start to the day and am hopeful that I arrive to a frozen room tomorrow.

Now Open for Business!

Today was interesting my class and I have tons of things to write about, but I'll save those for days when I have nothing. I did find something very humorous today that I can't resist talking about...

While we were working this morning, I notice kids are constantly around a certain kid's desk (Brandon). He is also constantly around everyone else's desk...just being a busy bee all over the room. I'm starting to get quite agitated because he won't stop talking and walking around. He also keeps asking me what time it is (I didn't have the TV with the clock on today) and making notes on a piece of paper. I confiscate one of the papers and can't figure out what he is doing.

After specials, he's up to "no good" again. I call him over and ask what's going on. He explains that he is RENTING his personal books out to the class for tickets. I try to avoid laughing. You see, he's got great books all the time because his mom buys him new books on a weekly basis. He used to donate them to our class library, but he's found a new way to make tickets off of his books (and friends).He explained that he charges 1 ticket per hour and 4 tickets for 5 hours (it's a deal). He writes down the time the book was checked out, the time it was returned and how much the kids owe. There are rules that go along with renting his books: You cannot take them home and you cannot put them in your desks.

Anyway, I'm proud of him for developing his own business in our classroom (he even has an open/closed sign), but something still isn't right....He's earning tickets in my classroom (kind of like making money) and I'm not earning anything from him. So we made a deal that he owes me 1 ticket for every 5 he gets (that's 20% commission). He has to pay for running a business inside my classroom (in other words, he's renting his space in my classroom). Because Brandon was talking to me about paying me for tickets he makes, other kids were talking about starting up their own book rental business. The only problem is that Brandon has much better books than most of the other kids. They may try to start a business as well, but I think his will be much more profitable.
Although it may be causing distractions in class, the kid (and many others) are practicing their business skills and math (time, addition, percentages) without doing a single worksheet. Yay for hands-on, exploratory learning.