I don't know if I can keep up the daily blogging. I love the idea of having a record of every day at school so I really need to stick with it. I really need to start remembering to take some pictures at school because I feel like if I don't feel like writing I can post a picture, sometimes pictures tell the best story of what happened that day!
We had our back to school night last night and I think it went pretty well. I met my new families and got to catch up with some who I had older siblings in prior years. Another reason I love my school is that since we are so small we do get to know everyone pretty well and I think my families are pretty great!
This morning was tough getting up and going in after leaving last night around 8pm! All of the teachers seemed to be dragging today and I know I chugged down about 5 cups of coffee!
Today was a mix of good and bad with my homeroom. I seemed to have gotten the group of kids who know how to push each others buttons. I must say they have the potential of really growing up and out of it and I am excited to see that happen over the course of this year. They had a rough day yesterday with following directions and tattleing, etc. and I came down on them pretty hard. They really take losing their recess seriously unlike 7/8 who would just roll their eyes and say "whaterver" if I threatened recess detention. So they pulled it together most of the day and actually got two compliments from other teachers which made me proud. Then we had some problems with missing money and items from someones pencil case. Followed by some more tattleing and tears. Its going to a long year!
I am working with the 7/8 math teacher on a model of direct instruction that is really working well for us so far! I will share in a few days after we work on it some more. Its really exciting how the kids respond and it makes teaching the procedural stuff fun!
Robin, you are just the right kind of teacher to teach these grades. They will learn so much more than bits and bytes from you. If it ever helps, I blog about neurological math (acquisition, working memory, subitizing etc.) at www.mathnook.com/blog. Although a lot of teachers think that computer-based math games are a waste of time, I think they offer a good alternative to homework (and you don't have to grade it).
ReplyDeleteThank you!! I bookmarked your blog, good stuff! I use IXL for both 5th and 6th grade, I have them use it as center work sometimes and the technology teacher lets them go on it when they are done with thier assigned work. I don't feel comfortable assigning it for homework since not all of my students have internet access at home.
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