It is so hard to remember to update this blog! One of my big goals this semester is to actually "dig in" to the crazy stuff that is floating in my brain about kids, and to do that I need to write in this blog more than twice a week. I have been taking notes throughout the school day of things I want to remember to write about and reflect upon. Once again, I'll segment by topic to organize my thoughts. Bear with me, I promise I'll post more often!
"Just Right Books"
On Wednesday and Thursday, we had a conversation with the kids about "just right books." For the first week plus, we let them pick books that they wanted to read. For most of them, they picked chapter books that they knew they liked, like Ivy and Bean, Diary of a Wimpy Kid, and BabyMouse. However, for a few of our students, they chose books that their peers were reading easily while they were only looking at the pictures. We talked about the "five finger test" where students should read a story, and when they come to a word they don't know, they put up a finger. If they get to five, the book isn't a good fit for them. They should choose something else. My CT took a few of those students on individual trips to the book room (one of the perks of having two adults in your classroom at all times). When she came back to the room with them, they were like changed children. They wanted to read because they had success. It makes me wonder why we don't always set our students up for success. Why test them at a level that's above their level first? Let them gain some confidence in themselves before you push them to the level of "performance standards." They're kids! They deserve to feel great about themselves.
One such student, who had been reading chapter books beyond his "just right" level, came up to me and said, "Miss Torud, some of these words are too hard for me. Actually, a lot too hard." Melted my heart!! This is one of those kids who likes to be in everyone's business and had previously spent most of our quiet reading time trying to talk to the kids around him or asking if he could go to the bathroom every five minutes. No wonder! After his trip to the book room, he had no problem sitting and reading on his own. Good, readable books are like magic.
Lunch Count Madness
I have spent much of my teacher education program planning lessons and deciding what I would do with a group of kids for "math time" or "literacy time." Something I've discovered in my three weeks of student teaching so far is that you can plan activities all day long, but nothing beats teaching on the fly. Last Friday, the choices for lunch were Cheese Pizza or Tuna Noodle Casserole. For real? Tuna casserole versus cheese pizza? Who plans these things? For the first time in the history of Room 29, no kids opted for lunch choice B. Instead of moving ahead with our morning, we decided to collect some real data. We had our kids make predictions about how many kids chose pizza and how many chose tuna casserole. After we recorded those, we called Miss Sherri, our food service representative ("lunch lady" just seems too casual), to get the facts. It turns out, 211 kids ordered pizza and 21 ordered tuna casserole. Today, on Monday, the choices were Cheese Pizza or Mini Corn Dogs. We repeated the process and as the students predicted, they were much more even than the numbers on Friday. In dream world, I would launch this curiosity into a full-scale study on school lunches. There are so many ways you could tie in the social justice piece (higher income = cold lunch, lower income = free and reduced hot lunch), the sustainability piece (we have a school garden, why don't we eat from it?), and even the supply chain piece (where does it come from? who cooks it? who brings it to us?). Alas, this would take a lot of time out of our school day. Maybe someday.
Lost at School
John Muir School is doing an all-staff reading of "Lost at School" by Dr. Ross W. Greene. I only read the first chapter today, but essentially the book aims at helping educators and schools to better understand students with behavioral challenges. Planning and implementing lessons is a piece of cake compared to convincing a student that he should stay in the classroom when all he wants to do is wander the hallways. So many times we blame parents, or other school staff members, or society itself for the kids that just don't follow the same rhythm as other kids. I am looking forward to reading further because maybe, just maybe, if we work harder to help these kids we can start to disperse the negative cloud that has formed over our public schools.
Peace & Love,
Ms. T
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