Day one of the second week of school. It was overcast but still warm. I had a very small group today - only fourteen children. There were four out absent, and I for sure lost KS to a different school. That makes me rather sad. I wonder if I'll get another new student. I'm up to six already, and I'd be glad to be done. Even so, I'll take more if that's how it goes.
SD came in this morning looking sad. She came to me with the +4 wheel to pass off, and in the middle of her math facts, she started to cry. She couldn't tell me why she was crying; in fact she told me "I don't know why I'm crying." I called her mom to ask if it had been a hard morning, and mom was surprised to hear her daughter was upset. We ended up having her go up the counselor's office to work in the sand tray for a while, but what really helped was recess. She got playing with her friends, and she was all smiles in the afternoon.
We had a good language key experience today on the Article, and this group of kids does not hesitate to record the lessons when they're asked to. It's nice to not need to nag. I think it really helped that from the beginning I presented the recording of lessons as something that was just done, rather than something that was optional. We also had a fun lesson - a really quick one - on the relative sizes of the moon and the stars. I showed them how to make a moon frame, and then I put paper plates on a tray for them to make their own. Several children completed the work.
I did interviews with four children today. The new kids, and the younger kids, are still working on tracking their work, but given that we've only been tracking for six days, they're doing pretty well. I am also going to combine spelling tests with interview times to make sure that everyone gets tested each week. I like using the Pink, Blue and Green words lists as spelling lists, and I think it's going to work out really well.
I taught several individual lessons today - other than the two group lessons. AD is so new she's still getting into it. I ended up doing many informal lessons with her, but I also did two formal lessons - squaring chains and secrets. She was drawn to secrets, and I noted her doing it later with MS. She must have given him a lesson. They were laughing, and appeared to be having a good time. I also showed BP the squaring chains, and AB was interested in learning how to use the verb grammar boxes. My but that girl has grown up over the summer. She is such a self starter these days! RB came in late - after lunch, late - but he got straight to work and completed five works before the end of work time. He's another that I'm marveling at. He spends his work time so productively. He needed a review lesson on compound splitting, and I was glad to oblige. There were many other lessons, both formal and informal, but there were too many to record here.
It's probably the honeymoon period, but I am finding it easy (ok, maybe easy is not the right word) to be twinkly with the students. However, there is this one child who is making it complicated. She has such a hard time focusing, and yet she is not a problem causer, so she easily slips off my radar. I need to work on keeping track of her so I can keep her on track. Come to think of it, there's a little boy I'm having the same trouble with. I need to strategize with Kati so we can come up with a plan to better serve these two little ones.
I came to school ready to go today. I had a good plan, and I followed it pretty closely. It helped to have the daily schedule posted, and that Kati and I were together on the plans for lessons.
The bird came and visited me several times today. She sat on me while I did group lessons and hung out with me while I read to the class after lunch. We're reading The Graveyard Book, which the students seems to enjoy immensely. One student was pretty freaked out by the first chapter, but today she decided to stay in with the class, and she too seemed to like the story. I'm glad, because I'd hate to have her miss out on such an awesome book.
Most of the students have gone now, Maria. I'm enjoying the year, thus far, and I think things will only get better.
Until tomorrow,
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