First Field Trip

I took my class to the Kennecott copper mine today. It is the largest open-pit mining operation in the history of the world, and it's pretty freaking amazing. I had invited Even to bring his class along, so it was a big group. We had a good time.

It was obviously the first field trip of the year, and it may have been Even's first field trip in, I don't know, maybe ever. He wasn't as organized as he will be someday, and it made me feel like I've really got my act together. Woo, go me!

But it was a hard day too. Field trip days always are, right? There's the stress of making sure everyone gets off OK, and - even though you've got chaperons - making sure everyone gets back to school is kind of stressful too. I rode with a parent - Even had ended up with WAY more drivers than he needed, so I rode with Jennifer Knapp (who I'm a little shocked to learn is a churchgoing Mormon - I guess you just never know with Walden folks) and SIX little boys. When we got back to school I had the biggest headache ever. There was only a half-hour of school left, so we told the kids to find something quiet to do, and we called it good.

After school I learned that some parents are giving Even a hard time for not being academic enough? WTF is that all about? They complained on the SECOND DAY OF SCHOOL that there weren't enough academics going on in the classroom. Give the guy a freaking break already! Then last week the mom came into my class and says, "There is always so much going on in here - they're so busy with work. So what are you using for trackers this year . . . " and so forth. I knew something was up. Problem is, their child was one of SJ's little pets last year, and so they have this very skewed idea of what Walden is or should be like. We're not heavy on the academics - yes, we are concerned about testing and want our students to do well, but that is not the end all be all of what we are about. Fortunately, Lois is not the kind of administrator who would try to solve things by moving the child - b/c you KNOW they'd want their child in my class, and I don't really want to deal with those parents.

Tomorrow Kati is doing the Second Great Lesson. LIFE is coming to our classroom. How exciting! We'll also do a punctuation KE. I've got several kids who are really balking at writing their key experiences - not sure how to address that, except to collect the cards and hand them to each child in turn, "OK, now go write these down . . . " I didn't really have this problem last year (or the year before - except for JJ), so it's new.

I hope to finish the leveling for spelling tomorrow, and I'll probably be staying late at work to get the readers ready to go out in the take-home folders on Friday. It'll be a busy day.

2010

First day of school today. We have 25 (maybe 24 - one may have dropped; we don't know yet) students) in grades 2-4. I have two students named Alex(Allie) and two named Micah/Maika. It's going to make for interesting times.

I had met most of the children and their parents before today, but you know how First Day goes - CRAZY in the morning. Children and parents bringing in bags and bags of materials from the supplies list and the wish list. Dropping it in piles (as directed, you know). So many new students who don't know how the room runs - 14 new to me this year. Everyone needs new lessons, and there are only just the two of us. It's kind of nuts.

Did I say kind of? I meant totally. Yeah, totally nuts.

It was good, though. We did a lot of business and a lot of 'getting to know you' and a lot of fun in the morning. I had everyone do a penmanship evaluation, and we got some lessons out. Tomorrow Kati is going to teach the Daily Board so that everyone will have something to DO, and I'm going to see where everyone is in reading. Spelling, too, if I can. Let's be reasonable, though. I won't be able to. The day is just not long enough. We've only got them for six hours, one of which is lunch. Five hours of instruction time including gathering time and whatnot. It's barely enough time for ONE work time, let alone two. Morning work time is - if we count from 8:30, two and a half hours long. Not long enough, really. I wish we didn't have lunch until noon. I feel for Teresa and Melissa - they've only got the kinders for two hours and fifteen minutes. Talk about cutting it short! I get that this schedule was implemented for the benefit of the HS, but it seems like no one considered how it would affect the elementary. Ah, but that is the Walden Way, right?

I taught the First Great Lesson today - first time for me. I had invited Even's class to join us, and Sarai asked yesterday if they could come as well. Sure, the more the merrier, right? Yeah, 75 kids in a lesson is kind of too many. Still, it went well.

We followed the plan for today pretty closely. Only thing was at the end, when the 1GL went long, and the cleanup thereof was not accounted for, it got to be 2PM - writing time - and we hadn't done movement. I had already told the kids we were doing it today, and rather than go back on that, I canceled writing time. I don't want to make a habit of that, though, so I need to plan for cleanup and such when I do lessons.

I'm going to blog again for my journal, and I may do a case study this fall - I'm thinking either NL or REB might be interesting to follow. Of course, there's plenty of other students I haven't gotten a chance to watch yet. Any one of them might be an interesting case.

I'll try to check in a couple of times a week. I'll keep you posted.

Hump!

I lost the will to go on today.

(I can't type b/c my husband won't stop talking)

I don't know what it was, but by mid-morning I was just DONE with this day. My motivation levels bottomed out, and I wondered if I could sit in the corner and do nothing. Would anyone notice?

I am tired of bashing my students over the heads with pleas that they do their work, move around the classroom and freaking stay on task. I spend my day running from one "help me!" to the next, and I feel like I don't get a damn thing done. It's frustrating.

So I pulled back and let the day slide by. The afternoon went quite nicely, given my relative inattention (or maybe because of it?), and then it was over.

After the students went home, Kati and I sat and talked for a while. We talked about ways to encourage our students to go to *each other* for help so that we can do our jobs. If they can't help each other out, what is the POINT of being in a multi-age classroom? So we've got a plan - tomorrow we have the discussion about why we are grouped together, and we try to help them see that they can and ought to help each other find the answers. We've got this long, narrow piece of whiteboard that we're going to use to create a master list of "go-to" people - students who self-select to be helpers in specific areas. Then we are going to tell the students that when they need HELP, they must first exhaust all of their available resources - classmates, dictionaries, thesaurus, encyclopedia, the internet, etc. Only after they have thoroughly exhausted all other avenues may they come to a teacher. We hope to train them not to think of us as the fount or repository of all knowledge, after all, there may be someone sitting right next to them who knows the answer!

On Wednesday afternoons we have time set aside for nomenclature work. I think this will be a very good time to have very short meetings with each student - Kati and I both - to check on their progress for the week in our respective areas. I will check to see what language works the students have completed, and Kati will check math. We will both check the cultural subjects. It has been far too long since I had personal meetings with the students. I am looking forward to it.

_____

Case Study: JS came to me this morning with her morning task (punctuation private eye) asking for help. She had written and edited the first two - of three - sentences, but she was sure she needed my help to write the last one. I pointed out that she was nearly done and that her edits in the first two sentences were (mostly) correct, and then I sent her back to finish.

I came upon her a while later and found her to be exactly where I had left her! What the heck? I sat down to check on her and see what was holding her up. That's when I noticed she had something in her mouth! Remembering that this is the button kid, I asked what was in her mouth, and she promptly produced the clippy part of a mechanical pencil. She had snapped it off and had it in her mouth! I took it from her and reminded her of the button incident, joking that she's "not the kind of kid who can focus with something in her mouth." She giggled and agreed, and she was done with the final sentence in a matter of minutes.

In the afternoon she was upset to realize that her nomenclature for the days of the week was missing. I wonder if it's at home? I never did see it return. Anyway, she was hung up for a few minutes on the fact that she couldn't work on it, but I suggested she work on another one. Her eyes lit up like she had never considered that a possibility. I asked her which one she wanted to do, and she said she wanted to do one with lines. I helped her find a geometry nomenclature with lines, and she got happily to work. She completed two pages in the book before time was up - which comparatively isn't much but was a marked improvement for this child.

Four day weekend - not quite long enough

Tomorrow we're back at it. Does that put us at 18wks to go? I think so. If the school year were a pregnancy we'd know if it were a boy or girl and would be *almost* at the viable stage.

I don't think I can take that metaphor anywhere. It's kind of weird.

Tomorrow I'm planning on doing the Adverb KE with madlibs playing cards instead of handwritten strips as outlined in the manual. It'll be superfast b/c I'm ALSO doing the Homonym KE. Lots to get through yet, and I'm going to cover it all dangit. I have typed up some homonym riddles (to be mounted and laminated, natch) to be used in a matching work/game. I think it'll be fun, and the kids will like it. I've also got this cool grammar game I found online called "Grammar Ninja" that I'm sure some of the kids will LOVE. I've been playing it, and it gets *me* sometimes!

So I'm down to one blue reader - everyone else is green or beyond. I'm thinking I'm going to drop phonics from the list of morning tasks. Most of my students are beyond the green reading level and are not taking very much away from the green reading task. However, seeing as the green reading boxes are so quick and simple, I'm going to hang onto them as a go-to work. As in, when a student is having a hard time settling, they might be directed to this work.

Kati and I have talked it over, and we're going to drop math and language groups to once a week. It's too disruptive to have formal group lessons going on virtually all day, and if we miss a day (or if a student is absent) it's very difficult to make up the lessons. So we'll do math groups on Mondays and Tuesdays and give students a week to complete their journal tasks. Language groups will also be Mondays and Tuesdays but in the afternoon. If school is out on Monday, like this week, we'll switch the Monday lessons to Wednesdays. Problems solved.

_____

Case Study - I'm keeping an open mind about what the week may bring. Long weekends sometimes result in cranky kids. Will keep my eye on JS to encourage productive working. Considering backing off on singing - she likes to sing while she works, and if it keeps her focused, it could be beneficial. Will discuss it.

I Believe in Montessori

I do. I believe that Montessori works, that it can work, and that it takes training and hard work for Montessori methods to pay off. It's a shame some people at Walden have decided to take the easier way. I will never set Montessori aside for something "better."

I don't understand when "doing Montessori" became optional at Walden.

I had a great day today. Math teams went swimmingly, and my language circles went beautifully. We had great work cycles in the morning and afternoon, and I taught a lesson about the Revolutionary War that had the kids wide-eyed and engaged.

In the afternoon I went into Jenessa's classroom to talk to her about math groups with second graders, and Buzz came in. There was chitchat for a few minutes, and then he got down to the business that had brought him down: would we be interested in having two grade classrooms instead of three grade classrooms.

I spoke up and said that I was opposed to the idea because it would completely mess up our three-year curriculum, and it's also a fundamental shift from what Montessori is.

The thing that has me all frustrated right now was the way he prefaced his question. I don't remember the exact phrasing, but the general idea was that there's a split in the school between the people who want us to be a Montessori school and the people who don't think it's all that important. Obviously, he has me, Jenessa and Sarai in the first group, and I got the feeling he thinks our position is seeing the world through rose-colored glasses, and that if we just *understood* how difficult it is to teach the state core using the Montessori method and materials we would jump off the bandwagon.

Thing is, I've already taught in a school where Montessori had been deemed less-than-good-enough and pushed aside for other methods. I would be sick if we ended up going that way because I know Montessori can work, that it does work, and that it will work when we have teachers who are trained to use the materials and the method. At some point some of our teachers stopped training to be Montessori teachers, and I feel like we are in danger of losing our way.

I was having this absolutely great day, and now all I can think about is this conversation.

____

I am feeling better about this because I emailed the above to Diana, and she responded very lovingly and was supportive of my feelings and concerns. Right now I'm researching 9-12 certification programs, and I am doubling-down on my 6-9 certification. I want to be done by the end of May so that I can go to a summer 9-12 program. I don't know what I'll do with my kiddos (Leo works and is probably not up to being a single parent for a month . . . ), but I'm thinking about it more seriously than ever before. I don't really *want* to teach in the 9-12, but I will if that's what is best for Walden.

And the rest of them, well, get trained or find another job. Seriously.

_____

Case Study
JS arrived early again today - she shows up 10-15 minutes early each day. Today's morning task was to complete a grammar box. She started with her green reading, which took her far longer than it needed to due to the fact that she illustrates all of her writing. I have tried to talk her out of doodling all over everything, but she doodles with great determination. It has proved difficult to move her past it. I am trying to find ways to encourage this creativity that do not derail her academic progress, but so far I am stymied. Between her green reading and her grammar box, she spent two hours on language work this morning. She barely got to her problems on the board before recess. She was on task most of the afternoon, and she completed her classroom job at cleanup time without being asked (she is a waste management officer - takes out the trash and recycling).

20 Weeks to Go

THAT is a number that blows my mind. Not that I'm keeping track; we just happened to count how many weeks are left in the school year because we redid the classroom job chart, and then we counted to see if every student would have a chance to cycle through each job. They will - just barely.

The first week after break is done and gone. It was a good week. There was a lot of good work that got done, and the mood in the classroom was upbeat. I got key experiences done for the conjunction, the exclamation mark and synonyms. I also got a cool little language manual created for my students. I have a set of seven manuals that cover grammar topics (only for now - other topics to be added soon) spanning grades 2-4. What I love about it is that I'm going to split the kids into three groups and we're starting language circles. Each group will use the SAME MANUAL, and we'll all cover the same topic each day, but I can customize the lesson by having the students turn to different sections of the manual. It takes away the feeling of being more or less advanced than other groups. I'm tickled by the stealthiness of my plan.

We are also starting back up with our math teams on Monday. Each team gets math twice a week, and we will be giving workbook assignments, but they are to be completed in school - the workbooks won't be going home most of the time.

In the cultural curriculum, I introduced US history and geography and also did a key experience for the amphibian. Kati introduced desert habitats. After Kati's lesson Thursday, the class was very chaotic. I came back into the room and found overwhelming craziness, so she finished up and I called loudly, "OK, I want everyone to lie down on the floor! Just lie on your back and close your eyes. Make sure you're not touching anyone else." Some of them held onto the silly, but I eventually got everyone on their backs. Then I talked them through a yoga savasana (corpse pose). In a soft voice I talked them through giving their breath a color and feeling that color fill their bellies and flowing through their whole bodies. I talked them through letting their minds go blank and shooing away intruding thoughts like dry leaves being blown away by the wind.

Peace came back into the classroom.

I held them in savasana for about five minutes, and it was a beautiful feeling. After a few minutes I told them I would come around and touch them gently on the forehead. When I touched them, they were invited to *very quietly* get up and get their journals or DEAR books. It was a lovely end to the day.

SPEAKING OF DEAR. I had a revelation in training yesterday: MORE THAN ONE BOOK! Yes! I will have the students choose at least three books at the beginning of DEAR time, and then they *stay put* the whole time. No more up and down and up and down. No, they will sit and read. What a concept.

______

Case Study: JS, seven years old, 2nd grade. Non-traditional family.
This is the button child from last post. I have chosen to do a case study of this child so that I may better address her needs in the classroom. I will likely have her in my classroom for one more year at least, so I need some better options when it comes to encouraging her to make progress.

2010!

Traditionally today is goal-setting day. Resolutions. Intentions. Plans for the coming year. So here it is:

1. I will finish my AMS 6-9 Certification and complete my ARL, becoming a fully state licensed and Montessori certified teacher.
2. I will plan lessons at least a week in advance. So what if I'm already behind for next week's lessons. I will play catch-up until I'm there, and then I'll stay there.
3. I will make an effort to smile and sparkle for each student each day. Even the ones I don't like much. I will learn to like the kids I don't like.
4. I will be healthier. This means I will continue to go to yoga twice a week and will begin personal practice at home. I will also be more thoughtful about what I put in my mouth. Note I did not say "I will lose weight" or "I will get in shape." No, being healthy is not about weight or muscle definition. It's a way of thinking and being. That's what I want to do.
5. I will cook at home at least four times a week. Cooking does not include boiling pasta or making sandwiches. I will use the crockpot once a week.
6. I will not each lunch out more than once a week.
7. I will date my husband at least once a month.
8. I will limit time spent on the computer.
9. I will tell my children every day that I love them.
10. I will write in my journal regularly.
    

Caught up in it all

It's December now, Maria, and I've been here but not here. I had a week-long vacation in early November, and it took a couple of days to get back into the swing of things after that. Then we had Thanksgiving break. It feels like November flew by in a huge crazy whirlwind.

Things keep happening at school, and I think, "I need to write about that in my journal," and then I never do. I promise to try to do better.

We have started doing math teams with all of the third and fourth graders in the lower elementary. Diana made the decision, and I support her fully even though I'm not 100% jazzed with the program she has us following. I don't hate it - though I wanted to - but I also don't love it. I can see the value in what she is doing, and I know I can combine the Everyday Math curriculum with the Montessori curriculum. For example, the lesson today calls for me to introduce line segments, lines and rays, so I intend to pull out the geometry stick box and teach the lesson as I have been taught in my training. I will do my best to make you proud and to make my classroom one you would recognize as worthy to bear your name.

I have tons more to say, but it's morning, and I have to get myself and the kiddos ready for the day. I'll check in again soon - I promise.

I am a horrible person

We went to lunch today and received less than stellar service from the burger joint we visited. After we ate (after a 30 minute wait for our meals), I went in to complain. After I unloaded my frustration on this sweet blonde girl, she interrupted and informed me that they were short handed because their coworker died last night.

And then she started to cry.

What does this have to do with school? It was a clear reminder to me that I don't always know what is going on behind the scenes and that I am sometimes too quickly bothered, too easily angered. The behavior of the shop employees was frustrating to me, but there were extremely extenuating circumstances. How often are there extenuating circumstances with my students that influence their behavior, triggering my ire, yet I don't consider that the students have a life outside of class.

And now I'm babbling.

School went well this week. Tuesday I was back to work, and we did the verb key experience (that I was going to do on Monday). It went really well, and we're now analyzing whole sentences for grammar. In the afternoon I introduced Earth Studies and we talked about the layers of the earth. Wednesday Kati introduced our study of Biomes and Habitats, and Thursday I did the Kingdoms of Life lesson. I was well prepared for that lesson, and it went well. I also introduced our classroom microscope, to an audible GASP, from the students - that was exciting.

The new academy period started today. The students are enjoying their classes, and I'm looking forward to another four weeks of relaxing Fridays.

Routines

Dear Maria,

I'm home sick today - first sick day of the year - and I'm thinking of the lessons I had planned for today and how missing ONE day throws my routine all to hell. Actually, I've been sick for a week now, starting last Monday, and my routine has been off for a while. How will I get back on track? Do I blow off one day (a week, really) and pick up tomorrow like nothing happened? Will it take some time for *me* to feel like I'm back on top of things? Will my students show the effects of having their routines messed up?
I'm feeling a bit overwhelmed at the idea of getting my shit back together, and I'm not entirely sure why. I know I can do this, and I know my kids are resilient.
I need chocolate.

Sick

Ugh, so sick. The whole world has the flu - swine or otherwise, no one really knows - and it has caught up with me. I knew it was only a matter of time, really. Both my kids have it, and today I woke up with the achy body, chills and nausea that heralds the onset of the yuck. Of course, I can't not go. So I pull myself together and head off to work. Where I sit and am a nearly useless lump. Awesome.
I got the rest of my students from yesterday leveled on reading comprehension. I'm finding this leveling process so fascinating. I can't wait to really get into reading comprehension work. I'm planning on sending reading packets home with students and doing round robins with students on similar levels and doing LOTS AND LOTS of comprehension work. It so needs to happen.
I was going to do a key experience for the verb and language lessons and an introduction to earth studies - movement of the earth - in the afternoon . . . none of which happened. I just didn't have it in me to do ANYTHING that required more than a modicum of energy.
Tomorrow is a half day and the jog-a-thon starts at 11:00. It'll be a pretty pointless day.

All Quiet

There is some serious sickness at Walden right now. My class had five kids out today, and the lower elementary had a total of more than 20 kids out. Crazy. I actually had six out until one student showed up an hour and a half late. Really? 90 minutes late?! C'mon parents! Step up! That is SO annoying.
So it was a quiet day. I only had 14 students, and we implemented our "get your works done" policy today. We talked about it starting last week, that students now need to complete (AND TRACK) four works in the morning or else they can use recess time to finish up. Is it "punishment?" I don't think so. It is extra time for the kids who have a hard time working. And it totally worked. I have students who have NEVER tracked themselves, not for lack of capability, just for, I don't know, lack of motivation. Today, most everyone was on task, working all morning and ready to go at recess time - with their trackers completed. Sweet.
I started leveling kids in reading comprehension today. Very enlightening. I have one student who was reading at grade level and scored above benchmarks on both accuracy and fluency, but after taking seven minutes to read the story (that benchmarks suggested ought to take four), I asked her to retell the story in her own words, and she shrugged saying, "I don't really remember." NO comprehension. I had another student who was the exact opposite. Well below benchmarks on accuracy and fluency, but above benchmarks on comprehension. Go figure. I am looking forward to having all my students leveled so I can start to really work on their comprehension. It is going to be interesting to see how they do.
I didn't follow through with a lot of my plan today, though. I was going to teach a language lesson on the line that I totally blew off, because, well, I had six kids out at the time. What's the point? Then I did an intro to Pre-Columbian North American civilizations that was really done by the seat of my pants. I should have prepared more, but the kids were attentive, and when the lesson was over, I placed the books on the history shelf, and I noticed that several of them were chosen during DEAR time. So I guess it went all right.
OH! I failed to mention the introduction of the North American passports last week! The book has a space for each North American country, and the students get to "visit" each country by doing a single-page study of the country and turning it in to the teacher. For each country visited, the students get that space of their passport book "stamped" with a flag sticker for the country. The kids are LOVING it! One of my students who tends to be a goof - lots of talking, not so much with the work - has already done THREE country reports. It's pretty amazing.
So that's it, Maria. I wonder how many students will be out tomorrow?

Upcoming

We will be focusing on the 4th Great Lesson for the coming week (Project Day on Friday - health and wellness), and then Kati will present the 5th Great Lesson next Monday. After that - content areas! We'll be introducing zoology, botany, history and geography - and all the fun stuff that go along with the cultural curriculum. We're doing things a bit differently this year. We laid out a whole three year plan for the entire cultural curriculum so instead of doing 1st, 2nd and 3rd year lessons in every cultural topic, we'll be doing each topic in depth once every three years. So no mad rush to get through the entire botany curriculum (with three level lessons for each part of each system - egads!) No, we're doing only the roots, stems and leaves this year. In history, instead of rushing like made in an attempt to cover the entire history of man from prehistory to the present, and not even making an attempt to cover anything other than western civilizations, this year we're doing paleo-indian civilizations, Mayan/Aztec civilizations, US History and Utah history. You won't be surprised to learn that our area of focus for geography is North America, the US and Utah. You mean the history units can follow the physical and political geography units? Brilliant.

And so forth - you get the idea.

Even though it means that there will be more prep and more to get done each day, I'm excited for the cultural curriculum to really take off. It's going to be a lot of fun.

Bread Party!

The title says it all!

Well, ok, let me explain. We have been working on creating a classroom civilization with students working in various committees to meet all of the fundamental needs of humans in our chosen settlement location. I learned a lot about what my students are capable of (being "turned loose" to work on a project, not so much - yet), and it was a lot of fun. Today we added a new twist: The Written Word. I taught the 4th Great Lesson this morning, and it went almost as I thought it would. I called the students to line and proceeded to speak Spanish as though I expected them to understand. I carried on in this manner for several minutes feigning more and more frustration as they failed to catch my meaning. Finally Kati intervened and helped the students come up with the idea of giving me something to write with. I began to draw pictures, and we then had a discussion about how drawing pictures leads to the creation of writing. It was fun, and I think the message got through.

At lunch time I took the food committee outside and lit the charcoal for the dutch oven cornbread. It got a lot flamier than I expected it would, and I thought to myself, "Remember the day that Miss Shelly burned down the school?" Soon the flames died down, and the food committee and I mixed up the cornbread and got it cooking. It was done by the time lunch was over. I took the class outside while Kati had the food committee help her set up the bread party. We had several different bread options and toppings for the bread including meats and cheeses, fruit dips, cream cheese, butter and honey.

It was DE-LICIOUS! The cornbread turned out so well, I can't wait to do it again next year!

After we ate bread, we cleaned up again. I introduced the idea of creating their own written language for our civilization using pictures that start with each letter in the alphabet and stylizing the pictures into written characters. I think many students will take this idea and run with it.

We then cleaned up one last time and then each committee had the chance to present what they had learned.

Once again we had not so much work time, but I feel pretty good about the way this day went.

To sum up:
The day as I had it planned:

• 4th Great Lesson on morning line
• Cook dutch oven cornbread with food committee
• Bread party in the afternoon
• Committee presentations

The day as it actually happened:

• 4th Great Lesson on morning line
• Cook dutch oven cornbread with food committee
• Bread party in the afternoon
• Committee presentations

Nice when a day actually goes like you had planned.

One of those days

You ever have one of those days, Maria? One of those days where you have no motivation? No energy? No get-up-and-go?

Today was one of those days for me.

It didn't start out as such. No, that's not entirely true. Yesterday we got back from Timp Lodge around 2:45 (Teresa and I were the last to roll in because we waited at the lodge until all of the parents had left - to make sure everyone had gone), and when I went into the room, the students were all busily, and fairly quietly I might add, engaged in project work. Kati said the kids had gotten back to work without so much as a suggestion from her. I had thought to have them write in their journals and DEAR until pickup, but instead I let them keep working on their projects.

Yeah, it was a good idea, except for the part where they left the room an unholy disaster.

Coming in to work to a room that was so messy and chaotic, well, it was not the best foot to start on. The kids didn't seem to mind much, but I was totally discombobulated by it. Still, the students came in and did their morning tasks (mechanics today), and the day got underway in the normal fashion. I was thinking of doing the suffix functions lesson I had planned for yesterday, but instead I did capitalization rules. Felt rushed and unprepared - because I was.

I went out at lunchtime to get crickets for Viejo and picked up lunch for everyone at Cafe Rio. Got back and realized that I had forgotten to make Cait's lunch, and now it's late, and eat your lunch, and this is where the disconnect started for me. The rest of the day I kind of wandered in a fog. Kati did three small group lessons on types of triangles, and I just sat around watching. Watching her lessons, watching kids work (and not work), watching the clock tick off the minutes. I was going to do Lois's lesson from training - with the children of the world and the M&Ms, but instead I watched.

We cleaned up around 2:00 and went outside for movement activities. We played Fruit Salad, but it didn't work so well because we were sitting on the grass, and everytime "fruit salad" was called it was just a huge chaotic mess of students scrambling for open spots, but there were no defined spots. So then we played Red Rover, which worked out fine until JS got hurt, and then there was drama as all my attention seekers decided they were in horrible pain too.

I was less than sympathetic when LH sobbed and carried on as though the world had come to an end because "her head hurt." I told her to go out in the hall and get a drink of water and pull herself together. Seriously.

So, to sum up:

What I intended to do:

• Suffix functions lesson on morning line
• Spelling tests for blue and green readers
• Hunger lesson
• Individual lessons/small group lessons throughout the day
• Movement activity in the afternoon
  

What I actually got done:

• Capitalization rules lesson on morning line
• Movement activity in the afternoon

Needless to say it was not my best day.

Creation

Last week we had the third great lesson, and I introduced the Fundamental Needs of Humans. We went for a walk down the lonely trail in the adjacent property (which, I know, is *lovers' lane* for high school sweethearts), and we found ourselves almost isolated in the middle of the city. The trees effectively blocked out the view and most of the sounds of the busy street in front of the school, and we were able to imagine . . . what might it have been like to live here before modern times? It was longer than most lessons, but the students stuck with it pretty well.

(Side note: while we were heading out we passed a high school algebra class that was outside using sidewalk chalk to work math problems in the cul-de-sac. I filed this idea away for later. Sidewalk chalk! Brilliant!)

After the lesson we went back to class, and Kati and I introduced the project day assignment: investigating ways to meet the fundamental needs of humans in pre-modern times. The students were stoked, and I expected great things.

Friday was the first project day, and we had an awesome curriculum training day. Lois is so amazing. Her ideas . . . I tell you, she could write books! Maybe she does, I don't know, but if she were to put all of her wisdom down, it would take the ages to read through it all. She introduced extensions on the fundamental need for nutrition - the bread party that we did last year and a thought provoking lesson on how much we have, and how so many have so little. I plan to do it on Wednesday.

While we were training, the students were home working on their project day submissions. Today we got to see what they came up with, and it was astonishing! So many fantastic creations, I could not have been prouder of my kids. After we shared our projects, we talked about creating our own classroom civilization. Kati sat down with them and led the group through a discussion that ended up with the students choosing to settle near a sandy seashore with a forest nearby in a temperate climate. We talked about what resources would be available, and then we turned the kids loose. They had been divided into groups or committees focusing on each of the five fundamental needs, and they spent the last hour of the day solving problems of shelter, nutrition, defense, clothing and transportation. I can't wait to see what they come up with.

Tomorrow is Timp Lodge. The students are looking forward to it. I am too, but I'll be glad when it's over. Field trips are always stressful.

Rainy Days and Mondays . . .

. . . . usually get me down.

Today was pretty good. I confiscated a love note from a 4th grade boy; he was writing it to a 3rd grade girl. Ah, young love. Funny, this little girl is new in the class, and ALL of the boys - ok, not all for real, but a lot of them! - are all a-twitter over her. I can see drama in my future.

Started something new today: Morning Tasks. Today's task was sentence analysis. Students came in, did their planning, and analyzed the four simple sentences on the blue chart, AND THEY ALL DID IT! Seriously, have I mentioned how I love my group of kids? I give them a task to do, and with hardly any whining, it gets done. It's a beautiful thing. I'm thinking of challenging students to get their three daily tasks (phonics, problems on the board, morning tasks) done before morning line. It should be eminently doable for all of them.

I introduced grammar analyze & symbolize, and that's tomorrow's morning task. They know the symbols for the noun and the article, so they'll have four short phrases to mark. Easy. In the afternoon Kati introduced bead frame addition, and at the end of the day I presented the Clock of Eras, and we all made clocks showing the history of the Earth. We were going to have an art lesson today, but Kati got caught up doing other things, and it didn't happen. Ah well. In a perfect world, right?

This week is going to be kind of nuts. We're out of school at 2PM on Wednesday for parent teacher conferences from 4-8, and on Thursday we're out at noon for PTCs from 1-4. Friday is the first Project Day, and we'll be having curriculum training in the morning. I think it's going to be sort of a whirlwind week. Fun, though. In a crazy sort of way.

It feels so late, but it's not even 10PM. The rain made it prematurely dark this evening, so the night has been dragging on forever already. Rainy days and Mondays . . .

Where did the Week Go?

So it's Friday, Maria, and I haven't written all week. Monday was Labor Day, so the school week didn't get underway until Tuesday. It seems like every time we lose a day that the whole week is a little off kilter. In addition, President Obama addressed the school children on Tuesday morning at 10:00 AM, taking up a sizable chunk of the morning work time that day. Don't get me wrong, I am thrilled to have been able to give my students the opportunity to listen to the president speak directly to them, but it made the morning feel truncated. I had one student, BP, who came to me as we were headed out into the commons and tell me, "My mom says I can't watch this." He hung his head a little as he said it, and his face was somewhat red. I suspect he may have been embarrassed at being set apart from his classmates, but I respected his mother's wishes and allowed him to work quietly in the classroom until the speech was over.

I taught the second great lesson Tuesday afternoon, and it went smoothly enough. I'm not totally jazzed with it, and I hope to improve the lesson for the coming year. Wednesday morning I taught a lesson on capitization rules (and I am loving how my students this year record lessons without fuss and drama. Somehow they've all gotten the message that after group lessons we record, and they just do it - Fabulous!) but I spent most of Wednesday looking forward to the afternoon extension of the second great lesson, "Survival of the Fittest." I sent the students outside with Kati while I set up, and then we played. I had a collection of small objects - fake flowers, marbles, safety pins, pom poms and jacks - and an assortment of tools - tongs, tweezers, spoons, scoops, etc. I divided the students into two groups, just because of the size of the group, and I told the students a story about the animals who lived in a forest, long ago on a planet much like ours, and on cue, each child was to use their tool to gather up food (the objects) in turn with the story. In the end some of the children had lots of food an all varieties, and some children had very little, and this led to a discussion of natural selection. The students were laughing and engaged, and I could tell they were enjoying the lesson.

Thursday was another bumpy day - it was picture day, and our picture time concided precisely with our music lesson, so our music lesson was bumped back a half hour. In the end we had very little work time in the morning. The afternoon went smoothly - we didn't have an extension for the 2GL, but Kati did an awesome art lesson.

Today we had Friday Academies. I love Fridays.

Oh! I almost forgot to tell you about the DRAMA! Big fun, Maria, we have boy-likes-girl drama in the class. I've got this one little 3rd grade girl, AD, who is new to Walden, and ALL of the boys are falling all over themselves for her. It's still kind of cute, but I can see it causing some problems in the future. I'll keep you posted.

Academies Rock

I love Fridays, for more than the obvious reason. Every Friday is Academy Day in the lower elementary. We will be running four academy sessions this year. Students each get to choose two mini-classes from seven offerings which are carried over five academy days. It's great fun. This academy session we have a middle eastern dance class and a middle eastern cultures class, three artsy/crafty classes, a soccer class and a gardening class. I was able to get two volunteers to run my academies - the middle eastern dance and culture classes - so I get to sit back and watch as my students are exposed to way more than I could ever offer in our regular class. It's awesome.
So the students come in and have a 15-20 minute free-work period: no planning or tracking. Then we break for morning line and head off to academies by 9:00. First class runs from 9-10, and then we have a half-hour break. Second class runs from 10:30-11:30, followed by lunch/recess and room cleanup. Then we're done! The day FLIES by, and the students are happily engaged the whole time.
I never did get an entry done yesterday. It was a MUCH better day than Wednesday. I got plenty of sleep the night before, and I felt like a real human being. I also felt cruddy for having been such a meanie on Wednesday. When I called morning line, I picked up the peace table and carried it into the middle of circle, and then I apologized to the class. We talked about how lack of sleep makes it impossible for a person's brain to function properly, and the general consensus was that it was no big deal. The students also wanted to share story after story about times when their mamas were tired and mean. That I thought was cute.
We're on a long weekend here - Monday is Labor Day - and I'm going to do the 2nd Great Lesson when we're back. I should probably work on that over the weekend. Heh.

What a Day

Holy socks, Maria, today was one huge trainwreck. The nightmare began last night when my two-year-old woke up at 1AM and proceeded to vomit every thirty minutes until 5:30. I had this great, beautiful plan, and it was all shot to hell by circumstances beyond my control. So frustrating. I could see it all unravel, and there was nothing I could do to stop it. At first I thought I'd be able to keep it together, you know, run on adrenaline, until the early afternoon, but it was not to be; I crashed around 10AM. I saw myself, heard myself, take on a terse and impatient tone and soon enough the twinkle, which I tried to recapture, was all but gone. Even when we were in the middle of what should have been an awesome afternoon, I could tell my twinkle was forced and fake. Even so, I kept it up as best I could.
Here's what we had on the agenda: I started off with a mechanics lesson - the capitalization key experience. It's not a super entertaining lesson, and for most of my students it's 100% review. I was off my game already, and it kind of fell flat. I spent the rest of the morning teaching individual lessons - I got ID, BP and AC started on geometry nomenclatures, and I helped CB do the problems on the board among other things - and I did individual interviews and spelling tests with three students. LH has been planning and completing the same works every day so far: metal insets and creative writing for language and the binomial cube for math. We had a talk about challenging herself, and we decided on a goal of one language skyscraper and one math box each day. I know she can do it if she just puts her mind to it. KL is new and still figuring out tracking, and I know it will help immensely to get her more lessons. We're working on that.
The afternoon was supposed to be the high point of the day. I would teach them about harnessing the energy of the sun by creating a solar cooker, and we would talk about the scientific method (without calling it such). While our experiement processed, we would play games for movement time, and then we'd enjoy marshmallows dipped in chocolate. A short work time would follow, and we'd finish the day with a lesson by Miss Kati on the relative sizes of stars. That was how it was supposed to go, and on paper we got through it all. It was, however, not my most shining moment. I snapped at NL twice - once during the creation of the solar cookers because he kept sneaking his fingers out to snatch chocolate chips and later as we were enjoying our chocolate dipped marshmallows because he decided to stick his fingers into the chocolate bowl not 15 seconds after I had asked students to keep their fingers out of the bowls. Maybe he didn't hear me? Entirely possible, but did I consider that at the time? No way. Sleep deprivation got the better of me, and I lost my composure. I'll have to be sure to apologize tomorrow.
Speaking of tomorrow, I'm anticipating a much better day. My boy has been feeling fine all day, and I'm hoping he'll go to sleep soon so that I can join him in sweet slumber. We have a field trip planned tomorrow. First one of the year. I'm looking forward to it, and I know the students are too.
If I can just get some sleep.