Death by Second Graders

I could go into this big long story about how crazy yesterday was and how, at one point in the day, I thought I might die. It was tough. But it wouldn't be as fun to read as today's story will be. Let's just say "Phewwwwww, glad that's over" and move on.

Today:

Math:

 Today the kids had to take a test about what they had been learning for the past two weeks. Yikes. This is when I know I have been doing my job correctly or not. Fingers crossed, I am grading them tonight...with the help of my dog of course.

Before the students started the test, I had them work through a math warmup that was already on their desk when they came in from recess. I walked to each table group and checked over their shoulders if they were doing the work correctly, gave suggestions when needed and very dramatically reassured the students of how proud I was that they were doing such a good job. I wanted to be sure to encourage all of the students, highlighting a few by name that I knew needed a little push in the right direction. I had all the students separate their desk, and with the promise of free choice at the end, the students began their test. I walked around answering any questions that they had on the word problems...after all (and my master teacher assured me of this) the test was not a reading test, it was a math test and the students would be tested on math.

Students worked the entire math period, some took need A.R. quizzes, others read or finished some art projects. Overall, it was a very productive period. :)


Writing:

Yesterday I introduced a new creative writing assignment about penguins. I told the class that I was "giving" each and every one of them a penguin and that it was their job to come up with a creative name, to tell me what the penguin likes, where the penguin lives, and some of its favorite activities.

I was very impressed with some of the names...but honestly, it was a struggle.

Wobbles

Miss. Love Dove

Butterball

FireBall

Bob Stevey

Squigly Squids

-- Like I said, yesterday was crazy. --

Last night I spent some time going over the student's penguin work. I circled misspelled words and asked the students to expand their sentences.

Some needed a lot of revision...some needed a little.

Today I reminded the students of their spelling dictionaries that they had in their desk, had them revise their work and complete a rough draft. Then they got to be creative and draw their penguins. This is always my favorite part of the day because you never know what some kids might come up with.

Updates: 

Ticket System: I have started phasing out the ticket system. It worked to remind students to stay on task, but it was a pain to remember to hand them out, to keep track of tickets (most would end up on the floor) and to remember to have the daily drawing.

I've implemented a table group system instead. Each table group is responsible for their own points. The first table group to get to 10 points - taken and freely given whenever I deem necessary - gets a pick out of the box.



Tomorrow is Friday!

Wish me luck,

Megs