We're All Pirates When It Comes Down To It

This week as been so much fun. I have been taking over the class staring with the morning work and finishing just before lunch. I cover every topic but social studies/science. I am starting to understand the balance of what the kids can do and what is maybe too far of a reach for their grade level. I have been developing my own classroom management, and like I said before in my previous post, I am learning from my mistakes and making adjustments.

I have been struggling with some perfectionists in my classroom. There is a group of 7 or 8 students who have a very difficult time feeling any sense of accomplishment if they don't finish a project or if they spell a word wrong. So today, during my lesson, when I spelled "Soccor" on the board while teaching I took a step back and asked the students if that was spelled correctly. -- Side note: my master teacher was evaluating that lesson -- yikes! -- The students responded that it was not spelled correctly and I used that time to remind the students that it is ok to make mistakes and that even though I am the teacher, I still sometimes make errors... but that it was ok because I am learning. My master teacher smiled, my students were happy, and I used my mistake as a learning experience.

On Monday I introduced the book "How I Became a Pirate" by David Shannon and had the students follow along. (I had the book up on the smart board so that the students could see the illustrations and so that they could follow along as I was reading.) I paused and had the students show me their very best pirate voice. -- What a fun lesson.

I also had a few worksheets that I had found on teacherspayteachers.com and had passed those out. One was a pirate themed lined paper and I had asked the students to write down any pirate words that they had heard while listening to the story.**

**I had passed this sheet out prior to the story beginning and had fully explained the activity.** Repetition is key. Reassure the students that they understand the task at hand. Have students rephrase what you just asked them to do. Repetition is key.

The kids loved the pirate theme so I continued it today by recapping what happened in the book and passed out an awesome compare and contrast worksheet I found online. I led the students through the first half of the worksheet and had them work through the rest with their table group. I really enjoy having the students talk through the lesson because then when they are talking it is about the lesson. The kids absolutely loved the lesson and I received full engagement. At the end of the lesson I had the students figure out their "Pirate Name" with another worksheet I had found online. Absolutely love pirates and so do the kids.

Wish me luck,

Megs