week seven

Week Seven.
During my observation time last Tuesday I was able to help the First graders create log cabins by gluing pretzel logs to construction paper. It was interesting to see the process that they chose to use. Some sketched out a design of what their cabin was going to look like and then glued to that, others just started pasting without any drawing. The glue bottles were all clogged before we started; my main duty was to help un-clog to get them going, luckily I had my secret weapon available in our room (warm water). After the students were done making their cabins they all had an idea of what they needed to do. They were finishing some projects they have been working on for the last couple of weeks. I helped to organize one student who has been out for a few days; we cleaned the crumbs and what-not of his desk and helped him to prioritize the work that must be made up. He had quite a few math sheets to do so I got him started on one by doing a quick review about counting down on the number line. After making sure he was successfully completing the sheet I went elsewhere to help a different student. Throughout the morning I re-visited this student catching up on his math work to encourage him and make sure that he was completing the assignments correctly. I had a lot of opportunities to see the students working individually on different things on Tuesday. The focus that I observed in the students was impressive as they understood they were expected to be busy.
On Thursday we did our word building exercise with a second grade class. We chose a book to read with the students during the exercise and we selected a secret magic word from the book. The letters that make up this magic word were given to the students in a random order, they found and separated these letters from their “letter sets”, then used the small group of letters to create short words. My magic word was, Sharing. I had to give them some clues to help find the magic word. When they found it they were very excited. This was a fun lesson for me to share with these second graders because it is the type of activity that amuses me. I was especially happy with the enjoyment the students got from the book I selected. This was my first experience in a second grade class and I was apprehensive in selecting a book. I am happy that I chose to error on the side of a simpler read because the students willingly joined in a shared reading experience. It was great to hear them read aloud with me. Also my self-confidence to select appropriate reading material for different skill levels is growing.
Spring break this week!