Alison’s 260 Weblog

There really wasn’t anything too exciting that happened in my 1st grade classroom this week.  The students came in on Monday with a little extra spunk and energy which I am assuming from the fact that they had a snow day on last Friday.  Then Tuesday was another snow day which made them energized on Wed. as well.  With it being so cold and snowy outside there was inside recess in which the students actively played some games as a class.  One game I witnessed was one called “bump”.  This game consisted of the students forming a line facing the chalk board away from the word wall.  Starting at one end, Mr L would give the students a word from the word wall for them to spell.  The students would then spell the word one letter at a time passing the microphone down the line as the students say the letter they think comes next.  When the word has been completed it is the next student in line job to say bump.  Then the next student will sit down.  Students also sit down if they say an incorrect letter in spelling the certain words as well.  The game continues until there is only one student standing and they are considered “the winner”.  Then the students all stand up again and it starts over.  I feel it is a fun way to have the student practice their word wall word spelling without just implementing a spelling test.  It gives an alternative way of assessing their knowledge of the word wall words to the spelling tests.

I was also able to witness a social studies lesson this week with the topic being people you would see within your community (friends, family, salesman, trash collectors, mail person, teachers, etc.) and places you would see in your community (school, park, office building, houses, restaurants, stores, etc.)   It was interesting listening to the students’ list what they thought they would see.  Some students said things like sky scrapers and airports which wouldn’t necessarily work for Wooster but are things they would see in a city community.

I am continuing to enjoy my time at Melrose and maybe we will have a full week next week!

I was able to teach a lesson this Thursday using the daily calender activities.  I was a little nervous for this because there are a couple problem students that usually have trouble sitting through calender without disrupting the whole class.  Surprisingly they were not a problem and were attentive and not disruptive.  I was very excited about this and felt that overall the lesson went well.  The students had a little trouble with some of the math problems but we worked through them together and they were able to find the correct answers.  I enjoyed taking the class and am looking forward for my future lessons.

In my classroom, there are two of us from 260 and a student teacher as well.  It is fun having all of the extra hands when checking math homework and helping them with problems.  One issue I have had is trying to decide how far to step in on other’s lessons.  When students are acting out I want to help and get them back on track but I also do not want to overstep the teacher that is teaching and let them be in control.  It has not been an issue so far but it was just one thing I noticed this week as I was teaching.

First off, I greatly enjoyed the 2 days off due to snow days but was eager to get back into field and see what my new classroom would be like. I was moved from Ms. Mapes 2nd grade at Melrose to Mr. Larousse’s 1st grade class at Melrose. For the 2 days I was there I have enjoyed my time and really feel welcome and useful within the classroom.

When I arrived the first day he was teaching a math lesson using triangles to teach addition and subtraction. After this was finished each student had a set of worksheets to fill out. When they were finished he had me jump right in and read over their answers to check for completion and then direct them to their next worksheet. I found this to be a great way for me to learn the students names as well as learn what each student was like on an individual bases as I worked with them on questions they had on the worksheets.

On my second day I was able to observe Mr. Larousse conduct the calender activity that they do every morning. It was a great activity and very similar to other classrooms that I have seen do a calender activity dealing with Everyday Math. The children were very excited to participate and they were chosen by pulling their name out of a jar of Popsicle sticks. This was a great classroom management tool as Mr. L was able to be sure to call on every student before calling on someone for their second time.

One thing that I did notice as interesting was that Mr. Larousse has wore blue jeans to both days of school I have been in there. I don’t see this as a negative aspect because he is an absolutely gifted teacher with the “knack” we discussed in class and I feel that him wearing the jeans does not take away from the respect his students or other teachers give him at all. I just saw it as interesting considering some schools do not allow jeans at all, even on Fridays.

Overall my short time there has been very beneficial and I find modeling my teaching style after Mr. Larousse’s as a great way of teaching because it has a laid back feel to in along with a strong sense of hard work and determination to learn more.

This week was full of up and downs as far as feeling useful in the classroom.  One Wed. I was able to work with half of the class on a math project using geoboards.  It was a fun lesson where the students each had a board and created 4 different types of rectangles or squares using one rubber band.  When they were finished with one they would draw it on their worksheet and then write about it counting the number of rows, dots in each row, and dots all together.  The activity overall went well.  There were many setbacks throughout the time because students were very cramped on the table we were working on and were constantly talking to one another as well as fidgeting with their supplies and making sure they weren’t being put with the other students’ stuff.  One student in particular liked to not listen to my directions and then ask a question that pertained to what I just said.  This was frustrating and I found myself reminding myself to have patience and try to emphasize the importance of paying attention.  I was not able to finish the activity because the students went to 2 different specials back to back and then we didn’t work with it on Thursday morning so I am not sure how the end of the lesson went with the group.  I enjoyed being given the chance to work with a group and teach them something and hope for another opportunity like this one so I can try to work with better time management and focusing the students attention on my directions.