Power Hour Update

Last post I posted about our Remediation/Enrichment time (aka Power Hour). Here's the update:

Last week was our first week (for K-2). It was EXTREMELY challenging to begin.. very little direction, coming up with the focus of the time on our own without guidance, not understanding what we were expected to be doing (in terms of assessment).

After we started, we were THEN given direction on where to go. Actually after the majority of the week had passed we were given direction. How bass-ackwards can we get?

Today, I got to meet with my reading kiddos for Power Hour for the first time since last Wednesday. I did do a few things more spur of the moment, but had thought of them prior, just hadn't planned them completely out. During some previous lessons (with other groups), I have always found this works pretty well for me.

I have 16 kiddos in my group-- which I have to say I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE!!! I divided them up into 4 groups of 4. I read them a book today, just to start of the session. I think I will try to do this every time. I also think it helps them process vocabulary and having someone read to you was always one of my favorite activities.

I then broke them up into groups and told them the centers they were going to be doing:

1. A partner reading center in the library. *I think I will have to adjust this one. I want to do something with a listening station, but haven't figured out quite how.

2. A word family station. They create a bubble map using the word family in the folder they are given. After they have a few words or so, they create a story using those words. Ex. -ug family: The snug bug slept in the rug. He said, "Ug!" when someone pulled the plug on his coffee mug. (Not my best, but you get the idea! :) )

3. An extension of the read aloud station. They were to take the book we read and find their favorite page. Then they were to come up with a different sentence for that page. Then they could draw their own version of the picture. *This may need to be adjusted. I think I may need to add all our read alouds and then they can choose the book they want to work with. This will reduce down time of them fighting over who gets to look at it.

4. The last center was working with me. I bought a book of small stories with reading comprehension stories from our teacher store. The stories are fairly simple and short. They include 4 comprehension questions. With the 3 kiddos I worked with today, it was PERFECT! I was able to hear these 3 kids read and we worked on understanding the story. We also worked on reducing the number of choices in a multiple choice question by eliminating obvious wrong answers.
After we went over the questions, there was still a little time left, so I had them flip their paper over and divide it into 4 boxes. In box one, they were to tell me a story (any they wanted- they had asked). In box 2, they were to draw a picture of their story. In box 3, they were to draw a picture of the story we had read. In box 4, they were to find any word on the word wall that they could read and write it down. (We have a LOT of words.)

What do you think so far? I like a few of the things I'm doing, but I don't feel like I ever have time to plan. My health issues this year have taken a toll on me. Not to mention the rough group in my homeroom. I'm just frustrated, but learning.

Any suggestions for other centers? Thanks!

Stressed... the new four letter word

Is it possible for 'them' to ask us to do anymore???

We've added a remediation/enrichment time to our daily schedule. An HOUR.

As if we didn't have enough to do before, we have more kids to teach because the groups are based on their scores from a test they took.

We have to make goals with the kids about how to improve their scores. Yes, I have to do this with 1st and 2nd graders. 7 and 8 year olds! They don't understand what their score means. I don't always understand what they mean.

AND we have to make a pre/post assessment and assess every 2 weeks. EVERY 2 WEEKS!!!! If we are assessing every 2 weeks, when are we supposed to be doing the instruction that we are assessing??

AND we have to make a graph to put in the hallway to show how we are growing. WTF?!?!?!? SERIOUSLY!!!

UGH. Signing off now before I keep going. So ready for this school year to be complete.

Pretty good 1st day back. But I think they were still in their Christmas comas. :)

Fav line of the day:

"Miss C! My hair is sweating!" :)

Where Did Winter Break Go?

Here we are. In the final hours of what someone has the nerve to call "Winter Break".

I laugh.

Winter Break they say?

As if.

I only just got relaxed! There are only a few hours left before I have to head to bed at a "decent" hour so I can wake up at an ungodly hour and take my butt to school. And teach.

I still haven't done the planning I wanted to accomplish to get me all the way to Spring Break.
I still haven't read 22 of 25 students writing projects that were supposed to be completed before break. (I still don't think I even have them all.)
I still haven't gotten to catch up with all my friends that get put on the back burner during the school year.
The list continues, but I will spare you.

Sigh.

One of my goals for the second half of the school year is to start thinking more ahead and planning more exciting activites for my munchkins. I know we get lost in day to day grind, but I think if I tried to plan an exciting activity once per week (or maybe every other) that would help us get through the mundane day to day stuff. I know that oncer per week doesn't sound like a lot, but.... right now that's all I can manage. If I realize I can manage more, then I will definitely pull out all the stops to get it accomplished!

Another goal is to be more patient. I really don't feel like I was as patient with this class as I have been in the past.

December was a tough month for me; personally and professionally. Health problems bled into my classroom and caused the month to be extremely challenging. Said health problems haven't been resolved, but are getting closer. Hopefully.

Ok. Guess I should stop procrastinating and be productive.

Good luck as everyone starts heading back to school this week. If you are the lucky ones that don't head back to until Tuesday or Wednesday (or later??), be productive! If you are like me, and heading back tomorrow (after only having started vacation the Wednesday before Christmas), take lots of deep breaths, drink lots of water, and be patient. We can't teach them everything in a day.

My Messy Desk

This is my first year having a desk. Prior to this year, I only had a rectangle table, so no drawers!! This is only about 2/3rds of my desk and this is the end of the day, I think. This is actually about September, so currently my desk is MUCH messier. Between writing assessments, reading assessments, publishing for Young Authors, grading, and trying to make it to Winter Break.... I'm pooped.

My favorite organizing tool is a combination of things. I have 2 trays to the side of the pictures on my desk. In the top one I put anything that needs filing and file it once per week (er... that's the goal). In the bottom tray I put anything that needs graded along with my answer key. That way it is always in one spot.

My other fav organizing desk tool is the book end clear thingy (between my water bottle-- a must!!-- and the tissue box). I have a binder for spelling, a folder for absent students make-up work, and a few other things.

The 1,2,3 container next to the computer was Christmas gift from a student last year. In theory it's a good idea, but some of the bigger holes are not quite big enough for what I try to put in them. Suggestions?

This post was actually for Kindergarten's 3 R's post from back in September. Yes, I have had this picture on my camera since then....

Frustrated

It has been quite a while since I've written. It is the end of the quarter today and parent-teacher conferences begin next week. I'm pretty excited to be able to meet with 24 out of 25 families! (Hopefully I can work out a way to meet with the one last family!)

The flu and sick bugs have hit our school hard this week. One of the 1st grade teachers had 9 out on both Monday and Tuesday! The most I have had out was 5. I have 2 that will be out the rest of the week. I really hope they get better quickly.

What I'm most frustrated with is our school dynamic within the administration-teachers and the people in between. When I signed on to work at this charter school, my understanding was I would have more freedom to teach the way I wanted and teach in a fun way with the kids, but still so they understand and learn. Now I am finding out this was a lie.

One of our programs we use is SRA's Reading Mastery. We have used it the past 2 years and are continuing to use it this year. I teach Reading Mastery 3. This is considered a 2nd grade reading program, but the majority of students in my class are 3rd graders. I truly want this group to master the concepts I am teaching, so I am taking the time to make sure they are solid in the concepts and their fluency continues to build.

I have had frustrations in the past with RM, but overall have enjoyed teaching the programs. (I have taught RM 1, 2, and 3.) This year I am beyond frustrated.

We have a consultant who comes in and assists our reading coach about once a month or so. I am not the biggest fan of our coach, as most people are not.

Last week our coach came in to observe me for the first time this school year. This would be the week I was sick. I'm pretty sure I had a fever when she came in. Let's just say this wasn't the best day to observe me.

I can deal with that day. It wasn't too bad. The day I'm having trouble with is today.

The consultant came in today. Basically her evaluation of me said I didn't teach the program correctly. UGH!

Her points were the following (summarized):

I gave the students too much time to do their work. I need to continue on when the majority of the group is finished with their independent work. I am not to wait on every student.

I have to make sure I am playing the "Fact Game" with the students every 20 lessons. (In RM, students are given different 'rules' to learn and some of them are given in vocabulary sentences, such as "A dozen typists approached the stairs." and students memorize the sentence and I feed them the definition of the new words. And they basically repeat the words verbatem. It's very robotic. And boring.)

I also need to have the students mark something next to each number when they are grading their work. If they are correct, they put a check. If it is incorrect, they circle the number.

I also need to read the entire question when I am giving them the answer to continue to engage them and help them learn. (But yet I am supposed to move quickly through all these lessons because these are mostly 3rd graders and they are behind.)

I am extremely frustrated with the expectations given to me and my co-workers. Some of us are working super hard to benefit these kids, but others are just working to get the School of the Year Award.

Are we here to teach? Or are we here to win awards?

I am here to teach.

Back to School Night

Tonight was Back to School Night. Usually I freak out, am worried, stressed. Was only slightly stressed.

It went surprisingly well!

I had 16 families show up!! GO ME! Most everyone usually has less than 10; some have less than 5. Many reasons for this; the main ones, I believe, are because we are a charter school and because we are slightly inner-city (we pull mainly from in the city, but we have some from all over the city).

The families are all very supportive, so that really helps. I do seem to have a challenging class- talking, immaturity, listening ears broken.

This year, I am really simplifying stuff; I say "bottoms" and "pockets" instead of "butt" like previous years. Which totally weirds me out not to be saying butt. So, yeah. (Why am I writing about butts?)

2 funny comments from this crazy week. (We had a set of standardized tests-yuck!- Monday-Thursday with my class getting NO SPECIALS until FRIDAY. Can we say pooped?)

During my reading class a few days ago, we were talking about engines in planes and how engines are just like our brains; they run the plane. One of the ESL boys says (think of this in a high squeaky Spanish accent) "I didn't know we had engines in our brains!" Hee hee!!

Today, at the end of Back to School Night, I was talking to the Kindergarten aide, whose daughter I have in my class. (I think I will call this little girl Nemo. She makes me think of Finding Nemo!) Nemo had found a picture of me and a student I tutored a few years ago. This student had Celiacs and missed 45 days of 1st grade, so I tutored her in reading over the summer. I explained to Nemo that this student and I worked on her reading over the summer, and I was what you call a "tutor" and Nemo started giggling.
I was all, "What's so funny?"
Nemo says, "You said 'Tooter'!!!" hee hee hee
Me thinking for about 60 seconds.... "NEMO! Not that kind!" LMAO!!
Finally Nemo's mom, Kinder Aide, picks up the thought about 60 seconds after me.
Hee hee hee!

Ok. That's all for this week. I'm moving this weekend. So wish me luck.