A few highlights of the second week of school---

Second Week of School

August 15- August 19

Monday

Having the first week of school under our belt, the day went extremely well. The students remembered most of the procedures of the day, and we were able to switch with the other class in order to get to know them a little better. The other class has 29 students, which is still a bunch of students! We were able to get to know their names and what they enjoy about reading. Today we were also able to get down into curriculum and start the actual teaching. I was amazed at how much the first week of school is surrounded by creating procedures and getting to know each other! We started calendar math, which is a new thing for me. The school really stresses calendar math, and I really enjoy it because the students are learning about mathematics in a fun way. The calendar pieces are creating a pattern, so the students are using their predicting and analyzing skills to decide what the pattern is. We also talk about each day of the year (what school day we are on) as pertaining to prime and composite numbers. For example, today was day 6^th day of school, so we talked about the factors of 6 and if it was a prime or composite number. This allows the students to gain an understanding of prime and composite in a fun, and easy way.

Tuesday

Today was a day to remember. All of the fourth grade teachers had a meeting to attend, so I got to teach the last half of the day.  I was so excited to do this and to be in charge. I taught a lesson on plural nouns and how to make a noun plural. We used white boards and I would write a singular noun on my board and the students would write the plural form on their boards and hold them up. I then allowed a student, that was calm and paying attention, to be the teacher and pick a noun and allow the other students to create the plural or singular noun. After the noun lesson, we transitioned into science. The students and I had a discussion about the glossary of the science book and its importance. We also talked about the index and the differences between the two. The students then completed a vocabulary checklist, which we talked about would help them understand the unit that we are working on. We are starting an unit on ecosystems. And by the time we finished this discussion it was time to go! I was able to experience teaching, classroom management, as well as car duty. 

Also during this week, we got a new student! We were already at 30, so adding one more is nothing right? I honestly think having a big class is so much fun because there is never a dull moment!! I found how hard of a transition it is for a new student to come to a new school at a different time than everyone else. If a new student comes the first day of school, he is still new, but is beginning with everyone else. So today, I asked another student in the classroom to give our new addition a tour of the school. Giving her moral support was very important to me because not only was she new, she had been homeschooled since first grade. So I thought that she needed to get acquainted to having so many students around her. She was very overwhelmed at first, but with a little assistance we made it through the day! It makes it easy to get a new student when she is so sweet and respectful :)