Reading around the room? Good or bad?

Today, my mentor teacher was administering DRA's and needed to have the morning in order to do this. (She would pull a few students at a time into the hallway outside of our classroom). I am already teaching the entire morning, however, the difference was that today we were not on a time constraint because we did not switch classes so the teachers could perform the DRA's on their homeroom students. With that being said, this morning was one that I had the entire classroom to myself without my mentor teacher being in there for an extended period of time. While I was nervous that the students would behave differently without her being there, I was excited to have full control, as well as having full control of their behavior. While we still had those chatty cats, everything went so smooth! We did some partner work that of course made the classroom a little loud (with 31 students talking, it is hard to be quiet!), but I believe that they are learning how to work collaboratively! We were creating sentence ladders that helped them see the difference in a simple sentence and one that has many, many details. While these got a little silly, I think it started the day off on a good foot because everyone was smiling together.

Also, with this relaxed time, I was able to let them have an extended SSR (self-selected reading) block where they were able to read wherever in the room that felt comfortable. While we do not get to do this often because during reading we have centers that take up the extra space in the classroom, I believe that the students really enjoyed their time to be on the floor to read. I was very apprehensive to allow them to do this because of our need to control the talking, so I made sure to emphasize that I was watching them and we were on a trial for my trust of reading wherever they wanted. Boy, did this get their attention. All I had to say was "you are testing my trust" and they would correct the behavior that was inappropriate. The SSR block went REALLY well. The students were reading, students were taking AR tests and visiting the library, and for the most part, we stayed on task the whole time! I believe that just having their friend beside them on the floor reading gives them the "freedom" that they long for, but still allows the teacher to be in control.

We are starting on how to write a friendly letter tomorrow, which I am excited about! I think that in this age where the students probably have never written/received a letter in the mail, they need to learn what a friendly letter is! My plan is that we collaboratively decide what a friendly letter is and they will practice this skill. When ready, the students will be able to write a friendly letter to a member of the school "filling their buckets" :)