PB & J

Today was good. Today was fun. Tomorrow is another one. 

The half day was all I needed and more. Today was ch-ch-ch fantastic! (That's a chant we do in our classroom.) We did a great writing activity... to get the students excited and engaged in writing a "how-to-paragraph," I gave each group a picture of a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. I also gave each group a blank sheet of paper. I asked them to write everything they knew they would need and need to do in order to get that picture. After they worked in their groups, we shared our answers. Then we sat down together and wrote out everything we would need and all the steps it takes to make a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. To check our work, I read the steps aloud and we acted them out to make sure we weren't missing any important steps. We found some glaring mistakes and fixed them. While the students were at lunch, I typed it up and printed the paragraph out for them; I asked the students to take the paragraph home and try it with their families. We'll see what happens... also, today, we did lots of story problems with missing addends (Joe had 12 rocks. Then he went on a hike and picked up some more. Now he has 23 rocks. How many rocks did he pick up on his hike?) I forgot how easy it is to engage students in story problems: all I have to do is plug their names into the problems! They love reading their own names or their classmates names in the story problems. So simple... yet often I forget to do those little things.

Teaching is such a blessing... every day, I learn something from my students. Today they reminded me how amazing structure is; the days I provide the most structure are the days they write in their journals, "Today was the best day ever!" They are so precious.

Blessing #28: Backwards Planning
This week I really worked on my reading plans... I had been noticing that my students were struggling with comprehension; even for my students who struggle to read on grade-level, I wanted to give them strategies to use when reading short stories. I have been teaching how to identify the beginning, middle, and end of a story in a short one page text, and how to circle or underline important words. Then we have been practicing using that information to help us answer questions about the text. Today, I really saw my students being successful using those skills! The succinct, skill-driven lesson plans came from looking at the assessment for the week and breaking down exactly what my students would need to know and be able to do in order to master the comprehension skill assessed. I had lost track of how to efficiently backwards plan for reading; this week helped me get in touch once again with my inner Corps Member. (TFA lingo...) I can't wait to see how my kiddos do on the assessment tomorrow!

Don't forget to count your blessings.
Much love ♥