Getting Into the Swing of Things

Last week was a wonderful week at school. I regained my voice and was feeling much better than I had been feeling. I really feel as though I am truly getting into the swing of things, and wouldn't you know it it almost time to go? It seems like that is always the way it goes. Once you have gotten used to something it seems to change. I have started some new reading programs in my class that I hope my teacher continues doing even after I am gone. We start reading off with a class poem, and then we move into shared reading. We have a different goal each week that we are working towards (fluency, expression, questioning, full stops, etc.). I pick out a big book and we read it as a class, and I must say that their reading has truly improved since the beginning of the term. We have continued our celebration of Dr. Seuss month and read Across America. We read the story, Oh The Places You'll Go and I connected it with what we are discussing in topic about our vision and dreams. We talked about dreams and goals that we had for the rest of the school year, the next couple of years, and when we grow up. Then, I had students create a dream book. A special place where they can write down all of the dreams that they have and be able to remember that. The kids loved doing this and it really got a lot of my students thinking about what they want to accomplish, and we discussed the importance of having dreams. I think it is wonderful to cross section subjects and for this lesson it worked out very well.
We met with our reading buddies again and things once again went so well. The kids are really getting a lot out of this experience and it is truly an amazing sight to see. I created a tracker sheet so that the buddies can keep track of the books that they read and what they thought of the book. This will be a wonderful thing for the students to look back on and see what they have accomplished in their time together. My students are almost finished creating their flat stanley characters that will come back with me to America, so that is very exciting! Overall, they look great and the kids really did a nice job with them. I am learning that it is difficult at time dealing with the pace that kids work at. I have a few students who do a wonderful job but get right to work and finish very quickly, and then on the other end I have the kids that get off track and take forever to get things done. I have work for those who finish early always to complete, but it is difficult in some else's classroom to get those that cannot get their work done to get going. In my own classroom I have learned that I will have a policy about completing work during class time and when things need to be done, and that way students are really working during the time that I give them in class.