Flying Nearly Solo

Today went pretty well.

I got to teach on my own for most of the day. I was very excited about this.

Persuasive Writing Introduction

• The lesson went pretty well. I was surprised that only a few students had used the OREO model, but a few of them had used the hamburger method. I forgot to point out that it was called the OREO method because the letters spell out OREO. I am glad that my teacher pointed that out, because that went over their heads. I modeled how to go through the outline two times and my teacher modeled it another time. We read The Pigeon Needs a Bath, we analyzed how the pigeon and the flies used persuasion. 

Prime and Composite Numbers

• This lesson went alright today. I used the chart, which is the same way that I learned about prime and composite numbers. I feel like the students get this concept about 75% of the way. The sheet that would have been their homework if we did not have ISTEP+ tomorrow is going to be their morning work. I was surprised that a few of the students did not have the definitions in their math notebooks. I would like to follow up this lesson with a short lesson where we review the definitions and classify certain numbers as being prime or composite. 
• My teacher helped me format my math test today. She said that it looked pretty good, but my instructions were not worded in the way that she usually words them, so we fixed the directions. 

Making Inferences

• I used a poetry book called Would I Ever Lie to You? for today's lesson. The students had apparently already read this book, but we still made inferences together in a way in which helped them grow. They had a few misunderstandings about the book. We used siblings/family experiences as schema to base our inferences on as we read the book. When it got to an exciting part, I had the students pause and discuss their inferences with a partner. This would have gone better if the students had not already read this book as a read aloud at the beginning of the school year. 
• I liked reading the book. The poetry flowed well, which helped my expression. I even saw some of the children jump or get nervous, even though the book wasn't that scary. I liked seeing how engaged the children seemed with this book. I might just have to buy a copy of this book for my future classroom. 
• My teacher pointed out that the students are still struggling with using their inferences for mysteries this morning. I asked the students if any of them watch mystery shows such as Criminal Minds, Castle, or Scooby Doo. Quite a few of the students raised their hands. I got a little excited and let them know that they naturally used inferring skills when they watched those shows because they probably wanted to know who did it. Making inferences is just like being a detective (which is why I drew magnifying glasses on all of my anchor charts for this unit). 

Discussing Discipline

• I talked to the children about how they need to be respectful and not talk while I'm talking because I am trying to help them learn.
• I started a new discipline method today. If they talk in the hallway, they have to walk by me. When we reach the destination, they have to go to the end of their group's part of the line. After I did this once, I decided to also have them clip down from now on. At first, the children did not think that it would be so bad, but they figured out the truth fairly quickly. 

Late Morning Meeting

• We moved the morning meeting this morning. We had to have it in the afternoon and we couldn't have every student present. The students were unhappy to exclude some of their classmates. I told them that I knew how much they loved the morning meeting and that I wanted to make sure that they could get it, even if we could not include everyone. 
• I learned that one of my girls may have scoliosis and will have to wear a back brace until she is finished growing. She is an athlete, so I am sure that this is going to be hard on her. 

Colleagues

• I don't think that my colleagues know why I wasn't at school yesterday, but they showed a lot of support today. I don't think that I will tell them any details, but it was nice to know that they care. One of them told me all of the 4th grade teachers are my net and they care about me. I told them thank you. I am glad that I was able to get so close to so many great people this semester.