I Survived!

Week 1 is over! :) My two classes are great, each in their own way. My homeroom is well-behaved and eager to learn.. YAY! My 2nd class is.. well.. they need "reminders" about why they're at school, but we'll get there. They realized this week that I meant it when I said science could be boring (paper/pencil only) or fun (hands-on investigations + some paper/pencil). We tried fun Wednesday. Needless to say, we did boring Thursday. Then I put myself on a soapbox and talked for a good 15 minutes about what was expected of them. We tried fun again Friday and it went MUCH better.

Accomplished this week:
Math: geoboard rules, lines and angles learned, math journal entries (angles and lines), problem solving steps, multiplication facts 2s and 5s, review of place value to the thousands

Science: journals set up, safety contract signed by parents and students, guidelines pasted, two investigations on the physical properties of matter

Social Studies: read our first lesson "People Come to the Americas"

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As we get faster and don't have to spend such a long time on rules/procedures/reminders, I'm hoping to get more social studies in. I'm a bit behind already in everything, but I'll catch up soon enough. Now I need to go find petri dishes and BBs. Renewed inspiration from Tales of Frogs & Cupcakes.

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Tonight: Out for drinks and dinner (my friend is oddly craving steak) and a movie (Columbiana).

I love the weekends.

From Teaching 4th