...
That is literally the only thing I can say to describe the week we had in room 9. We returned from fall break on Monday and I wasn't sure what to expect. The morning started out very very strange. By strange I mean, it was completely silent in my classroom. This NEVER happens. I wasn't sure what kind of twilight/scary moon stuff was going on, but it was weird. As the day went on, it became less weird.
I really feel like we have made some gains, and some major gains at that. The kiddos were actually excited to see their fiction and nonfiction video, and even though, they said that they still need to talk louder, they were much more receptive of themselves on camera. WIN!
When we started the week, planning for our Mystery Skype, I was super nervous. NO ONE wanted to be a speaker, or talk into the camera. I gave them some pretty big guilt trips and finally got 2 volunteers. We talked about our jobs, and I let the two speakers practice talking to each other on skype with one of them using my phone outside. I think this really helped them to calm their nerves.
We started multiplication this week, with a minor introduction of division. We really started to understand arrays and equal groups. They are able to solve multiplication problems now, and that is a huge success. What we are struggling with is the multiplication facts. I am struggling as a teacher, with how to actually teach this. We have made our own multiplication charts to help them see the pattern of repeated addition and skip counting, and that was a great visual. We are starting to take our timed multiplication tests, and it's a pretty big struggle. I don't know how I can really expect them to be able to answer these multiplication fact problems so quickly after only 4 1/2 days of multiplication instruction, but somehow, they need to be able to answer it for our assessment this Friday. We are going to truck along and learn some songs and hopefully be able to memorize some facts. This is probably more challenging with my group, because they still don't have basic addition and subtraction facts memorized either. Taking big leaps, but still a long way to go across this pond.
We talked about synonyms and antonyms this week, and made synonym flowers! They turned out adorable and I hope the students learn to use them as resources when we are writing and talking about word usage. We started our big unit on functional text, and began with using a dictionary. We still need quite a bit of practice with using a dictionary (They struggle with actually finding a word), but at least we know what a dictionary is and what a definition is (yes, we really had to have that conversation). We also learned how to use a thesaurus, and for some reason, they LOVED this.
This week, we are going to learn about encyclopedias, maps, schedules, and diagrams. We will also learn about homonyms, and break down some homographs, and homophones. Phew! Lot's to do in the next few days!
We have TWO more mystery skypes set up for this week, and we are super excited for them... so, let's talk about Mystery Skype number one!
Oh my gosh! How fun! The kids did AWESOME! After the mystery skype, so many of them expressed an interest in being the "speaker" because it "really wasn't that scary". This makes my heart happy. We had our photographer and video taper during the skype, so of course, I made an imovie of our entire skype. I can't wait for them to actually see it and see how awesome they did. We have some new formats to follow for these next two skypes, and I am excited to see how they perform, especially since now, they have such greater confidence about the whole idea now. After we finished the skype, I sat in my classroom and cried tears of joy for a good 6 minutes. I can't even explain in words how proud of them I am. I gave them a HUGE challenge. Remember, they didn't even know what state we lived in, or what the difference between a city and a state was? They were successfully able to locate Michigan in our mystery skype date. Of course, we might have cheated with the whole google search part, BUT, they did use their map resources to narrow down states, and for that, we can certainly celebrate greatly! They succeeded, and definitely passed that challenge. I LOVE that I am sticking to my guns, and bringing this technology into their lives. It is so different for them, and not traditional in the sense that NO ONE else on my campus is doing anything that I am, BUT, my kids are preserving, they are learning, they are building skills, and gaining confidence. We are doing great things in room 9, and just because "data" on an invalid and irrelevant assessment doesn't reflect our greatness, doesn't mean we can't celebrate. We are great, and, we are doing great things. Good things are happening, and I am so excited to share this greatness with these little hearts.
Enjoy! :)
~~Ms. Niehaus
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