Even though this week was a short week, it sure felt like a long regular week!

I was quite nervous to launch my math unit this week, but thankfully it unraveled better than expected. I feel comforted when I can rely on storybooks as part of my lesson, especially when it comes to math. The students seem to enjoy the “change of pace” during my math sessions this week. I incorporated children’s literature as well collaborative games; I had students sitting in a circle instead of facing me all the time. My school advisors also informed me that students were engaged in my math activities. Going forward, I know what kinds of modes to incorporate. It was also interesting to be in front of a new group setting – since the four divisions on our side of the hallway separate students according to ability. New mixture of students, new kinds of classroom management strategies!

I think my biggest learning experience this week was not to always assume my “older learners” can do “older learner” things. We had created differentiated worksheets for our insect theme lesson on movement (jump, fly, crawl.) For the younger ones, the instructions were for them to cut, sort and paste insects according to their main movement. The expectations for the older students (grade 2) were to draw and label. I guess I assumed my grade 2’s liked to draw because I noticed their doodles during centres or indoor recess. But I realized that drawing these insects were quite difficult for them. In the end, some of my younger students ended up completing the worksheet before the older students, which is usually vice-versa for other activities! Seeing that they were having difficulty with drawing, I gave copies of the younger students’ cut and paste insects for them to copy for their own work. The result was lots of unfinished work, and due to the afternoon Easter egg hunt, there was no opportunity to catch up. Learning from this, I will assess what exactly I want the students to draw first before incorporating it into the lesson.

Still trying to keep up with lesson prep beforehand and assessing how much prep is worth the end product. Is it really worth printing numerous bingo cards and pieces for a 15-minute activity that will never ever be done again? Maybe not…I did not do this, but it definitely crossed my mind! I am hoping that with the full immersion coming very soon, I can get the hang of planning effective lessons without the long hours of prep.