Today was a very eventful and busy morning in Mrs. S’s classroom. We had a shortened day as we spent the last half observing grade 4 math students at another school. We were preoccupied preparing for Valentine’s Day activities before the start of class, making sure that all the student’s had their heart holders ready for Valentine’s mail delivery. The morning started off with our typical Morning Meeting, and we played some thumb ball games to finish off the lesson. The student’s love the thumb-ball game, and are beginning to understand the expectations that come along with playing. I find that repetition of rules are key, and to ask the students to repeat the expectations back to the teacher helps verify that the teacher knows the rules are clear to the students. I then modelled how the ball should be thrown (lightly and by calling the name of the person that the ball is being thrown to). I then took the students straight in to our art lesson, which started off with learning the Cupid Shuffle dance. I wanted to incorporate dance into the art lesson, as I feel DPA is extremely important, and is often overlooked on a daily basis. The dance also helped student’s understand direction of movement, and provided an outlet for creativity and expression. I felt that the students really enjoyed themselves, and were excited to perform in front of me without my guidance.

We then moved in to our lesson on directed-drawing of the Angel Kitty. For the most part, students did a good job of focusing, as I have been working on developing classroom management strategies. I feel as though the management is becoming easier as time passes, although there are some students that keep me extremely challenged. I am looking forward to learning more about how to help these particular children grow, and also to stand firm ground when they are misbehaving. Sometimes I give them too many opportunities to make the right choice, and need to show more control over the situation. I am also going to be working on providing more constructive feedback on student work, rather than making observations such as “great,” or “perfect.” At times, I feel that being as positive as possible is a natural response, but forget to provide detailed feedback on what aspects I like the most- I will definitely be more aware of this in future lessons. After our art lesson, during prep time, Mrs. S and I worked on creating a story with our weekly spelling words for the students. We then transitioned into a Valentine’s math worksheet (addition and subtraction). During this time, I worked with one of the students who typically struggles with focus, particularly in math. We looked at manipulatives instead of working on the math sheet provided, as this is the best method for his learning at this time. The students worked exceptionally well independently, and this gave me an opportunity to wonder around and assist those who also required extra attention. I have noticed that many students do not yet understand the “make-a-ten” strategy, which makes it difficult to add larger numbers such as 8+9. They currently use their rulers and number charts to help them “count on” from a number. In the coming weeks I will work towards developing a way for the students to understand further strategies that makes more sense. I feel as though some math strategies are too complex for students to grasp at this point- but we will continue to work on them!

At lunch, I handed out Valentine’s Day treats to the kids, and took off for the next session at Annieville! Until next week…