It was Catholic Schools week at our school. Though I run the public school program in a Catholic school, my kids participated in the fun stuff going on in the school that was non-secular. It wasn't supposed to affect our schedule much so we went right on planning do do helpers this week.
On Monday I was going to take a short break from community helpers to work on shapes and colors. In doing my fall and winter assessment, I noticed that this class was struggling with some of the shapes. I decided we could play shape/color bingo in small groups.We played this game, but one thing I didn't like was that there was no oval, hexagon, heart, or rhombus/diamond. I may create one of these on my own, but I do think the Bingo helped them to get some of the shapes.
When calling the colors and shapes I:
- Did not show them the picture, but said the shape and color.
- I mentioned how many sides the shape had: "Find the rectangle. Two long sides, two short sides. The rectangle."
- If a student was searching and seemed confused I repeated the shape description. If they didn't have it on their card I would say something along the lines of "Oh, you don't have the red rectangle, but if you look over by your hand you have a blue rectangle. See the two short sides and the two long sides?" If they did: "See that shape by your hand that has two short sides and two long sides? Count the long sides, count the short sides? Does that have 2 long and two short? Good, you got it!"
I feel this method of not showing them and not letting their friends tell them helped them hear the word, learn what really makes that shape what it is, and problem solve on their own. I noticed some progress just in working on it that day.
This was great with the AM class, but in the afternoon we had a (great) science show put on by the High Schoolers in the area in the afternoon. The kids really enjoyed the science show, but it was literally their entire time there.
On Tuesday, I planned on doing our letter of the week, decorating the letter, as we always do. H is for hearts. Well in the AM we had "HOP FOR LEUKEMIA" A fundraiser the students did where they got donations based on how many hops they did. A great idea, a great discussion on how the more hops we do, the more money we can give doctors to find the right medicine to help them. One little boy even pointed to the family picture and stated that this was "like Mr. Gloudemans' job!" Yay, they listen when I talk! This took up a majority of the AM, but they did get their letters made.
In the afternoon, the 5th graders came to count their hops. We then made our hearts on our H, and they had their play time. I called them over in small groups and they did get to play their shape bingo. Sound great right, except, we haven't gotten to community helpers yet.....
Well Wednesday brings a blessed email/phone call to me (I have been sick with a very nasty cold, but not calling in because of all the festivities):
I had them do their math match, as their morning work and did not do today's journal. It got done, they got the math concept, but we didn't get much discussion on it as we would have if we would have done it in small group. On Thursday we always plan on doing our hand print letter activity: H is for Hippo. In the morning we got it done, but instead of second circle on Thursdays we do our handwriting sheet...so no Curious George. In the PM I actually left for a field trip with the students who stay and ARE in the Catholic school program as a chaperone (but part of my AM program). My AM aide stayed with my PM class and did the work with them.
As I said, it was just one of those weeks. I am glad they are still getting their letter work and still getting the standards they need to meet (math, speaking, fine motor, etc) but a little sad we didn't get to more of the small group discussions on all the helpers in the community. Well, there is always next year!
In the afternoon, the 5th graders came to count their hops. We then made our hearts on our H, and they had their play time. I called them over in small groups and they did get to play their shape bingo. Sound great right, except, we haven't gotten to community helpers yet.....
Well Wednesday brings a blessed email/phone call to me (I have been sick with a very nasty cold, but not calling in because of all the festivities):
Yay snow (actually a rain, cooled of 20*, sleet, cooled of another 20*, and snowed on top of all that) day! Except.....Wednesday was the day we were going to do a community helper math match, and read Curious George and the Dump Truck and discuss how construction workers help as well as sequence of events in the story(another skill I discovered we need to work more on) Oh darn!
I had them do their math match, as their morning work and did not do today's journal. It got done, they got the math concept, but we didn't get much discussion on it as we would have if we would have done it in small group. On Thursday we always plan on doing our hand print letter activity: H is for Hippo. In the morning we got it done, but instead of second circle on Thursdays we do our handwriting sheet...so no Curious George. In the PM I actually left for a field trip with the students who stay and ARE in the Catholic school program as a chaperone (but part of my AM program). My AM aide stayed with my PM class and did the work with them.
As I said, it was just one of those weeks. I am glad they are still getting their letter work and still getting the standards they need to meet (math, speaking, fine motor, etc) but a little sad we didn't get to more of the small group discussions on all the helpers in the community. Well, there is always next year!
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