Cube Control

My fourth grade boys have a difficult time keeping their mouths shut in class. Not really a surprise, but it was getting pretty bad. Hm, yes, by the way I have a tiny class of fourth grade math students and they are all boys, three of them. Yesterday they had a little detention with me because of their lack of control. Today I had a lightbulb moment and it turned out better than I expected. Here's what went down...

First of all, I have these colorful mini cubes I used. They are fun to look at and handle. Each time one of the boys raised his hand, I gave him a cube. If a student talked out, I took a cube away. At the end of the class period they could pick one small object from the Goodie Box for every ten cubes they had earned. In the future, we will collect cubes all week, keep track of how many cubes each boy has, and take a prize only on Friday. I might do a system where some things take more cubes than others, or for every fifty cubes they can pick from the box, or something else like that. Maybe they can choose to collect cubes for a longer period of time and get a larger prize. It all just occurred to me today so I haven't worked out the details. Any ideas are welcome.

The best part of all this is that the boys thought it was a super fun game and asked if we could play it again next week! Several times they caught themselves talking out and turned in a cube. Then they corrected their behavior and worked on remembering to raise their hand. No one got mad if he had to put a cube back. Weird, but hey, if it works...

For me, it means they're being quiet and raising their hands. And now we're all happy.

Shout Out

Here's to my fifth graders - Audrey, Caitlin, Abi, Kara, Maddie, Paul, Keegan, Jacob, Katie - for all A's on their first math test! Way to go, guys! I am so proud of your hard work already this year.

Ten Things I've Had To Remember...

at the beginning of this school year:

 

1.  I have to go to bed early.

2.  Prayer is a must.

3.  Things will have to be explained many times.

4.  Patience = sanity.

5.  Something is going to change - new student, different schedule, something!

6.  I will make mistakes; students will make mistakes.

7.  I can't be too prepared at the beginning of the year.

8.  Early morning meetings are inevitable; just go with it.

9.  Everyone else is tired and overwhelmed, too.

10.The rest of the year isn't like the beginning; it does get easier.  

I am My Mother

As I get older I am amazed to see traits of both my parents manifested in my own lifestyle, personality, etc. Sitting in teacher meetings yesterday and today, I had the thought, "I am my mother!" and I had to chuckle. For those of you who know my mom well or have taught with her, you'll get this - I was sitting in our meetings taking notes, making lists and plans with my mom's signature blue Bic pen and yellow lined legal pad! Not only that, I am working in the same school with the same staff (mostly) teaching the same class she did! And I am happy to say that if I have to be like somebody, I'm so glad it's Chris Dykstra.

Here We Go Again!!

Up at 6:00, ran 2 miles at 6:30, left for school at 8:15! I'm back in the school mode, almost into the school schedule and routine, and I LOVE it.

rainy day funnies

"It's right. I did math." Charlie, figuring out if the pasta had been cooking long enough

"Dear Heavenly Father...oh, I mean 1,2,3..." Charlie, her turn to count for hide and seek

"Miss D. I see you...Miss D, I see you!...I found your pants so don't think I can't see you!" Syd, during her turn as seeker

End of the Year Review

This week is our last week of school at Lakeshore Christian Academy, and let me tell you we are all excited! The kids want to have a party week, but it ain't gonna happen, no siree. We are going to work work work til we absolutely have to quit and clean up. One day they'll thank me. Since we finished up our last vocab unit last week we have been reviewing the units we've covered this year. Today I printed Mad Libs for students to fill out using their vocab words. They loved it! Working in pairs they filled in four different stories and had a chance to share two with the rest of the class. The Mad Libs activity would mostly review the part of speech for their vocab words, but at least it's something. And, in the curriculum I use students have to know just about everything about each word so it works fine to just review part of speech. I think this activity would be good for any one unit, but it might be best with a whole bunch of units to choose from like we had. Either way, it's one more way to put into practice vocabulary words being learned.