Blog Entry #4

Engaging activities:
Alternative Book Report - The students were able to chose from a list of alternative book reports for their at home reading. Some of these included: Creating a scene from the book, making a relationship chart of the characters, drawing a map of the setting, etc. This provided a great way for the students to enjoy their reading, and for their comprehension to be tested/applied.

Spelling Test Game - The day before the spelling test, the class reviewed the spelling words by playing snake. The teacher went through the class having each student say only one letter to the vocab word. If a mistake was made, the student sat down at their desk and spelled the remaining words as they were presented for the game. This helped students practice the spelling words in a fun/enjoyable way.

Group Book Discussion - The class was divided into 6 groups. The teacher would call each group back individually and discuss the readings from that week. Each student had a different job to do during the week (find three discussion questions, draw a scene from the reading, 3 vocab words, etc.) This provided a great way to get all the students involved and enjoying the reading together.


Not so engaging activity:
White board game - The point of this activity is to have the teacher display a math problem on the whiteboard, then have the students solve the problems on a mini white board at their desks. As an observer, I noticed that it was the same few students who were quickly solving the problems, holding up their boards, and stealing the teacher's attention by calling out that they were the quickest. I feel like if they would have been split into smaller teams they would have worked together and helped all the students in their group successfully solve the problem.

Blog Entry #3

I was able to be in the classroom during my class' Valentines Day party. The teacher had taken the time to make a little heart shaped crayon and write a personal note to all 32 of her students. It was so great to see the smiles on their faces as they read their personalized notes. This act of love definitely went noticed by the kids and I'm sure it made the teacher feel great too.

One thing I really like is when the teacher recognizes creative thinking, even if the answer isn't completely correct. She gives those students positive encouragement and makes them feel like they didn't fail, and that their creative thinking is much appreciated.

At the beginning of the school day, the teacher went over the schedule, which she had posted on the board, and she followed that schedule very well, and the students knew she would follow it exactly. It helped the students look forward to fun activities during the not so fun spelling test, and it helped prevent some anxiety from a student who gets anxious when he doesn't know what is coming next. It really helped to make and keep order in the classroom.