Celebrate This Week

Check out Ruthayreswrites.com for links to more great posts in what happened in the world of education this week.

It has been a wonderful week. My students are really getting into the swing of reading accountability. Most of them have a chapter book going every week. They no longer balk at writing about what they are reading. They are sharing books with one another. They are excited about book draws. It warms heart!!

We had a wonderful book club discussion this week. I wrote about it in the post should go on our schools new blog soon. We did a Skype type visit with another FFCA campus. It was a good learning experience. I can't wait to try it again!! I am really excited about our next book mostly because I was able to connect with the author on Twitter. I can't wait to have my students tweet her as they're reading all through the month.

One of my grade level teacher friends told me about a conversation she had with a parent. They said they've always battled with their son about reading at home. Since he has joined great three bookclub, he is excited about reading and they don't don't fight about him reading anymore! They are big fans of book club! Yea!! That warmed my heart! 

We had a really fun day with the high school. They came and did a 'commercial' for the musical they are performing. At the same time I was working in our classroom newsletter and included some information about the play. I googled articles about the value of theatre for children. It was quite inspiring. I am so glad that I work at a school that values the arts.

Friday was a PD day. I love PD days. This week we stayed at our own campus for PD. We were very busy all day discussing and reflecting on our new report card format, learning about iPads, planning for character lessons...and best of all, leaning from each other. We went from classroom to classroom and each teacher shared a best practice. What a brilliant bunch I work with. It was truly inspiring.

Prison Sentence

In our school kids get homework every day.

I know. I know. 

Lots of people could go on about why kids don't need homework.

Our philosophy is that it needs to be something they can do independently and should take 20-30 minutes. No big deal.

This past week we have had less homework because we have been having swimming lessons. It has caused us to change our schedule s bit and cut out some things. As a result, there has been a lighter load when it comes to homework.

Today I did to them, "I hope you have enjoyed this week because next week we are back to our routine."

One of my clever children blurted out, "Oh man! It feels like when you are finally out of jail and then someone sends you back again."

What??? Are you speaking from personal experience here, my dear??  LOL

Family Secrets

Recently, one of my students was telling me about a trip their family went on overseas.

"And my mom wanted to bring some seeds, but you're not allowed - so she HID them in our booster seats!"

Oh boy.

Bathroom Problems

While walking down the hall the other day, I heard a darling little voice from the boys washroom shout: You are NOT supposed to pee on the door!

.....do I have to stop and deal with this??? 

Picture Books

Today I read a few picture books to my class.

I told them how much I loved these stories....and I do.

I read them with great flair and drama.

I had them all listening intently.

At the end they broke out in applause.

Don't be confused. It wasn't applause for me. It was applause for the story. They were captivated by it.

They loved it too. 

I love my job.

Free Play and Holidays

We are just back from a week off - a new holiday to us called Fall Break.

Some people do a lot of complaining about fall break. They would rather have a week in the summer when the weather is nice. Some people went exciting places. Some stayed home.

It was interesting to talk to my students about fall break. Predictably, I had my students write in their journals about what they did during fall break. One thing I love about my class is they really don't hold back. If there is something they don't want to do or don't like they let me know right away. There was lots of whining and complaining and questions about how many sentences they had to write.

I figured it was time for a good talk. It seems that some kids, if they didn't go somewhere exotic, felt like they didn't do anything. My mind went back to an article I read recently on the importance of free play. 

http://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2014/06/for-better-school-results-clear-the-schedule-and-let-kids-play/373144/

Staying home for a break really gives a kid the chance to figure out what they like to do and to make their own fun - a key to healthy development. We talked about the wonderful things about staying home.....time to do whatever you want (watch TV or Youtube, read, do Lego, stare out your window.....a favorite of many kids). We talked about going tobaganning. We talked about going to the mall (some love it and some, like me, hate it). Eventually, they all started to come on board. I tied it up with, "Besides, if the principal hears that we don't like fall break maybe he will decide we should just be in school instead." That clinched it. Suddenly everyone realized they had a wonderful fall break!

And the writing!!! I told them there was no way they could tell me how great fall break was in 5 sentences. I also told them I wasn't going to give them a number. Rather, they needed to write until they wrote enough that what they wrote would remind themselves when they read it again about how great fall break is.

And it sure is!