8th day solo

Can I just say that there is something really sad that a teacher has not only written a lesson plan survival guide to the day after Halloween, but the fact that it is sought after by MANY teachers really says something! I had a day where I needed this lesson plan for sure!

I was not warned that today would be such a challenge. Not that anyone should have "warned" me, but I had no idea how crazy some of the kids would be! I did walk around at lunch and survey some of the lunchboxes and see what was deemed "good" for their lunches and I saw a LOT of candy. 

There were several color changes today. It makes me sad when a student has to change their color- that isn't why I am there- I am there to TEACH them not change their color. But if they are refusing to listen or be respectful, then change their color I must. This is something I know I have to work on- I am told this often by RM.

Today was what I'm am reading as a "typical" day for after-Halloween. The kids were bouncing off the walls and of course, when it came to lunch time and they opened their lunches, most of them had huge amounts of candy and sugar waiting for them.

I changed several colors today- and a parent working lunch even had to change two colors! You can certainly tell when they have too much sugar, that's for sure!
Our plants are coming along- we had a surprise for a couple kids today- they have sprouts! (or, as we are calling them for our unit- seedlings) The smiles on those faces was priceless! I have one left- and I planted extra in his so hopefully we see something soon! 

I'm still confused about math and what I'm doing there. I have solid lessons from the teachers math book this week so that is a good thing! I tell ya- those teacher's edition books are incredible. You could stand up front of a group of kids and just read what they tell you to say and the kids would learn the lesson! Well, maybe that is a little exaggerated, but seriously- they tell you everything in there! 

In math we have been working on base-ten blocks and place value for quite some time. We are adding money next week, but this week we are finishing up expanded notation and then will assess on it. 

I'm still struggling with getting students to put their names on their papers. I don't want to say they are being defiant but I DO think they are being somewhat lazy. I tell them non-stop for 4 or 5 minutes when I first pass out the papers and today I got back 4 math papers with no names on it! GRRRR

All this month I have been telling the students that their October journals are due at the end of the month and that this one is for a grade. I have repeated this at least a dozen times and make sure that all students understand this. So when I said yesterday that they were due, I was surprised (not really) that so many students admitted that they were not finished. One student pulled his out and put his name on it for the first time! I told many that they had to finish them last night and then today when one of the students came in and didn't have it finished, he was told that he would be doing it at lunch. He spent his recess time working on his journal and getting it started. Of course he will NOT finish it in time for the school day but he will be taking it home and working on it. I know there are a lot of other students that need to get these done- I haven't gone through them yet to see how they were done and who is missing one, but I'm sure I will be adding to my list of students who  need to complete them.