Exit Tickets

I have my kids write me and "Exit Ticket" in their journals before leaving at the end of the day... it can be about anything that happened that day, something they learned, something they liked or didn't like, a note to me... whatever - just SOMETHING.

On Friday I rushed through reading them so that I could get out of dodge and start my long weekend, too. In the very last journal, from one of my most outspoken kiddos:

"Whoever decided that the kids and the teachers needed a three day weekend after the first week of school was really smart. Actually I think they were a genius."

Ditto that.

Happy Labor Day Weekend!!!!

-Mrs. G

My Name is NOT Ms.

One of my ultimate pet peeves is to be called "Ms."... It's really important to me that my kids address me as Mrs. LastName and understand WHY its so important to me. Some teachers in my school argue that its better than not being called anything or that its a sign of respect. I really don't like it and tell my kiddos that its like me calling them "boy" or "girl". They get it.

Anyway - the point of this post is that over the past week my class has officially decided (umprompted, I might add) to call me "Mrs. G" and has dubbed our class the "G-Unit".

I love my little 5th grade gangstas.

H is for Jalapenos

Back in college I tutored (actually, all of the site’s contributors did!) for a program helping struggling readers and English Language Learners. One of the precious little boys was in second grade and had only been in the US for six weeks when we met.

During some our first tutoring sessions we spent a lot of time going over the English alphabet and the sounds the letter make (the letter “sound” is written as the letter in “slashes”… i.e. J says /j/) .

A says /a/...apple, around, astronaut. B says /b/… bear, butter (montequilla!? … yes… montequilla!), bunny… and on through the alphabet.

About the second or third time through with me modeling the sounds I asked my sweet friend to think of words he had learned and say them when we got to the right letter. I would say one first and then he would say his. A, /a/, apple… alphabet (YAY!). B, /b/, baby… book (hurrah!)… we got to H… /h/ is a tricky sound to “get” for a Spanish speaker learning English (at least in my experience it is!).

I said H, /h/… homework. A long pause, an uncomfortable look, and just as I am about to suggest a word and move, on my creative tutee gets a sly look and a huge grin and says at the top of his lungs, “H! /h/! JALAPENO!!!!” Oh my, did we have a laugh at that. He KNEW that jalapeno didn’t start with H but he sure did get that it started with the same sound that H makes!

I can never go to type or write “jalapeno” without first writing out Halapeno.

Loving every moment,

Mrs. G

Meet the Teacher...uh, I already have

Today was "Meet the Teacher" day. Funny, my students have met me. The question is do they remember?! Considering I have a tiny class, if just one person showed up, that would be a pretty good percentage. And what do you know; one showed up! Walking in with hands over his ears and feeling very unsure about what this torture is all about, his mother drags him into our classroom. (note: my classroom moved to the other end of the hall, but I set it up exactly the same way it was last year) He is very upset, then suddenly, he notices his favorite lace-up toys right on the shelf where they're supposed to be! The world is getting better. He goes over to the toys and begins to take them off the shelf, then, WOW! With a slow glance around the room, it all starts to come back! With a small grin, he decides he wants the play dough instead. I start talking to mom, and before we know it, he's got playdough, blocks, lace-up toys, and books all over the floor. Amazing how quickly that happens. As I approach him to prompt the clean up, I get the push away. He does not want to be bothered. Uh oh, someone got used to having their way over the summer. Time for "The Clean Up Song"! Works like a charm. It's amazing, the power of song. Gets kids to clean up, and gets my husband to want to tape my mouth shut! (those darn songs get stuck in your head; I'm working on that)

Looks like we'll be starting the year off with a big refresher course in the rules of the classroom! And as an aside, let me just say that they grow soooo much over the summer! My goodness! Before I know it my elementary kiddos are going to be bigger than me! Let another year of excitement begin...