Week 4: Ups and Downs (Pt. 2)

Thursday: The schedule was rearranged due to a music concert rehearsal, so we skipped calendar and reading right away in the morning. When we found time to work on that stuff (and Word Work), I decided writing quickly would probably be better than making sure I used my best first-grade handwriting, but boy was I wrong! ;-) The kids made fun of my "silly writing," and PSH brought me a kindergarten handwriting book to practice in! haha. Again, their behavior was a little rough... that's the hardest part!! The tattling is insane, too. After lunch, I actually stopped reading aloud because they were so chatty. I gave them a warning or two, saying if they didn't raise their hands and just talked, I was going to stop reading. I felt bad, but I had to follow through! Overall, I didn't feel like today was one of my BEST days. Tomorrow will be better :-)

Helpful Hints:
-For problems on the rug: assign spots, send them from the rug, or make the trouble-maker your "special helper," so that they stay by you and don't lead the other kids astray.
-Let them know you mean business by following through! (This is my biggest problem!)
-Put highlighters next to the turn-in basket, so that they have to use the highlighter to underline their name. Then they can't forget it! ( Tip courtesy of PSH :-) )

Need a Smile?
-As I was tying a student's shoes, he says: "Tying my shoes is boring!"
-A student was complaining about his tooth, so another student decided to be helpful: "I know where you live, and my dad can rip your tooth out." ;-)
-CT: "Whose chair is this?" Student: "That's mine!" So he drags it halfway to his seat, then just leaves it in the middle of the walkway...
-"Mmmm... like, I didn't get my snowball yet." This little girl asks almost every day, despite that fact that my CT and I have told her tons of times that snowballs come on Mondays... she is so obsessed with these little snowballs that her mom called my CT to ask when her daughter was getting one -- wow! ;-)
-This student has a HUGE puffy jacket, so he can't get his backpack on by himself (cause the straps are so tight). He says, "I can't get my backpack on cause I'm so buff!" LOL!!

Friday: Well, I didn't take too many notes on today... but it was a pretty good day :-) I took my first star from a student (and felt SUPER bad about it...), but I think the rest of the students finally understood that I am in charge, too, so they should listen. We had a Community Meeting in the morning, which is when the entire school meets in the gym and lunch room to listen to announcements, and cute little awards for individual students and classes as a whole. I love the concept!! During centers time, I took the students who were finished into the computer lab to play games. They were amazed at how fast I could type, haha. Who knew that I'd have to help them so much to play games, though?! I don't think I sat down that entire time ;-) I do have to say that it was fun!! :-) For Word Work, I wrote a cute little note to them and wrote "This is from me to you," since we're working on the words "from" and "this." The Word Work book actually has some really good ideas!!
Mr. CT and the CT kids all came during lunch today -- the oldest was wearing a nametag that said "Little Miss CT-in-training." SUPER adorable! The students all enjoyed their visit, too. The middle CT kid gave one of the students a hug and kiss before they all left! It was quite funny :-)
I got to lead another activity toward the end of the day, and it went pretty well. Today was MUCH better than yesterday!!

Need a Smile?
-"Miss Wodrich, see this note? I'm gonna put it inside my shirt like they do in the movies, like when they open their jackets and put it in their shirt pocket." Super cute!
-"Miss Wodrich, I like you!" Then he gives me a hug!! I love working in first grade! ;-)