But really...it was SO hard to keep going today, knowing that tomorrow is the last day of school - and that instead of teaching art, music, and p.e., we'll be watching Polar Express with the kids. Which means technically, today....I'm done! Woooooo-hooooo!
This is the time last year that I thought would never come. I was hanging on and surviving.
This year I'm hanging on, surviving, AND teaching. :)
A first grader today asked me if I had facebook. A first grader. Then I remembered that when I was in first grade, I didn't even know what the Internet was!
Sometimes my best activities in class are ones I come up with on a whim - about 5 minutes before my kids come. This week I decided to stick post-its on all my kids' backs with different note values on them. Then they had to go around the class asking other people yes/no questions about what was on their back. When they figured it out, they put it on their front, and we lined up from biggest note value to smallest. Then we stuck the post-its on the board in the shape of our "rhythm tree" we'd been practicing writing a lot lately. I was supposed to assess this skill for our "official common assessments" and I did! Only the kids didn't even know they were being assessed. And we all had fun.
Another time, after my kids had already come into the classroom, I suddenly had the idea to have them lay on the floor and make shapes of the treble clef letter names with their bodies. More crazy looks. But lots of laughter, and engaged learning. Times like these are when I love teaching the most!
What about you...how do you learn best? Do you like traditional paper and pencil approach or active, hands-on (and sometimes a little crazy) learning?
Alicia, your classes sound wonderful. Hands-on, crazy learning is the best. It sounds like you're really keeping your students excited and engaged! I love it!
ReplyDeleteI hope you and your family had a very merry Christmas. Can't wait to hear about your mission trip to Mexico. We'll keep you and your team in our prayers.
Amy and Sam