Well, this week was really short because we had snow days on both Monday and Tuesday. I was supposed to teach a math lesson on addition rules on Wednesday, but due to the snow days, the lesson got pushed back a week. I already had it ready, but now I have extra time to look over it and get a little bit more comfortable with the information.
On Wednesday in math we reviewed addition facts and fact triangles. We also read some of Roald Dahl’s Danny the Champion of the World. This is a great opportunity to introduce lots of new vocabulary that the students wouldn’t normally be exposed to (such as poaching, etc). There was also a whole-school assembly in the afternoon to celebrate Black History Month. The sixth grade classes read Martin Luther King, Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech which was paired with pictures showing segregation (white-only and black-only water fountains, segregated buses) and photos of Martin Luther King, Jr. himself. After this, the high school jazz choir performed several African American spirituals. The students actually payed attention and were focused. One of the students is apparently scared of the dark, because before the assembly he kept asking about whether or not the lights would be off and what would happen if they did turn the lights off.
On Thursday we tried to show that the students can use Base Ten rods to measure objects in centimeters. They measured their pencils, art boxes, and a crayon. We finished reading a chapter out of Danny the Champion of the World, but the students were getting very antsy because of Valentine’s Day. They had their party that afternoon and there were 3 jars of different candy and the students had to guess how many pieces were in each jar. It was funny to see how they perceived the amounts. Some students were guessing 10,000 candy hearts, when in reality there were 500. They enjoyed their party and it was fun to see them not in “student mode” but being more of themselves.
vpeterman09 said,
February 17, 2008 at 6:00 pm
This week was bit of a crazy week due to the weather and that sucks that your lesson got moved back, but you are right about it being nice to be more comfortable with the topics you are teaching.
The assembly sounds like a really great experience for the whole student body and it’s great that the students actually paid attention and took in what they were listening to. Seeing these areas of history is important for all students to understand and see how far our country has come, even if they don’t realize it.
That’s great that you got to do something with the Base Ten rods that we talked about in class, even if it didn’t go as well as it could have, but you have to expect that when it comes to parties that are happening after the lesson.
Sounds like it was a good 2 days though, good luck on your lesson and I can’t wait to hear about it!