Week 13

I almost wrote this blog post last night and I am glad I did not because I had a very interesting day today.

It was a day my students had been looking forward to all week.  At the beginning of the week, we sent home a letter asking parents to make homemade salt dough to send to school on Friday for use in science.  Today was the big day. At the end of the day, students were going to use the dough to create landforms on an island that they had colored.  The students were excited all day.  Even though I told the class several times that science would not be until 2pm, they asked all day long, “Is it dough time yet?!” 

After lunch and recess, we had one more activity to get through before students were allowed to start working on their islands.  They had to use a text to answer one research question about Thanksgiving, using a graphic organizer.  I thought they would be motivated to finish in a timely fashion so that they could start science, but the usual students still took a very long time.  Thank God for the teacher subbing for my C.T. today.  My C.T. was at a workshop all day, and the substitute was awesome.  She very patiently worked with several of my slow-moving students on work all throughout the day. 

Finally it was dough time.  Students were so engaged, happy, and working hard.  They made their landforms and put them on their paper islands, labeling the landforms and bodies of water with flags.  They turned out great:

Not only did the kids show that they understood making models of landforms and bodies of water, they worked together very nicely!  The students worked independently on the project.  However, when they were done, they were able to either read a book or offer their assistance to other students.  Students who were done also offered their extra dough to students who didn’t bring dough or whose dough was too wet and sticky to work with.  They helped each other make landforms, label them, problem solve, and clean up.  When the sub started to clean desks, students were falling all over each other to help.  They really took ownership of the cleanup. 

It was completely nuts, but completely fun.

One of the best parts of the day was that when we were done with cleanup, we had 5-10 extra minutes before the kids went home.  So I got to read them a story.  Can you believe that I had not read them a story just for fun all year?  There is never time for it.   Any read-alouds are done as a part of the curriculum or the lessons.  We never ever have story time just for fun.  So I had my moment!  

Another great thing about our story time was that I finally got to read them a pigeon book.  The author Mo Willems has written a number of books that my own children and my students really enjoy.  Some of these are about a pigeon.  The first one in the series is called Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus.  I really get a kick out of these stories, and during our first indoor recess of the year I drew the pigeon on the board saying, “Indoor recess is for the birds.”  Now every time we have indoor recess I draw a pigeon saying something, and many of the kids draw pigeons for me.  It is “our thing.”  So, at the end of the day, I got to read them The Pigeon Needs a Bath.  As my mom would say, “And a good time was had by all.”

Today’s activity allowed me to demonstrate my ability to meet Illinois Professional Teaching Standard 4M, which states, “The competent teacher organizes, allocates, and manages time, materials, technology, and physical space to provide active and equitable engagement of students in productive learning activities.”  The students used new materials and physical space to engage in a fun activity in which they were able to use a physical model to show what they know. 

My goal for next week is to make the most of our one day of school.  I will utilize Monday to catch up on all of the activities and assignments that did not get done this past week.