Work and Play

We are really getting down to work now. We are starting Writer's Notebooks, drafting our first publishing project as of tomorrow, and getting everyone re-assessed during Reading Workshop. Some issues with our two new students who came from other schools in both language and math. The other two new kids (one from another classroom, one from a G&T program) are fitting in well, but the whole class is showing me their true colors now. I know who is congenitally chatty, who needs constant hand-holding, who NEVER brings their folder from home or puts their work in the right place. Sigh. Scales fallen from eyes. They are still adorable, but it's warts and all, now.

Still, I am really pleased to see how much fun they still get to have as second graders. We had choice time today and they'll have it again tomorrow. This is a classroom of art lovers- aside from building with the PVC tubes (see last post) and blocks, everyone else (17 of 25) was doing painting, drawing, or modeling clay. As with last week, this week the kids who chose blocks made a little corral for Cutie-B, the class turtle. Here you can see the construction and one student showing him the stop sign (can Cutie read?).

They also had a lot of fun working on the classroom rules this week. They had done some posters last year which were still up, and they revisited and revised them, and then made new posters, working in groups. Ms. Lee suggested that they could do pop-ups, a kind of 3-D diorama by folding the bottom of the poster paper and making a 3-D illustration out of construction paper. I wasn't sure they could handle the complex cutting and spatial aspects, but they did really well. I had a hard time choosing just two out of the many great projects!!

Contrast this project with the amount of resistance we had to a math assessment which we also had them do today. They were like different kids. If they did math worksheet-type work all day (even Bank Street-style word problems), this class would be the whiniest group of work-avoiding foot-draggers on earth, no lie. It's wonderful to see how well they work together, how creative and focused they are, when they are at play!

Stage is set!

Stage built by a second grade student with PVC-pipe building elements

Today was a great First Day of School. We had a new admit over the days I was not there, for a total of four new students and a class of 25. Everyone came to school, and Ms. Lee hugged all of her returning students as well as a few that were not her students but they love her anyway. Her students adore her, it's clear, and are thrilled to have her again for another year.

I met almost all the parents today, and to a person they were welcoming and enthusiastic (they were hugging each other too!), and said how lucky I was to be working in this class, with this teacher. It was, I will say, very nice to have a classroom full of kids who knew the teacher, knew each other, and knew the drill- not that that kept them in their seats, but it made things easier for sure. Of the new students, some in the class had gone to kindergarten or even pre-K with two of them, so they were known as well. That left two completely new kids that we discussed during our planning time- how did their skills seem? How did they do socially? How will they fit into the class?

Ms. Lee is very intuitive- she seems to like to do and then reflect, rather than plan and execute. That's not my style, but she has a fairly low-key energy that's intuitive and nicely-paced, mellow. The kids can tell she's happy to be there with them. We did some community-building activities that were very interactive, and then a little math, a little individual reading, a read-aloud, and some math before lunch.

The kids are so cute- even though they have never seen me at this school before, they still assume I know everything. "Karen, are we having recess today?" "Sorry, this is my first day and I'm not really sure!" Ha. That really threw them off. But I did some reading with a few of them and they seemed to like me ok.

This is a photo of a construction that one of our new students did during choice time. It's a stage- the peaked part is the proscenium and the tall pieces to either side are the lights. I wonder what her parents do? It's an interesting use of them and she worked on it for quite a while. The other kids who played with these mostly made 3D constructions with the joining corners.

Apparently this set came from a science-leadership student teacher who designed these for the NY Hall of Science and left a set. Very cool addition to blocks, etc., although a bit heavy- the tall pieces are about 18 inches long.

I didn't get to set up the ELMO this week and it's still not set up, but I am determined. Next week!!

Ready?

Over the last few days I've had the opportunity to help Ms. Lee* set up her room as well as to meet many other teachers, see their rooms, and the general state of play before the students arrive at PSOhYes next Thursday.

First of all, it brought back great memories of helping my mom set up her classrooms when I was a kid, which I had completely forgotten. That was nice. Like the year I designed a "monster" (like a muppet character) with the name of a classical musician for each subject ("Wolfgang" was math) and made an elaborate set of labels, etc., for her third grade. She used those for years.

Anyway. Ms. Lee is experienced, and she's moving with her students to a new grade, so some niggling stuff (name tags) was mostly done but others that you wouldn't need to worry about teaching the same grade (library) needed attention. Her room was not "done." But I spent an hour making a hand-lettered "welcome" sign with everyone's name on it. Great to get back to my art-school roots!

One of the other teachers is a "rainbow geek" (self-described). Her curtains were tie-dyed rainbow spirals and all her folders and bins made rainbows all over the room. It was GREAT. That, I thought, is going to be me. I aspire to rainbow geekdom.

But on to more important matters. Ms. Lee is getting an ELMO classroom projector for the first time ever! I am going to look into ways you can use it. It's not that hard, but new equipment just days before school starts is a big challenge when you have other, new-grade-level stuff to do. This will be my project for Wednesday, setting it up; I hope Ms. Lee brings her laptop. She is getting it because the mini-school teachers are getting all new equipment. She is not getting her printer replaced, which is stressing her out because she relies on it being right in the classroom. This will be an adjustment, I can see. I hope to help her with the transition. This may mean I am running upstairs to get stuff she is printing while class is going on!

So all of this means the IT staff is completely overwhelmed. The laminating machine was out of commission both days I was there (major problem for making signs and labels) and one copier was down. There's no way they'll have time to come in and set up the ELMO. And... it's waiting for shared resources like this that can really slow down the prep process.

That said, it leaves more time for leisurely lunches, hearing about each other's vacations and catching up on news. One of our students' baby siblings is very ill and may not survive. That will be an issue for this child, and something we need to prepare for. I don't envy Ms. Lee in responding to the email she got from the child's parents about this.

I am really looking forward to meeting the students, but trying to catch up on rest before next week- my daughter is starting at a new school as well, so we're all bound to be exhausted by the end of the week!

*Not her real name

Fresh Paint, Fresh Start

I was at Bank Street the other day and pleased to discover that the stairwell had the new-school-year fresh paint smell. I love that smell, and it makes me think of warm fall days, knee socks and new school supplies, and the fact that I never got over the first day of school. Long after it ceased to be meaningful to my schedule (after I left teaching behind in my 20's but before my daughter went to school, a hiatus of about at least 15 years), I still thought about the first day of school, and got that "back to school" feeling just before Labor Day. Sometimes I'd buy myself some new pens or a notebook, just to enjoy the season.

Of course, taking classes at Bank Street did give me the opportunity to participate in "back to school" these last few years. But wait: notebooks? Pens? Wasn't I supposed to take notes on my laptop? Sometimes I do and sometimes I don't- I've taken online classes with assigned youtube videos for class "readings" as well as classes with instructors who still rely on Village Copiers wayyyy too much, if you know what I mean.

And now I am about to find out what first grade is like in the 21st century. My daughter will only be in pre-K this year, so it's a preview for what first grade will be like for her, as well as what it's like for me in my new career as a teacher (hopefully teacher of first grade, my preferred age group). I will do my first student-teaching placement at PSOhYes*, as in everyone has heard of this school and it's in A Nice Part of Brooklyn (henceforth: ANPOB). To be fair, I think I live in a nice part of Brooklyn, but this is not my neighborhood school, and I hope this is enough anonymity for everyone.

Stay tuned y'all!! I will be starting next week.

Oh, and * is props to Pam Jones at Bank Street for allowing me to appropriate, without her consent, the use of "PSXXX," a la her hilarious and tragic tales of PSOhNo. Thanks, Pam.