Monday. 10.10.11

Today we started with a math sheet for review.  Every morning the students do "bell work".  Bell work in this class is a math worksheet, a review from the previous days work, that should take about 15-30 minutes.  Today bell work took 1 hour.  That let the teacher know that students are not studying their math flash cards at home because the worksheet they did was easy.  Since the worksheet took the full hour, a math lesson was not taught today.  The teacher had to reteach the students how to complete the worksheet.  There is pressure on the students to understand the material right away because the curriculum moves at a super high pace.  After math, the students pulled out their personal narratives.  The teacher, para, and I went over the students' essay layout sheet.  It was obvious students did not know how many sentences need to be in a paragraph, what a paragraph was, or how the paragraphs could be put 'together' without making the essay 1 big paragraph.  That confusion by the kids let us know that this writing assignment will be a long process.  Once that was finished the 4th graders had health.  The 3rd grade teacher was gone so the 3rd graders were doing art.  Because of that, I cut out paper for an art project for the 4th grade class.  Once that was completed, it was time for guided reading.  All the fourth graders were split up between the teachers.  Only 4 of our class stayed in the classroom and all the others in the class were in different rooms.  With all the other kids in my teachers group, we had 16 students.  During this time, the teacher, para, and I were 3 different stations.  From there the kids were assigned to a station and we started reading.  After the reading, it was time for lunch.  At this time I usually leave, but since it was raining outside recess was inside.  At this time, I helped the teacher set up stations for the students for inside recess. 


Behavior Differences.
In the 4th grade, the students are well mannered.  I have not seen a kid get sent to the hallway or the principals office.  If a student speaks out of turn, or is doing something wrong, the teacher calmly tells the student to pay attention.  The student doesn't complain, back talk, or make any rude comments.  All the students do what they are told.  I also noticed there is not a behavior chart, so I am interested to find out how the teacher keeps her class in line. 
Where as the 3rd grade students are just crazy.  The teacher disciplines them everyday and threatens to take snack away.  It seems like the kids think they run the class.  The students talk out of turn, forget to raise their hand, and are disrespectful.  I noticed in the 3rd grade class, the teacher points out the students who are listening and following directions.  The other students are understanding why the teacher is doing that, they are just looking for attention.  It is interesting to notice the differences between the 3rd and 4th grade.