Thursday, November 17, 2011

Finally fully back!

I am so glad to say I was able to be with the class all day today.  This week was pretty jumbled.  On Monday, I was able to experience Paula Kluth, a national speaker about differentiated instruction, particularly in the area of autism.  You may or may not know that both of my sons are diagnosed on the autism spectrum.  I have also been blessed with students with this diagnosis during my career. Paula spoke not just about students with autism, but students with all kinds of learning needs and ways to help reach the needs.  On Tuesday afternoon, I was honored to speak at ISU's T21 Conference to and audience pre-service teachers about data-driven instruction.  Yesterday afternoon, our Problem-Solving Team met, and we discussed some interventions we could put in place for some of our struggling students.  I appreciate each of these opportunities, but nothing beats being in the classroom with the kids.  It felt good to be back!

Math: FASTT Math; place value games

Social Studies: Finished Geography Challenge.  Went over study guide for test on Tuesday.

Literacy block: Mrs. Schwerman's sixth graders at Parkside Junior High have been presenting their self-authored tall tales to our class this week.  We used Brigit conferencing software and were able to see the stories as the sixth graders read them.  It has been awesome!  Handwriting, Week 12, Thursday is tonight's homework.  We also discussed Microsoft Outlook today.  Tomorrow, students will open district e-mail to read letters from their Washington School pen pals from Mrs. Grupp's fourth grade class.  We discussed how to use the software and the acceptable use of intra-district e-mail (no e-mail from outside of the district comes through the server).

Tomorrow's Friday Fun: Beaded Pens!