Week Three

Week Three… otherwise known as Report Card Week and/or Parent Teacher Meeting Week and/or Visit from the School’s Superintendent Week

(I think I forgot to mention that last week I had the opportunity to run the Dance Club practice / rehearsal for the upcoming December talent show. My AT was away that day, and dance practice was on! It was such a fun experience.... made me wish I had taken more dance lessons, though!)

My AT has been teaching for over 13 years and, in that time, has accumulated a lot of amazing word games for the class (Bananagrams, Boggle, etc.). Every once in a while, she will devote a Language Arts class to playing literacy games. In one of the classes last week, we played Taboo (the game where a player has to have his / her team guess the word in his / her card without using the word itself or five additional words listed on the card) and it was HILARIOUS. The class was divided into two teams and every member of the class was on the edge of their seat waiting for the clues / explanations from their team member. It got so loud as the kids screamed out their answers. I cannot even begin to explain how much the kids loved playing that game (and I have to admit, I loved it too). I never really thought about using word games in the classroom. Taboo, in particular, really challenged the kids to use their vocabulary and verbal skills. Such a great idea / activity.

I also had the opportunity to sit in on all (32!) of my AT’s parent teacher meetings. I don’t know how she did it – I was exhausted just observing the meetings.

Classroom management seemed to be better this week. It could be any number of things... perhaps something to do with parent / teacher meetings that week?