Star of the Week

This was an interesting week to pick a Gold Star award.  Everything seemed to go by in a blur.  I am very grateful that all my classes this week were absolutely fabulous.  I came to a second grade class on Monday expecting the worst.  I assumed students would be wild and crazy from their holiday break.  I was pleasantly surprised to find that students were pretty quiet and respectful throughout most of the day.  I had my first elementary school fire drill this week that went mostly well after I found all my students.  I also got to teach at a special district school that primarily teaches classes to home school students.  Children and their parents choose which classes their student to take and they go to school for only those classes.  I had mostly small classes that day and great students.  I am so grateful to have had wonderful students this week because I've been pretty busy (too much to explain in this blog, but perhaps I'll write again over the weekend or on Monday).

I have to give my Gold Star award to a group of sixth grade boys.  Wednesday I taught a half day for an elementary special education teacher.  She primarily did reading, writing, and math support for mainstreamed students.  I was playing some word games with these students and quickly realized I had some very strong personalities in the group.  I started to play a game that was a lot like Million Dollar Pyramid.  One student would pick a card and have to describe the word or give examples of the category to the group until they guessed the right thing.  It took several rounds for the students to understand how to play the game.  At first they tried just describing the words, which doesn't really work for a category like things in the refrigerator.  Then they had trouble not saying the words on their card.  Finally they all understood the game and really got into it.  There were several rounds where the game got super intense and the students started shouting out answers.  It was exciting to see them so excited, though shouting isn't really a great idea when you share a classroom with another teacher.  I am very proud of these boys for sticking with the game even though it was difficult at first.  I had a wonderful time with them and the hour went by quickly and with little problems.  So, sixth grade special education reading class, you're my Gold Star of the Week Winners