Sometimes you have to back track.

We are currently doing a unit on adjectives. Last week we did an intensive study of adjectives. During center time students did an independent activity on adjectives, had a mini lesson on adjectives with me, and had a full lesson on adjectives with my co-teacher. Our reading test included 4 questions on adjectives and most of my students did well. Friday we did acrostic poems of our names using adjectives - Smart athletic magnificent Today we began talking about adjectives that go with the 5 senses. I made a chart of the senses and I listed one adjective that went with each sense - Taste Touch Smell Sight Hearing Salty Rough Stinky Big Loud I asked students to give more examples. One of my brightest students raised her hand first. Her response, flower. Needless to say, I was floored. After all that instruction they still did not understand. I decided to go back and scale down today's lesson. I put the following on the board - Taste Touch Noun Adjective Noun Adjective 1. apple juicy 1. rock smooth 2. pickle salty 2. water cool I figured that by providing a noun it would help students come up with an adjective. Students copied the chart with the 2 examples above and had to provide 3 more sets of nouns and adjectives for taste and touch. I walked around to check their work, and they seemed to finally get it. Hopefully when we move on to the three other senses tomorrow they won't offer nouns as adjectives.

The small things

I have come to realize that it is the small things that matter in teaching. This past Friday was the Christmas of small things for me. First my biggest trouble maker was out. You may think I'm being mean, but y'all know what a big difference that makes. Second, one of my struggling readers made a 93 on his reading test. We really celebrated this. Third, one of my special needs students who struggles with communicating his feelings had two huge breakthroughs. Twice during the day things happened that upset him and would normally send him over the edge. He was able to communicate his feelings and work through the issue. These three things truly made my day. When my kiddos succeed I succeed.

Cyber Monday Sale

10% off all itmes through tomorrow. HAPPY CYBER MONDAY!!!!!!!!!!!! http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Georgia-Peach-Teacher

A teacher's dream

This past Saturday I had the pleasure of attending a job fair for a charter school that will be opening in my county next year. What kind of school will this be you ask? A teacher's dream school! The founders of this school believe that it should be a place where teachers teach and students learn. There will be no tolerance for behavior issues. It is basically the 3 strikes and you're out principle. Reading will be taught in grades K-8. Memorization of basic facts, rules, and principles will be necessary in the lower grades. I am so excited that I may be chosen to be a part of this amazing venture. The beauty of it is that because it is a charter school and not a private school children of all income levels will be able to attend.

Noun Projects

My students have been working on nouns for over a month now. I got an idea from a co-worker to do the ABCs of nouns. I am lucky enough to have exactly 26 students. First I have each student a piece of construction paper with a letter of the alphabet. Next, I told each student to list 5 nouns on their sheet. They had to write the plural of each noun. They then had to tell if their noun was common or proper. Here is an example of one: M milk - milks - common mom - moms - common Mike - Mikes - proper moose - moose - common man - men - common I displayed their projects on the wall outside our classroom. I decided that we are going to make a wall full of projects. I am calling it the ABCs of Parts of Speech. Once we cover verbs we will make pages of verbs. I plan to include adjectives also. Then, as a culminating project I will have my students take their papers down. They will then make as many sentences as possible from their parts of speech. I can't wait to see the final finished project.

Breast Cancer Research

I am helping my friend Lisa Stephens Rahn raise money for Breast Cancer Research. She is participating in the Susan G. Komen 3-Day For the Cure. Every dollar spent in my teachers pay teachers store for the entire month of October will be donated to this worthy cause. Please visit my store and share this with all of your teacher friends! http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Georgia-Peach-Teacher

Co-Teaching

In my district Special Education students are in the regular education classroom as much as possible. I have had the inclusion class room for six of the seven years I have been teaching. This year is the first year that I have had a full day co-teacher. My co-teacher is certified in special education and she handles all of the accommodations for our special education students. Over the six years I have had special ed students I have learned so much about the special education world. I have had one course in special education. I feel that one course is not sufficient. I think that teachers who have the inclusion classroom need to have more instruction in the area of special education. In my opinion, the best way to do this is through professional learning in my district. As I say all the time I'm just a teacher so what do I know. The big question in my mind is Why in the world have the administrators in my district not thought of this yet? Being the inclusion teacher I am with special education students all day long. Doesn't it just make sense for me to have extra training in this area? Please tell me if I am in left field here. This year I have 3 autistic students, a student who was diagnosed developmentally delayed (I suspect she is actually MOID) and a student with a specific learning disability in reading. How do I know and understand each of their diagnoses and how to properly accommodate them? I have taken it upon myself to learn. I ask lots of questions and do research on my own time. I imagine that not all inclusion teachers do this so how do they serve these students effectively? I'm sure that the answer is that they don't. It is time for school districts to wake up and provide, even require this training of its co-teachers. Comments/Questions? Please let me know :)