Spelling test tomorrow

Hello,

I have had two confirmations from students that they plan to take advantage of the after school extra session that I will be offering on Mondays.  I mention it now as a reminder because I generally do not blog on Friday after school.  (I slink out to my car like a zombie and try not to fall asleep on the way home.)  No one needs to sign up ahead of time, and I am not requiring consistent attendance.  Come one, come all, whenever you want, as long as it is on Monday after school and pick up is by 5:30. 

I'm hearing from a lot of people about last night's school board workshop.  Some of my fellow teachers and I got up and spoke on the merits of grouping math classes according to skill levels.  I felt like my colleagues did well.  I was glad to be at the podium when the question came up about whether or not the entire grade should be taught all of the skills on the new report card.  I was able to express my concern that we shouldn't try to push it on all students at all skill levels.  Some students just aren't ready for it.  We wouldn't give Shakespeare to someone just starting chapter books.

My classroom is currently a mess.  I had things pretty organized a few weeks ago, but now I'm back to stacks of stuff everywhere.  I need to clean house a bit before our government unit.

Students have one more week to complete their free choice reading book.  Tonight's homework is to explain how the author used description in a passage to help the readers visualize a scene or character.  I'm only giving the one question, so that students will have some extra time to study spelling words or work on their sound effects story (many have finished).

We tried another reader's theater today.  Natural acting ability abounds in the classroom.  Now to get the reading skills up to that level. 

We played Androscoggin this morning.  The object is to get as many words as possible using the letters of another word.  Today's word was metamorphic.  We got a class record 97 words.  I think we got three six letter words, including hammer. 

Have a good weekend.

Mr. Shea