I spent 1.5 hours in E and L's second grade classroom today and it was wonderful, SO much less stressful than being in their kindergarten classrooms. I would leave after an hour of kindergarten interaction and be craving silence and/or a glass of wine, but the second graders were much less stressful. I don't think it's the teachers because they've only had teachers with good classroom control so far; I think it's the maturity level of the kids.
I spent the first part of the time reading with various kids. She gave me a list of kids who aren't reading as well as she'd like and they all read out loud to me. C did a pretty good job "reading" silently to herself. The rest of the class was having silent reading time, too. The last time I helped with reading was in kindergarten and it was excruciatingly painful/boring. This time it was pleasant and enjoyable. I had committed to every other Thursday, but I'm going to try to make it every Thursday.
The teacher kept affectionately calling them "Smart Cookies" and I loved that. She would say, "Which of my smart cookies can tell me . . ." I asked E about it after school and she said, "Mrs. D always calls us that because we're smart and she likes cookies." After calendar time and before they left for music, they had a "get your wiggles out time" where the kid who was in charge of Calendar Time that day got to decide what they would do. Today they skipped around the room. She said sometimes they hop, twirl, leap, etc.
I made some copies for her (watching the copies emerge was C's favorite part) and then cut out some laminated things while we listened to Calendar Time. C made a nest with the laminated trash. I was sitting on the floor on the edge of Calendar Time so I could listen and both E and L were wedged against me. I love how much they love having me in the classroom. It was fun to see all those kids again and I got to meet the new additions to the class.
I also got to solve a name mystery. A kid was moved into their class from another second grade classroom and E kept calling him "Ken Woo" and I'm like, "Oh, Ken is his first name and Woo is is last name?" but no, it wasn't and she added another name and said THAT was his last name. I saw his name in print and it's Keonwoo LastName. Mystery solved!
We went over to my friend's house after school and played with her kittens. I tweeted this picture and told A, "We brought them all home with us!" He didn't believe me, of course, because I'm not insane, but these cats were so nice. My friend's granddaughter kept carrying them around by the NECK and they were so docile that I kept expecting her to set them down DEAD FROM A CRUSHED TRACHEA, but no. I suppose they may have simply lost the will to live, but they endured and then bounded away from her at the first chance. So: good with kids. Check.
didn't anyone tell the child that it was not appropriate to carry a kitten around by the neck? really? kids don't know how to do things unless taught. glad the class room stuff went so well.
Posted by: kris (lower case) | October 20, 2011 at 10:11 PM
I got to be in the class last year but its not working out this year. Sooo bummed. Enjoy it. And thanks for reading with the kids who aren't quite where they should be. My Keegan is behind in reading. Both my older kids were but by jr high they were reading at a college level so I'm not worried. I think my kids just start slow in that area.
Posted by: Liz S | October 21, 2011 at 11:19 AM
When I saw the twitter picture I really thought that you got them. They are cute and your girls are adorable as always. I forget to check your blog now that twitter is the main-go-to-place for everyone's updates. And carrying a kitten around by the scruff of its neck is usually okay. They go docile because that is how a mother cat carries the kittens around.
Posted by: Alexandra | October 24, 2011 at 07:11 PM