Brain Buttons

I miss my rain boots! Today was a very gloomy, cold, and rainy day. A perfect day to curl up in bed with a sweatshirt and a good book, but duty called and I had to go to work. Today wasn't too bad, I did some prep work this morning and then we had handwriting, then reading groups, then we read a bit from Prince Caspian. Luckily, it was not raining during lunch so the kids could go outside. I did some final prep work and ended up adding more to what I already did.

After lunch I did more with my mini-unit of Native Americans. I had two worksheets for the kids, one was on dream catchers and the other was on totem poles. They both had stories on the front about the legend of how it came to be and then on the back they had to design and explain their own dream catcher or totem pole. The kids did a pretty good job and really enjoyed decorating and designing their own. I should have done something a bit different to make sure they read the front. Some of the kids did a really good job reading the front, but a lot of them didn't even read it. Maybe I could have had them highlight or underline certain things. I wanted to do something with the spelling words, but there really weren't a lot in the story this week. They still need to finish up some more tomorrow, but overall most almost finished.

After my lesson we had math groups and the kids worked on a big area problem. Some did a really good job, but some still had some problems with area. I think with area they needed more direct instruction in the beginning. They have an assessment tomorrow and I am curious to see how they do. It was raining during afternoon tea so we had to stay inside and watch a movie. The kids had electives but Adam and I have planning. I hung out in the teachers lounge for about an hour getting some things organized and printed off from my lessons as well as planning for tomorrow.

We had a training session after work today. Today we talked about brain gym, which is like stretching and activities that help stimulate brain activity. It was interesting, but at the same time kind of hokey and I am curious how much it really works and serious you could get kids to take some of it. The whole staff was trying some of the movements and we all looked like a bunch of idiots. It was really funny and some people were taking it so seriously, but I couldn't help but laugh about it. We had to find our brain buttons, follow our finger around in circles, and do hook up breathing (which I just felt awkward saying). It was raining cats and dogs after work today and I had to walk the long away around the back of the school because they locked the front gates already. Let me tell you tights and flats are not made for rain. I wish so badly that I had my rain boots to wear, but unfortunately I just had to suck it up. Hopefully Sydney is getting all the rain out of its system so that it is beautiful when Mackenzie gets here!