2nd Reflection (Week of Oct. 28)

This week we finished our “spooky stories.” Overall, I think my kids really liked the idea of the story, and I got some really creative and interesting stories out of them.  My fear from last week did happen—I had a handful of students finish their stories at the beginning of the week and the rest finished at different a different pace. I still have 2 students who need to finish because of the interruption of Halloween, a half day, and a fireman visit earlier this week. The first time I conference with my students, I sat at one table and had them come to me. BIG MISTAKE. This made the kids think that they had to come to me for every spelling question, conference question, and every thought that popped into their mind. I found them to be distracted, constantly coming up to me, distracting others while waiting in line, and generally unproductive this day. So, the next day I said that I would go from table to table and they were to stay in their seats and keep writing until I came to them.  I also reminded them that I wanted them to sound out their words for these first few days—we wouldn’t worry about spelling until the final paper. This worked much better. There were still a few that would come up to me, but a quick few reminders is all it took to get them seated and working again.

Overall I think writing went well this week. I think editing their own work is something that is still a bit beyond them. They were very frustrated by it, and right now correct spelling just isn’t something they are ready for developmentally nor is it an expectation in my classroom. I would like to revisit this in the spring and work on it then once they have become more comfortable with sustained writing.