2nd & 3rd grade happenings

I gave back tests in second grade and had a really good lesson with them.  Probably they were energized from playing for an hour before I got them.  Also, some parents were still outside the door.  Maybe they were putting on a show.  After the parents left, though, it continued to go really well.  I felt I knew all their names, they were attentive, and I taught the lesson in the book without teaching from the book.  They have learned 8 professions and are having to learn to use "not" correctly.

They have no previous use of sentences.  I started by drawing myself on the board and wrote: Miss Laura is a __________.  I put my hand up like I had a tray in my hand (our motion to symbolize waiter) and they played into my hand saying "waiter."  I pointed back at my sentence and drawing and asked if Miss Laura is a waiter.  "No!" they all shouted.  "Miss Laura is a ______," I reiterated and they said "teacher."

Done.

I asked for examples of some of their parents' jobs and they offered nurse and waiter.  I drew the pictures of their family members and wrote the sentences.  "Dayana's mom is a ____.  Jesús Eduardo's mom is a _______."

They easily filled in the blanks for me.  I then changed the word in the blanks.  "Dayana's mom is a chef?" I asked?  "No!"  

From there, it was easy to incorporate "She is not a police officer.  She is not a chef."

It felt good to be successful while teaching what I should from the book without using the book.

These are the kind of things that you can plan, but plans usually don't cut it.  Teachers' best ideas (in my mind) come in the moment.  The beauty is, you can use it again the following year (usually, when not on a one-year assignment).

Time flew with this group (also a good sign), so I journeyed on to third grade.

In there, we're studying clothing and the grammar for the unit is "______'s wearing a _____, _____ and ______."

Getting them to use the complete sentences is a hard task in whatever language, but I was encouraged from second grade and ready to take on anything.

Again, I didn't let them get their books out (They have a tendency to be overly ambitious and try to do the work without listening to the lesson or waiting for me to explain- obviously this causes comprehension problems!  I have found that if I can start teaching before they even think to get their books out, that they learn so much more and listen more attentively.) and started by pulling up students one at a time and asking the class what they were wearing by name (What's Rosita wearing?  What's Gerson wearing?).  When they answered me, I put it in a complete sentence on the board.  I wrote the question on the board and continued through about 5 students.  Of course all wanted to participate, but with uniforms, I had to choose those students out of dress code (which has no consequence here).  They did a really good job with it and the book actually had a decent comprehension activity.  I was very proud of them (and myself!).

While I was in the middle of that lesson, Anabel (the 1st grade teacher who is so funny but doesn't always seem to be attentive to her kids, who knows quite a bit of English and who uses yelling as her first and only line of defense) came and asked me if I could step outside for a second (here is where they put thumb and forefinger almost together like "a little bit" and in Mexican that means can you come here for just a second).  I did and she said they were working on math today in her class.  In the pictures of the math books were school supplies.  Their word problems, I suppose, included school words.  What are we currently studying in 1st grade?

She said that Carlos Jovany (the one I wrestled with on his first day) and Lucano (my little twerp) and some others were calling out the names of the items in English.  And they were having so much fun with it.

That, combined with two amazing classes and opening good communication with the parents, made my day!