Monday, March 8, 2010

Spring Term & Restless Kids

Its amazing to see the many ways that kids can dawdle when they don't want to do their schoolwork. Peter is twisting in his chair, another student is dangling his pencil at the end of a string and watching it twirl and swirl in mid air.

I bought some wooden TV tables to use as extra desks. It's nice because they can fold up when not in use. We need them for those times when all the kids come into the same room to study. I now have 3 boys and 2 girls as day students and 2 boys as half time or hourly students.

I have three third grade boys! What a handful! It's good for Peter though because it gives him other children to play and learn with every day. Peter needs to play with other boys. Between those three and the neighbor boy he has a continual stream of little fellows to interact with. He also has friends at the charter school and at the church. Friends are important to Peter. It's also important to me that Peter relates on a daily basis with other kids. He tends to get too possessive of his things and too self absorbed if he doesn't have to give and and relate to other kids.

Spring term not only brings me a new student it also brings a new focus. I'm taking all three boys through a rigorous cursive writing program. It will be fast paced and painstakingly precise. I'm tired of the nonsense of ten year old kids not able to write or read cursive!

I'm also starting a writing composition class that again will be detailed and rigorous. Two of my students are ten year olds and really by then a child should have a fairly good grasp of the writing process. By the end of this year I'm hoping that Peter and the other two boys know all the main steps to writing a paper: brainstorming, planning with the use of graphic organizers, writing the rough draft, revising and on to the final copy.

I have a lot of work planned for the next 10 weeks of school and even though I am excited about the end I am not so burned out that I don't feel a tingle of excitement over the plans for the rest of the academic year!

3 comments:

  1. Reading about Peter reminded me of his friend and his friend's dad (Dave?). How is the family doing?

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  2. Brandi, Dave is still in a coma sorta like a twilight zone. He is on a trachea and is in a facility that will care for him. The family is doing as well as can be expected!

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  3. I'll keep them in my prayers!

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