The End of the Year

It's getting to be that time... Testing.  Good-byes.  Warm weather.  Antsy kiddos.  Squeezing in those last lessons.  Not enough instructional time.  Meetings about next year (when there is still so much to do this year).  The end is here.

The last month of school.  It's always crazy.  Every year I make a plan to ease into the end of the year, rather than crash and burn.  And every year it never actually happens.  It's the nature of the beast we call School.  So here we are again.  At the end.  Survival is the best word to describe it, I think.  But it's also every year at this time that I remember the advice of one of my past principals.  He always said, "Slowly glide to the end.  Don't crash-land."  So once again I take that advice and try to remember...  That last writing lesson will make no difference in the future life of a 9 year old.  Making sure they have an amazing final project will not be what my students remember.  So I'm throwing it out.  If we don't get to it, we just don't get to it.  We'll glide and enjoy the ride to the end, instead of flailing through the air like we're sky diving without a parachute.

So raise your glasses to making the landing smooth.  May we all glide to the end and give our kids a great finish!

(Bottoms up.  We'll need it!)

Times Table Success!

Third grade is the year you learn your Times Tables.  It's a big deal.  Some are excited about it and feel grown-up.  Others just hate math.  Parents drill it or dread it.  But this year, it was LOVED by all third graders at my school.  How did we do it?

My Canadian co-worker in true Canadian fashion taught us "Times Table Hockey", a six man on six man game that inspired our little sponges to learn those multiplication facts.  And let me tell you, kids loved it, parents raved about it, and teachers got a little competitive about it.  A two week tournament with brackets and a championship game set the stakes high for our 9 year olds.  When it came down to my class and Class 3K for 1st place, I gotta say that my palms were sweaty and my heart was racing.  The posters were flying and crowds were cheering.  Teachers from other classes wandered out of their rooms to see the commotion and join the chanting.  And multiplication facts were being shouted out, memorized, and learned.

Life-lessons came out of it too...  Lessons on good sportsmanship were easily integrated as well as the lesson that no one seems to teach anymore: NOT EVERYONE WINS.  There were losers and winners.  And we all still had fun.

Why did this work?  How did we get every 3rd grader to want to learn those facts?  Because it was a competition.  They wanted to win.  And they wanted to play the game.  Simply put, it was fun.

Here's how we play the game:
Six players on each team with three rows.  Last row is the goalie, middle row 2 defense men, and front row 3 offense men facing the same set-up from the other team.  Center (of the 3 offense) faces center of the other team to start the game.  Referee calls out a multiplication fact.  (We used playing cards in two stacks, pulling the top ones off the pile to give a random fact.)  The first kid to say the correct answer wins and moves across the other teams offense, answering facts from the referee.  It's one man on one man, giving the answer to the referee's fact through each teams offense and defense.  The first team to beat the opposing team's goalie wins that goal and earns a point.  Anytime the round gets down to only the goalies standing and facing off, we all shout "Goalie, goalie guacamole!"  (Just for fun.)  The team with the most points after several rounds wins.

Video Clip of 2013 Times Table Hockey Tournament

I highly recommend "Times Table Hockey" to any Grade 3 or 4 teacher who wants their students to memorize those facts.  Now when I join the game with the kids, they can beat me half the time.  It works, and it's highly motivating.

More than one parent said to me during conferences this year, "I don't know what you did, but my kid loved learning the times tables."

Kid stories to make you laugh and sigh

All teachers have their stories.  Here's a few great anecdotes from a co-worker of mine that I LOVE - the co-worker and the stories.

Great Christmas gift for your teacher
friends and family.
Find it here.

Or a gift to put in your own stocking.
Find it here.

You can also read his blog at: An American in Budapest

A Kid Story

While cleaning up at the end of Writer's Workshop last week, one of my shy little girls, H, came to me and said, "Ms. P, I love everything about school."  The big grin on her face told me I was doing something right with my Writer's Workshop this year.  H is loving writing.  Although I have only gotten her to read her writing aloud once during Share Time, she enthusiastically sits and writes and writes in her Think Pad.  She shows me ideas she's added.  She's into it.  I love moments like these.  Another plug for Janiel Wagstaff.  

Meeting "My Kids"

The first day comes.  They enter my room.  Some nervous.  Others dreading the start of school.  The little girls and one boy who enter enthusiastically, sit in the front, and love the teacher as soon as I say "welcome".  Everyone is on their best behavior for the first hour.  Then true colors start shining through.  The kid who can't keep a grip on his pencil and knocks the supply bin down twice in the first twenty minutes... just makes me smile, "Oh, he'll take some extra patience."  The little girl who knows very little English, but surprises me when she gets to work before I start typing on Google Translate.  She'll melt my heart all year as she learns English so fast.  There's the boy whose hair is spiked with gel and his shirt tucked in.  He sat in the front row and works diligently.  A little nerd and so stinkin' cute I love him instantly.  The kid with the English accent - always adorable for the American teacher.  The little girl who struggles in school, but begins working hard right away.  They're all here.

I call them "my kids".  They feel like that in some ways, as I spend 6 hours a day, five days a week with them.  Really they're just on loan.  Or entrusted.  As I work at a private international school, in a city where parents have several English-speaking options, I am honored that I get to teach these kids.  It's very humbling.  Especially when my students speak three languages fluently, translate for the adults around them, and still have respect for their native English-speaking teacher who speaks ONLY English.  Humbling.

But the best job in the world.  "My kids" for the next nine months.