#noofficeday number two

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Yesterday was my second "no office day" and I looked forward to spending another Monday with teachers and students. There were a few classes I didn't get to last week and I wanted to be sure I didn't miss them this week. I was also excited because this week I was asked to teach lessons in several classes! I grabbed my iPhone and my writer's notebook and headed out. On a side note, I also wore a long dress and comfy shoes so I could get down on the floor easily!

Each week, as I spend time with students I'll be thinking about these questions:

What did I learn? 

What did I notice?
What does the teacher want me to learn?
What do the students want me to learn?

Off to my first class... third grade!

Ms. Fraser teaching a group on the carpet

This clipboard rocks. Whiteboard on one side!
Check out the expanded notation!

Task cards.

3rd grade = super focused and independent!

Next stop... second grade and readers workshop!

Mrs. Evans setting expectations for readers workshop!

After that, I headed to first grade to teach a readers workshop lesson. I decided to use a read aloud from the current unit that had been read to the class on Friday-- A Camping Spree with Mr. Magee! Here's the story if you've never read it! The first graders listened for the beginning, middle, and end.

Getting to work!

Love the illustrations!

In the other first grade class, kids were hard at work at centers. This group was illustrating and reading their poems from the North America coniferous forest unit!

Bears here, bears there!

After watching the TK kids at lunch, I headed to kindergarten to teach writing! I got to teach both classes about what kindergarten writing looks like, what we do during writing time and then they wrote about anything they wanted! They dove right in!

Legos.

Can you read it? This kinder author read it to me.
Zombies!

My brother is cool. My mom is beautiful.

I like hello kitty.

Princess!

Writing about dragons.

"I'm going to write about the sky and flowers and trees."

Finally, I stopped by a 4th grade class on the first day of their enrichment flip. This class is the playwriting group- and they will be entering their scripts in the B Street Theatre contest! One of their scripts may be performed on their Spring tour!

Brainstorming creative ideas. 

What did I learn? 

I learned that our teachers are differentiating instruction in a variety of ways and setting high expectations for students to work independently so they can meet with small groups of students. Our teachers are planning CREATIVE instruction around student interests and our students are loving it!

What did I notice?

One thing I really noticed was how kind our students were to each other. In third grade, one of the students got stuck and another explained what to do right away. They also enjoyed each other. Each room was a little community, even in the playwriting class where the students were a mixture of 4th and 5th grade students from all classes. 

Next week, I'll be asking these questions of teachers and students.
What does the teacher want me to learn?
What do the students want me to learn?

I love just being with teachers and kids- in the classroom, in the lunchroom, and in the drop off line. I can't wait until next week!