Wednesday

Woke up at 7:00am, had this really nice cream bread that my friend gave me yesterday for breakfast, and then drove to school. First up was 2-3 today and it was a super great lesson. We were reading Brown Bear since the 2nd graders have some kind of lesson event next Friday, and their teachers wanted the event to be: singing Head, Shoulders Knees and Toes, and being able to read (say) Brown Bear through completely. They were able to remember practically the whole storybook within the hour! In fact they probably had it down within the first 20 minutes or so. Brown Bear is written in rhyme and has a lot of rhythm, so it’s very easy for it to worm its way into your head. We played a card exchange game in the middle to give them a break from the reading, and then read the book through one last time using the matched up powerpoint slides that their teacher had made. 2-2 was just as good actually, and they were particularly into the “What do you see?” part, always putting emphasis on, and dragging out the “see”, so it was more like “What do you seeeeeeeee?”. If I really had to compare, 2-1’s reading might have been a teeny bit quieter than the other 2, but they still managed to get the whole story down within the lesson hour.

Next up was 5-1 in period 4 and it was pretty good today. They were still a bit noisy and chatty as usual, but in general I just felt like I had more control over the class, and more respect from them as well. We started with reading “My Pet” through once, and then went through the story’s meaning. I really liked how the kids who don’t normally pay attention were listening really attentively to the storybook reading. Then we played the animal card exchange game, and then read through the book one last time together before finishing up. I had lunch with 3-3 today, and we had Chinese style fried rice, one dumpling, soup, and a slice of grapefruit. The kids were super cute today and crowding around to ask about my wrist. They were also super helpful and helped me with my milk pack (I couldn't open it with just one hand) and taking my tray for me and stuff. Cleaning time was smooth again today. It was also quite funny, because when we had finished cleaning, one of the kids who normally never participates in my English board activities, went and got not just one but TWO snowboards to colour in. He was so eager about it! Had periods 5 & 6 free so I prepped for tomorrow’s lessons. Got off work at 16:20 after finishing up a meeting with my JTE about Grade 5’s picture book presentation.