You are probably wondering why the address to this site is "tell the toad." Well, it didn't take me long to find out that 2nd graders are masters at tattling. I knew that I needed to come up with a solution for the tattling as soon as possible. I searched the internet for other teacher's recommendation and then came up with a solution I hoped would work.
The theme in my class this year is Frogs, so I took a green composition book and created a cute cover for it that has a picture of a toad with the words "Tell the Toad" under it. I happened to have a ceramic frog figurine that has one of it's hands on it's head and looks like it is full of sympathy. Just perfect for what I needed! We discussed in class what "tattling" was and how to tell the difference between tattling and telling the teacher something that the teacher needs to know or a problem the student is having. If it was a tattle, then they needed to write their tattle in the notebook and we would discuss it later. For the first couple of weeks each time a student would start to complain I would say, "Wait a second, is this a tattle or not?" It was amazing...my students would stop and think for a second and then go over to the notebook and write down what their tattle was. Some students didn't want to take the time to write their tattle and would just go to their seats and soon the problem was forgotten. We take out the tattle book every once in a while and discuss as a class what was written and how those problems could be solved. This has worked so well and I don't have any more tattlers!!
I have discovered how absolutely hilarious 2nd graders are. So I decided to be the tattler in my class and tattle on my students. They have done and said so many cute, adorable, and absolutely hilarious things that I just have to share them. So now I'm the tattler:)
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
Saturday, October 24, 2009
Getting a grip
The first week of school was a little rough for me trying to get used to such young students. I had visited with my fellow second grade teachers and they informed me that the students don't read yet when they come into second grade, they are very clingy, and they only know how to add in math. (I teach high school Algebra during summer school!)
Just as I anticipated, it seemed like all I did the first week was tie shoes, hold hands with everyone, break up arguments over who got to hold my hand, and go through a whole bottle of hand sanitizer. I'm not a touchy feely kind of person and I couldn't imagine how I was going to get through the year. Everytime I tied a shoe I wondered where those shoelaces had been dragged through...most of my students live on farms and everytime I held a hand I tried to remember if that was the hand I saw Johnny picking his nose with earlier.
Over the weekend, I did a lot of self talk and decided I needed to do whatever it took to make it a great year and refocus my views of 2nd grade. In short, I needed to take charge. On Monday my students received a very important homework assignment. They had to go home and learn how to tie their shoes by the next day. They next morning they each lined up and one by one untied their shoes and then retied them perfectly! I then informed them that I would no longer be tying shoes. They could all do it and if they had trouble with their shoes they each had 21 other people in class who I'm sure would be more than willing to help them tie their shoes. I haven't tied a pair of shoes since!!
Just as I anticipated, it seemed like all I did the first week was tie shoes, hold hands with everyone, break up arguments over who got to hold my hand, and go through a whole bottle of hand sanitizer. I'm not a touchy feely kind of person and I couldn't imagine how I was going to get through the year. Everytime I tied a shoe I wondered where those shoelaces had been dragged through...most of my students live on farms and everytime I held a hand I tried to remember if that was the hand I saw Johnny picking his nose with earlier.
Over the weekend, I did a lot of self talk and decided I needed to do whatever it took to make it a great year and refocus my views of 2nd grade. In short, I needed to take charge. On Monday my students received a very important homework assignment. They had to go home and learn how to tie their shoes by the next day. They next morning they each lined up and one by one untied their shoes and then retied them perfectly! I then informed them that I would no longer be tying shoes. They could all do it and if they had trouble with their shoes they each had 21 other people in class who I'm sure would be more than willing to help them tie their shoes. I haven't tied a pair of shoes since!!
A Whole New World
Okay, so I have been meaning to start this blog for months now and have been so busy that it ended up on the back burner. Let me introduce my intentions with this blog. Simply put, I have the best job in the world and I want to share it with everyone else!!
I have been teaching school for 13 years. I was at the middle school age until three years ago when I transferred to 5th grade. The next year I was asked to teach a 4th/5th split and this year I moved to 2nd grade. I was really worried about moving to such a low grade level this year. I have always been so comfortable with older students. I love getting into meaningful and deep conversations with them and seeing them really desire to learn. When I thought of second grade all I could think of was tying shoes, wiping noses, holding hands (yes...I'm kind of a germ freak), and just coloring all day. I think I was more scared and nervous than my students on the first day of school. I didn't know what to expect. In fact, when my first two students walked through the door, I ran next door to my friend's classroom and asked her if they were all really that small!!! Unfortunately, she relplied in the affirmative. I just knew it was going to be a horrible school year. I didn't know how to relate to these teeny tiny kids. I mean they looked like they could break!!!
Now, anyone who knows me knows that I love to joke with my students and use a lot of humor in my classroom. Well, the school bell rang the students took their seats and 22 little faces looked at me with the question on them of "Well, you're the teacher-what do we do next?" I introduced myself to the class like I always did with a few funny anecdotes, but no laughs came, like with my previous classes, just blank looks wondering what I was talking about.
It was going to be a loooooong year!!!!
I have been teaching school for 13 years. I was at the middle school age until three years ago when I transferred to 5th grade. The next year I was asked to teach a 4th/5th split and this year I moved to 2nd grade. I was really worried about moving to such a low grade level this year. I have always been so comfortable with older students. I love getting into meaningful and deep conversations with them and seeing them really desire to learn. When I thought of second grade all I could think of was tying shoes, wiping noses, holding hands (yes...I'm kind of a germ freak), and just coloring all day. I think I was more scared and nervous than my students on the first day of school. I didn't know what to expect. In fact, when my first two students walked through the door, I ran next door to my friend's classroom and asked her if they were all really that small!!! Unfortunately, she relplied in the affirmative. I just knew it was going to be a horrible school year. I didn't know how to relate to these teeny tiny kids. I mean they looked like they could break!!!
Now, anyone who knows me knows that I love to joke with my students and use a lot of humor in my classroom. Well, the school bell rang the students took their seats and 22 little faces looked at me with the question on them of "Well, you're the teacher-what do we do next?" I introduced myself to the class like I always did with a few funny anecdotes, but no laughs came, like with my previous classes, just blank looks wondering what I was talking about.
It was going to be a loooooong year!!!!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
