mid winter blues

Sigh, it's mid January and past my most un-favorite time of the year. I go to work in the dark and I come home in the dark. But not today. My younger son Sam started back to school today and we ride share. This semester it will be four days a week. So I will have to leave my building as soon as I can to get him home and to work by 5 pm.

January also means lots of days that are off, rescheduled and early closings. Trying to keep consistent and do instruction is hard. We have done several Black -Eyed Susan nominees, for picture books. I do these all grade levels except kindergarten. This week is really strange and I sensed we need a break so we are playing Dewey games. Practice and review but also the way I vamp until the normal schedule is resumed, this year in February.

The Dewey game I found on line can be adapted for 2-5. I added the OPAC for a third grade today and then we compared which way was more efficient for the students. Conclusion it was 50/50 using the laptop to find the information (type in a subject heading) or going straight to the shelves, locate a book with the selected Dewey number and then recording author title and publication date. Very interesting. First grade will play Sort Dewey by topics, we'll see what they remember from October. they only go from 500-800, I cover the rest of the sections in second grade. Oh oh oh, hot idea - have them select another subject heading for each section as an extension. Students pick symbol to add to game. I have been thinking of trying with the Kindergarten too. Hmmm

Autism students are going to start Chessie Book Club in February. We'll need a peer buddy and a TA to do this, but I am hopeful. Will recruit this week in fourth and fifth grade.

to do or not

Stella Louella went well, in fact the group was pretty quiet while I told the story. That's another thing - with some books I don't read it as much as tell it. I caught myself doing that today in a second grade class. I am half way through this week (taking a sick day on Friday) doing a Black- Eyed Susan nominee and I am telling the book with the pictures not reading it word for word. This could have something to do with the document camera. Have to think about that.

This post is supposed to be about presenting at MICCA the state wide technology teaching conference. I was to present on how I use technology to create the lessons I make for the autism class. Got the email for presentation submissions today and I'm thinking about it. As in what do I need to include for 45 minutes? Autism students need lots of visuals, and after much of trial and error I figured out a way. A way to at least tell a story to a group and have them respond. Autism teachers write social stories for their students describing what to expect during the school day. I have taken that format and turned it sideways sorta.

Next weeks book is What Happened to Marion's Book