Thanks for your support!

Well today was certainly a better day, but that should be expected after our very serious talk at morning meeting. Mr. Senitte also showed up to talk to the kids about trust and sub behavior. We also talked about the fact that is was a mistake and now they need to learn and grow from it. I will give them that exact opportunity on October 29th when I am gone again. They will have the same sub again. I asked her to come back and see how they have grown. The second part of fixing this situation is learning that they need to earn back some of the trust that they lost from me. We did not go on the field trip today because ALL students agreed that I could not trust them in small groups at this time. I was proud of them for making that choice. Talking will never stop, I know that. However, excessive talking has ceased in this classroom. It will not be tolerated and severe consequences will be given to those that push that. Students did not get back their $1000 buy in. Students that were unable to buy in are now in the hole a thousand bucks. It is only fair to those that lost their money. I talked to many parents about all of these issues and I so appreciate all the I support that I received. Thanks for trusting me with your kids!

In reading we will be finishing our novel, A Boy in the Girl's Bathroom. We have had a lot of great discussions and fun with this novel. The kids learned all sorts of skills such as predicting, fact vs. opinion, character analysis, compare and contrast, Inferential vs literal questioning, Cause and Effect, idioms, similes, and irony. WOW! We will be doing a final project with the book before we put it back on the shelf. Next students will be placed in small group and will read a novel of their choice. We will meet daily or every other day and discuss these same types of skills in a small group setting. We will add on skills of course. I will become more of a facilitator rather than the leader of the group. I love this because they come up with some pretty fascinating things to discuss.

In math today, we took our Ch. 1 Test. Depending on how it goes we will either move on tomorrow to Ch. 2 or we will retest after discussion. I hope to move on!!!! Believe!

We have finished up our Hurricane study. Their paragraphs turned out pretty good for their first time. We will continue that skill all year. They are hanging in the hall if you would like to read them. Next, we move to beavers and their habitats. Yay!

Kids are to write tonight on this topic: Write an apology letter to yourself for your behavior with the sub. I want kids to reflect on their inner self and what they know is right and wrong. I want them to understand that forgiveness can't come until accountability takes place. Saying sorry to me or to the sub is one thing. Saying sorry to yourself and learning that you made a mistake and have to learn from it is another. Please read this and talk to them about growing from it. Write the words, I forgive myself, on their planner and earn an extra $100 for your kid at tomorrow's check in. It is important that they let this go and move forward.

Have a wonderful evening. Looks like rain has set in once again.

PS-Please read the post below if you did not get to last night. I posted kinda late but it is important information. Thanks!