Elena's Adventures in Hubbell Elementary

        Monday, February 27th ➽Activity of the Day: Popcorn reading         After struggling with my students on Friday, I was back at it today- this time at Mrs. Carlson’s table. Being in the presence of a teacher got them to work hard. While I was disappointed I could not control them the way Mrs. Carlson can, I was given a huge compliment. She told me I had a good teaching style. Mrs. Carlson approved my method of letting kids figure out a tricky word by themselves (asking them to sound it out) then giving them praise. She liked that I asked questions at the end about what they read so they could practice synthesis. I left beaming!                 Tuesday, February 28th ➽Activity of the Day: Black Pride March          Today   Hubbell had an assembly to commemorate the end of Black History Month. Two black speakers came to encourage all kids of their worth. They had ...

          Wednesday, February 22nd ➽Activity of the Day: Reading      I read with one of my typical girls today. It often feels like two steps forward and one step back. I’m working to keep up with fluency. I might try doing a sticker chart for her reading at night. I know she can get to where she needs to be, she just needs to be reading after school.      I had so much fun with the kids today. We were indoors for recess because of how cold it’s been so I played legos with them. Most of the kids in this class don’t put up social walls. They are open books and want me to know what’s going on in their lives. Sometimes they ask for advice or about my personal life. At this point, I have individua lized connections with both of them. I love how close I’m getting with them!            Friday, February 24th     ➽Activity of the Day: Strugglebus central        I was tasked with w...

    Wednesday, February 15th ➽Activity of the Day: 100th Day Coloring!         I forgot how fun the 100th Day is in elementary school! When I came into the classroom, the kids were all dressed up as if they were 100 years old. They had canes, wigs, clothes they bought from a costume store or borrowed from grandparents, and some even used makeup to draw wrinkles. A few of the kids were showing me how they hobbled with canes. I loved  seeing their smiling faces!        The activity of the day was a color by number. There were different sections on a piece of paper. Each section would have a subtraction or addition problem. For example, one of the problems was 11-4. My student would solve the problem, then go to the top of the sheet and see what color the sum or difference matched up with. It’s such a fun way to practice problems. Why can’t Roosevelt do stuff like this?!   Friday, February 17th ➽Activity of the Day: Prefixes ...

   Tuesday, February 7th ➽Activity of the Day: Reading getting difficult         Reading with my students has been getting difficult . Being with Hubbell for five months makes kids start to feel like I’m old news. As a result, I’m losing respect. When reading with my student today, she wouldn’t show me her book while reading. At first, I was being gentle, but by the end I had to be stern and nearly demand her to show me the book. I want to be the good cop, so I wonder how I’ll be able to handle the kids moving towards the end of the school year.    Wednesday, February 8th ➽Activity of the Day: Math is worse!        In math today, the student I had  was also being difficult.We did ruler math. This method works by starting on an initial number on the ruler and adding the second. So, if the problem was 5 + 7, this student would start with 5 centimeters and add 7. Each new problem was met with an “I don’t want to do this”, or ...