March Madness

I miss my fifth graders!

I thought the switch was going to be incredibly easy. I thought that I would do an amazing job.
HA! ...not even close.

I went from 50 fifth graders to 90 fourth graders. And I just have to say it because it must be said, the 4th graders are BABIES compared to the 5th graders. It's sad, but oh, so true. It can take 15 minutes for a 4th grader to copy 3 sentences.

I had to slow my pace waaaaaaay down.

Having 3 classes is a LOT different than just 2. My last class is Ca-RAY-ZAAAY! They spend the first 6 hours of school learning and by the time they get to me they just want the day to end. It is extremely difficult to keep them quiet in their seats.

And the number of behavior problems doubled. Naturally.

So, it's been a tough couple of months in 4th grade. Right now we are doing our electricity and magnetism unit. The kids love being able to make circuits and get light bulbs to light or motors to run. However, they are not able to put their learning into valuable language. They can't explain to me anything they've learned using the accurate vocabulary. It has gotten very disheartening.

In addition to trying to catch an entire grade up to where they should be by this point in the year, there is almost no instructional time in March. My kids have THREE different standardized tests to take in one month. We have to test all of the students in their reading, language and math skills with the NWEA MAPs test. Then we have to test each of them on their science and social studies skills with district mandated pre-tests. And we have to test them on their ability to read, write, listen and speak the English language with the ELPA test. This one is the worse because it requires each student to be tested individually! So I have the option of either testing my kids or teaching my kids. Of course, I have to test them because there are deadlines and it isn't an option to test regardless.

My first semester of teaching was so much rosier than this last one.

I've decided that I will spend my summer on my teaching skills and getting prepared for the fall. Hopefully I'll have the same assignment as fourth grade sci/ss teacher so that I can refine my lessons this summer and not have to worry about it during the school year. And I desperately need to work on my classroom management. I'm finding that I'm falling into bad habits and showing my annoyance with kids much easier than ever before.

Phew. Pray for me. :)