Monday, April 28, 2014

Reflection #24

This week at SLE the students had their last day of FCAT. They returned to school that Monday and started FCAT Math, then on Tuesday (the day I am there) They did FCAT Math again. this was their last day of FCAT for the year. After the usual warm up activity that was what the rest of the class time consisted of. The next day things were back to normal. The students came in and their desk were back in groups! It was a sign that FCAT was over. There was a look of relief on the students faces, some even though there was another day of FCAT. After the students had settled down and but their backpacks away and got chairs for their desk they had a seat and waited for Ms. C to tell them what to do. There was no warm up activity for them so they had nothing to do but sit at their desk, this caused some problems. The students started to walk around, talk and become disruptive. I think Ms. C should have had something for them to do, even if it was just for them to read or to draw, anything to keep them busy and out of trouble. 

A few minutes had past and Ms. C called all the students to the carpet. She decided the kids needed a 'Brain Break' all the teachers have started using a program (gonoodle.com) for their brain breaks. a brain break is when the students are working really hard and you think they deserve a reward and want to do something fun in the classroom, or if the class is really rambunctious and you think they need to get some extra energy out. Ms. C used the brain break because the class was very wild and out of hand and had a lot of energy to get rid of. The activities they have on gonoodle are exercise type activities. After they finished with the brain break the students seem much more ready to learn and less antsy while sitting on the carpet. Next the class read the "Fabled Fourth Graders of Aesop Elementary School" 

https://www.gonoodle.com/
The next day things were the same as before but with more well behaved students. Morning activity went as normal and then they read the book. I normally leave in the middle of their readings. In each chapter there is a fable or a moral that goes with the chapter. The book is really good and the students enjoy it a lot, it has a very good meaning and I think that even the students understand it too. 

1 comment:

  1. That looks like a great program for brain break - think I'll have to check it out, too! I can understand why the students were a bit crazy with all of that testing, but now that is behind them and they can focus on the future...getting ready for 4th grade! :) Nice job!

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