Bits and Pieces of Monday
Sep. 20th, 2004 07:37 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
velvetpageI came within a hair of really yelling at my kids today. I remembered in time, though, that yelling denotes a lack of control, which, while it accurately reflected my mood, would not bode well for future success. I settled for a fairly quiet but stern lecture.
I left work at 3:30. This was the first time in two weeks at work that I spent less than nine consecutive hours in the building. It was also the first time in a week that I brought no work home with me. I should have been there longer, and I should have brought marking home. But I just had no energy, and I figured eight and a half hours ought to be enough for anyone on a Monday. Besides, Meet the Teacher night is Thursday, so I will be spending that extra hour there.
Since Pyat was telecommuting, I took the opportunity offered by increased mobility and went to the dollar store. Those foam alphabet puzzles are great. Elizabeth absolutely loves them. We know "huit", "i" (pronounced "ee" in French), "z" and "a". I'm not sure if she'll remember them tomorrow, but she knew them today. Also, she demonstrated incredible dexterity for 17 months by poking out the little bits of filler foam in the eight on the puzzle, and then putting the bits back in again with no help from me. Those things are tiny! I also bought a little tub of playdough and a red plastic tambourine. I haven't introduced the playdough yet, but the tambourine and the puzzle were big hits. They did not, however, have any cribbage boards, which is what I went in for. I picked up a few decks of cards, though. I'm going to teach my "Friday Club" kids to play cribbage.
The principal realized that most of the time, that last hour on a Friday was not being well-used. Also, the kids at our school often have little to no cultural stimulation; their families don't read together, play games, listen to music, or have such creative toys as lego available. So she decided to have cross-graded games clubs for Friday. The games have to have some educational content, which is pretty loosely defined, and the groups will rotate every four weeks so each group will see each teacher once. We start with kids in our own division (primary is K-2, junior is 3-5) and halfway through the year, we'll switch. I'm going to teach cribbage to the older kids, with Go Fish or Rummy for those who can't handle the math. (There will be quite a few kids who can't figure out how to count to fifteen, I'm sure. I'll get most groups started on Go Fish, then teach individual groups how to play some more advanced card games. If they never figure out cribbage, at least they'll have played some cards.) One teacher is doing lego building; another checkers; another drama; another puzzles, with 3-d available for the smart cookies. It should be fun. And it's low-maintenance, once it's set up. No evaluation!! Yippee!!
It's just about time for a little girl's bath. And Pyat has some cool videos to link to his journal. Elizabeth the ballerina!
I left work at 3:30. This was the first time in two weeks at work that I spent less than nine consecutive hours in the building. It was also the first time in a week that I brought no work home with me. I should have been there longer, and I should have brought marking home. But I just had no energy, and I figured eight and a half hours ought to be enough for anyone on a Monday. Besides, Meet the Teacher night is Thursday, so I will be spending that extra hour there.
Since Pyat was telecommuting, I took the opportunity offered by increased mobility and went to the dollar store. Those foam alphabet puzzles are great. Elizabeth absolutely loves them. We know "huit", "i" (pronounced "ee" in French), "z" and "a". I'm not sure if she'll remember them tomorrow, but she knew them today. Also, she demonstrated incredible dexterity for 17 months by poking out the little bits of filler foam in the eight on the puzzle, and then putting the bits back in again with no help from me. Those things are tiny! I also bought a little tub of playdough and a red plastic tambourine. I haven't introduced the playdough yet, but the tambourine and the puzzle were big hits. They did not, however, have any cribbage boards, which is what I went in for. I picked up a few decks of cards, though. I'm going to teach my "Friday Club" kids to play cribbage.
The principal realized that most of the time, that last hour on a Friday was not being well-used. Also, the kids at our school often have little to no cultural stimulation; their families don't read together, play games, listen to music, or have such creative toys as lego available. So she decided to have cross-graded games clubs for Friday. The games have to have some educational content, which is pretty loosely defined, and the groups will rotate every four weeks so each group will see each teacher once. We start with kids in our own division (primary is K-2, junior is 3-5) and halfway through the year, we'll switch. I'm going to teach cribbage to the older kids, with Go Fish or Rummy for those who can't handle the math. (There will be quite a few kids who can't figure out how to count to fifteen, I'm sure. I'll get most groups started on Go Fish, then teach individual groups how to play some more advanced card games. If they never figure out cribbage, at least they'll have played some cards.) One teacher is doing lego building; another checkers; another drama; another puzzles, with 3-d available for the smart cookies. It should be fun. And it's low-maintenance, once it's set up. No evaluation!! Yippee!!
It's just about time for a little girl's bath. And Pyat has some cool videos to link to his journal. Elizabeth the ballerina!