Monday, October 26, 2009

Today is the last Monday of October. It seems like this year is going by so fast! We are already in the 3rd week of this grading period, which means progress reports go out in just a couple of weeks.

Today, 6th grade took a bit longer in getting their math practice finished, so we were not able to start our science lesson. However, they have had their vocabulary since Friday and there are only a few questions on the study guide that are not vocabulary. We will finish the study guide tomorrow. 5th grade did have time to work on it. The case is the same as 6th grade in that they had all of their vocabulary Friday and only have a few questions that are not vocabulary to know.

For heritage studies, 6th grade began the study guide today. We will finish it with our lessons tomorrow and Wednesday. 5th grade is having a similar test to the last one. Most of the material will come from the worktext pages they are responsible for doing over the next couple of days. The majority of what they need to know is in labeling the map of the states from the two regions we will cover this week. There are less states, so they will be responsible for knowing a little more about each state that just their location.

We went over practice problems in math for both grades and worked them out on the board. I had to address a small situation, particularly with the 5th graders. They have not been following along or paying attention in class. This shows particularly in how well they are not catching on in math. I gave them a worksheet last Thursday with examples using step by step directions. Even with that being given AFTER we learned everything and did our work, they still seem to not understand. With all that we practiced in class together and all the practice that they received, there is no reason (other than that they are not paying attention) that they should not know how to work everything. Math has been taking up way too much time in class because I am trying to help them as much as possible, but it is becoming more clear that it is because they do not pay attention or read/follow the directions. They need to learn to do that or else it will continue being difficult for them.