4th grade

They almost did me in today. The mornings were OK then as the afternoon moved on I found the kids and me louder. I separated boys, help their hands, had them sit next to me, spoke to them and all the class about good manners and respect. I don't have the patience to teach. 20 2nd graders is different from 30, 4th graders. They really do need to keep class sized 1-3 at 20. This class was about 60-70 percent Hispanic.
They wanted to hear me speak Spanish. So I gave them a demo.

I had stories about Dr Masy, the black man who invented blood storage and died in DC because a white hospital refused to treat him with the transfusion process he invented because was no black blood. I had to go into MLK and segregation and Klu Klutz Klan, white robes, burning, Freedom Ride, march, white restaurants, bathrooms water fountains and about they had to drain the pool in Hollywood because Dorothy Danridge flicked her foor in the water.

Math in decimals and percentages..., not my strong suit. I was glad to have found the teachers edition to check answers.

Then, I told them about Fosey in Gorillas in the Midst. Both were in their reading practice. And what was happening in Rwanda with the civil war and genocide still going on.
One boy asked if Bush killed JFK??? Where do they get this stuff? They have such a tiny limited perspective of the world. Another reads on the 2nd grade level if that. i worked with him to have him understand a reading comprehension passage. At the end of the day we did government. They need to understand the different levels of district, city, state government and the judicial executive and legislative branches. They did know about some history and Father Junipero Sero. 4th grade is when they study CA Missions.
I taight them a lot on writing and graphics orgabizers again. This time I worked thru lunch to finish the essay to show them how easy it was and how much they had already done in the organizer.

Then there were the one's who tattled. And others that did nothing. That frustrates me. When tey are capitvated and engaged it's so cool, wven they aren't and drift I want the attention back.

My bridge scores yesterday were up.

On the other hand, several did come and thank me and say good bye at the end of the day.

I didn't know MN was in the tornado path. Forget the Midwest. Tornado season is worse than earthquake possibility. None of us have insurance.

I'm going into curves tomorrow to try it out.