My Sweaty Week

Today we melted in 31C weather. Nobody was safe - we all melted together in equal fairness. As the hot overworked teacher, I was probably the meltiest of them all. But I have to say, Ontario Place was a huge success :D I've officially pulled off my first all day field trip and I feel quite good because of some of the nice things the parents told me afterwards.

This week we also had a half day trip to Playdium. Each child got a 1 hour game card to play as many games as possible. I personally didn't think that Playdium was really age appropriate for the kids but they had a grand time. They were like in awe of everything inside - and I do think it would look pretty spectacular to a 7 year old - all the flashy glowing lights and everything would make it seem like a magical place for a kid. We then were scheduled for an hour of outdoor mini-golf but again it was very hot and so I pretended to write down scores while they ran around and played according to their rules (none of them really knew what to do).

The week didn't start of so great. I had to change classrooms and my class was split up because a whole lot more grade 2's enrolled. Basically I had almost a whole new set of students. We now have 2 grade 2 classes. BUT then I realized I like my new class a whole lot better. They're so well behaved and cute (well most of them) .. and I like the new classroom better. I'm really trying to make it into "my" classroom with artwork, books, games, etc. even though it's just for summer camp.

My classroom:









Each week is a session. That way parents can select different sessions or weeks to sign their kids up for. Everything is also very scheduled. That means we have specific times to do specific things and we HAVE to get those things done. This is what a typical (no field trip) day looks like:


9:00-9:15 Intro/attendance
9:15-9:55 Outside Sports
9:55-10:35 Game of the Week
10:35-11:15 Math
11:15-11:55 Spelling Bee
11:55-12:35 Language Arts
12:35-12:55 Lunch
12:55-1:35 Big Games Room
1:35-2:15 Math
2:15-2:55 Gym
2:55-3:35 Board Games Room
3:35-4:15 Computer Lab
4:15-4:30 Wrap up

As you can see, it's almost like a school day the way we have to follow things in different periods... and the math and Language Arts marking isn't any different. As usual, I left all my marking till the last minute and was up late last night finishing the math. Each week the students take home their math and L.A books and all the work is supposed to be marked - plus I like to try to write a lot of nice encouraging comments and use a whole bunch of stickers on their work to make it seem more fun (I mean really, who wants to be doing math and English at age 7 in their summer - or at any age). Anyways, I can tell these kids will be ahead once they start the school year. Technically, they're still grade 1 students - they'll be entering grade 2 in September - being able to learn the some of the curriculum early will help them later on. If I were a parent I'd enroll my son/daughter in the camp - and make sure that they get me as a teacher :D

Best moment today: When a student who likes to act all tough with his friends asked me to sit with him on the water log ride... and then once seated, asked me to put my arm around him (because he was so scared!) Awww :D