Reading, writing, and reflecting

 By: Melissa Cabrales

Thursday, November 4, 2021

This week was an easy but fun week. I had a substitute this week and I always feel like its an easier day with a substitute even though my MT does keep a schedule for the class. Today I was able to give the read aloud reading during the literacy lesson. The students were really paying attention to this story. As I read the story, I would pause and ask them questions and they all seemed to understand what was happening in the story. This was a longer story and I was thinking they would get bored of it quick but they didn't. I think what kept them on their toes was them wanting to know how the story was going to end. I had them turn and talk with a neighbor to discuss the book and they seemed to enjoy that part. 

In the afternoon, the students completed their "scary" stories they came up with. They were given a setting, characters, and different items to write about in their story. I went around the classroom to edit the students' papers. I was actually surprised by some of their writing skills. I have already noticed that a lot of the students have improved in their writing skills since when I first started with them. This one student in particular wowed me because even though he spelled the hard words wrong, they tried by sounding them out and a lot of times, he was only off by a letter. I made sure to tell him he was doing a good job with sounding out. The best thing students can do is try when they don't have the teacher around to tell them how to spell everything. This really made me happy to see that the students were improving. 

I really enjoy being with these students every week and then I start thinking about how my time with them is ending soon. Instead of counting down the days with them, I'll count the many lessons I've learned from them. They have already taught me so much by being in the classroom with them.