New Groups

What a relief! We had a heat wave in Oklahoma! We made it up to freezing today. We were at 70 degrees on Sunday and now we are so cold. This drastic change in temps is not helping my kids attention span. This is the second day for the new schedule. There are 80 students in our neighborhood and the goal is to help each child where they are now and get them to learn the most they can. So we put all the kids in a pot, checked their scores, then we discussed the kids and their abilities and broke them into four new groups. There were 14 students with the least abilities in all areas with the most room to increase their abilities. So we decided they needed the most concentrated effort. So my teaching partner took on this group with the two reading specialists for an hour each day. The next group has 19 in it and will have an assistant with them. The next group also has 19 in it and will also have an assistant. Both of these groups will have one of the two new teachers. Both of these groups are struggling a little, but have somewhat of a foundation. If you are following you realize that leaves 28 for me. There are no more assistants, so I am one busy teacher! I am pushing this group to do more in writing and reading, so they will be very strong and confident. So far, so good. I really enjoy this part of my job. It is exciting and so rewarding! We need to have a catchy name for this hour each day. Nothing has struck us as fun or catchy yet.