January 19th, 2024

We're back! Today was a long day of lessons but it was so much fun. First, I was back at Cannon Elementary with Mrs. Moore's 2nd graders, then to Bear Creek with Ms. Beach's 3rd graders, and finally at Heritage Elemntray for the first time with Mrs. Ray's 4th graders. Not only was this my first time having multiple lessons on one day, but I was also teaching 4th grade for the first time. I was a little overwhelmed and nervous but more excited than anything else.

Starting off the day with Mrs. Moore's 2nd graders, they were working on financial literacy. I thought this would be a really good opportunity to not only do a math lesson but one about the real world. To start, I ordered a 2 sets of fake food off of Amazon so I had 2 of each food. Next, I wrote different prices on them and each food pair had one that was cheaper and one that was more expensive. I also split up the food into different groups like a pizza and burger group, a breakfast group, a veggie salad group, and a dessert and snack group. Then, I created a worksheet that had a recipe on it and a budget. The task was to create the meal while not going over budget and giving them the freedom to choose between a more expensive or cheaper food item for the ingredient. 

I started my lesson like I always do by doing a little review on the board. I review adding and subtracting money values and doing a little grocery store simulation by having them choose a cheaper or more expensive item. Then they went back to their tables and I split them into 5 groups and distributed the bins that had the food in it and the worksheets and they were off! They loved the little subtraction zone to help them with their math. Some of them were using a calculator for the first time and it was so sweet to be able to see that. While I was walking around, I heard one student go, "Well, we need expensive carrots because we cannot have any mold in our salad." It was the cutest! I had them switch a few times so they got to do a couple different recipes. I loved seeing all of their collaboration and teamwork to try and come up with the best version of the recipes! These students always amaze me with their creativity.

So, after a quick Starbucks break, it was time to head over to Bear Creek Elementary to see Ms. Beach's 3rd graders! Today they were working on fractions. My lesson did jump ahead a little in their curriculum, so there were a few things that I had to teach them for the first time which was a little nerve racking. The lesson was about comparing fractions so I made them a little pizza simulator. All they had to do was roll the die and fill in the blanks on their paper. Next they compare the fractions that they made. Once all the fractions were compared, they look at the conditions sheet that I made for them to figure out what they put on their pizza depending on what the comparison was. Some students had a little more trouble with this than others since this was the first time they were working on this. They still did so well dispite the challenge and I was so impressed, as was Ms. Beach.

I was able to sneak in a nice lunch break before I had to go the Heratige Elementary to meet Mrs Ray's 4th grade students! I felt a more excited than nervous and was ready to meet these new students! They were also working on comparing fractions so I was able to use the same fraction pizza lesson as my 3rd graders but just bump it up to 4th grade standards. These students were so sweet! They were so excited for this lesson and were so creative with it. This class was a little different than my younger kiddos because they were asking me more questions about myself which I was more than happy to answer. As they were going through the activity, I heard them talking about what their favorite pizza was and how they were going to ask their parents to order pizza for dinner. Once they were all done with their pizzas, I had them do a little show-and-tell with their classmates. These studnets were so creative, one had cut off a little bit of the circle to create a pizza slice, another had some extra time to make a pizza box. 

Today was a very busy day but I had such a great time! It was so great to teach my first 4th grade class and return to my 2nd and 3rd graders. Next week I have a lesson at Colleyville Elementary with Mrs. Rovner's 2nd grader and Glenhope Elementary for the first time with Mrs. Jones' 4th graders. :)