Oh these 6th graders are a handful!
it reminds me of all the angst and how things can change so fast. why oh why do sweet 5th graders turn so wierd and awkward when they hit that grade? strangely bigger, more sour.
Still they are a lot of fun. they are just so rambunctious on a thursday afternoon.
We started out playing the standard toss the ball and say the name game, then timing it.
I didn't expect them to have so much trouble just keeping it in the air, not dropping it. So it took a lot longer than I'd expected. (seems to be the theme of this class)
Initially I just want to develop a group comfort level, create an environment of comraderie, where the kids can feel comfortable sharing, playing, and studying together. So for the first little while, I'm going to do my best toincorporsate some team building activities into the curriculum.
Then we learned the phrasal points,
"I'd (would) like..."
"I'd like you to...."
"Why don't you..."
I started out with a ball and asked them what they wanted. the first kid to say "I want to ball," got it, and then they all started shouting.
I got the ball back and introduced, I would--->I'd....."I'd like the ball," and the chaos ensued again. this time I used 2 balls--one blue, one red.
got the balls back & changed it, "I'd like you to + ACTION+ the ball." "
and the same with "Why don't you+ ACTION+ the ball."
I don't know why but this activity got the kids really riled up. there were balls and shouting and that's it. I kindof let the chaos happen a bit, as long as I heard them shouting out the appropriate phrases.
I gave the kids 3 pics of fruit. They had to write 3 sentences using our three new phrasal points, then they could go home. Surprisingly, this was difficult for some of them, many of them forgot to put in theACTION word, others just copied the 1 sentence I'd written on the board.
Goals for next class: I didn't even get thru half of what I wanted to, so theres much more to cover. Next week I'd like to start with SHOULD as a talking point. play "what are you doing?" and start to work on our skits, what SHOULD you do when you meet someone for the first time? what SHOULDN'T you do?
