New Year, New Choice Classes

2nd Grade:
Before vacation, this 2nd grade class had a choice. So we talked about choice a little, then they had the choice of Drawing or Collage. They did a good job. There are a couple of students who usually have a terrible time sitting quietly and listening for directions. They often choose to sit near each other, which is disruptive, but I almost prefer that they distract each other rather than the other students, because they talk no matter who they sit near. I made sure to emphasize the idea of our "meeting" at the beginning of class, and that that is important time for listening. The vast majority of the students were working. There were maybe 2 who petered out at the end of the 45 minutes.

3rd Grade:
This was the first 3rd grade class I've introduced to having a choice. They did really well with the working part. Even the ones who are usually awful were working away. It was pretty great. The only thing that did not go well was clean up. I will try to remember to reinstate the clean up song with these guys. There're a couple of really spacey kids in this group... Like 4 times "It's time to clean up." nothing. argh. It wasn't the worst clean up ever, but when I inspected the drawer at the Collage center, it was trashed. grr... We'll definitely have a talk about that next week...