Last week, the "missing numbers" concept was introduced--and boy did we have lots of trouble. Their little minds could just not grasp the concept of figuring out which number was missing in the combination. For instance, we had problems such as: 2+2=4, 5+1=6....as well as: 3+___=5, and 2+__=6. I went over and over the concept; showed them how to do it; let them practice; and finally gave them their worksheets--which we did together.
Today, I went over their papers, and reviewed the concept and wanted to see how they would do on their own. Surprisingly, they got most of them. One of my boys was having a harder time in his corrections, so I did a little tutoring session with him at my desk. I went over it, using different examples, and he gave me all the correct answers so I sent him to his desk to write in the correct answers. He had three problems to correct; soon he raised his hand and came to show me his paper. One was still not right--he had originally had a "7" for the answer to 2+__=6, which he now changed to a five {although he did give me the correct answer when at my desk just a few minutes before!}. We went over it again; he told me the correct answer and I sent him to his desk yet again to write in the right number. He came back up and had a "7" in place of the "5"!!
By this time, I was getting just a mite bit frustrated, so I asked him why in the world he wasn't getting the right answer! Especially since he would tell me the answer before going to his desk--not even a foot away!
He tiredly rubbed his forehead and sighed, "Peanut is attracting me".
WHAT?!?! Did I hear that right? "Attracting" me? Whoa, buddy--he's only 5 years old!! He seriously can't be serious!
And then I caught myself--before I said anything stupid. He meant she was DISTRACTING him....whew! Good thing it was lunch time right about then!
*****************************************************************************************
During reading time today, one of the boys read a story about a game. This little guy is really good at reading. I'm even surprised at his reading grade level. He picks up on words quickly, and I would venture to say that he reads better than some of the older students.
Only thing is, he's not so good at comprehending. He will read a story, but is unable to answer the most obvious questions.
Today he read a story about a baseball game...here it is:
The Game
Win, team, win!
Bat it, Joe!
Joe hit it.
Run, Joe, run!
His team did win the game.
Not complicateded at all.
Then I asked him some questions: "What kind of game was Joe playing?"...."batter,batter baseball" was the answer. Huh? He changed it to just baseball.
O-kkay...
Next was: "Who won the game?" This one stumped him. He worked his tongue from side to side, brows furrowed in concentration. "Joe?"....it was close, but not what I was looking for--especially with the last line being so explicit.
But then he just started pulling winners out of the air, mixed in with "I don't know's". He mentioned Kate, from the previous story, and lots of other doozies. His next answer topped them all:
He looked up excitedly from his book, eyes wide, and exuberantly said, "The Packers!!"
From where that came from, I have no idea...but I now know where his football loyalties lie.
Go Cheeseheads.
As for the real answer...we, uh, eventually got it.
No comments:
Post a Comment