Distractions!

I've been meaning to make a start on this year's professional blog for weeks. Initially, I intended to begin with appraisal goals and write about what I was going to do after getting to know the children... but I got so distracted and I still haven't completed all assessments because some of them just take so long, (especially Gloss - when they keep getting one out of three right so you have to move on to the next three and they take ages to answer sometimes!) that I didn't feel ready to actually post what I was going to do.
One of my distractions is art! I know it shouldn't take over everything else but as we are doing an art exhibition and selling art at the end of the term, I'm so excited about working with other classes and I keep getting ideas on things we could do, and so then of course I have to try them out to see if they will work, and my poor husband has to put up with half finished bits of trial artwork all over the house, in various stages of drying.
The other distraction is camp preparation, it's a big one, and thank goodness for Pam because she is super organised when it comes to camp.
Tomorrow my class will be doing a Red Cross First Aid training course, which is great timing before we go to camp. But I still need to do writing assessment. It will have to be Tuesday.
I've spent quite some time trying to figure out this group of children. They are very different to last years class. They seem to love art (which is a bonus for me) but they are quite a noisy group so I've been trying different ways to keep the noise level down. Noise doesn't bother me at all, but I do worry for those that like a quiet space to work in. Also, they are so messy! Like really messy! I can't work in a mess, I like everything to be neat and orderly, so I've had to create rules about things like felt pens being left on the floor with lids off, and chairs being pushed in, and respecting work stapled to the walls, and paper strewn across the floor, and pencil shavings scattered from here to kingdom come... honestly!
And one other thing I've noticed is that they do like to tell on each other, for really silly, trivial things. They also like to get up and go to the bathroom or get a drink - frequently! Even during instruction time or when I'm reading to them, or when we are reading our shared book. It got to the point where I said they would have to wait... or the whole class would wait until they returned before we would continue.
My dilemma, conundrum, worry, that I am going to focus on for at least this term is Mack. Oh my goodness, I am very concerned about his academic levels, in all areas. He's already had numerous days off. After discovering he could not find the solution to 3 + 6, Ronda kindly offered to JAM test him for me. He came out at stage 2-3! Reading at 8.5 but struggled with comprehension and decoding text. Tuesday I shall have a better idea of what he can produce independently in writing.
I have set him separate number goals for homework (yes I am anti homework, but he does need to practise, and I want him to succeed) and I think I shall set up a reading box as I did for Will last year.
Another child I worry about is Lily, who seems to really lack confidence with maths, didn't even seem to try during testing, it was almost like she just made up random answers.
At the other end of the worries I have Jack, Jack who can answer all of the questions in the test, all the way to the end! Seriously though, I'm not really worried about him, I actually think it will be a lot of fun coming up with new challenges to keep growing his brain!
My noisy, messy, very mixed ability class are certainly an interesting group. I wanted to begin MOTE this term, but have decided to delay until after camp at least... I still feel as though I am figuring them out, slowly but surely. Maybe Term 2 will be a better time to start, I don't know, maybe I should just get into it, maybe it will settle them... maybe! After camp.
And I still have art!
Good grief, what a load of waffle I've written! I'm not even going to re read this so I hope it makes sense and I've not too many errors (I still look at the keys, not the screen, when I type - with my two fingers haha. Perhaps it's a good thing, I shan't ruin my eyes!) but at least I've finally started!