Among other things

I read the morning message and used it to touch on a few grammar points, reviewed some words on the Word Wall (the kids pointed them out using an amusing pointer with a hand at the end), and practiced doing phonemic awareness (I asked riddles like "this is something you drink hot beverages from" and the kids had to answer with segmented phonemes, as in /k/u/p).

I did the calendar and the Target the Question math strategy exercise on the overhead (which is turning into my favorite time of day).

I led a lesson on place value. First the kids "caught" flies with numbers printed on them, according to numbers and columns I dictated (such as "forty-two, tens place," which would indicate that the kid should catch the fly with the 4 on it). Then we worked with some manipulatives --- paper one-squares and ten-rods --- and made numbers with them, then investigated rudimentary adding by place value.

I came home, took a nap, and walked Dog.

I finished the PowerPoint presentation I made on reading strategies. My third (and final?) observation by State school Sponsor is in a week, and we're supposed to use "available technology." Since at Brown that means dry-erase markers on whiteboard, a PowerPoint will be new to the kids. Hopefully I can get the damn thing to work. Otherwise, it's back to handouts and boring old me talking to the kids as they fiddle with their shoelaces or pick up tiny bits of lint off the floor.