Back to day-to-day subbing, my next assignment was for one of those very special ed. classes. This was one of those classes where the students were ninth and tenth grade aged, but the assignment for first period was a challenge.
First period is "calendar" period. They take time to go over what day it is, what the weather is like outside, what season it is, what tomorrow will be, and what yesterday was. (All these types of classes do this.) Then they had a couple worksheets to complete.
The first worksheet consisted of them tallying all the boys and girls in the room (and tracing the alphabet). The second worksheet required a bit more thinking on my part.
The top half of the second worksheet was all the months with boxes underneath. The bottom half had little pictures. There was one with hearts, one with a leprechaun hat, one with a pumpkin, one with a Christmas tree, with twelve images in all.
Clearly, they were to color in the images, then cut and paste them into the proper months. Easy enough, right?
Only, three images weren't so obvious. They were: a sun, a pencil, and an apple. (If you know exactly what month those images go to, pat yourself on the back.)
These are the sorts of kiddos that needed help figuring out which month the leprechaun hat went into. Of course, the first one that the kiddo that asked for my help grabbed was the sun. I told him to set that one aside until we had pasted the images we knew.
Once the leprechaun hat went into March, the Easter basket obviously belonged in April. The flowers had a tag that said "mother", so that got us May. Once we got the nine obvious months done, we were left with June, August, and September.
Now, it was time for me to make some guesses.
Well, the pencil was obviously for back-to-school. My teen self would have put that in September, but we started school mid-August. Okay, so pencil went to August.
And then the sun made sense. First day of summer, anyone? Because the apple has to go to fall, and that has to be September.
At least, I hope I was right. It makes sense.
I wasn't the only one confused. The instructional aides also questioned those three.
These sorts of classes are a real change of pace. It was pretty opposite of the spectrum from the day before.
I think you got it right.
ReplyDeleteThanks. I hope so.
DeleteIt seems logical the way you did it. I think it sounds like a cute assignment!
ReplyDeletebetty
Made sense to me.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad.
DeleteYeah, I'm also questioning those three. But I'm notoriously bad at communication that's through pictures instead of words.
ReplyDeleteShoot, lost the comment again. Said something like:
ReplyDeleteI think you got it right, but it's crazy it was so vague. Clearly August has to work harder to distinguish itself more.
Yeah, August is kinda the dregs of the year.
DeleteThe class sounds like it was an interesting change of pace!
ReplyDeleteIt was.
Deletewhat makes a very special ed class.
ReplyDeleteThe variety must keep you on your toes!
ReplyDeleteThat is one of the things I enjoy about subbing.
DeleteThat makes me grin Liz, the thought of you scratching your head too! Glad you worked it out ! Happy Days.
ReplyDeleteWren x
Unless the teacher provides a key, there's always a bit of doubt about correct answers.
DeleteI would have put...
ReplyDeleteapple-June
sun-August
pencil-September
Of course, I started school the day after Labor Day and ended in June. I'm old school that way.
I would have guessed September for the apple, but apple orchards are BIG business here, and most of the festivals happen in September. I guess the right answers could vary some, depending on where you live.
ReplyDeleteI assume that apples ripen at the same time in the Northern Hemisphere. Not so big here, so we wouldn't necessarily know.
DeleteLiz,
ReplyDeleteSome of those sorts of things are difficult to figure out. I would've placed those three on the months that you did but you know if a kid put it someplace else that made sense then I'd to think credit would be given for recogizing an alternate possiblity because its sounds like with this assignment there could be more than one choice.
Hmmm, a leprechan (I can't spell it and too lazy to scroll up to copy and paste) for March, interesting choice for very Special Ed kids to remember. Long ago I was a teacher's aide for such as class. One of the boys had to have brain surgery in his childhood. It was hit and miss what learning he recalled the next day. The cool thing about him was that he was bilingual in English and a Chinese language (can't recall which). He tried teaching me the Chinese language and got a kick out of how I stumbled. At the same time, he encouraged me.
ReplyDeleteI worked in a VERY special ed class and this lesson would have been far too advance for the group I worked with. In fact, subs were not allowed anywhere near the students. It was quite intense.
ReplyDeleteI've been in those classes, too. This group was probably functioning at a 1st or 2nd grade level.
Delete