This Seat Reserved for Analyze

We're down a student these days after one of the Turtles moved, and anticipation has been high among the kids about whether or not we'll get our second new student of the year. We're going about our normal business, but the possibility of a new second grader showing up any day is definitely in the back of kids' minds.

On Wednesday, we had a staff workshop in my classroom. Teachers were sorting different questions we had created for lessons by type into different levels of thinking. We grouped together all of the basic "remember" questions or the more complex "evaluate" questions, and so on. Some groups used Post-It notes as headings when sorting their questions, and one of these labels got left behind on our table. The next morning in class, Byron walked into the room and found a sticky note that said, "Analyze." "Is the new kid sitting here?" he asked. As it turns out, I found out on Friday that we will be getting a new student! His name, sadly, is not Analyze.

Oh--and speaking of sticky notes, I asked Anya the next day about the Post-It she taped down to her desk that said, "glasses." As it turns out--it was not there to claim a spot for her glasses to live, but to remind her to put them on! This is certainly a critical rule to remember as a user of glasses, and one that can be rather difficult. I'm tempted to use Anya's method with Thomas, as well, to remember to put on his glasses. Really, I could pretty much cover everyone's desk with such reminders: Don't pick your nose. Turn in homework. Chair legs on the floor. Look at Ms. Sarah's lesson. Right now.