I was ecstatic about some of the breakthroughs and improvements mentioned in the previous screen.

We continued exploring the key elements of story (previously covered character, setting, conflict, action and in this session we addressed climax). Several new developments: students who read their responses to warmup prompts asked to do so from the front of the room (they're getting comfortable!); students responded over-the-top excited to the prompt to write about the 6-7 trend (reminder to me to really meet students where they are); and toward end of class, some students wanted to gather on the rug at the front of the room, and I was surprised at the good behavior in that less formal setting than sitting at desks.

It went fine. These students have great ethics, making fair officials' calls, as opposed to so many other instances in youth sports settings where are debates and disruptive arguments.

Today the students chose football. They quickly chose up sides and started playing. Then a couple more students showed up, which made for unequal teams. So the players took it upon themselves to adjust, which made for good life lessons on flexibility and fairness.

Loved it! The students are so responsive and excited for the activities, plus many of them want to just talk a bit about their weekend, their siblings, etc.

Today the students led and demonstrated their various stretches. One of those turned out to be more like a bear crawl, and the students seemed to like that and started following along, so we turned it into a bear crawl relay race. After those warmups, we played sharks and minnows and then started a soccer game. Some of the other students wanted to play basketball, and fortunately the way the playground is situated I could supervise both games.

Today went particularly well, as students showed their highest level of engagement yet.

We started today with a few 5-minute writing exercise prompts about the students' favorite people (friends, family, famous people, etc), a great time they had (where, with whom, what were the activities, what made it great, etc.). Then we moved on to the story concept of the week: action (Previous weeks' story concepts were character, setting, and conflict.) Students built up on previous writing to add action scenes. They were particularly well-behaved and productive today!

Just great! You can tell from my previous answer that I am very pleased with this group of students.

I brought a wider variety of equipment today and let the students choose what to play. They opted for soccer again. I was happy to see the boys include the girls again, and the girls held their own. I also like how this group acknowledges it's leaders and quickly chooses sides for the games and plays within the rules and makes their own calls with honesty. They also really support each other as far as taking turns at different positions on the field.

It went just fine. I was happy to see the students with so much energy.

Students showed up in a few groups over time, so while we were waiting to get started, some of the girls just started showing off gymnastics tricks and having bridge-walking races. We used that as an opportunity for each student to lead a stretch. Then they chose sides for soccer and played a very energetic game. Some of those kids are fast!

Probably the best yet in this series due to those emotional breakthroughs for students I shared on the previous screen.

We did writing prompts and free writing. As in each of the two previous classes, we set aside time to focus on a particular element of story. This time it was conflict. In previous classes the elements were character and setting. Students are now raising their hands asking if they can combine all three. Two of the students also made breakthroughs in the quality and depth of emotion in their writing.

It went well, especially with the students who were most engaged and excited to participate.

Today we warmed up with prompts about our favorite sports, hobbies, activities, video games, board games, and movies. Then we explored the concept of setting, and students described a setting or placed their characters and action in a specific setting.

Great, as you can tell from my earlier answer I was very pleased.

Today, our all-male group of students voted for soccer vs. kickball or touch rugby. Just as we started, one of the other after school staff asked if I could take more students, the girls she brought over, who were sisters to two of the boys in our group. The siblings wanted to stick together and the girls wanted to stick together, so one of the boys volunteered to join that team. I was so happy how that went so seamlessly and then how the boys integrated the girls into play and made sure they got a lot of touches on the ball.

Great! So much fun with these students. It was pretty hot today, but the kids stuck it out, and if they needed a rest, they came over to me at midfield to engage me in conversations along the lines of who would win a fight between a jaguar and a skunk.

Today, while students slowly filtered in, the early arrivals showed off individual skills and burned off energy doing cartwheels and other gymnastics. So, after we stretched, I invited each student to show off his/her best physical skill. Some did gymnastics, some did dance moves, and others did calisthenics. Then we did our normal relay races, but this time they dribbled a soccer ball to the opposite cone and around and back. When the older kids left the big soccer field we moved over there and the Red Pandas (all girls team) outscored Portugal (all boys), 3-2. I love to see the girls trying hard and unafraid of the boys!