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!

Great! I covered that well in response to the preceding question.

Yesterday, Stephen Hogg observed my class. He was as unobtrusive as both Grasshopper Kids and he had promised. Afterward, Stephen was quite complimentary. I gave the students a series of prompts and readaloud opportunities. The reliables I'd recognized in preceding weeks did very well, showing even more proficiency than before. A couple others vastly improved their engagement and writing output.

Really enjoyed it!

Today, we played American football the whole time. Because the class is called Wide World of Sports, we want to try a variety. One boy, Bao, did not know how to play, but we all brought him along together, which was a good life lesson for the students, and Bao played well once he understood the rules and strategy.

Just fine!

Today, the students jogged a couple laps around the small turf field, then we sat in a circle and stretched. We played sharks and minnows and ran relay races. Then we played soccer on the small turf field until the bigger kids vacated the larger field that has the real soccer goals. A few students also wanted to play American football, so we did that as well.

The class went fine for me. More students were more engaged and cooperative today than in last week's class.

Today I gave the students prompts to write paragraphs about what they did last week that was fun (in any part of their lives) and to write a paragraph about something they learned in the last week (also in any part of their lives). After each of those exercises, the students who wanted to read their paragraphs aloud. I called out the strengths of their work, praising them for good grammatical structure, depth of explanation, original voice, and humor. The last exercise referred to material I had written on the whiteboard to help guide them in developing a character that they will be able to use and develop in stories in our future classes together.

Class was great. These older students showed a ton of personality and were highly active and interactive.

Sat in a circle for introductions, stretched, played soccer