Technical difficulties

I was showing someone my blog today and realized there weren't posts from the last several days. And Tuesday's post was listed as Wednesday. I'm having trouble posting and having it "stick". I will try to make sure that I check after posting to make sure it actually went through- sorry for not seeming like I was posting!

Fridays are a wonderful thing!

RM was back today and I don't recall being so happy to see someone as I was to see her today! Not that I couldn't handle it, but I like the comfort of her being in the room and knowing that she has my back when things aren't going so well. With the sub there she (the sub) was asking me almost as many questions as the students. She had never been to Keystone and only one other charter school so she wanted to know all this information about differences between charter and public and really I didn't want to get into a debate or anything so I just kept my answers short and referred her to the office or NHA's website (I know- copout- but I am making sure I don't do or say ANYTHING that could follow me and cost me a job opportunity!)

We had a great day today! We started our day with a school assembly where the band played (my first time seeing my saxophone playing 6th grader playing with the band! How awesome they were!) and then they gave out awards for Student of the Month. This months moral focus virtue was Wisdom. RM and I had chosen a student from our class that used Wisdom consistently over the month. This student, along with one student from each class in the school, was honored for their wise choices during the month. We also had our ice cream social for the students who completed their bridge books over the summer. We had over 180 students complete and turn in those books- those are a lot of effort- the parents of those students should also be invited to have an ice cream! :)

It was the last Friday of the month so it was Spirit Day (don't have to wear uniforms- can wear jeans and either a red or black shirt) and popcorn day. We let the students watch a video at the end of the day for about 30 minutes to celebrate this as well. Meanwhile we still fit in a vocab and pronoun assessment (which my friends did great in- yay!) and spent a good amount of time reading and writing in their books.
I left school completely exhausted and came home to pass out on the couch. Every single Friday I come home and don't even realize I'm passing out- and wake up several hours later. Good thing workweeks are five days long- I don't think I could do a sixth day!

Another day without RM...

Today I was teaching solo again. RM was not able to be there, and I knew the night before so I wasn't flustered or anything- just busy as a bee!
I had prepared to teach "drawing conclusions" as a lesson in reading and I was prepared to review some concepts in math. We will be assessing them next week so I wanted to see how much they knew with skip counting. I had copied a worksheet earlier this week so we used that.
I had some problems with behavior with specific students today. Yesterday I had problems with the group as a whole but today was the opposite. It seems the individual students were challenging me- and I didn't like it one bit! I handled the situations as they came to me but went to two other teachers and asked their opinions of different situations.
We have three students that I can bet money will be off task at a moments notice if I let them. That is one thing RM keeps pointing out when giving me feedback- I can ignore their behaviors and this isn't necessarily a good thing. So I have been trying to focus in on these three and making sure that I'm addressing their needs and keeping them on task. The one student will shout out "I NEED HELP!" not a second after I have given the instructions. I will review the instructions with him and he will be able to answer several questions if I ask him. I will walk away and within seconds, he is hollering again. This is very frustrating! I understand he needs additional affirmations but I don't want to coddle him either. If he will just take two seconds to look at the question or read the sentence, he can get it- he is a rather smart child. But he needs that affirmation every step of the way. I'm struggling with this- not with the child, but communicating to him that he can indeed do it. For now, I am just sticking to reminding him not to shout out and giving him a "check yourself" signal hoping he will have some patience.
The other two students who I can guarantee will be off task aren't loud most of the time and I can stop at their seats every time I pass while going around the class and remind them of where they should be. I honestly don't know how these students learn anything given their 3 second attention span! But again- they are all rather smart- just busy busy busy!
Today was a bit different though. Aside from the normal three that I work with keeping on task, I had a student try to pull the wool over my eyes on three different occasions during the day. I know he is testing me, but that doesn't mean I have to like it. Up until this point I have been laid back and trying to be nice- but after being with the kids for two days without RM I grew a spine (so to speak) and laid out the law. This child was not honest multiple times so now they are on my radar and I will keep track and make sure to hold them accountable. I don't want to be that way, but I also don't want to lose the established classroom management system either!
I was able to show them a couple of videos from YouTube on pronouns today. They had said a few days ago that they watched a great video on YouTube last year and they really liked it. So I went looking and thought I had the right one. I wanted to show them the Schoolhouse Rock one anyway. I had the screen up on the projector after the Schoolhouse Rock video and they saw the other one and they were all hollering, "THAT'S IT MRS. LEECE! THAT'S IT!!!" So I thought I would share...

I scored major bonus points with them for finding this! I let them watch both videos twice and I let them get out of their seats and dance to the music. We sang (yes, I sang too....) the song a couple times after the video and we brainstormed some other pronouns that aren't in the video. 

Other than some behavior issues, I think we had a good day. The students are ready for their pronoun and vocabulary assessments tomorrow. And I am happy to say that I finally think I can do this "teaching 28 kids at the same time" thing... at least as long as a I a pronoun song to play!

On My Own....

I knew going into today that RM was not going to be there. While I was driving in I had the song "On My Own" from Les Miserables stuck in my head for some reason. I got there at 7:25 and got the room all set up for the day. I went over everything RM had left in the sub plans and made sure all my copies and whatnot were made. School starts at 8:00 and the doors open at 7:50. The sub came in at 7:55- she had gotten lost trying to find the school. She was a pleasant lady who retired from the State of Michigan two years ago and was subbing a couple times a week just to keep herself doing something. I ran the show in the classroom. She didn't know the kids or any routines (and had never taught) plus RM expected me to take care of the lessons.
I am happy to say that everything went well today. We had a couple of Chatty Cathys in the room today but they were respectful and I was able to keep the noise level under control.

In math, the lesson I taught was about base-ten number cubes and single cubes. All the students created their names with strips of 10 cubes (paper) and single cubes. Then I had them fill out a paper with how many blocks it took to create their names. The bulletin board has to be changed monthly and this is going to be the material for the new bulletin board. I started that board this evening- Alex took down the paper that was on it and I put up the new paper. I am working on a paper chain to put around it and tomorrow I will cut out the letters for the board. I'm still not too sure what I want it to say- something catchy about names and numbers-- if you have any suggestions please share!

While I was still at school this evening I heard that RM will probably not be there again tomorrow. I'm sure things will be fine if she has to miss again- but it is nice having her there and not being the most experienced person in the room! This evening I'm going to go over some things and make sure I have everything I would need to take care of another day. I wanted to firm up my math plans and review the ELA material to make sure I cover everything. I also need to look and make sure that I have solid plans for Friday since I have to teach at least one thing that I plan each day. This teaching thing is a lot of work!

One Two, Buckle My Shoe

Today in math we are talking about knowing numbers as words. I found the poem One, Two- Buckle My Shoe online when I was looking for ideas and thought that would be a fun way to talk about it.

So I found a fun printout of the poem and put it on the ELMO (document camera) and we went through the poem line by line and found the words that were also numbers and then I gave them a worksheet I had created to identify the value behind each number word. There were 20 different numbers for them to read and then determine how many each word represented. It took them a good amount of time but they certainly understood what they were doing by the end of the activity. This was a fun coloring project for them for math- the kids really liked getting out their crayons and doing some fun things. I had another worksheet to have them decode what numbers were written and they did well with that as well. Hopefully they will do well with this section come assessment time.

I have been getting feedback on my lesson presentation from RM each time I teach and have been making an effort to address the issues/concerns that she brings to my attention. I don't remember everything she tells me but I know a repeating thing I'm struggling with is keeping all the students involved and having their attention all the time. There are three friends in the class in particular that are always off task. They are each different (of course) but I have to make sure I'm constantly around them to make sure they are coming along with the rest of the group. Two of the students rarely, if ever, finish their work. All three of them are smart students- but I do not believe they are distracted because they are bored. I have been making sure I do my best to keep up with them and today I felt like I climbed Mt. Everest because all three of them (as well as the rest of the class!) finished the lesson. Yay my friends!

RMs little one isn't feeling well so she will not be there tomorrow. I'm sure it will be fine- they will have a sub there in case Mrs. Leece goes insane-- but I'm sure we will be fine. I'm a little nervous but I guess there is no time like the present!

Getting creative...

So I have been spending the last several weeks writing lesson plans that I don't necessarily love- but wanted to do efficiently. I won't say that I'm completely comfortable in front of the kids at this point- but I am comfortable enough to start spinning some of my own personality into the lesson plans at this point. I'm very blessed to have teacher's manuals that basically tell you what to say and when to say it- but I don't want to be spoonfed all the time. Tomorrow and Wednesday I'm teaching different styles of math lessons. Tomorrow I plan on introducing numbers as words by reading "One, two, buckle my shoe" and then having them find show me the value of each word by coloring or circling the number of shoes related to the written number. Then on Wednesday we are doing an artsy lesson where I'm having the students create their own names using base-ten number blocks. I did my own last night as a sample and learned quickly that I need to have the blocks cut out before we do this to cut the time needed in half. We are going to use that lesson for our new bulletin board- so I'm excited to see how the students do with them. 

It seems the "honeymoon phase" is over in our class. I had two students today point-blank refuse to do something I asked of them. I backed down both times because I didn't want to push the envelope but I did return to both of them and explain that when I'm asking them to do something or telling them that something is incorrect, they should listen to me. I'm sure that went in one ear and out the other-- but at least I said it! 
My struggles with lessons are getting smaller. I'm still working on keeping the student's attention. We have three friends in particular that are always an issue. And I'm moving along too fast- not giving them enough time to do what I have asked of them. So I have to speed up my presentation, slow down when I'm asking them to do something, and keep those three friends invested so that they don't daydream. That's all I have to do. Yeah. Yikes!

So long my sweet friend...

I was teaching a Scholastic lesson today when one of the students pointed out that tomorrow is the first day of autumn on the calendar. Which obviously means that today is the last day of summer. Oh so sad! I understand school has been  back in for three weeks and obviously fall is the next season in line, but it is still sad to me to see summer go and the cold weather gear up to move in. We didn't do much this past summer- no major family vacations or anything but we did go to our camper a lot at Taylor's Beach Campground. We love going and spending time away. 

So this morning I woke up an hour late. Yes... a full hour. Oy! My alarm went off at 5:40 and I thought I hit snooze. Usually I lay there for 5 minutes and then get up. This morning, well, not so much. Next thing I know Greg is saying "It is 6:40" YIKES! I have two alarms that I set each night- but of course something happened and I didn't set one of them. When I got to school (pulled into the parking lot at 7:24 I might add!) I looked at my phone and the app for the alarm clock had an error on it. So it wasn't completely my fault- but still frustrating! Needless to say my hair was pulled back today and makeup was minimal- but I was there. My kids were fabulous this morning too- they hurried and got dressed, made their own breakfast, and Alex put most of his lunch together for me. I even made it out the door with coffee in hand (thanks to Greg for setting it up Thursday night!) 

Even though my day started out frazzled, the rest went smoothly. I reviewed morning work (still have to get faster at that) and all went well I think. I presented a lesson on butterfly migration (Scholastic) and the kids seemed to enjoy that. I showed a video and then presented. 

With three weeks under my belt, this means that I am 1/4 through this experience. I am SO not ready for this to end!!! I can't believe how fast it is going. I think I have grown the last three weeks- I know that I have a WHOLE LOT more growing to do though. 

When there is a thunderstorm during school, it is much more exciting than when there is a thunderstorm at home. The sky didn't look too gloomy when we drove to school this morning, but within 30 minutes we could tell there was quite a storm just north of us. One of the students said he saw lightning but neither RM or myself had heard we were supposed to have an bad weather so we thought it was headlights or something else. Sure enough, about 20 minutes later there was plenty of lightning and a good amount of rain. I was working on their morning work with them. We had the lights off (I was using the document camera) so naturally you could see the lightning even better. The students of course wanted to keep looking out the window and were concerned about the storm. I just kept telling them that we have storms all the time and it was fine. Thankfully the storm was quick so we didn't have to worry for long. The rain lasted long enough to make the kids stay inside for recess but it dried out by the end of the day.

After morning work we worked on our books that the kids are writing and created an I-Chart for Read with Someone for the Daily Five. Then the kids went through a cycle of Read to Someone and showed us that they were able to successfully achieve this task.

We had more NWEA testing today- this time it was the language section. There were 53 questions and we had an hour as a class to take the test. We had a couple students that didn't finish in the hour so now we have to spend some time with those students finishing up their tests and then NWEA will be done fora  while. I know the teachers are thrilled to get this off their plate and be able to move on to new things. Our schedule has been all wonky for several days and it is hard to fall into a routine when it is always unpredictable. 

I taught another math lesson today. Monday I will be taking over Math in general. I'm a little concerned about this because there are some open areas in the curriculum that I want to make sure I'm covering but there isn't a strong direction to go in. I am hoping that I'm just not seeing the big picture. And I know that the other 2nd grade teachers (along with RM of course) will make sure I have the information. The second grade teachers team works together very well so that is helpful!
My seminar class started with the University on Tuesday. The workload is a bit overwhelming right now- I still have to digest everything. I know the number of pages we were supposed to read this week was insane. I'll spend several hours this weekend wrapping my head around everything and getting organized.

This weekend my friend Niki is coming to Michigan and I'm so excited to get to meet her in person! We were teammates in several classes during this program. She lives in Washington DC and even though we went there last summer, Niki and I didn't get together when we were there. She has a wedding to go to in Holland so she is flying into Detroit Metro and going to that this weekend and then coming to my house Sunday. I'm excited to spend some time with her!

Ahhhh CHOO!

Anyone know where I can find about 30 of these? I mean, really- this is quite genius! You wouldn't be able to use cheap TP, but there are some toilet papers out there that are softer than most tissue! 

Today we retired our 10th box of Kleenex and opened number 11. Considering this is the 12th day of school, I would think we are going to run out well before June! There is a rather large group of students that are almost constantly going to the tissues and blowing their noses. One child laughed during lunch because he looked in the trash after he threw out his lunch trash and couldn't see anything he had thrown in there- it was swallowed up by used tissues. Ew...

I spend a good amount of time every day wiping surfaces with Clorox wipes and sanitizing my hands. Of course, that didn't prevent me from catching the ugly cold, but I'm trying to prevent a reinfection! 

I reviewed morning work again today. We worked on Read to Someone in the Daily Five and finished our Work on Writing I-Chart. This chart was posted as well- so we feel like we are well on our way and seeing some great success with the students building their stamina. 

This afternoon we let the students work more on their books. Basically for writing we do not tell them what to write about. We staple 4 sheets of paper together on the edges of the paper and encourage students to write stories and create their own books. We are keeping these books at school all in the same place for each student. The idea is that as the year progresses, they will return to each book and alter and edit as their skills improve. It is incredible to see these third week second graders spending 30+ minutes nearly silent working on these books. They love that they don't have to write about something specific and instead can choose their subject. 

We didn't have a parent come in today to help with lunch so RM and I were on lunch duty. I have been doing more and more with classroom management and today I kept control of the group after my lesson through lunch and got them outside for recess. Thankfully we don't have recess duty this week so we were able to sneak in five minutes to eat lunch while they were outside. The day does go by fast when you are constantly "on" but it is also nice to have a break and be able to let your brain rest a few minutes. 

We have a student out with pneumonia. I feel terrible about this! The student was coughing horribly yesterday and the day before but having asthma, the parent didn't realize the cough was causing something else. The doctor said the child could possibly come back Friday but we want them to take their time healing and feel better! It is amazing how these little people get into your heart so quickly! 

Today I taught my compare/contrast lesson in reading. We read the story again and this time I asked them on most pages what they could compare or contrast for the sister and brother. We worked on a Venn diagram and they are going to work on it some more tomorrow, coloring the decorations on the paper and these will be used in our new bulletin board in the hallway. I have to talk to RM about this, but I want an opportunity to create a bulletin board myself.  I doubt she will object- I just have to come up with a plan!

Time is flying!

Patience is a virtue, but time is a commodity

This week is flying by and I can't seem to get myself on top of it all! I was blessed with a cold at the end of last week and it took me down most of the weekend. Friday night I slept for 10 hours and Saturday after I went to Zumba (invited to a new place by RM-- Thank you!) I came home and slept another four hours! I don't think I have slept that much in over a year. Obviously I needed it. 

Monday I took over morning work. Every morning when the students come in they have two or three things that they know to work on. This is called their morning work. They work on this while the teacher settles anything that is going on, takes attendance and lunch count, and prepares for any last minute lessons that are going to happen. We review morning work together (there is math and language arts) so that was my first thing I took over. I was a little nervous Monday but it went fast and everything went perfectly. 
We had another round of NWEA testing on Monday as well- this time it was math. Everyone but one child finished this time- which was great considering we had half the class not finish the reading section. 
I introduced their vocabulary on Monday and taught a lesson on how to use a glossary. I taught them the difference between a dictionary and a glossary, how everything is in alphabetical order, where to find the glossary, what guide words are, and the different parts of a definition (how to pronounce the word, what part of speech it is, the actual definition). I created a worksheet to go along with it and had the students fill out the worksheet finding the vocabulary word, what page they found it on, and what the guide words are for that page. Many of the students did not finish it but we kept it at school and will finish them on Tuesday. 
I met with RM on Monday to figure out what lessons to plan for the rest of the week. This way I was able to go home and work on several in one sitting and then not have to worry about doing this several times during the week. 

Tuesday was my second day of reviewing morning work. We built an I-chart for writing workshop Daily Five. We read our story "Come Back, Jack!" After they read the story they had some time to finish their glossary worksheet from the previous day. Some of the kids were able to do the lesson without assistance but many needed a lot of guidance. 

I taught another math lesson- this one went MUCH better than the first. I taught them about how to jump numbers on a number line and how to write a number sentence with the information they have on the number line. About half of the class left the room in the middle of my lesson to finish up their NWEA reading tests. With the half of the class we had left we worked on the workbooks and handouts. It was nice to have a smaller amount of students- I could really get to them and help them when they had questions. 

One of our students became an "island" about a week ago. We are having problems with him bothering his peers no matter where he is sitting so we moved him to be alone. His desk is right by where I sit. It was working ok at first- he was chatty with the boy that sits right next to where his desk was but that ceased. Now, he has decided that he wants to sit at my table instead of at his desk. Normally I wouldn't mind but he has a terrible cold and is very busy- oy. I have had to redirect him several times every lesson- but he is just not able to sit still. Hopefully we will find some happy medium and he will be able to keep himself still- or I will find a way to stop noticing...

Rewind

I had a chance today to try my lesson again and fix what went wrong the first time. This morning when I was getting ready to leave I was thinking about it and told myself that if I didn't fix it, this would always bother me. So when it came time to do math and RM asked me how I wanted to handle it, I was all too happy to take the reins again and fix what was broken from the day before. Now, I didn't teach the lesson completely as I had the day before, but the kids and I re-wound what was confusing and walked through it again. I felt SO relieved when they started to get it! Now, there are parts of the book lesson that I did not return to, but those were parts that were quite confusing to me as well- and I'm not sure exactly why the book feels it is important for them to understand those parts- I will have more extended conversations with RM and figure out where we should go with those parts- but the big news is that the students understood how to write number sentences from the information they were given.
Other things that happened in the classroom today (other than going through more than an entire box of kleenex!) include taking our first vocabulary test, another timed math facts quiz, and a better day with transitions. The students were really chatty by the end of the day but they are getting better with each day. We really are blessed with some great kids. 
I made RM a set of schedule cards this week. I love working in Photoshop Elements and playing around so it was nice to be able to do something like that and see them in the classroom. They are sort of like a nice little reminder sitting up there about why I'm doing this. Here is one of them.

We created our social contract in class today as well. The kids were very involved with this and we got some great material for our contract. RM also gave me her book to look through for Capturing Kid's Hearts (which is where they get the social contract from) and I was able to get some great ideas and suggestions from it. 

Today was jeans day so I was able to wear comfie clothes. And today also marked the end of my second week. This is going by so fast! Tuesday I start my seminar- so things will get insane fast. Oy- I'm not ready for that!
Oh- and as a side note- my sweet innocent son went to RM after I told him that I had my student's dance like chickens. He asked her if that really happened- it seems he didn't believe me! What a stinker! He keeps telling me that he would pay money if there were a video of this- seeing me dance around. Yep- how's that for love!?

Dance like a chicken!

So today I was humbled. More like totally embarrassed myself. Thank GOODNESS my class is 2nd grade and they didn't know any better (or really care!) I taught my first created lesson- meaning a lesson that I put together and planned. The only person in the room that learned anything (well, hopefully!) was me. My lesson was a math lesson and it was supposed to be teaching them to write number sentences using a given picture or drawing. I think because I didn't learn math this way that my brain revolted at the last minute- at least that is what I'm going to claim. I had a pretty good lesson prepared and set up but when it came time to actually teach it, I dropped it like a hot potato and headed in a direction I hadn't planned. I did get myself back on track, but about 10 minutes into it I realized that I hadn't followed through with my original message and that meant that my conclusion and complete message throughout was not going to make sense. So I improvised. And improvised. And before I knew it- I had lost them. I knew I had lost them but I tried to recover-- you can imagine how unsuccessful THAT was! And so... we got out of our seats (well- the students got out of their seats- I was already standing) and danced around the room like chickens. Isn't there some saying that goes something like, "when all else fails, dance like a chicken"?? Isn't there? Well? Sigh- ok. I know. But given the blessing that they are so young, they were forgiving and happy to have gotten up to dance. When RM asked them to affirm me (uh- THAT was really asking something of them!) one of the girls said she liked that I let them dance like chicken. Awesome! :) 

My lesson thankfully was at the end of the day right before we went to specials (and dismiss immediately after specials) so I was able to sit alone in the room for a few minutes and regain my composure. I did learn some serious lessons (and how to dance like a chicken in public) and will tweak my communications tomorrow when I try this again. 

Other than that, my day went great! We worked more on Daily Five techniques, introducing I-PICK and building stamina with the kids. It seems our class is stronger reading silent independently than they are as a class keeping quiet in their seats.

We also gave them their book boxes and had them stock them. RM had problems finding enough boxes to have plastic book boxes (several visits to multiple Target stores) so we had everyone bring in an empty cereal box and one of the parents cut them so they were shaped like magazine boxes. 

These aren't as sturdy as the plastic boxes but they do indeed work well and they were VERY cheap. RM mentioned getting some contact paper to decorate them. This would also help strengthen and reinforce them so we are going to look at the dollar store this weekend and see what kinds of options we have. I would like them to be cute but at the same time sturdy. 

Behavior-wise we had two friends move their sticks today. We had to move one student away from his group because we were having problems with him distracting his peers. We moved him close to where I sit hoping that this would help him keep focused. It did work but the student that he is closest to was having an "off" day and they just seemed to feed off of each other this morning and so they changed their colors. The afternoon was much better though and we had no problems with either of them. Hopefully tomorrow we will get a better feel for how this new seating arrangement will work out. Tomorrow is Friday-- and JEANS day. Yay! Happy to wear jeans and sneakers! I'll be attempting to save my sunken lesson as well tomorrow so I'm sure I will have more to share then. 

Krystal

What does NWEA stand for?

Happy Hump Day! I can't believe this week is already half over! The first two weeks were supposed to be "easy" and I feel like I have been doing little in the classroom but I wouldn't describe this experience as exactly "easy". Maybe to see it as an adjustment phase would be a better description. I have normally been working 24-60 hours a week so I'm used to being away, but Teresa was a much less demanding audience I suppose. Well, most of the time at least.

We started our NWEA testing today. We have three different tests that the students must take. This one was reading and it was 43 questions. We had maybe half the class finish the test with the other half having to return another day to finish it. There was a good amount of "summer loss" but the kids did well overall and were completely spent academically when they were finished. I really think we could have had a naptime and most of them would have fallen asleep! We were in the library/technology room for over an hour walking around making sure the students were keeping on task and my feet were KILLING me by the time we were done. Oy- not the right day to choose to wear heels!
There are several "room changes" at our school this year. The state mandated that schools make kindergarten the full day in order for schools to receive full funding for those kindergarteners so Keystone went to full day kindergarten. Well, this is a problem because there was a need for two additional classes to accomodate those kindergarteners. The result is that the technology room was switched to a kindergarten room and technology merged with the library. Since NWEA testing used to happen in the technology room and the library (and those were now in the same place) they had to find another room to do testing in. The art room was the chosen room. I don't know why it was the art room, but it makes sense given it's located right next to the library/technology room and the the testing could be contained to one basic location in the building. Of course this means that the art teacher would be out of her classroom for three weeks (four times a year!) So starting this week, Mrs. Ball is the lovely Traveling Art Teacher with Art on a Cart!

Though I'm sure it isn't the easiest thing for her to do, she does it with a smile and is continuing on with her curriculum and teaching the kids like they are in the art room. Today our clas had art and she was teaching them how to do realistic drawing. She had them drawing faces and was teaching them about how to include pupils and how pupils dialate. The kids were loving her lesson and paying total attention even though they were in the classroom.

Today for the Daily Five we worked on building stamina and continued working on Read to Self. Tomorrow we will address the I-chart and get that going.

After school I met with RM and went over what I am going to do tomorrow for the lesson I am planning to teach about number sentences. I'm a little nervous about it but I suppose something would be wrong if I wasn't. Of course we have a visitor in the classroom at the time I am teaching so that will be an added stressor. She isn't there to observe me- she is there to observe the class-- but still! Hopefully my site supervisor doesn't decide to pop in at that time too--- that might just be too much pressure at once!

I'm glad I'm writing things down each night because they days would otherwise blend together and I would forget things. Today was so busy that sometimes I would forget what had happened today (of course it could be from lack of sleep- and I'm not even in my seminars yet!) 

We have outside duty this week- so we have to be out to the dismissal area by 7:40 and help kids out of cars and supervise for 10 minutes before heading back into the building. We also have lunch duty when we have morning duty, so that means we are also outside for recess. This gives the other teachers a break and they can get things ready. It definitely makes things crazier in the morning, but I like the social interaction I can have with the kids during this time. I'm really getting to know some of their personalities and enjoying this time with them. 

Tomorrow we start NWEA with them. All the teachers are worried about how the kids are going to do and what the scores will be. I know kindergarten and second grade tests are really baseline tests, but it is still stressful for the teachers because they want the students to do well and show that they learned since the last testing session. It always amazes me how well the kids do during this stressful time. I was in a class before when they had NWEA and I helped observe them testing, but this will be my first time with my class. 

On Thursday I will teach my first math lesson. I have the teacher's manual and worksheets but I do have some wiggle room for creativity. I am working on that and will have it ready to turn in tomorrow. I want to be creative, but I also want to cover the objectives. UoP requires lesson plans that are MUCH MORE detailed than my school requires but I have been doing these lesson plans all along so I'm used to them. And I'm wordy too so I shouldn't have a problem filling up some space on the paper! 

Today was a challenge for a couple of our friends in the class. I ended up sitting with one a couple times during the day. Hopefully tonight he will get some rest and tomorrow not be as irritable. Getting adjusted to the school year is a challenge for me- I can't imagine how rough it is for a seven year old! 

I attended a staff meeting today after school. They created a social contract for the teachers and administrators. It has been so interesting seeing how the teachers interact with each other behind closed doors- and refreshing to see that they participate in activities that they ask the students to participate in. For example, not only do they do the social contract like classes are expected to make, but they start every meeting with good news. I LOVE this! Adults need to be able to toot their own horn and share good things too- It really sets a tone for meetings- and also helps people get to know you better. I really love this school environment!

Home life is going as well as possible. The kids don't like how unavailable I am but they are just out of the habit of me being in school. Next week when I start my seminar they will really not be happy. I made it clear though- they had me over the summer and now they must help me. They all understand this- but it doesn't make it any easier. Last week I think I saw Brittany for a total of 20 minutes all week between her schedules and mine. Hopefully we won't have a lot of weeks like that!

Monday... Monday!

After a good rest this weekend I was ready to get back into the classroom and see what we were going to do today. I still haven't planned any lessons- but on Friday RM asked me to take over some morning work duties so I was excited to really dig in and start working with the kids. Of course RM is MUCH more experienced at getting the kids to talk about their responses and why they answered how they did, but I knew RM would be right there to back me up if I forgot something significant. 
Our morning started with assembly- this went smoother than last week, so obviously we are starting to fall into a routine and the students are getting comfortable with what we are doing. I did some of the morning work review with the kids and it felt great to finally be working with them and practicing some of those skills I have been storing up! 
Last spring when I was in RM's class, something pretty cool happened. I had just finished reading a book called "The Daily 5" by Boushey and Moser. 

I had heard about this concept from a blog that I follow. I picked up the book and read it and thought that it was a great idea. When I went into RMs class in early June, I mentioned this book and asked her if she had ever heard of it. She looked at me surprised and said that she did hear about it and that she was going to be reading the book over the summer (along with the same author's CAFE book) and was going to put this concept into practice in the classroom in the fall. I loved that we were on the same page and that she was going to learn how to initiate this program with me. I was pretty excited about doing this and seeing how it all comes together. Then in August when I came to school for the professional development before school started, I learned that several of the teachers are going to initiate Daily 5 into their classrooms- how exciting!

Today was the day that we began our journey through the Daily 5 concept. The book is very clear on how to introduce it and how to manage the classroom while students are learning about the procedures involved. The first stages are to create a chart while discussing with the class how it should look for them to be reading independently. RM started the process slowly and we went through one "building stamina" practice. I was very happy to see our students successful with their first 3 minute practice. I think with time and practice, we will gain some confidence in leading our students through this program and being successful.

Ahhh the end of the first week of school! This has been one of the longest and fastest weeks in recent memory- and I have loved (almost) every minute of it! This week was a short week but it was also chock full of procedures and intensive training for our second graders to establish a solid foundation in classroom management. Today we did some math curriculum and started the handwriting workbook. There were several students that jumped right in and were able to complete the pages without assistance and there were other students that needed to be given step by step directions. I have learned to predict which ones will need additional assistance and have started to check them first before looking at the other students' work. 
I have a new frustration though. I feel like I should have taken a class in how to respond to students who are complaining of ailments. "My tummy hurts" is very common from one particular little guy and another student complains of headaches every day several times. Having a child that gets migraines, I am indeed sensitive to a child needing pain medication if they have a headache. However I have a feeling this child is using a headache as a way to get out of class for a few minutes. But then again, who am I to suggest I know if a child is truly in pain or not? The reason I suspect he isn't truly having a headache is his mood will change depending on who is paying attention to him and what the class is doing. If we are doing something "fun" he will be all smiles and not seem to be in pain. But as soon as his eyes meet with mine, he has these sunken eyes and it really does look like he is in pain. So I don't know. I just refer him to RM. He doesn't always tell her he has a headache- which also suggests he may not have a genuine headache. 
The child that complains of a tummy ache often seems to do this when we are doing something challenging and he doesn't want to do it. I have sent him to the bathroom suggesting he try to go. Twice this has worked and once a few minutes later he came back and said his tummy still hurt. Luckily we were near the end of the day and he agreed that he could wait until dismissal. 
So what is the response when little ones come up and say they don't feel good? As a parent with a child who should NEVER wait for medication when having a headache I feel teachers should not hesitate if a child is complaining. HOWEVER (and this is a big however!) as a parent of a dramatic child who exaggerates nearly every bend of the way, I would want a teacher to be cautious of a complaint like this before sending to the office and calling a parent to come get them. I think this all boils down to individual students. I don't know them well enough at this point to know if they are really not feeling well or if they just want to get out of school. At this point I'm following my instinct about half the time- and referring them to RM the other half! 

Today was a little melancholy for me. It was the first day that I would have worked with Teresa but was student teaching. I must have thought about her 20 times during the day- wondering if she was feeling ok, if she was being a stinker for the new girl, and wondering if she missed me as much as I was missing her! It is amazing how attached I got to that girl! 
This is a video of a song that RM sings with the kids. They laugh and giggle the whole way through- but explode in laughter when she gets to the "bottoms out" part. Now of course RM doing this song isn't as cute as these little kindergarteners, but my class definitely comes a close second! 

Our school day went well. I witnessed a practical "light switch" in the classroom behavior department. We went from a completely "in control" classroom full of eager learners to 27 kids just watching the clock and not really paying attention to their lesson. It all happened around 1:30 when RM took the class for their afternoon bathroom break. Up to that point I would have said our day was going incredible and our kids self control and behaviors were perfect. We have our specials the last session of the day so we get them ready for dismissal before leaving for specials. This means we have instruction time until 2:20 or so when we have them pull out their planners and write in them then pack backpacks and stack chairs. Since we had PE today, that also means changing into those shoes and out of them after. Since the class was already out of their seats and moving around from the bathroom break, we had them change into their gym shoes before we began our afternoon math lesson. Like I said earlier, it was like a switch went off in their little heads and suddenly we had lost them. In one five minute span, we had three time outs! I don't remember any time outs in the morning- so this was a significant change. It seemed like every tick of the clock was a struggle for one or two students. We did manage to get the math lesson presented and taught with a successful completion of a worksheet to confirm they understood; however our students were still so distracted that they were late getting to gym because they weren't ready in time. It was a good thing our day ended when it did- I think everyone just needed a break and tomorrow will bring fresh minds ready to learn.

Amazing :)

The last two years have been hard work for me. Going through the masters program and succeeding in all my classes was simply building up to this experience. I was in the office today laminating name tags when my field supervisor came around the corner and smiled brightly and asked me how things are going. Hopefully she doesn't think I'm going to come to her to jump ship and declare that this is NOT, after all, what I want to do. Quite the contrary- I'm loving what I'm doing! I want to get my hands wet and start doing some lessons- but then I watch RM (my mentor teacher) with the kids and I KNOW that I have a long way to go before I could be as effective as her. So, for now, I will sit behind the kidney shaped table and pray that some of her teaching abilities magically wear off on me!
It amazes me to see how I have made it into "the inside" so to speak. I'm having conversations about children who are struggling with material, I was handed IEP information today, and I'm trusted to actually teach these little darlings something worthwhile! Of course I know it goes with the territory, but these are still unusual experiences for me. When I was reading over the IEP summaries, I have to admit one of the students surprised me that he had an IEP. Now mind you I have only spent two days with the students, but I had this mental picture that I would just know what students did and did not have IEPs. Maybe because I grew up with my brother being mentally impaired I have a stronger mental image of how an IEP serves the student. I'm glad for these children that they had effective teachers and supportive parents to get the services that will help them and make life at school as positive and worthwhile for them as possible. 
My day went well today. Given it is only the second day of school we were still working on procedures and guidelines. RM did read a nice book to the kids called, "Have you filled a bucket  today?" and then had them do a writing activity asking them if they had filled someones bucket and if not what they could do to fill someones bucket. It was a formative assessment to see what kind of writing skills they have. I have to say the students impressed us! Many students have wonderful penmanship. They were spacing out their letters correctly and leaving themselves room after punctuation. Capital letters were used correctly and they were even concerned about spelling! 
Tomorrow we are going to start with some math lessons to get the curriculum going. The kids are ready for some learning and easing off of so many procedures. So reinforcing the concept of even and odd will be on the agenda. We have a worksheet and the lesson plan set- now to just bring it to life!

Happy First Day of School!

Well I survived the first day! There were a couple times when I thought it was going to be close but everything worked out in the end. Our morning routine is definitely going to have to be tweaked a bit and my Littles are going to have to learn to speed up their breakfast eating; but we got out the door within 5 minutes of my desired departure time.
When we got to the school at 7:30 there were already about 40 parents in the parking lot waiting to drop their children off. I don't think in all my 17 years of "first day's of school" have I been a half hour early to drop off, but hey- I could have been missing something! Ouch- doing the math there- this was literally my 17th year of having a child to take to their first day of school. 
The day seemed to go very slowly, but establishing routines and good habits is important so we have to go over everything very slowly. RM (my coordinating teacher) is very patient with the kids and was a pro at making sure everyone understood everything. She included me in as many things as possible, which was nice. Mostly though, for today: I observed, put stickers on folders, walked around checking to make sure that students were putting the correct things on the papers as they were asked, and put an insane amount of Clorox wipes away to be used during the school year. I left the school totally exhausted but happy. My first day went well and I didn't fall or make any major mistakes; I am going to consider this one a success!
On a side note- I took the kids to the Bake Shoppe after school for our annual "first day of school" treat. I have known the gal at the bakery for several years as we used to store our camper there before we became seasonals at TBC. She was asking the kids about their first day of school and how it went. It seems her daughter goes to the public school elementary located right by our house. She told me that she is really upset because her daughter is in a class of 39 students- and NO Parapro to help the teacher!! I can't imagine. Those students can't possibly get the education that they should because those teachers will not be able to do their jobs with so many students! Hearing this made me grateful to be blessed with having my own children at a school that doesn't have such high numbers- and grateful to be student teaching in an environment where this isn't an issue as well. I will be praying for those teachers- I can't imagine the stress their job will bring with such a work load!

KL

One more "wake up"!!!

Tomorrow is the last "wake up" before school starts. Where did this summer go? How could it already be time to not only get back to school- but my dreamy 12 weeks off of MY school is also over. I had so many plans for what I was going to do to get ready for student teaching. Some of it (the fun stuff!) I got to no problem. But a big chunk of it (reading those text books again like I wanted to) just never happened. Ah well- I think I'm ready. I PRAY I'm ready. 
Tomorrow will consist of getting ready for school to start and figuring how to get the kids to bed at a decent time so they aren't evil aliens on Tuesday morning. I also have a last minute project that I have recruited most of my family to do (clean out the storage room in the basement) since I don't think I will have time to get to it anytime before Christmas otherwise.