SUCCESS!

Today we successfully used our eggs for more than voting on a name or telling the lunch choice! The kids LOVE the eggs and using them. I have heard from several parents that their student has told them all about the eggs at home and how cool they are. And the best part is it was a math assessment so I can take the data and measure who understands and who does not understand and utilize that information.
I set the expectation for Monday that the eggs will be out when they get into class in the morning and that they are to go and make their lunch choice and return their eggs immediately. We'll see how that goes. I need to get them independent though so I'll keep working on it.
This was the last Friday of the month so today was a spirit day. We had assembly and the band played and we honored our students of the month. It was a tough choice again this month but we narrowed it down to a student that is always patient and respectful and never speaks out of turn. This student stays in their seat and raises their hand instead of getting up and finding me- which a serious problem in my class at this point. I was happy to give this award to this student and the smile on their face was golden when their name was called!

This coming month's moral focus virtue is Gratitude. I have a couple of lessons already planned to work on gratitude so I'm excited to get those going.

I had a long chat with RM today about how students are starting to be disrespectful and some ideas we can do to address this and end the problem. I was 100% all week and RM has been out of the room most of the time. This is how it is supposed to be with student teaching. She checks in on me at least every hour or half hour- but she wants me to be comfortable and independent and not able to just refer to her when something happens that I'm not sure about (because in reality she wouldn't be there when I have my own classroom). I certainly need to work on this skill though. 

We worked on our plant unit today. We observed some growth in many of the plants. There were a couple plants that had no obvious growth though. We only planted three days ago though so I'm not too alarmed. I did have one child very upset and cry that there was no growth though. I think overall there were five that had nothing to observe yet. Once the child realized her's wasn't the only one that had no growth she was ok. We talked about how plants (seeds) can be unpredictable and that we have to be patient. Of course, after school I pulled those five cups with zero growth and added more seeds- just to be safe! 

I am still working on getting them to specials on time. This is a huge struggle because we have to stack and pack and get everything done before we go to specials. Monday this will be my goal and we will start five minutes earlier- hopefully I'll be successful!

Still working on those eggs...

I met with another teacher at the school that uses the Activote eggs regularly and figured out how to use them with the classroom computer. Whew- I was really getting frustrated! It seems they only work a certain way so I am happy to have gotten that information. It is sad though that not more teachers use these regularly. There are so many files that are free that are online (and they are so wonderful!) I don't know how many classrooms have these in the school- but both my 3rd and 6th graders are using them so they are throughout the school.
I am working on editing a math file that I will have the students do tomorrow to see where they are in understanding place value. We are halfway through this unit but I think a lot of the students already understand- this will show me for sure and then I can adjust my lesson plans.
Behaviors were better today than yesterday- but yesterday was quite difficult so I would hope today would be better! I still have a couple friends that are shouting out and not listening. I realize I have to get harder on them and flip colors but at the same time I'm not comfortable with that. So many things to adjust to and learn at the same time!

I didn't get a chance to revisit our plants today, but that is probably not a terrible thing because they were only planted two days ago and most of them have not germinated yet. I will get them out tomorrow and we'll look and start the science journals then. I also wasn't able to get the light on them until yesterday after school so I'm sure that didn't help in the germination process. We still have to plant grass and alfalfa as well as the wheat tubes- but the wheat tubes only take a couple days so I'm not too worried about those. I don't know how I can fit all of this stuff into my day- there are so many things we want to do but so little time! That is my biggest struggle right now- time to do everything. 

Our fall book fair is this week. The gym is transformed into a book store and the students love to shop and find a treasure in all the offerings. We took the kids down to the book fair yesterday and they shopped and then more kids brought in money today as well. We encouraged them to purchase books-especially books at their level. Many did- but some still bought books that are much too difficult for them. Oh, and the erasers and posters and other "junk" that comes along with the book fair. (sorry- but it is true- and parents everywhere will agree!) 

I learned that teachers get a small stipend to spend at the book fair to help stock their library. I think this is a great idea- our books in the classroom are always needing repair and retirement so this keeps the library not only stocked, but also fresh. I'm quickly learning that there are a LOT of outside expenses to keeping the classroom stocked and in order so knowing that I can get a couple of books during the book fair without spending money is a good thing! RM shared her stipend with me so I was able to get a couple books as well. Thank you! 

This book came recommended by a third grade teacher for learning about friendly letters:

It is a cute book about a child that got booted from his own room because his parents had a new baby. He now has to share a bedroom with his younger brother and he is not at all happy about this. It is funny and has a great message- not to mention it is all written in friendly letter format so when the students are learning about how to write friendly letters they will enjoy this book and then have it to refer to.

I'm not sure when friendly letters comes up in the curriculum, but I know the students have letters from penpals that we need to write so I think I will try to squeeze this in next week so we can respond to our letters.

Go Tigers!

The World Series starts today and our Detroit Tigers are in it! So to celebrate the end of the MEAP and to give a nod to our Tigers, we had a free spirit day today. The whole school was in Tigers gear (or orange and blue) to cheer our team on.

I am still trying to get the Promethean software to work. I downloaded a version onto my laptop and I can do anything with it to create polls and whatnot with the eggs, but I can't see the same options on the computer in the classroom. Of course this means that I can't show the students what the software is showing me on the whiteboard (because my laptop isn't connected to the projector). I really don't want to get behind the computer and start pulling cords during class. So we called the "help desk" for NHA today and asked how we can make this work. With some sweet talking we got them to update the software but I still was not seeing what I thought should be there. I ended up doing the lunch count poll on my laptop and showing the students how it works. They were so excited! (so was I to be honest) I'm going to get to the bottom of this though- those eggs are very valuable in a learning environment and I want to get them used! 

(Please note: these are NOT my students. This is just a random picture I found online of children using the Activote eggs)

This was my second day of "100%" and I think it went better than yesterday. Yesterday the students were very chatty and disrespectful. I know they are just feeling out their boundaries but that doesn't mean I have to like it. RM was mostly out of the room. At first I was glad that she wasn't in there because I could be more independent and comfortable because I wasn't feeling like I was being "watched" the whole time. But then the behavior issues started and I wanted her back! They certainly don't teach you in school how to manage behavior issues while still teaching the students! I could come up with a whole LIST of classes that I would have liked to take given my experiences in student teaching and my often feeling unprepared! 

Just another day...

Today seemed to start out great. I even affirmed the students about what a great job they were doing keeping focused and on task. We were able to get morning work done and transition through our ELA without much incident.
Today was my first "official" day where I'm supposed to be in charge 100%. I did most of the lessons, having some help from RM along the way. It was weird though- having her there (and not a sub) yet still doing all the instructing. I do love it though- and getting more comfortable every day doing it. Who would have thought it would have been such a struggle to get up and talk in front of little kids?!

As the day progressed, (right after lunch to be precise!) things started to get really chatty. Students were losing their focus and I had to redirect several times. 

We got through writing and math and then it was time for science. I have been telling them for several days that we were going to start our science unit on parts of plants and their life cycle. Today we started our unit with an introduction and then they planted their seeds so we can watch them grow. We didn't get all the seeds planted so we will have to squeeze some time in maybe tomorrow to get the rest planted. I'm excited to be teaching them something that I am creating instead of something that is in a book and someone else is telling me how to teach it. I definitely feel more liberated! 

I'm still working on getting the Activote eggs working. There is a conflict in software and the "help desk" didn't seem to know how to fix it. I did learn from RM today that another teacher in the building uses these eggs all the time so I'm going to ask him tomorrow and see if he will show me what he does. I'm determined to get this to work!

My classwork (for my degree) is coming along. I'm very very very overwhelmed and have no time for myself or anything other than school or school. I have a monster paper that was due yesterday (Monday) but we got an extension because there are so many requirements for it. THANK GOODNESS too because I simply have so much more to do to get it done by tomorrow's new deadline.

What a field trip!

I learned something incredibly valuable today: I don't like field trips! Don't get me wrong- it was fun and the kids loved it. But all the prep and stresses of the event are just not a great time! 

This week we have morning arrival as well as recess at lunchtime. This means that we (RM and I) have to be outside at 7:40 to 7:50 greeting students, helping them out of their cars, and basically making sure that the students behave while they are waiting to come into the building. Then at 7:50 we walk into the building with all the students. This is a good time to chat with some of the students and get to know them a bit personally outside of the classroom. I enjoy this morning time because most of the students are still waking up and it is just a nice time. Then we have recess duty at lunch which means we have to hurry and eat our lunch so that we can take the kids outside and supervise during recess. I'm not such of fan of the latter. Hurrying out of the classroom (if you even HAVE a parent) is difficult because there is so much to do- not to mention I want to help students with packages or whatnot. By the time we get out of the room we are running down and throwing our lunch down our throat to get back and outside. 

Well, obviously since we didn't have lunch at school today, we didn't have to do afternoon recess. But I did have to do morning arrival. And RM was not there yet. Normally this would have been fine, but given there was a freeway shooting on a major freeway and several parents were concerned about our travel route, that increased the stress level a wee bit. 

The morning just seemed to have many hurdles along the way. There was certainly nothing major- just little things that can add up.

The weather couldn't have been better. It was perfect! Not too hot not too cold. No rain. The sun was behind the clouds but still perfect. The kids in my class were well behaved and did a fine job. I did like the part where I wasn't responsible for all of them all of the time- and I liked how I was thought of as "the teacher". But it is much easier to make sure all the students are safe and doing what they should be in the containment of the classroom! 

Tomorrow is our field trip!
We are going here:
http://4hgarden.cowplex.com/
I'm pretty excited. The kids were talking about it a lot on Friday and I was telling them some of the things that we will be doing as well as giving them clues about my unit that I will be teaching them. They figured out that they will be planting their own seeds and watching them grow. I haven't told them everything that we will be doing but I did give them some hints and have them excited. It will be a great experience on Monday- I'm excited to see how it unfolds.
I will be taking my camera tomorrow to take photos of our experience. As a teacher with my own class, I will be making sure to take lots of photos of the students to help them commemorate their year with me. I have seen a lot of videos and slide shows other teachers have created for my kids and I want to do that as well.
I was talking to another 2nd grade teacher and she shared with me a website she uses with her students to create videos- it is called Animoto. I LOVE this! I have already created a handful of videos on there (for free!) and will certainly do this for my classes.
I understand some students are "do not photograph" students so I will be careful to not include them in my productions- but I'm excited to be able to use this type of technology!

Oh What a Day!

SO HAPPY that it is Friday! Today left me daydreaming about my Florida trip in December-- cold yucky weather and not-so-great experiences in the classroom.
RM was out today. We had a sub that is a regular in our school- and she was awesome. My son is great friends with her son so we know each other. The boys have been buddies since first grade and they are in sixth now.
I had a day of assessments and fun things planned and everything was in order when I realized that RM was not going to be there. I knew I had a great sub coming in to help me so I wasn't worried at all. I put out a new box of 20 pencils (for some reason we go through erasers like mad but the pencils are still long...) and had everything ready to go when the students started arriving.

We had assembly and they announced who the winners were for Student Council. It was a fun assembly and didn't last too long. When we got back to class, one of my friends hollered out that something had hit him in the head. I didn't know what it was and thought maybe he was imagining something. 

The day progressed without much incidence. We got through our assessments and I read them a cute story about Marley the dog- not written by John Grogan, but based on his dog he wrote about. The kids loved it and we assessed for plot using that story. 

At lunchtime I thought to look at the plans that RM had left with the sub because I wasn't sure what order to do the afternoon (I always do morning so I knew that part- just not the afternoon) When I looked at them I realized they were for November 20, 2011. Oops. I looked through things that were copied and ready to go and was able to get a basic idea of what was supposed to be done. 

Right after lunch I noticed that there were not many pencils with full erasers on them like there had been in the morning. And I had been picking up pieces of eraser several times in the morning off the floor. I started paying attention and noticed one student using his scissors to cut his crayon. I asked him what he was doing and of course he had no great response. I had him put his scissors and crayon away and went about my afternoon. I was walking around the room and out of the corner of my eye saw a student making a motion that I would know as throwing something. I turned quickly and saw another student move abruptly like he had just been hit. I walked over to the area of the student and was not so surprised to find a piece of the same color crayon as the one the student had just been playing with with his scissors!!! If you know me,  you know I have a wicked "angry face". And that face showed herself then and there. I started looking around the room and found a huge amount of erasers broken up on the ground. I talked to the entire class about respect and how this was completely disrespectful (destroying property, throwing things at other students, and all the other infractions that happened in between!) When I released them to do their writing assignment, I had at least half of the students come tell me who were my culprits. 

Funny- the whole class knew what was going on and who was doing it yet nobody thought to come and tell me to end it! When I have my own class I will try my best to establish a level of trust with them so that they understand they will not get in trouble for telling me when things like this happen.

Needless to say, I pulled the two offenders out into the hallway. One of them admitted to their behavior, the other one vehemently denied it. So we went to the dean and let her address the problem.  

This was not supposed to happen. I am supposed to have control of the situation here. I have not come to the brink of insanity dozens of times over the last two years between working, school, and life just so I can have kids destroying things and being disrespectful. Of course I know that I can't watch everything. I do my best. But to even think that this was happening is very frustrating. 

I'm not going to take this personally- I know the students involved are always doing things like this, but it is still frustrating. I wanted a clean report for RM about how the day went. This certainly tarnished that option.