Last week I began my mini-unit on the Solar System. Today I began putting up my bulletin board in the hall. Since this was going to be my final bulletin board at the school I wanted to make it a great one! Last week I hand painted all of the planets and the sun. Today I got everything assembled and up on the wall.
All day long I heard/saw kids out in the hall admiring the planets and naming them. Many students pointed out the big swirl I had on Jupiter and asked their peers "Did you know that there's a storm on Jupiter that has lasted over 300 years?!" This made me realize how meaningful bulletin boards can be. They may be time consuming to plan out and put up, however they make the halls of the school so much more inviting (and educational). Some are meant to be decorative, but some, like my solar system board, spark academic conversation among students and get them thinking even when they aren't in their own classroom. Pictures to come soon!
Monday, February 29, 2016
Worn Out
February 26, 2015
Today I had my final formal observation at this placement. It was a math lesson right at the end of the day. Overall, the lesson itself went great! However, it was obvious that the students had checked out of school. Not only was it the end of the day, it was the end of the week. They all knew that as soon as my lesson was over it was time for the weekend. This was the first time I really had to deal with this. Our schedule was switched around a bit today because of my formal observation. This seriously had me thinking...what if math was already at the end of the day?! This started a conversation with my co-op.
She told me how huge time of day plays in a students attention span. She explained to me how she carefully thought out her schedule when planning what subjects are taught in the morning, and which take place after lunch. This all made so much more sense to me now. I will definitely be taking this into much more serious thought when planning my own classroom scheudle one day after this today's experience.
Today I had my final formal observation at this placement. It was a math lesson right at the end of the day. Overall, the lesson itself went great! However, it was obvious that the students had checked out of school. Not only was it the end of the day, it was the end of the week. They all knew that as soon as my lesson was over it was time for the weekend. This was the first time I really had to deal with this. Our schedule was switched around a bit today because of my formal observation. This seriously had me thinking...what if math was already at the end of the day?! This started a conversation with my co-op.
She told me how huge time of day plays in a students attention span. She explained to me how she carefully thought out her schedule when planning what subjects are taught in the morning, and which take place after lunch. This all made so much more sense to me now. I will definitely be taking this into much more serious thought when planning my own classroom scheudle one day after this today's experience.
Thursday, February 25, 2016
Reading Night
Myself, the first grade teacher and the second grade teacher spent the past few weeks planning and organizing the school's first ever Reading Night! Tonight we finally put all of our planning into action.Our theme was If You Give a Mouse a Cookie. We began by reading that book to the students. We then had 3 activity centers for the students to rotate through. We had a word work activity, a cause and effect activity and a craft. At the end of the stations all the students came back together for a few rounds of sight word bingo. During this time all the students met with one of the teachers for a small session on how to help your child while reading with them.
Overall the night was a huge success! We received wonderful feedback from all of the parents. The principal also attended and was elated with what we produced. There were multiple requests for more in the future. This was a great experience for me to have. There was a ton of work and planning involved but seeing everything come together was worth every minute of it.
Wednesday, February 24, 2016
Engaged
No...I am not engaged to wed. I am referring to students being engaged in their learning.
Today we had a presentation from Mr. Yuk. The topic was on dangerous/poisonous household items. We have a handful of students that have a very difficult time paying attention to anything going on throughout the day. Each student has a different way of getting themselves off track. Some talk to other students, some get out of their seats, some play with their pencil, some doodle on their paper, etc. My co-op and I are always speaking to the kids before programs about being on their best behavior, being attentive, etc. Today's program was no different.
One of students that tends to lose focus a lot throughout the day a lot say front and center for Mr. Yuk. He kept his eyes on the presenter the entire time and traced her movements. He raised his hand for every question and volunteered to be a participant in the program. I was in awe watching his actions and behavior the entire hour we were at the presentation. It amazes me how different a student's actions can be when they are interested in the topic at hand. This really connects to why it is so important to make your lessons interesting to the students.
Today we had a presentation from Mr. Yuk. The topic was on dangerous/poisonous household items. We have a handful of students that have a very difficult time paying attention to anything going on throughout the day. Each student has a different way of getting themselves off track. Some talk to other students, some get out of their seats, some play with their pencil, some doodle on their paper, etc. My co-op and I are always speaking to the kids before programs about being on their best behavior, being attentive, etc. Today's program was no different.
One of students that tends to lose focus a lot throughout the day a lot say front and center for Mr. Yuk. He kept his eyes on the presenter the entire time and traced her movements. He raised his hand for every question and volunteered to be a participant in the program. I was in awe watching his actions and behavior the entire hour we were at the presentation. It amazes me how different a student's actions can be when they are interested in the topic at hand. This really connects to why it is so important to make your lessons interesting to the students.
Tuesday, February 23, 2016
Math "Problems"
The title of this post may be deceiving. I am not referring to math problems such as "2+2=". I am referring to problems, or struggles, in math. I have been very fortunate with my math abilities. It has always been my strongest and favorite subject. This led me to be very excited to begin teaching math. Today I ran into a huge disconnect. I've always been aware that many people struggle in math. It does not come easy to everyone. Today that hit me like a brick wall during my lesson.
We were doing problem solving lessons today. All of the problems were similar to the following:
Max has 56 apples. He can fit 10 apples in each basket. How many baskets does Max need.
We began by using red counters (apples) and cups (baskets) to show the problem. I had all the students write down predictions, and then we "acted out" the problem. We came to an an answer of 6 and everyone seemed fine. We did a few more examples using the counters and cups and we also used the students and chairs to represent seats in a car and going on a trip. Again, everything seemed fine, everyone understood what we were doing.
It was time to complete the workbook pages on this lesson. We did a guided problem, the students that answered answered correctly and everyone had the correct answer on their page. It was now time to move onto independent work. A few students came up with the correct answers and drawings to show their work. However, the majority of the students all of sudden were coming up with blank pages and blank stares. They didn't know what to do when they were working individually. At first I think I was coming across frustrated. That wasn't the case at all, I was just confused. I didn't understand how just 10 minutes before everyone was giving me correct answers and showed no signs of being lost in the lesson. After multiple attempts at helping the remaining students come to a solution I pulled those students back up to the carpet and did an intervention lesson with them. Again, they all knew exactly what to do! I must say I was even more confused now than ever. After doing that one problem together I sent them back to their seats to do one more. This time it went better and students had the right answers, however, I still do not feel confident that they fully understand this lesson. I am hoping to get some time tomorrow to help these students one-on-one with the concept.
We were doing problem solving lessons today. All of the problems were similar to the following:
Max has 56 apples. He can fit 10 apples in each basket. How many baskets does Max need.
We began by using red counters (apples) and cups (baskets) to show the problem. I had all the students write down predictions, and then we "acted out" the problem. We came to an an answer of 6 and everyone seemed fine. We did a few more examples using the counters and cups and we also used the students and chairs to represent seats in a car and going on a trip. Again, everything seemed fine, everyone understood what we were doing.
It was time to complete the workbook pages on this lesson. We did a guided problem, the students that answered answered correctly and everyone had the correct answer on their page. It was now time to move onto independent work. A few students came up with the correct answers and drawings to show their work. However, the majority of the students all of sudden were coming up with blank pages and blank stares. They didn't know what to do when they were working individually. At first I think I was coming across frustrated. That wasn't the case at all, I was just confused. I didn't understand how just 10 minutes before everyone was giving me correct answers and showed no signs of being lost in the lesson. After multiple attempts at helping the remaining students come to a solution I pulled those students back up to the carpet and did an intervention lesson with them. Again, they all knew exactly what to do! I must say I was even more confused now than ever. After doing that one problem together I sent them back to their seats to do one more. This time it went better and students had the right answers, however, I still do not feel confident that they fully understand this lesson. I am hoping to get some time tomorrow to help these students one-on-one with the concept.
Mystery Readers
February 22, 2016
Once a week there will be a special visitor in first grade called a mystery reader! The mystery reader chooses a book of their liking and a snack and spends some time with the students. The students are told the morning of that there is a mystery reader coming but they have no idea who it is. They may or may not even know the reader prior to their visit. Some of the readers include, but are not limited to, other teachers, older students, parents, friends and family members of their teacher, etc. On Friday we had our first reader! My co-op asked me a few weeks ago if I had anyone that may be interested in coming in to participate. I was excited to bring people from my own life in to the classroom to get a sense of what I do everyday and to meet my wonderful class.
Without hesitation my wonderful boyfriend volunteered. He read a great interactive book to the class called Count the Monkeys. I loved watching someone read to kids that has little to no experience in this. (There's a lot more that goes into it, contrary to popular belief). The night before the reading I practiced reading with prosody and how to hold the book so that the entire class would be able to see. I felt as though I was receiving a little more appreciation for my career choice after the "lesson".
The day of the reading went great! The students were engaged and on their best behavior. During the snack portion we allowed the students to ask him questions or tell him something they like about school. Each and every one of the students opened up and participated. Next week my best friend and also my adviser from Bloomsburg will be visiting to participate in the mystery reader program. So far I love this activity and depending on the grade level I'll be teaching, I would definitely consider using this in my own classroom.
Once a week there will be a special visitor in first grade called a mystery reader! The mystery reader chooses a book of their liking and a snack and spends some time with the students. The students are told the morning of that there is a mystery reader coming but they have no idea who it is. They may or may not even know the reader prior to their visit. Some of the readers include, but are not limited to, other teachers, older students, parents, friends and family members of their teacher, etc. On Friday we had our first reader! My co-op asked me a few weeks ago if I had anyone that may be interested in coming in to participate. I was excited to bring people from my own life in to the classroom to get a sense of what I do everyday and to meet my wonderful class.
Without hesitation my wonderful boyfriend volunteered. He read a great interactive book to the class called Count the Monkeys. I loved watching someone read to kids that has little to no experience in this. (There's a lot more that goes into it, contrary to popular belief). The night before the reading I practiced reading with prosody and how to hold the book so that the entire class would be able to see. I felt as though I was receiving a little more appreciation for my career choice after the "lesson".
The day of the reading went great! The students were engaged and on their best behavior. During the snack portion we allowed the students to ask him questions or tell him something they like about school. Each and every one of the students opened up and participated. Next week my best friend and also my adviser from Bloomsburg will be visiting to participate in the mystery reader program. So far I love this activity and depending on the grade level I'll be teaching, I would definitely consider using this in my own classroom.
Monday, February 22, 2016
Kahoot!
February 19, 2016
If you are an avid follower of my blog then you already know how much I love technology. I want to discuss one of my favorite websites, Kahoot!. Kahoot! is an interactive quizzing website. I have found it great for reviews and assessing where students are on a topic. You can create your own quiz, survey or discussion.You can also access Kahoot!s that other users have created. Students answer questions individually on their own devices. In first grade I use the iPads and/or Chromebooks. The SmartBoard makes a great place to project the master Kahoot!. Students view the questions and answers on the master presentation and answer using their device (like I mentioned before). When the quiz is over I have the ability to go in and view the results. This allows me to get a sense for which students grasped the concept and which did not.
This week I used Kahoot! for an adjective review. This went wonderfully. The students were quiet and focused. I read a sentence aloud and the students were to chose the answer that had the adjective from the sentence. There were 10 questions and all students got at least 8 correct (many got perfect scores). This was a great indication that we were able to move on from direct instruction on adjectives. After seeing how much students enjoy this website I am trying to include into one lesson a week for the remainder of my time in the classroom. Next week I am testing out using Kahoot! with spelling.
If you are an avid follower of my blog then you already know how much I love technology. I want to discuss one of my favorite websites, Kahoot!. Kahoot! is an interactive quizzing website. I have found it great for reviews and assessing where students are on a topic. You can create your own quiz, survey or discussion.You can also access Kahoot!s that other users have created. Students answer questions individually on their own devices. In first grade I use the iPads and/or Chromebooks. The SmartBoard makes a great place to project the master Kahoot!. Students view the questions and answers on the master presentation and answer using their device (like I mentioned before). When the quiz is over I have the ability to go in and view the results. This allows me to get a sense for which students grasped the concept and which did not.
This week I used Kahoot! for an adjective review. This went wonderfully. The students were quiet and focused. I read a sentence aloud and the students were to chose the answer that had the adjective from the sentence. There were 10 questions and all students got at least 8 correct (many got perfect scores). This was a great indication that we were able to move on from direct instruction on adjectives. After seeing how much students enjoy this website I am trying to include into one lesson a week for the remainder of my time in the classroom. Next week I am testing out using Kahoot! with spelling.
Thursday, February 18, 2016
Important People Presentations
We concluded our social studies unit today. Each student has been researching an "important" person for the past four weeks. Today everyone was presenting their findings. I was nervous to see what students would get up and forget everything they learned. I was nervous that I assigned people to students that had too complex of a "story" for them to comprehend. However, I did know some students that would go up to present and be very successful. I knew in advance that some students were really engaged in their research. I also knew that if a student wasn't successful it wasn't entirely my fault. Let me discuss a few of the presentations.
Helen Keller: I assigned Heller Keller to one of my lower level students. I wasn't sure at the beginning of the unit how well he would be able to comprehend everything. However, to my surprise he became very invested in his research and retained more information about her than anyone else in the class did about their person. Very proud teacher moment!!
Benjamin Franklin: I felt as though finding and understanding the importance of Benjamin Franklin was fairly "easy". I chose a student to research him that has difficulty staying on task and focusing. There was a lot of information that he could have presented on Benjamin Franklin and to my disappointment (although not my surprise after observing him throughout the unit) the only 2 lines he gave during the presentation were "Ben discovered electricity. He made the first fire company." He was unable to elaborate, provide any other life stories or answer of the student's questions.
I really enjoyed listening to the students present and even more so listen to the students answer the questions from their peers. They may or may not have known the actual answers but all of them gave it their best shot at answering. ** I did correct false information that was relayed. My favorite question/answer combination.
"How did Neil Armstrong die?"
"He floated off into space and never returned to earth so he's dead."
Helen Keller: I assigned Heller Keller to one of my lower level students. I wasn't sure at the beginning of the unit how well he would be able to comprehend everything. However, to my surprise he became very invested in his research and retained more information about her than anyone else in the class did about their person. Very proud teacher moment!!
Benjamin Franklin: I felt as though finding and understanding the importance of Benjamin Franklin was fairly "easy". I chose a student to research him that has difficulty staying on task and focusing. There was a lot of information that he could have presented on Benjamin Franklin and to my disappointment (although not my surprise after observing him throughout the unit) the only 2 lines he gave during the presentation were "Ben discovered electricity. He made the first fire company." He was unable to elaborate, provide any other life stories or answer of the student's questions.
I really enjoyed listening to the students present and even more so listen to the students answer the questions from their peers. They may or may not have known the actual answers but all of them gave it their best shot at answering. ** I did correct false information that was relayed. My favorite question/answer combination.
"How did Neil Armstrong die?"
"He floated off into space and never returned to earth so he's dead."
Poetry
February, 17 2016
Today I began my Poetry unit. It was delayed because of the early dismissal on Monday and snow day on Tuesday. This is a completely new concept for first grade. I have a fair amount of freedom with the unit and I'm excited to see everything we will accomplish as a class. Today was our introduction lesson. I began by not saying what our unit was called. Earlier in the day I had put a random item into a paper bag. I called a student up to the board and asked them to reach in the bag without looking and describe what they feel. I wrote the words on the white board as the student said them. When she was done we took the item out and wrote it above the words as a title:
Today I began my Poetry unit. It was delayed because of the early dismissal on Monday and snow day on Tuesday. This is a completely new concept for first grade. I have a fair amount of freedom with the unit and I'm excited to see everything we will accomplish as a class. Today was our introduction lesson. I began by not saying what our unit was called. Earlier in the day I had put a random item into a paper bag. I called a student up to the board and asked them to reach in the bag without looking and describe what they feel. I wrote the words on the white board as the student said them. When she was done we took the item out and wrote it above the words as a title:
Glue
hard
squishy
bumpy top
hole
label
I posed the question "What did I just write?" The students stared at it confused for a little and I gave them time to think. Someone finally said "Well, its not a sentence." This sparked a new conversation of what is it not. "It's not a story", "It's not a paragraph", etc. The students sat stumped a little longer. Finally one of the students raised their hand and said "I think it might be a poem". Ding Ding Ding, we have a winner!!
We then proceeded to discuss poetry and different types. I read a few poems and then each student picked one of the poetry books I had, spent 10 minutes reading through them and marked their favorite poem. Each student then read their poem aloud to the class. Friday is our next lesson in the unit and we will be beginning with Acrostics.
Sunday, February 14, 2016
Valentine's Day
February 12, 2016
Today was our Valentine's Day party! Being an elementary teacher adds a new level of excitement to Valentine's Day. I'm a very crafty individual and I had a blast making all of the valentines for my students. I forgot how exciting it was for the students too. The classroom parties weren't until the afternoon but all day the students kept asking when they could pass out their valentines that they brought.
My teacher planned a math activity that was Valentine's Day themed which I really liked. Each student got a bag of 10 SweetHearts. They had a packet to follow through. At the top of the packet was ten heart outlines. Their first step was to color each heart to match what was in their bag. (Example: 3 pink hearts, color 3 hearts pink). After that they made fractions for each color heart. My co-op showed that the denominator or "whole" would always be 10 because that's how many SweetHearts were in their bags. After making all of their fractions we showed them how to make a graph to represent their findings.
Not only was this a great fraction review but since it was Valentine's Day themed and had manipulatives it really held the students' interest on a day that could have easily be wasted academically because of their excitement. This was a great lesson for me when thinking about planning for future holidays in the classroom.
Today was our Valentine's Day party! Being an elementary teacher adds a new level of excitement to Valentine's Day. I'm a very crafty individual and I had a blast making all of the valentines for my students. I forgot how exciting it was for the students too. The classroom parties weren't until the afternoon but all day the students kept asking when they could pass out their valentines that they brought.
My teacher planned a math activity that was Valentine's Day themed which I really liked. Each student got a bag of 10 SweetHearts. They had a packet to follow through. At the top of the packet was ten heart outlines. Their first step was to color each heart to match what was in their bag. (Example: 3 pink hearts, color 3 hearts pink). After that they made fractions for each color heart. My co-op showed that the denominator or "whole" would always be 10 because that's how many SweetHearts were in their bags. After making all of their fractions we showed them how to make a graph to represent their findings.
Not only was this a great fraction review but since it was Valentine's Day themed and had manipulatives it really held the students' interest on a day that could have easily be wasted academically because of their excitement. This was a great lesson for me when thinking about planning for future holidays in the classroom.
Centers
February 11, 2016
This week I added on centers to my work load. Teachers do centers differently in their classrooms so let me explain how they are done here in 1st grade. Everyday after morning meeting we have whole group. Whole group consists of Spelling, Phonics and English. After a brief introduction to each as a class we complete the workbook pages for each subject. After whole group is when we transition into centers. There are 4 centers; Math, Writing, Word Work and Small Group Reading. The groups rotate through all centers each day. Each center has additional practice on what was covered in whole group (with the exception of Math which covers what was learned the day prior).
It was up to me to come up with activities for each center (except for Small Group Reading, which I will add on in two weeks). This took a lot of planning; 3 centers, 5 days, 15 total centers to plan for!
A lot of the activities I found/came up with were new to me and the class. I knew that I couldn't expect them all to go smoothly but I was hoping there were no complete failures. There are no centers tomorrow because of Valentine's Day festivities so I am going to recap the week now. I won't discuss everything but I'll pick out my favorites and my least favorites.
One day there was a 2 hour delay and this meant centers were cancelled. This was disappointing because I was excited to see how my planned activities would work. However, I was able to move some things around and save some of the cancelled activities for next week.
Some centers that were a home run:
Race To A Dollar: Students use a spinner and play money to collect coins. The goal is to be the first one to get $1 in coins.
Kahoot! Adjective Review: Kahoot! is an online interactive quiz website. I am going to have a post next week about this so I won't go too in depth. The students had to read sentences and choose the adjective from the choices provided. The quizzes are done on iPads and the students loved it!
Place Value Bingo: Regular bingo rules, but students must figure out what number is being represented by tens and ones blocks to mark the number off their card.
There was actually only one center that I was really disappointed with:
Spin-a-Word: This was an activity that I found and adapted to meet what we were learning about in Phonics. The original activity used a spinner and each portion of the spinner had different word families (-at, -an, etc.) The students would spin the spinner and add the word family ending to the consonant provided for each number. Some words were real and some were nonsense that were made. At the end you circled and counted how many real words were created. I modified this for our long a and long I patterns instead of word families. This was too advanced for my first graders and most of them really struggled. This would have been a great activity for the beginning of the year when we did word families but my modification just did not work.
I have many new activities planned for next week and I'm looking forward to seeing which ones are a success!
This week I added on centers to my work load. Teachers do centers differently in their classrooms so let me explain how they are done here in 1st grade. Everyday after morning meeting we have whole group. Whole group consists of Spelling, Phonics and English. After a brief introduction to each as a class we complete the workbook pages for each subject. After whole group is when we transition into centers. There are 4 centers; Math, Writing, Word Work and Small Group Reading. The groups rotate through all centers each day. Each center has additional practice on what was covered in whole group (with the exception of Math which covers what was learned the day prior).
It was up to me to come up with activities for each center (except for Small Group Reading, which I will add on in two weeks). This took a lot of planning; 3 centers, 5 days, 15 total centers to plan for!
A lot of the activities I found/came up with were new to me and the class. I knew that I couldn't expect them all to go smoothly but I was hoping there were no complete failures. There are no centers tomorrow because of Valentine's Day festivities so I am going to recap the week now. I won't discuss everything but I'll pick out my favorites and my least favorites.
One day there was a 2 hour delay and this meant centers were cancelled. This was disappointing because I was excited to see how my planned activities would work. However, I was able to move some things around and save some of the cancelled activities for next week.
Some centers that were a home run:
Race To A Dollar: Students use a spinner and play money to collect coins. The goal is to be the first one to get $1 in coins.
Kahoot! Adjective Review: Kahoot! is an online interactive quiz website. I am going to have a post next week about this so I won't go too in depth. The students had to read sentences and choose the adjective from the choices provided. The quizzes are done on iPads and the students loved it!
Place Value Bingo: Regular bingo rules, but students must figure out what number is being represented by tens and ones blocks to mark the number off their card.
There was actually only one center that I was really disappointed with:
Spin-a-Word: This was an activity that I found and adapted to meet what we were learning about in Phonics. The original activity used a spinner and each portion of the spinner had different word families (-at, -an, etc.) The students would spin the spinner and add the word family ending to the consonant provided for each number. Some words were real and some were nonsense that were made. At the end you circled and counted how many real words were created. I modified this for our long a and long I patterns instead of word families. This was too advanced for my first graders and most of them really struggled. This would have been a great activity for the beginning of the year when we did word families but my modification just did not work.
I have many new activities planned for next week and I'm looking forward to seeing which ones are a success!
Wednesday, February 10, 2016
2 Hour Delay
There are definitely pros and cons to 2 hour delays (as there is for just about anything in life). I must say I think I enjoyed sleeping in as much as my students did. Let's be honest, students would most likely have a difficult time developing a con list for 2 hour delay. However, as an (almost) teacher I easily developed a con list of the two main downfalls of delays in my opinion.
1. Plans and Time
Although I was not the one that personally had to create a new schedule that accounted for the 2 hour delay it still effected my plans. Some of the lessons were shortened and some just had to be completely skipped. Now I have to decide if I want to work some of the missed activities into my plans for the rest of the week or if I will just wait to do them another week. This is why flexibility is such an important quality for teachers to have. You can't control everything that goes on in the school day, week or year. It was out of my control that 2 hours of my planned out day were lost. You simply cannot achieve 7 hours of planned lessons and activities in 5 hours. However, if anyone reading this discovers a way to warp time, I'm sure all teachers would enjoy learning the secret.
2. Behavior
I could go on about this forever. This was the first delay of the year and I had never witnessed student behavior after a 2 hour delay before from a teacher's perspective. I honestly think a few times I stood with my jaw dropped in amazement of the lack of self-control the students had. Not one of the students went the entire day without having their behavior re-corrected more than once. There was a straight hour where all of the students could not stop laughing. I don't know, and I don't even think they know what they were laughing at. It was definitely a disruption to the lessons that were taking place. An additional issue was having to give instructions multiple times before anything was accomplished. I am still shocked at how some students that we rarely ever have behavior issues with acted today. My co-op was more frustrated with what was going on than shocked. She explained how this is extremely common across all grade levels and to expect a re-occurrence when the next one takes place.
This is a prime example of weighing your pros and cons list. Would I wish for a delay? I'm not sure. On most days probably not. However, it all will depend how strongly my pros side is effected by my need for sleep.
1. Plans and Time
Although I was not the one that personally had to create a new schedule that accounted for the 2 hour delay it still effected my plans. Some of the lessons were shortened and some just had to be completely skipped. Now I have to decide if I want to work some of the missed activities into my plans for the rest of the week or if I will just wait to do them another week. This is why flexibility is such an important quality for teachers to have. You can't control everything that goes on in the school day, week or year. It was out of my control that 2 hours of my planned out day were lost. You simply cannot achieve 7 hours of planned lessons and activities in 5 hours. However, if anyone reading this discovers a way to warp time, I'm sure all teachers would enjoy learning the secret.
2. Behavior
I could go on about this forever. This was the first delay of the year and I had never witnessed student behavior after a 2 hour delay before from a teacher's perspective. I honestly think a few times I stood with my jaw dropped in amazement of the lack of self-control the students had. Not one of the students went the entire day without having their behavior re-corrected more than once. There was a straight hour where all of the students could not stop laughing. I don't know, and I don't even think they know what they were laughing at. It was definitely a disruption to the lessons that were taking place. An additional issue was having to give instructions multiple times before anything was accomplished. I am still shocked at how some students that we rarely ever have behavior issues with acted today. My co-op was more frustrated with what was going on than shocked. She explained how this is extremely common across all grade levels and to expect a re-occurrence when the next one takes place.
This is a prime example of weighing your pros and cons list. Would I wish for a delay? I'm not sure. On most days probably not. However, it all will depend how strongly my pros side is effected by my need for sleep.
Monday, February 8, 2016
100th Day of School!!!
I'm not going to lie until I began student teaching I definitely forgot about the hype that comes along with the 100th day of school in elementary school. Since the first day of the school year we have been counting up to the 100th day and now, today, it was finally here! My co-op and I had a full day of 100 themed activities.The students were allowed to dress as if they were 100 years old today rather than wearing their uniform. This is without a doubt an idea that I will be stealing for my own classroom one day. I'm not sure if there is anything cuter than seeing 6 and 7 year olds dressed up as old people.
I brought in a snack for everyone today to go along with the theme, 100 day cupcakes decorated in their school colors! They were definitely a hit! During snack I passed out comparison photos I made for the students of what they look like now and what they will look like when they are 100 years old. Everyone definitely got a laugh and I even had other teacher's ask for the template so they could use it in future years.The entire afternoon was dedicated to 100 themed stations. At station 1 students had to create a patterned necklace using 100 fruit loops. At station 2 students had to construct anything they wanted to using 100 mini marshmallows and toothpicks. At station 3 students drew a line on a plastic cup where they predicted how much water 100 drops would accumulate to. Lastly, at station 4 students wrote using the writing prompt, "If I had 100 dollars I would buy...".
Surprisingly with all of the craziness the day entailed the students behavior was not an issue whatsoever.
Now onto day 101 tomorrow.
Friday, February 5, 2016
Let's Read
Catholic School's Week has come and gone and it is time to return to a more regular classroom routine starting Monday. It was a fun, but VERY exhausting week. Today the students and faculty participated in Comfy Day, enjoyed a pancake breakfast and spent the afternoon watching a movie in true movie theater style. With all of the exciting activities packed into one day, I must say that none of them were my favorite part. My teacher was out of the classroom most of the day helping and preparing for all of the different activities. Guess who was left in charge....ME! It is such a different feeling when you are the one and only adult in the classroom. I led morning meeting and we took care of the regular Friday tests (spelling and handwriting). We had some downtime so I decided to read to the class. I love reading to children. No matter what book you pick they are so intrigued and focused on the words coming out of your mouth. You can add voices to the characters and exaggerate your expressions and not feel "awkward" doing so.
I read my new favorite children's book: The Day the Crayons Quit. I had seen a lot of advertisements for the book and I knew there was a lot of hype about, but I never actually read it until last week. I must say that I fell in love instantly. Getting my own copy is a must, and I already am looking into purchasing the sequel.
Next we read Fancy Nancy. This is another book that I've seen on shelves and in Scholastic book orders but I never actually read. I must say, I really liked this one too.
Lastly, we read Pirates Love Underpants. My class recently fell in love with this whole series of books. They've been rereading the Dinosaur and Alien versions of the books and I was excited when I found this book in the library because I knew it would be a hit.
I highly recommend these three books if you haven't read them already!
I read my new favorite children's book: The Day the Crayons Quit. I had seen a lot of advertisements for the book and I knew there was a lot of hype about, but I never actually read it until last week. I must say that I fell in love instantly. Getting my own copy is a must, and I already am looking into purchasing the sequel.
Next we read Fancy Nancy. This is another book that I've seen on shelves and in Scholastic book orders but I never actually read. I must say, I really liked this one too.
Lastly, we read Pirates Love Underpants. My class recently fell in love with this whole series of books. They've been rereading the Dinosaur and Alien versions of the books and I was excited when I found this book in the library because I knew it would be a hit.
I highly recommend these three books if you haven't read them already!
Thursday, February 4, 2016
Teachers Pay Teachers
Next week I will be adding more subjects to my teaching work load. I have a system of having all of my lesson plans finished and materials made by Friday of the week before. This week I had a lot of materials to find and/or create. After many recommendations I finally joined Teacher's Pay Teachers. I must say, I can't believe it took me this long. There are such excellent resources and it puts light on a quote of many of my professors "you don't have to recreate the wheel". Besides being able to download and use resources it was a great tool to get ideas. A lot of times I saw something I liked that didn't exactly fit what I was looking for. Luckily I have a background in graphic design and am able to recreate a lot of materials I saw.
One feature I am testing out is selling my materials on the website. I am part of planning and running an upcoming reading night (there will be a future post explaining this more in depth). At the conclusion of the event we are having all of the students play sight word bingo. Today I made a bingo bundle to be used for the event and I decided to list it on Teachers Pay Teachers. I'm hoping other teachers are able to use the document and enjoy it in their own classrooms. It can be viewed at the link below!
https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Sight-Word-Bingo-If-You-Give-a-Mouse-a-Cookie-2370047
One feature I am testing out is selling my materials on the website. I am part of planning and running an upcoming reading night (there will be a future post explaining this more in depth). At the conclusion of the event we are having all of the students play sight word bingo. Today I made a bingo bundle to be used for the event and I decided to list it on Teachers Pay Teachers. I'm hoping other teachers are able to use the document and enjoy it in their own classrooms. It can be viewed at the link below!
https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Sight-Word-Bingo-If-You-Give-a-Mouse-a-Cookie-2370047
Wednesday, February 3, 2016
2 Grades 1 Classroom
For Day 3 of Catholic School's Week the kindergarten class (which is located in a separate building) came to our school to take part in the day's activities. The students were at our school from 9-1:30 and the first grade classroom was their new "home" for day. Going from a class of 9 to a class of now 26 with all of the additional students was slightly overwhelming. A class of 26 may be fairly average for some schools so it wasn't so much the number of students that I was overwhelmed by. There are actually 2 specific reasons I would like to discuss.
Reason one: Growth Gap
From the beginning of kindergarten to the end of first grade there is astounding growth in a student. When you are with your students daily, it's hard to notice that growth day to day. It is also challenging to think about where they were academically and developmentally a year ago. Well, today I had the opportunity to see (approximately) just how far my students have some in a year. The lack of self-control and independence was what stood out the most to me when it came to developmental growth. The kindergarten students could not resist from getting out of their seats and moving about the classroom; they could not complete their assignments unless an adult was working with them and a small group; they couldn't walk on the stairs one foot at a time, and the list could go on. Academically I was absolutely astonished when comparing the writing samples of the kindergarten class to my first grade less. I was able to see a great example of how much a student's handwriting, sentence structure ,and letter and word formation develops in just a year. This experience of working with two grades of students at once was a brand new opportunity for me and not something I ever was exposed to before (in a classroom setting). I kept catching myself comparing two students from the two different grades which was unfair. I was holding the kindergarten students to the same level I was my first graders. My class was in kindergarten at one time too. They acted and performed academically just like these students did today. And that is okay! Growth is a part of education.
Reason two: Teaching Styles
I have been in this classroom since August. This is without a doubt the most exposure I have had to one teacher (not counting being a student). I am used to her teaching styles, her classroom and behavior management and her organization. I actually see a lot of myself in her. The kindergarten teacher that joined our classroom today was opposite from my co-op in almost every possible way. That also made the day more difficult. I was used to managing the classroom how my co-op does. When you add 17 children to our classroom, classroom management is that much more necessary. However, you now are managing a majority of students that aren't yours AND that are not used to following any similar type of classroom management. It was a challenging day but it was a great learning experience.
On the upside of thinks; Luckily, I don't think this is a situation I will ever regularly be in.
Reason one: Growth Gap
From the beginning of kindergarten to the end of first grade there is astounding growth in a student. When you are with your students daily, it's hard to notice that growth day to day. It is also challenging to think about where they were academically and developmentally a year ago. Well, today I had the opportunity to see (approximately) just how far my students have some in a year. The lack of self-control and independence was what stood out the most to me when it came to developmental growth. The kindergarten students could not resist from getting out of their seats and moving about the classroom; they could not complete their assignments unless an adult was working with them and a small group; they couldn't walk on the stairs one foot at a time, and the list could go on. Academically I was absolutely astonished when comparing the writing samples of the kindergarten class to my first grade less. I was able to see a great example of how much a student's handwriting, sentence structure ,and letter and word formation develops in just a year. This experience of working with two grades of students at once was a brand new opportunity for me and not something I ever was exposed to before (in a classroom setting). I kept catching myself comparing two students from the two different grades which was unfair. I was holding the kindergarten students to the same level I was my first graders. My class was in kindergarten at one time too. They acted and performed academically just like these students did today. And that is okay! Growth is a part of education.
Reason two: Teaching Styles
I have been in this classroom since August. This is without a doubt the most exposure I have had to one teacher (not counting being a student). I am used to her teaching styles, her classroom and behavior management and her organization. I actually see a lot of myself in her. The kindergarten teacher that joined our classroom today was opposite from my co-op in almost every possible way. That also made the day more difficult. I was used to managing the classroom how my co-op does. When you add 17 children to our classroom, classroom management is that much more necessary. However, you now are managing a majority of students that aren't yours AND that are not used to following any similar type of classroom management. It was a challenging day but it was a great learning experience.
On the upside of thinks; Luckily, I don't think this is a situation I will ever regularly be in.
Tuesday, February 2, 2016
Routines
As I mentioned in yesterday's post we have a crazy 5 days planned at St. Joe's due to Catholic School's Week. For most students it's their favorite week of the year; games, Wii tournaments, desserts at lunch, programs, and more! However, to fit all of this you could probably gather that our daily routines get slightly mixed up. Some classes are skipped, some are moved from the morning to the afternoon, etc. In your mind you're probably thinking that for students this is no big deal (maybe a little difficult on the teachers for planning reasons) but overall, the students are just excited about the activities.
This is a huge deal for some students. Specifically, students with autism. The autism spectrum is huge so I want it to be known that I am not talking about all students with autism. I'm actually just going to be talking about one, Kendra*. We only have one diagnosed student at our school. With working with her previously in the year, and talking to her teacher and TSS worker, I knew how crucial a daily routine was for Kendra. As I mentioned before this week does not allow for any type of daily routine. I have been observing her a lot the past two days with how she was adjusting to Catholic School's Week.
I really noticed Kendra struggling. She was very apprehensive to get involved in the interactive dinosaur program today. She also had to keep asking teachers what was going on, what was happening next and when it would be happening. Her peers are very good with helping her out and keeping her on track. She usually is always near them and today I noticed her keeping to herself a lot. During a regular day, something as small as using a different stairwell will get her distracted from anything else going on until she finds out why they didn't use the "usual" stairwell. I can't even imagine the difficulty she is having comprehending all of changes going on this week. I'm hoping next week when we return to regular schedules she will be back on track.
*Name changed
This is a huge deal for some students. Specifically, students with autism. The autism spectrum is huge so I want it to be known that I am not talking about all students with autism. I'm actually just going to be talking about one, Kendra*. We only have one diagnosed student at our school. With working with her previously in the year, and talking to her teacher and TSS worker, I knew how crucial a daily routine was for Kendra. As I mentioned before this week does not allow for any type of daily routine. I have been observing her a lot the past two days with how she was adjusting to Catholic School's Week.
I really noticed Kendra struggling. She was very apprehensive to get involved in the interactive dinosaur program today. She also had to keep asking teachers what was going on, what was happening next and when it would be happening. Her peers are very good with helping her out and keeping her on track. She usually is always near them and today I noticed her keeping to herself a lot. During a regular day, something as small as using a different stairwell will get her distracted from anything else going on until she finds out why they didn't use the "usual" stairwell. I can't even imagine the difficulty she is having comprehending all of changes going on this week. I'm hoping next week when we return to regular schedules she will be back on track.
*Name changed
Monday, February 1, 2016
Catholic School's Week
Today was the start of a crazy week at St. Joe's. It's Catholic School's Week! This is a country wide week celebration of choosing a Catholic School as your choice of education. To a public school this is equivalent to a school pride or homecoming week. The week is packed full (no exaggeration) of exciting activities for the students. We have a magician, bingo, crazy hair day, pajama day, and much much more. Not only are the students beyond excited, the teachers are as well.
To begin the week we had an exciting visit from the Bishop. There was a lot of preparation leading up to this visit and today everything finally came together. After everyone returned to their classroom from mass we waited for the Bishop to come do the class visit. Last week as a class the students brainstormed a list of questions they had to ask the bishop. We then narrowed down the list to "what we really wanted to know". This really helped when the Bishop visited today because the students asked previously agreed upon questions. It was great seeing how excited they all were. They could barely stay in their seats.
As far as student teaching goes, this week I added Spelling and Phonics unto my teaching workload. I love the feeling of teaching more and being in front of a class of students.
Lastly, today I hit 500 views on my blog! Thank you to everyone that has been reading and joining in my journey!
To begin the week we had an exciting visit from the Bishop. There was a lot of preparation leading up to this visit and today everything finally came together. After everyone returned to their classroom from mass we waited for the Bishop to come do the class visit. Last week as a class the students brainstormed a list of questions they had to ask the bishop. We then narrowed down the list to "what we really wanted to know". This really helped when the Bishop visited today because the students asked previously agreed upon questions. It was great seeing how excited they all were. They could barely stay in their seats.
As far as student teaching goes, this week I added Spelling and Phonics unto my teaching workload. I love the feeling of teaching more and being in front of a class of students.
Lastly, today I hit 500 views on my blog! Thank you to everyone that has been reading and joining in my journey!
Proud
January 29, 2016
Students were assessed in August when school began. January is approximately half way through the school year and it was time to assess everyone again today. My co-op was completing sight word assessments with students today. The goal was to see growth. After each student completed their assessment my co-op showed him/her where they were at the beginning of the school year. Almost every student had the same reaction on their face; "Wow...school really is teaching me something"! However, one little girl's assessment stopped me in what I was doing and I just stood and watched in awe.
Molly* was only on the pre-primer list of the Dolch Sight Words back in August. She is one of our lowest level readers and struggles in Language Arts in general. Her reading has improved, but I don't think I realized just how much it improved until today. This same little girl breezed through the pre-primer words, the primer words, the 1st grade words, the 2nd grade words and half way through the 3rd grade list of words. I can't even explain the overwhelming pride I felt. This is just one of the many reasons why I chose this profession. It is these moments that I am assured that this is absolutely where I want to be.
Students were assessed in August when school began. January is approximately half way through the school year and it was time to assess everyone again today. My co-op was completing sight word assessments with students today. The goal was to see growth. After each student completed their assessment my co-op showed him/her where they were at the beginning of the school year. Almost every student had the same reaction on their face; "Wow...school really is teaching me something"! However, one little girl's assessment stopped me in what I was doing and I just stood and watched in awe.
Molly* was only on the pre-primer list of the Dolch Sight Words back in August. She is one of our lowest level readers and struggles in Language Arts in general. Her reading has improved, but I don't think I realized just how much it improved until today. This same little girl breezed through the pre-primer words, the primer words, the 1st grade words, the 2nd grade words and half way through the 3rd grade list of words. I can't even explain the overwhelming pride I felt. This is just one of the many reasons why I chose this profession. It is these moments that I am assured that this is absolutely where I want to be.
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