Weeks (1)9 and 10 (or 20): The other side of the teacher's desk!

For the first of those two weeks, I was able to plan everything and teach it all by myself! I really learned how lucky I was back with the 1st grade team... CT2 said that it's really rare for a teaching team to plan all together like that! It was kind of exciting to do it all, though, too. I got to plan all 15 centers for the week, plus all the other subjects, and then my CT2 looked it over to make sure it would all go smoothly. :-)

It went really well! She was gone for part of the morning on Monday because of the talent show, but it was totally fine. I got to think of a few cool activities for my guided reading groups, too!

We also got to start an end-of-the-year countdown - "Off to Palombi!"

For this math unit, since it was our last unit test, I told all the students that my goal was for every single one of them to get a "C" or higher -- quite an accomplishment for this math class! I've realized that I work best with small groups, so I did that a lot this week. Thursday, test day, I even told them that I would be in the classroom during recess in case any of them wanted to go over anything. 2 students chose to stay, and I think it really helped them! They got high Bs!! And... EVERY STUDENT GOT A "C" OR BETTER!!! I was SO thrilled! I mean, I was lucky that the unit wasn't too difficult, because most of them remembered cross-multiplication from last year, but still!!! When I graded those tests, you'd have been hard-pressed to find a happier teacher :-)

Week 10/20 began the wind-down part of the year. CT2 started back in, and the units all wound down. All the students got Cs or better on their Ancient Rome test, too!!! We got to watch a movie, and do a cumulative review for math, just to see what they remembered.Wednesday my CT2 had to run for a quick doctor's appointment during specials and lunch, and her appointment ended up running a little bit over, so I got to start the second part of the day on my own. Again, it went well! She has her class so well set up that they know exactly what's expected of them, and just continue to act the way as they do when she's in the room. In math we learned to play Jeopardy with this awesome system that she has, and Friday morning the students performed short plays. :-) All in all, another good week!

Report cards are done, and I got to help with those too! Who knew so much went into that?! AND I thought I lost them all when I was on the last report card, boy was that a mini-heart attack! The sixth graders had an awards ceremony on Wed. night, which I went to. It was very nicely done :-)


It's hard to believe my student teaching experience is almost over. I've had a lot of ups and downs, and I've learned more than I ever imagined I would. It's so funny what you learn when you're on the other side of the teacher's desk! ;-)

This next week is short and sweet -- no school Monday, and lots of fun for the rest of the week! For Tuesday, my CT2 said I should go visit 1st grade for a bit, so I'm excited about that, too!!! Well, that's all for now, time to write my reflection paper for the student teaching seminar!

This is the bulletin board I made for our Ancient Rome unit! My CT2 made the map, I did the word play ;-)

Week (1)8: On my own!

This week I've been teaching all day. My CT2 has been leaving the room to run errands for her many committees and whatnot, and it's a nice feeling. I feel like she's confident enough in my ability to leave while I keep things going. It's funny, because I'm sure my CT1 would have done the same thing, if my supervisor hadn't at first said that our CTs should always be with us!

My supervisor also came in again. My new word this time was "wonderful!" Oh well, I'll just keep working on it...

Wednesday morning I had an interview, so I wasn't there for a good portion of the day. I got the job, too!!! :-D Thanks to PSH, CT1, Mr. CT1, and CT2 for all their help!!!!

Thursday the 6th graders started presenting their research projects, and I am SO happy with them!!!! But now I understand why MJW (one of my professors) always says "Don't assign anything you don't want to grade," because I'm not particularly looking forward to grading their papers... I was definitely more excited about the presentations. I did end up having a good time grading one of the reading assignments I gave them, so I'm definitely trying to remember that advice!

My CT2 has been having me get more involved in meetings, such as collaboration and team meetings. I'm still not quite comfortable in that position, though, probably because I don't interact with the other staff members as much as I did with the rest of the 1st grade team.

I'm pretty happy with the result of Week (1)8, which is a great feeling!! I feel so accomplished, because I've had to do a lot more work, and I had a difficult time -- making it through that is a good feeling, and I'm feeling happier in 6th grade finally!!! I still do feel like I'm more of a natural in the younger grades, but it's nice to know that I can make it work with the older ones as well!!!

And now, onto week (1)9!!!

Weeks (1)6 and (1)7, and the first day of (1)8... just a little late! ;-)

I feel bad for not updating this as often anymore, but then I realize that it's not necessarily a bad thing -- it just means that I'm spending more time on the most important things, such as trying to keep up in the classroom! ;-)

There have been some interesting moments in 6th grade... one student is writing about dreams for his research report. Apparently in the past, people used to think that dreams were messages sent by the gods. This student thought it would be perfectly acceptable to write somewhat offensive sententances about the "fake" gods in his research paper... I'm not looking forward to the social studies section about Christianity in Ancient Rome with this student!

Behavior is a bigger problem, as well. I'm much more nervous to handle it here than I was in first grade... I feel like there's more ways for things to go wrong when I try to help work it out. One student refuses to participate occassionally, and I feel lost trying to get him on track... especially because he's refusing to do what he thinks is unnecessary, since he understands the concepts perfectly well. On his last math test, he even wrote "100%" on the top of his paper, showing his confidence (to put it nicely) in his knowledge. I can understand where he's coming from, and I wish I could make it more meaningful for him, I just don't have the time, energy, or knowledge to put that in place. Luckily, my CT2 has a couple of options to help me out!

I've also discovered that it's easier for me to act with the first graders than it is with the sixth graders!! A couple lessons have called for skits, and I just can't make it work. It's always fun trying, though :-)

My supervisor came on the Wed. of week (1)6. It was not quite as easy as my first observed lesson in first grade, and he actually had suggestions for improvement (which is, of course, expected - my first grade supervisor didn't really ever make any, though)! That lesson I had my first moment when I actually saw the light bulb go off for a few students, which was so exciting!!

I got to go to the 'final' scheduling committee meeting, which was kind of ridiculous... the decisions made almost overrode everything they did at the last meeting, so everyone's schedule drafts had to be redone... but oh well. I LOVE the whole committee thing, so I enjoyed it anyway.

Last Monday I got to do my own little creative lesson -- whatever I wanted to do. I was SO excited, because I remembered an activity that I'd done in 6th grade, so I was going to share it with them. Unfortunately, they'd already done something similar in 5th grade, so they weren't as excited about it as I was... too bad...

Tuesday we watched "Oceans," since Wednesday we were going to see "African Cats." Wednesday was my first school field trip! I LOVED the movie, and since I'm used to going on field trips with theatre and dance camp, I felt much more in my element. I've got the head count thing down! ;-)

In Social Studies we're doing an Ancient Rome unit. CT2 found a cool webquest to use in addition to the book, so she edited it to fit our needs, since we don't have access to computers all the time. I got to make a bulletin board for the map that CT2 made -- I titled it " 'Roman' Around." :-D I keep forgetting to take a picture, but I'll post one eventually :-)

I started with guided reading groups, and was able to make the final test for the Glory Field group. I'm nervous but excited! Their research presentations are going well, too, and they're due on Thursday. I can't wait to see them all! I'm concerned about grading them, because I had this nice rubric made, but I feel like so much has changed and I just can't keep track of it all...

Tomorrow my supervisor is coming for his second visit. Hopefully I don't say "OK" too much -- that's my new word for 6th grade... that and "fantastic!" Haha. Oh well... it's late, here's to hoping for the best!!!

Week (1)4 & Week (1)5... right?

Here's the problem with not updating every week... I forget what happens. As far as I can remember, the rest of my 4th week in 6th grade went fairly well. I got to attend a Literacy Training on Tuesday with my CT2, which involved giving the Fountas and Pinnell assessment. I actually really enjoyed that one -- doing assessments like that is fun!!!
Wednesday we had an initial IEP meeting for one of the students, which took almost 2 hours! It was pretty crazy, but very nice to see before I have to be involved in all the discussion and decisions.
This week we did a Grammar Review product to wrap up the parts of speech that we've been working on :-) I gave them an option to make a song, skit, review game, or pamphlet, working with up to 3 other students. I LOVED the results! They all did well (including at least 5 different parts of speech), and were very creative!!
Math has been an adventure... trying to make sure I'm explaining everything well while still fitting it into the short time we have... same with the research skills unit. I started out so excited for it, but I didn't realize how little they would know compared to what I thought they should know... it's been kind of frustrating figuring it out, since my plans have had to change so many times. I guess that's just something I have to get used to -- not everything can be perfect the first time!

Week 5 in 6th grade had me starting the reading mini-lessons, in addition to language arts and math. All that's left after this is science/social studies (which switches depending on the unit) and guided reading groups. I was feeling overwhelmed, so I talked with my CT2 and we decided that I would wait to take on guided reading until the week after next. It worked out well, since next week they're finishing up they're unit on historical fiction, anyway.
I had fun with the reading mini-lessons -- reading aloud is one of my favorite parts of the day! ;-)j
This week was also a math test, so I learned some ways we could review for that. I liked figuring it all out, though it was confusing at first. I was nervous about not having the centers exactly mapped out and partners exactly matched up, but my CT2 reassured me that it would work out. I was going to take small groups to review material while the rest of them were doing their center games. At the end I had time to ask anyone who just wanted to review anything to come to the back by me to ask questions. I didn't know that any of them would come, but to my surprise, there was a fairly large group! I really feel like it helped to have those small groups -- a great example of how much help CTs can be!! :-)
After the math test on Wednesday, my CT2 had a game for the students to play. Unfortunately, they got bored with it just 10 minutes before the math period was over... so she said I should intro the next lesson. It was uncomfortable for me to try to do that without any preparation, since I'd been under the impression that the entire introduction lesson for the next unit would take the hour and 10 mins on Tuesday... I was just confused. Oh well, these are the kind of kinks to work out now, instead of my first year of teaching with no one in the room to help me. Wednesday we also had a collaboration meeting to talk about the upcoming topics and how to meet the needs of the students with IEPs.
Thursday afternoon I got to see the 1st graders again for their music concert that the whole school was able to watch, and I was beyond excited!!! I miss them a lot, but I realize that 6th grade is growing on me, too. I know I'll miss those kids when it's time to go!
No school Friday or Monday (today), so 2 4-day weeks in a row--YAY!!! I needed that SO bad, hopefully this will help me last through the year. At least I still enjoy going to school every day, so I know I'm in the right career :-)

In other news, I turned in my very first job application, thanks to PSH's help and guidance, along with the help of my family, CT1, Mr. CT1, and CT2. I feel so extremely lucky to be surrounded with people who are willing to help me succeed -- I can't wait until the day when I can pass along that help to someone else!!! :-)

Week (1)3 & Week (1)4: Day 1

I've been feeling stressed, and I feel guilty for complaining all the time! But the stress is getting to me, probably due to lack of sleep. Note to all you future student teachers out there: DO NOT WORK AND STUDENT TEACH AT THE SAME TIME!! It is as hard as they warn you! Thank goodness I love student teaching and my job, or I'd have given up!

Anyway, last week I got to start teaching my unit plan -- YAY! Unfortunately, the first day back from spring break, technology decided that it was going to be rude to my CT2 and I... Fortunately, it got fixed in time for the end of my lesson, so I still got to show Prezi to the students! We had to do quite a bit of rearranging my original timeline for the unit plan to fit it into the "real world" schedule, but it's working out well so far! I didn't realize how little 6th graders knew about searching the internet, though, so I wish I'd had time to do a mini lesson on that. They seemed to really enjoy the activity for primary vs. secondary sources, even though it was simplistic. I had them hold up the correct card (primary or secondary) in response to the source I showed them on the Prezi. They asked me to come up with more! I was happy that they were happy with something I did! ;-)

Wednesday we had a sub because my CT2 had a committee meeting, so I got to do a bit more teaching, as well as lead a guided reading group. It was fun, and I realized that I am getting more comfortable in 6th grade, finally :-) Despite being comfortable, my lessons are still very choppy, but I'll figure it out! My favorite lesson was when I put my acting skills to the test Tuesday, trying to convince the kids that the tree octopus was real - LOL! Thank goodness my CT2 was there to help along the gig, I would have burst out laughing and given up without her acting skills!!!

Wednesday afternoon was hard -- one of the students (male) was walking to the bus crying, so I pulled him aside. I was so worried, because it's got to take a good amount to make a 6th grade boy cry at school. I'd seen his football on the floor, and thought I saw another student push him, so I told the other student to keep his hands to himself, then tried to talk to the crying boy. He didn't want to talk much, though, possibly because he was scared that if he got the others in trouble, they would cause more trouble for him... after seeing them off to the bus, I went to the Lead Teacher (LT), since my CT2 wasn't there to talk me through what I could do/should have done. The LT called his house to let them know that something had happened, but he didn't want to talk about it. She told me to keep an eye on the boy tomorrow to see if he was OK, and she would let me know if she heard anything. I felt better after talking with her, since I knew that I didn't completely mess up by not getting the information out of him... situations like this are hard...

Thursday I got to go with my CT2 to a committee meeting! They're working on a schedule for the entire district, that includes an "intervention" time -- that's a time for no new instruction, as well as a time for students who need extra services to get pulled. It's very helpful, since then the students don't miss as much instructional time, and teachers don't have to worry about them falling even farther behind. I had no idea how hard it would be to plan a schedule like that!! There are SO many factors that go into it... it was interesting to see the debate about how much time each grade would get for each subject... of course science and social studies got the least, but not because anyone thought it wasn't important... it's just MORE important for students to be able to read and write. Even though in college classes, I was totally on the side of giving more time to those topics, I've kind of switched my views. Yes, science and social studies are important, but how can students learn those if they can't read and comprehend the information, or write about their findings? There's just not enough time in a school day for everything...

Today was my first math lesson. As I got started, the principal walked in with his iPad and sat down to observe! I'm pretty sure I said "Are you serious?!" out loud, oops... like I wasn't nervous enough doing my first math lesson... oh boy. How embarrassing. The lesson went pretty well, at first. I had them in groups to discuss some of the opening things, and they seemed to understand... then we got deeper in the lesson, and I felt like I lost any power I had to explain the concepts clearly. There was just so much involved! Then there was this whole debate about a square being a rectangle but a rectangle not being a square... and it was just rough. I got some feedback from my CT2 after the lesson, about making transitions smoother within the lessons. I think that will help me feel better as I'm teaching, so that I don't get flustered and lose my train of thought or momentum. She also said that I could have spent more time on that rectangle/square debate, because students don't get enough time to REALLY think about things nowadays. That debate would definitely have gotten them thinking! Oh well, I'm sure there will be more opportunities like that!

Now I'm off to try to relax for a bit, because there's no way I can improve my teaching when I'm up to my ears in stress, and that is definitely not fair to those students!

Week (1)2: Getting in the Groove!

Tuesday my CT2 was gone at a meeting for one of the many committees she's on -- I'll actually get to go to a couple of those meetings, which is exciting for a nerd like me!! ;-)

There weren't enough subs available, so the assistant in her room (I'll call her TA) was the sub for the day (don't worry, she has her sub license!). It was nice to work with her, since she knew the kids, but also let me take care of the things I wanted to do. The day went really well, too! The kids were chatty, and I was probably more lenient than my CT2 would have been... my biggest challenge is definitely going to be being authoritative. Otherwise, no real issues! The students worked on their plays, and I re-learned how to tie a tie (some of them had ties as props, but no one knew how to tie them!). For centers, CT2 had accidentally copied the same Word Work centers they'd done last week. That was one of those moments I had to think on my feet! I asked TA for the Word Work book, looked up the next unit, and wrote everything out on a Publisher document, then projected that on the whiteboard so the students could copy it. After that, I checked the files, and found the master copies of the unit we needed, and went to make copies of that while everyone was working. That way, only one set of students had to use the handwritten ones, but they could still work instead of waiting for me to come back with copies. :-) I was pretty happy with the result!
Next, the students had a 25-minute free write. They were supposed to write for the entire 25 minutes, but many students had difficulty with that. I enjoyed reading what they wrote, though, because they wrote about their luckiest or unluckiest day. I got to know them a bit better by reading their responses! After that, we had time for a read-aloud. Then it was specials and lunch.
After lunch I taught a quick language arts lesson, then headed off to another 6th grade teacher's room to do a math lesson! That also went pretty well, I was so excited! The students were not as excited as I was about graphing, but I don't think many students are ever as excited over material as I am ;-)  They all got at least 3/4 on their "Quick Check," so I thought they understood it, but when we did the fun activity, some of them still had problems... and a few missed the graphing questions on the test... so much for thinking I'd somehow managed to get through to them all! That was just idealistic thinking... ;-)
After that, it was getting ready for the end of the day, then bus duty! And the day was over...

Wednesday morning I had to rush to get together a grammar activity, since I'd forgotten to the night before. That was a bad choice. I found a worksheet that looked like it'd be good, but after doing it myself while the students were working on it, I found out it was AWFUL. I felt like it ruined everything we worked on today, and it would have been SO discouraging if I graded it and handed it back. I talke to CT2 about it, and she agreed that I could just let it go, and do another lesson on the same topic tomorrow... using a worksheet that was MUCH better, and that I'd created myself.
One of the students from the math class I taught yesterday came in to give me a high five, which was funny! He'd asked if they'd get extra credit for the fun worksheets, and I said no, but I could give him a gold star, a thumbs up, or a high five. Hilarious that he actually took me up on it!
CT2 is one of the teachers in charge of the talent show, so I went to help with auditions after school. That was right up my ally! I had SUCH a fun time, that's something I'd love to do as a teacher :-)

Thursday was a pretty normal day. Reviewed the grammar from yesterday, had a math test... open house and book fair were that night, but my CT2 told me not to wear myself out (which I definitely have a tendancy to do). Thank goodness for her, otherwise I would have been running around like crazy that night!!!!

Friday was relaxing. Since it was the day before spring break, we watched a movie... OK, they watched a movie and I graded their math and science tests. ;-) Grading written response questions are very difficult!! I asked my CT2 so many questions, it probably would have been faster for her to just grade them, but I'm so glad I got the experience. Next time it should be easier :-)

I've also been working on this research skills unit plan all week. It's a crazy amount of work! I'm going to feel SO accomplished when it's finished! My CT2 went over what I had so far, and I learned a lot about what I was doing... things that work perfectly in my head aren't always possible due to scheduling and resources... crazy crazy crazy. It's much different to do a unit plan for an actual classroom than it is to do one for an imaginary classroom like we did in all our college classes! ;-) Welcome to real-life teaching, Miss Wodrich!

My reading list has been expanded in 6th grade -- I've read the entire Hunger Games series, plus a few other books, and am now onto one of my CT2's favorites!! These books are a nice relief after working on the unit plan!! ...and working on the unit plan is my plan for the rest of spring break. Let the "break" begin!!!

Week (1)1 & Day 1: Week (1)2 -- Sixth grade isn't too scary! ;-)

All week I was hard at work on my Unit Plan. I feel like it's coming together slowly, but I'll have it finished before spring break is over. Just have to get through this week! Hopefully I can get a lot done...

I'm using Prezi to teach them the research skills, and then I'm also going to teach them how to use Prezi to make their final presentation! I'm definitely excited for it :-)

On Wednesday, I finally felt comfortable enough to step in and work with the kids. They were dissecting owl pellets, and it was hilarious!!! My CT2 let them use their senses while it was still wrapped in foil to figure out what it was... then had them unwrap it... then showed a video of what an owl pellet REALLY is. I swear, their reaction was PRICELESS!!!!!!!!!!! One student even looked at her and said "What did I ever do to you???" Too funny!

Wednesday was a big day. I also got to sit in on a collaboration meeting for students who had IEPs. Once I finish the unit plan, I'll have to share it with the team to get feedback about how to fit it to the students' needs.

Wednesday afternoon I went to a 5th grade classroom and taught a math lesson! I was THRILLED with how it went! I was more nervous doing that than I was when I started teaching in 1st grade, but once I got going I felt much better. I was even able to stray a little from the written-out lesson when I saw that they needed more help understanding one of the concepts. It was very smooth :-) One of the students in there was super funny. When I left he came up to me to shake my hand and said something like "I appreciate you teaching our lesson. Good luck in 6th grade." (or something like that...).

Thursday was an early release and conferences. I went back to 1st grade for conferences, since I knew those students and could actually understand how to translate what happens in the classroom for parents. It was a good experience, and I got to catch up with my first CT :-) I went back to see a 6th grade conference... and this student is apparently friends with my brother! I found that out when he commented on my brother's Facebook status... awkward!!!!

Friday we didn't have school, what a nice break!

Today was a good day, too! I taught my first 6th grade lessons, which I didn't do quite as well as I would have liked. I was too nervous, so I spoke too quietly for the first one (which was really just going over morning work). The second lesson was a little better, but choppy and I think I let them get a little too silly. That's OK, this is why student teaching is called a learning experience!!!

I also went into another 6th grade teacher's room to observe--it's a guy teacher, so it was interesting to see how different it was! I mean, it wasn't THAT different, but there were little things. I'm going to teach a math lesson in his room tomorrow -- hope it goes well!

Tomorrow my CT2 won't be there, so I'm going to actually teach for a good portion of the day! I'm pretty excited for it, because hopefully having that longer period of time will get me into some sort of "groove" for 6th grade. I'm just ready to stop feeling nervous in the classroom, but I remember it was like this for the first week or two of first grade, too, so it'll be fine!

This weekend I read The Glory Fields, because that's the book for the high-level reading groups. It was fantastic, and I'm pretty excited to be able to do it with the students after spring break! I've got some new reading material for tonight, too, so I'm going to get started on that!!! :-)

Week 10 and Week (1)1: Day 1 -- Every end is also a beginning!

Week 10 was my last week in first grade :-( I've had such a great experience that I was so sad to have to leave it! I was also apprehensive about moving to the older kids... some of them are taller than me and have worse attitudes. I talked to my new CT (CT2!) Tuesday afterschool, and I felt much better about the transition. But first let's talk about my last few days in first grade:

My CT and I decided that I'd give her back 1 subject a day, so that she wasn't just thrown back into the last trimester alone. She took back subjects a little quicker, though, since I kept getting sent out of the room for reasons unknown! ;-)

The kids made leprechaun traps, and overnight a leprechaun came and hid them all around the room! In the morning a few of the kids had a disagreement over whether leprechauns were real. My response? "Well, someone messed up our room, who else would it be?" "The teachers!" "I bet it was Mr. Principal." "No way, CT and I always clean the room, why in the world would we mess it up?!" Oh, the troubles of first grade!

Another student tried to tell me he heard on the news that there was a 400-year-old man, and still said I was wrong even after I looked it up online! The closest article I found was one about a 400-year-old mummified cat...

More fun stories from the kids: Student 1: "Is President Obama smater than God?" Student 2: "No, I don't think so." Student 1: "I think there's a God Obama!" LOL.
Different student: "It's like he speaks Mexican!"
Yet another student: "Girls have cooties!" Me: "No way, boys have cooties!" ... There was an entire debate about cooties. Totally cute :-)

I got to be in their picture for picture day, too! I was so happy :-)

On Friday, I walked in with a GIANT bag full of little things for my CT and a few other teachers, little things for the kids, and donuts for the teacher's lounge :-) My CT and the kids surprised me with an ADORABLE bag that they painted with their handprints that I will no doubt keep forever, AND with a book of 20 reasons I should be hired as a teacher! Those ideas were just absolutely perfect and heart-warming, and I can't believe it :-) I feel like the luckiest student teacher ever!!!! My CT and those kids are just fantastic!!! We celebrated all day (for one of the kids' birthdays, too!). I managed not to cry until leaving my CT at the end of the day... I can't believe that experience is over!

Luckily, I think I'm going to have another great experience in 6th grade. My CT2 wants me to have the best experience I can, too, so I once again am so grateful for everyone's willingness to help me learn!!! I'm not quite as comfortable with the older kids, so I didn't get very involved today for day 1, but I know I'll get there! I get to plan a writing unit for research skills, so I'm hard at work on that already. Super exciting! I'm also going to have the opportunity to do a few lessons in different classrooms, just to get a bunch more experience with other staff members, age groups, and students. Thanks to PSH for suggesting that!!! I went to observe guided reading in 5th grade for awhile, and had some fun looking at everything on the classroom walls.

At the end of the day, while in line for bus duty with CT2, a bunch of the first graders saw me when they walked in! I got a GIANT group hug, and I just loved it!!!! They're adorable! I'm glad I'm in the same building, so that I can still see their cute little faces. I also got to see my CT!! All in all, it was a good day! I'm excited to see what the rest of 6th grade will bring -- I just have to learn to deal with their attitudes... wish me luck!! :-)

Week 9: Oh, The Thinks You Can Think!

Once again, there was no time for note-taking this week... but I wished I could document every moment!!! I'm not ready to leave first grade--maybe my CT won't give me a passing grade, and I'll have to repeat! ;-)

OK, fine... This next week is my last week before moving to 6th grade, so I'll make the most of it. Here's an overview of my second to last week:

It's Dr. Seuss week!!!! YAY!!! I love all of that stuff, so this was my week, for sure!

We read a bunch of his books in reading, and Friday I got to trace all the kids' feet! :-P haha.
We watched a couple videos, too.

Tuesday we did this GREAT activity! All the first grade teachers did something different, and the kids travelled from classroom to classroom to get all the experiences. One did Ooblek, another did a Dr. Seuss snack, another did a fast/slow movement Dr. Seuss song, and I did singing and dancing to "Oh, The Thinks You Can Think!" from Seussical Jr.!!
I think I had just as much fun, if not MORE, than the kids!!! The 1st grade teachers suggested I choreograph the rest for the kids for the talent show ;-)

The kids also started a science unit this week -- forces and motion (AKA push vs. pull).

I was SO excited for a word work lesson, too: we wrote alliterative sentences!! (Miss Wodrich won the wacky whiffleball game. The octopus in the ocean opened one oragami. Etc., etc.) They came up with some pretty cute ones! :-D

OH YEAH, my supervisor came for his second visit. My CT and I prepared this elaborate lesson that sounded fantastic on paper... but I ended up having a really hard time with it! It wasn't whole-group, so I had less control, and the kids were very noisy. I was worried about what he would think, and about how the kids would do with the assignment, but once again, he had nothing bad to say!!! He and my CT said they could tell I was definitely out of my element, but that I handled it well, and that it would take time to get used to. It was a great learning experience for me, for sure :-)

I wish I could remember specific funny moments, but I've got nothing this week. Maybe next week I'll have more time to write memories!!

Well, time to get to work on my Star poster for next week!!! :-)

Week 8: Ummm... what?

Quite honestly, I don't remember much of this week at all. I don't even know if I took a single note!!! ...OK, I found 3 little notes, but that's it. Time to use those lesson plans to aid my memory!!

Mon:
NO SCHOOL!!! Yay!! ;-)

Tues:
TOO MANY ASSESSMENTS!!! The kids are tired, I'm tired... wish we could all take a break... but no, first there are reading tests, then word work tests, then math tests... does it ever end?

Wed:
Oh, hello Administrators!! 7 of them came into the room during reading instruction, and the kids stopped answering my questions. They were too scared to even spell the word "the" for me!!! Poor kids. Of course, I was shaking in my boots, too -- all I kept thinking was, "I swear I'm better than this!!! These kids are so smart!!!"
Today I started getting behind in lessons... oh no, they're building up!!

Thurs:
Welcome, Supervisor!
I had my first supervisor observation. I was nervous all morning, and for the first few minutes while he was there. Once I got going, though, I felt so much better!! It was just natural :-) Using Rex (our class 'pet') to keep them quiet worked quite well. My supervisor had nothing but positive comments, and the one thing my CT noticed that I could improve when I began, I fixed myself during the course of the lesson. Whew!!

Fri:
Oh. My. Goodness. Too tired to even think. My energy just dropped continuously all day...
I was SO glad when my CT stepped in during writing -- I just needed a few minutes to motivate myself to finish off the day!
We were trying to make it through so many things today, just going and going and going! I wish I would have had the energy to do it!! Oh well, I'm sure that's not the last time I'll have a day like that, I think I can give myself a break...
One fun thing I did was to use the computer/tv connection to write narratives with the kids when I couldn't get the overhead to work. It was very nice.

Report card time is just insane! I feel like the work just never ended this week!! Thank goodness report cards are only 3 times a year :-)

Here's the only Need a Smile? moment I wrote down:
--During one of the assessments, I saw two students [a girl and a boy] holding hands across the desks! (If you watch The Office, they were actually playing with their hands the way Michael and Holly were in one of the recent episodes!!) ...Then I realized they were passing a little bouncy ball back and forth, but it was still kind of a shock! Very cute, though :-)

Even after a weekend, I'm still super tired. Guess it's bedtime!
I'll post a few pictures that I've had, though... then goodnight!!!

1: One of the other 1st grade teachers posted a bulletin board with a center that I'd helped create -- I was so excited to see it hanging up!!!!
2: 100th day activity! Counting their snack into groups of 10 to make 100 :-)
3: "Some bunny loves you" cards for Valentine's Day. I painted their hands to stamp, and my own hands came away with a little more color ;-)
4: A cute bulletin board I hung up -- my CT's ideas, but it was so adorable I just had to get a picture! ;-)

Week 7 is just a blur!!

WHOOSH!!! ...That is the sound this week made as it FLEW by!

This week's schedule was messed up due to the music show the 2nd and 3rd graders put on. The specials were mostly in the morning, then Thursday we got to watch their dress rehearsal :-) Before we went, I reminded the 1st graders of what it means to be a good audience (since I'm a performer, I know how frustrating it is to have a bad audience!). They were FANTASTIC. I was so happy with them -- but they weren't the only ones! It seems the younger kids are (surprisingly) the best audience members.

It was a full moon week--the behavior was pretty insane. By Tuesday I decided that I'd like to assign the kids spots on the carpet, because there were SO many issues with who gets to sit by who, and this person talking to that person, and kids getting almost stepped on (by me, as I try making my way to the whiteboard, despite telling them every day to just leave that last row of squares open for me to walk on!)... etc., etc. They were fine on Tuesday, but by Wednesday they were asking to be able to sit wherever they want. I said maybe next week, if their behavior improved this week. We'll see how next Tuesday goes...

My CT actually had to have a talk with them, too, because they couldn't follow any of her directions, either! It's kind of infuriating... which is frustrating to me, because I generally have a lot of patience with kids. I hope this is just an off week, I don't want to lose that patience!!! I don't know how much easier we could make it for them... but I do have to keep in mind that they are just 1st graders, and their attention span is short. The long afternoons were probably worse for them than they were for us!!

Because of the morning craziness (our class had to lead the pledge this week, and our specials were in the morning instead of afternoon), Word Study/Word Work/Word something! got pushed off until we found time later... which didn't happen until Thursday afternoon! Talk about Ketchup work!! ;-)

My favorite activity of the week was on Wednesday. Our class and the class next door went on an adventure together -- I got to put my theatre camp acting skills to the test! ;-) I read Nice Try, Tooth Fairy to the classes, and at the end a note from the Tooth Fairy fell out!!! Oh my goodness, what does it say?? Well, she gave us a clue of where she went... so we followed her clue to the library. We didn't find a tooth, but she did leave us some floss! Her next clue led to the lunch room, where she left us some mints. Her last clue led us to the nurse's office, where she left us toothbrushes. They were so excited, it definitely rubbed off on me!! It was fantastic :-)

This week I was also able to sit in on a meeting about a student who'd been having difficulties. Luckily, everyone on the team had seen improvement, so they didn't have to implement any new help. The best part of the meeting was when the School Psychologist asked my CT if an idea is realistic in the classroom, instead of just telling her to try it. It was SO nice to see that she understood that teachers have a limited time as it is, and that new ways to help students would be nice, but are not always possible.

Friday was a teacher institute day. The morning was interesting, if not only for the material, but for the conversations with my CT, PSH, and some of the other staff. More on that later...
The topic being covered at the training was about a new framework the district is adopting to evaluate teachers. This information will definitely be helpful for me to keep in mind as I teach, and if I happen to get a job in the district, it will be nice that I know what they're evaluating me on ahead of time!!
The afternoon was excruciating... the teachers split into grade-level teams to discuss the descriptions for report cards. That means they had to go through every sub-category of every subject and write how students are doing: exceeds, proficient, basic, or below basic. Now, this might have been more interesting if I had a working knowledge of what should be expected of students in each sub-category, but I don't... so I just listened... for 3 hours... ouch. Oh well, it's one of those things that I can add to my experiences, and maybe one day it will have proved useful (even though I don't see it now) :-)

Anyway, back to the talking this morning. [ Warning: This deals with politics. If you'd rather ignore it, please feel free to stop reading now. Thanks ;-) ] It mainly revolved around the situation in Wisconsin, which is driving me INSANE. It has brought out some of the worst comments towards teachers that I've heard... and the bill is just ridiculous (in my opinion). Teachers don't earn enough as it is, what makes the governor think that teachers can afford to pay any extra for benefits? Or that teachers don't deserve the right to collective bargaining? Or that the unions need to go, when they're not the ones increasing the state deficit? Even the firefighter's union (which is exempt from the bill) is fighting on the other public workers' behalf!
After all of my extra research (yes, that is what I spent the majority of my Saturday doing), I learned that it isn't even necessary!! It's so frustrating. It's not even about public workers, it's about eliminating political competition. I'm sorry, that is just out of line. I don't care what your political views are, isn't it just healthy to have the competition between parties, so that each side can balance the other? I don't think many people would be happy at all if one party had complete control -- I believe a majority of people are moderate, so the balance just works. I suppose I should step off my soap box, though... maybe there's something I'm missing, even after reading the entire bill for myself...

Well, so ends Week 7. Three more weeks left in first grade!

Need a Smile?
-Student loses a 'tooth' from a project: "Awww, that was my good tooth!"
-Student from next door: "It's so hot in here!" [[ Background: my CT loves her room warm, which I love, but everyone else gets overwhelmed by! There's always comments about the temperature in her room by other teachers, having it come from another student was just funny :-) ]]

Week 6 & Week 7, Day 1: Oh, those lovely little ones!

Time has completely gotten away from me. Now that I'm teaching more during the day, I have less time to write notes, and it's MUCH harder to remember the details of each day! I'm LOVING the experience, but I do wish I could remember more details!! I don't even think I'll list things day-by-day, I'll just try to remember highlights...

The subjects I've been teaching for Week 6 are Reading, Word Work, Math, and Theme time. The only subjects remaining are Writing (which I've started in Week 7), and Guided Reading. Wow! Almost a full day, and I am t-i-r-e-d!

Math will be the death of me. I understand what my CT has been talking about!! The ideas behind all the lessons are fantastic... putting them into practice, however, is not as easy as they make it sound. In order to get through everything the book suggests, we'd need at least two hours every day for math... and probably 2 extra teachers in the room to make sure students at every level are taken care of. In any regular classroom, that's impossible. I tried one lesson just using an overhead of the packet they have to complete daily, and not allowing students to rush ahead of me. That was MUCH less stressful, and we finished in the right amount of time, but I felt bad that the students who could clearly grasp the material were just sitting in their seats waiting for their classmates. I worry about saying that if they understand it, they can just move on, though, because some students who think they understand (but really don't) will rush ahead, and then it will take even more time to get them caught up!!! [Please excuse that run-on sentence ;-) ]] Plus, then I'd have to stop teaching every time a student finished to make sure they completed the packet successfully, which would make managing the other students extremely difficult. There's gotta be a way to do this better, but I have yet to think of it...

Funnily enough, I love doing math myself, but I'm enjoying the Word Work lessons best!!! Though I am quite the grammar queen, so that makes sense! I don't feel like the lessons I've done so far have been amazing, but they're much better than the spelling lessons I remember from my elementary school years.

The themes for Week 6 were Valentine's Day and President Lincoln. I enjoyed the honesty lessons, because I love the feeling of teaching something that I think is valuable to the kids' lives, not just to their schooling. I only hope that they take it all to heart :-)
They had some SUPER cute things with the Valentine's theme! "You're really cute!" "First kiss" (to which my response was, "I hope you're talking about Hershey's Kisses!!!" haha.) etc., etc.

I'm a huge nerd: I LOVE making worksheets and activities on the computer! I like being able to make it look perfect to me, and fit the needs that I have. I also feel so much better about doing something, and not just taking what the team of first grade teachers give me. I know it's not super necessary, and that it's totally OK to use their resources (especially at this point in my 'career'), but I feel bad doing that all the time. I'm not used to being handed things, and I don't want to take without giving back because I feel indebted (my CT and PSH have both reiterated this). These women are already giving me so much!!! I wish I had more time to make those things for everyone :-)

It's pretty exciting to see how attached I've gotten to these kids, since I was kind of worried before the experience started that I wouldn't really be a part of the classroom! The few little troublemakers in the class concern me the most, and not because they're disruptive: I'm truly worried about the path they're starting down already! I just want them to be able to make the right decisions and turn out to be fantastic, good people. I don't want to see any of these kids turn into bullies, or drop out of school, or commit crimes. I'm already worried that some of them will. I wish there were something I could do help them, but I know a lot of their personalities and decisions come from their home life... it's tough to see. I wish I couldn't see the bad potential of any of the first graders... I wish they could all be sweet and innocent!!!! Oh well, I guess that's a part of teaching I'll have to get used to...

Today was a fun day for the first day of Week 7! It was Valentine's Day. I brought in Valentine's cards for the kids (and teachers!), and when I got there my CT told me she had signed my name on her treats, too! She is so thoughtful--I really appreciate her inclusiveness!! I decided to sign my cards from Cupid, and put them on the desks before the students got to class so they wouldn't know the cards were from me :-) Unfortunately, the kids didn't know who Cupid is!!!!! Oh well, I tried ;-) I loved watching Charlie Brown's valentine video, too!!

Here are some of the Need a Smile? moments I can remember -- sadly I didn't write any Helpful Hints down!!
-Messy student: "My mom tells me I'm a pig!" (Oh, thank goodness it's not only at school!)
-Answer for -unk family question (by multiple students): Drunk. (Ummmm... I don't know that that's school appropriate... let's erase that answer!)
-Student spelling of "recess" : "wheeses." It was totally adorable, written the way he says it!
-Me: "I didn't know until today that it was possible to shock your head!" (After laminating a bunch of things, I always shock myself... today I just happened to have touched my head to the metal cart the machine is on!)
-Sooooo many of the students are using positive thinking -- they make me smile :-)
-My CT brought an A&F bag that was holding a couple supplies... she has it hidden away in a cabinet, but we open the cabinet for shopping on Fridays. One of the students saw the bag and just said "Really? Really??" It was SO funny!!!!

My supervisor will be coming to observe later this week... I hope I can get some energy for the rest of this week!!

Week 5: Day 5... or, um, 3

Well, since my CT told me I was on fire this morning, I'm going to go with "Today was a fantastic day!!!" ;-)

It felt hard to get back into things since we had 2 days off in the middle of the week, but it all worked out! I had to remind that even though we had two days off, we're back in school so we have to raise our hands. They did pretty well remembering after that :-)
Calendar & reading were fine. During centers, one of the students who usually has a few things to catch up on finished ALL of her work!! I was SO excited for her, and she looked super pleased that she did it!!! I let the students use their individual whiteboards for Word Work, then we did a cute worksheet! It didn't take as long as expected, so I let them doodle on the back of their worksheet when they were finished.
Lunch was an interesting time, as it always is with PSH!! That was quite an experience to see how close the staff get to each other ;-)
After lunch, we had our read-aloud, then our Topic 9 assessments for math. Some of the kids FLEW through it, but usually they do the test all together since a few kids need the questions read to them. The ones who finished just had to sit quietly at their desks until I finished going through the test with the others. When I graded them, almost everyone got 100%! That was pretty impressive :-) I think patterns are pretty easy for them to figure out, though. The rest of the day was nice, they did a poem and shopped at the classroom store. I was worried they were going to be late for the bus at the end of the day, but we made it!! Happy Friday! ;-)

Helpful Hints:
-Visuals are always nice to have for lessons.

Need a Smile?
-Student: "I was sad when they said there was another snow day, I wanted to come back!!" Another student: "I didn't!" Me: "Awwww, you don't like spending time with me and CT??" Second student: "Well, I do..." Chorus of students: "I do! I wanted to be here!" ;-) Adorable.

More Week 5: snow, Snow, SNOW!!!!

Tuesday: Still sick... but today was pretty good!! I tried to zoom through everything in the morning so that we had time to finish the 100 day activities my CT wanted to fit in, but it just didn't happen. I was super excited to read My Many Colored Days to the kids, so when a few of them were supposed to leave for extra help, they didn't want to go! Their teacher said they could stay for the book :-) My CT said it was a good sign that I got them so excited for a book! After reading it, I made a worksheet for them to do that said "Today I feel (insert color) because..." and they got to fill it in and draw a picture. I really like how most of them turned out, and it was nice to see how they were all feeling. They got to throw their snowballs, then we did a really ...exciting... (read: plain) Word Work lesson. They all seem to get the point though :-)
After lunch was a read aloud and my first full math lesson! I now understand my CT's frustration with it... For problem #1, I went through each instruction specifically, twice... and they still didn't get it. So for problem #2, I went through the instructions, had them repeat the instructions, AND gave picture clues for each step on the board. Guess what? ...They STILL missed some things! So then I decided that some of them were just not going to get it, so I needed to keep going for the ones that did, and just catch the other ones up bit by bit... otherwise, that math lesson would have taken the entire day!
During special time, my CT was able to leave since she lives farther away from the school, and they didn't want her to get stuck in the snowstorm. The lovely substitute who came in asked if I would just like to finish the day, so I decided to go for it :-) I rushed through a lot, though, because I really wanted to get through all the activities my CT left. We spent probably 15 minutes finishing the writing activity from before special time, then made our "friends" for Thursday's narrative assignment, and spent the last 10 minutes writing about what we had learned in 100 days in first grade. My CT was super excited about the last activity, so I practically begged them to do their best work... unfortunately, the results were not quite as spectacular as I'd hoped they would be...
In that last hour, however, I found true love. It's http://www.vickiblackwell.com/timer.html . A classroom timer that my CT shows on the TV so all the kids can see their time remaining. AND... it RINGS!! It was SO wonderful -- I could say 3 minutes and actually follow through on that amount of time, to make sure we had time to work on all the assignments! And they could see how fast they needed to work. Thank goodness for that :-D

Overall, though, it was a fun experience! I'm excited I could actually write about it today, since dance classes were canceled, too! And... SNOW DAY TOMORROW!!!!!

Now I have time to get my voice back after today ;-) Hope everyone enjoys their day off, and happy birthday to one of the CT Kids!!! <3:-) [[It's a birthday hat... I think!]]

Week 5: Monday. Enough said. ;-)

I'm not feelin' so hot, so I didn't take any notes on today... let's see what I remember!

It was the 100th day of school! Thank goodnesss it was a fun day the day that I'm not feeling 100%. It began with a fun activity: #ed Hershey's Kisses were hidden around the room, and the kids had to find them and put them in place on a number grid. It was a mad dash to find them -- totally cute! We read "Grampa's Teeth," which was fun for me, because I had to attempt to talk like I had no teeth, and anyone who knows me well knows that I don't act or do impressions or anything. I think my theatre camp co-workers would have gotten the BIGGEST kick out of it!! ;-)
We did a bunch of other hundred-day activities... and I can't think of anything that stood out. No "Helpful Hints" or "Need a Smile?" moments -- at least any that pop into my head. Then again, The Bachelor is on in the background, and I'm in some pretty desperate need of NyQuil... tomorrow will be better :-)

Week 4: Ups and Downs (Pt. 2)

Thursday: The schedule was rearranged due to a music concert rehearsal, so we skipped calendar and reading right away in the morning. When we found time to work on that stuff (and Word Work), I decided writing quickly would probably be better than making sure I used my best first-grade handwriting, but boy was I wrong! ;-) The kids made fun of my "silly writing," and PSH brought me a kindergarten handwriting book to practice in! haha. Again, their behavior was a little rough... that's the hardest part!! The tattling is insane, too. After lunch, I actually stopped reading aloud because they were so chatty. I gave them a warning or two, saying if they didn't raise their hands and just talked, I was going to stop reading. I felt bad, but I had to follow through! Overall, I didn't feel like today was one of my BEST days. Tomorrow will be better :-)

Helpful Hints:
-For problems on the rug: assign spots, send them from the rug, or make the trouble-maker your "special helper," so that they stay by you and don't lead the other kids astray.
-Let them know you mean business by following through! (This is my biggest problem!)
-Put highlighters next to the turn-in basket, so that they have to use the highlighter to underline their name. Then they can't forget it! ( Tip courtesy of PSH :-) )

Need a Smile?
-As I was tying a student's shoes, he says: "Tying my shoes is boring!"
-A student was complaining about his tooth, so another student decided to be helpful: "I know where you live, and my dad can rip your tooth out." ;-)
-CT: "Whose chair is this?" Student: "That's mine!" So he drags it halfway to his seat, then just leaves it in the middle of the walkway...
-"Mmmm... like, I didn't get my snowball yet." This little girl asks almost every day, despite that fact that my CT and I have told her tons of times that snowballs come on Mondays... she is so obsessed with these little snowballs that her mom called my CT to ask when her daughter was getting one -- wow! ;-)
-This student has a HUGE puffy jacket, so he can't get his backpack on by himself (cause the straps are so tight). He says, "I can't get my backpack on cause I'm so buff!" LOL!!

Friday: Well, I didn't take too many notes on today... but it was a pretty good day :-) I took my first star from a student (and felt SUPER bad about it...), but I think the rest of the students finally understood that I am in charge, too, so they should listen. We had a Community Meeting in the morning, which is when the entire school meets in the gym and lunch room to listen to announcements, and cute little awards for individual students and classes as a whole. I love the concept!! During centers time, I took the students who were finished into the computer lab to play games. They were amazed at how fast I could type, haha. Who knew that I'd have to help them so much to play games, though?! I don't think I sat down that entire time ;-) I do have to say that it was fun!! :-) For Word Work, I wrote a cute little note to them and wrote "This is from me to you," since we're working on the words "from" and "this." The Word Work book actually has some really good ideas!!
Mr. CT and the CT kids all came during lunch today -- the oldest was wearing a nametag that said "Little Miss CT-in-training." SUPER adorable! The students all enjoyed their visit, too. The middle CT kid gave one of the students a hug and kiss before they all left! It was quite funny :-)
I got to lead another activity toward the end of the day, and it went pretty well. Today was MUCH better than yesterday!!

Need a Smile?
-"Miss Wodrich, see this note? I'm gonna put it inside my shirt like they do in the movies, like when they open their jackets and put it in their shirt pocket." Super cute!
-"Miss Wodrich, I like you!" Then he gives me a hug!! I love working in first grade! ;-)

Week 4: Ups and Downs (Pt. 1)

Sorry for the day-late post ;-)

This week was interesting, to say the least!

Tuesday: Well, today was one of those days that I've heard about from other student teachers, but had yet to experience... pretty rough. It started out fine when I was beginning the reading lesson and trying to get the giant book of chart paper to stand up so I could write on it. Using the whiteboard ledge seemed like a good idea, so that's where I put it, despite the students saying it probably wasn't going to work. Of course, after it fell one of the students said "I told you you shouldn't have done it!!" ;-) I wasn't quite sure how to proceed with the reading lesson, so my CT helped me out. She showed me that it's OK to REALLY lead the students toward the answers, because they don't have a ton of background knowledge to allow them to be able to figure out the characteristics of fiction books on their own!
The hard part today was the students' behaviors. This testing-me-thing is getting crazy! For example: I began to give them their Sentence Dictation test, and one of the students gets up in the middle of my directions to move to a different seat. I asked her to sit back down, but she kept walking. She got to her new spot and began setting up her privacy folders, despite the fact that I asked her to move back to her seat. I felt kind of mean, but I grabbed her folders and moved them back to her desk. Thank goodness she followed!
My supervisor came in today to meet my CT and see how it was going, since I started SUPER early.
At the end of the day, I was giving out Neat Treats, and I was telling the students how much I wished I could give out a neat treat to one of the students, but I couldn't because there was no name on it. Of course the quietest girl, who is super sweet and doesn't always understand everything, got up to put her name on it, then went to take a Neat Treat. If it was anyone but her, I would have been like "You forgot your name, so you can't have one this time..." ...But it was her. I just let her have one, and I felt awful about it!!! I just couldn't make her sad like that!! Oh well, I'll do better next time...

Helpful Hints:
-Re-explain centers on Day 2, so that students are able to remember your expectations. It really helped when my CT did it!

Wednesday: There were a lot more happy moments today (yay!), but the behavior was still a problem. I need to stop thinking of them as just these cute little kids with good intentions, and realize that they ARE able to understand why we should be quiet when a classmate is talking, etc., etc. They're just so cute!
Today they realized that I'm left-handed. Apparently, none of them have ever met someone who is! It was quite an experience ;-) I told them that me writing with my right hand is like them writing with their left hand, so of course they wanted to see, and try it themselves! I said later, if we had enough time after the lesson. The morning actually was pretty smooth after that! In addition to the subjects I've already taken on, today I got to teach Theme Time, since I found the poem for that time :-) Again, I felt like I was leading them directly to the answers, but maybe that's just what they needed. It'll take some time for me to just know automatically what they're capable of.

Helpful Hints:
-Sending students to sit in different squares on the carpet was really helpful during the read-aloud. They needed some sort of separation today!

Need a Smile?
-I had them ROAR every time the book said to, because my ROAR-ing sounds like a squeak ;-)
-One of my students told me today that he used positive thinking twice, and it worked, so he's going to use it at home!!! I'm so proud! haha.
-Randomly throughout the day, a student would break into dance. He's pretty good at the robot thing!!
-At the end of the day, I was talking to one of the students. He looked back down the hallway, then forward really fast and said "I can't look that way, there's a girl I know!" I said "Oh? Why can't you look at her?" He said "She's really cute." ADORABLE!!!!
-I learned how to use the book binding machine today... and managed to fling the binding in my face. What an experience ;-)

I think I'll post Thursday and Friday later, because these entries always feel so extremely long!!

Wrapping up Week 3 and Tackling Week 4!

There are a few things I need to add to Week 3, before I begin Week 4... :-)

Addendums:
-A certain teacher would like to be mentioned more in here... so I'll give her her own initials... how about PSH? Hint: the last letter stands for 'hair...' ;-)
-Last week PSH almost gouged out one of my eyes in the teacher's lounge, since she was animatedly talking with a steak knife in her hand... to my CT on the other side of me. Funnily enough, I didn't even notice until one of the other teachers said she looked like she was about to get me in the face with the knife!
-My CT got me my first teacher stamps! Of course, one of them said "Awesome!" I should have used it every time I said the word during the morning routine, I probably would have filled both sides of a sheet of paper ;-)
-I got to hear a beautiful "teacher 'love' story," about my CT and the teacher next door! They're so funny, and they work so well together! That taught me to always be nice to everyone, and they may come to be one of your best friends and a great asset to the teaching team :-)
-A "Need a Smile?" moment I forgot: At the end of one of the days last week, a student went to get my jacket for me to go to bus duty!! It was super sweet, too bad I didn't have to go outside that day... what a nice thought though!

Monday: My time in first grade is not even halfway over, but I'm already dreading the day I have to say goodbye to these kids! They are just too cute. In addition to the non-instructional duties and direct reading instruction, I'm now taking on Word Work (or what we knew as spelling in our school days ;-) ). Today I gave something called a "Cloze Story Word Test." The students have a paragraph-long story with blanks. I read the story, and they have to fill in the words that aren't written. I think it went pretty well! No one got more than 2 wrong out of the 12 problems... so I would be proud of that, except that I just gave the test, I didn't do any of the teaching for that unit ;-) Oh, heck, I'm proud of those kids anyway!! I had some extra time to read to them, so I picked up that Jack Prelutsky book, and they got REALLY excited -- apparently they liked it more than I thought! Yay!
After lunch: The students worked on a football player glyph... unfortunately, that was more complicated than my CT and I anticiapted. I was working on bulletin board things while she was leading the activity, and just listening to it was enough to make me go slightly crazy!
--Student: Can I use 2 colors?
CT: It says "choose your favorite color." What does that mean?
Student: One color. But, like, can I use 2?
--CT: Use a black crayon to write the number.
Student: Can I use brown?
CT: ...black.
--Student: Do we have to color the whole jersey?
Student 2: Do we have to color the hands?
Student 3: What color are the shoes?
CT: Oh my goodness, can't you all just color? Do we have to have a conversation about it every time???
[[That maybe sounds mean in writing, but her tone was so light and joking that I couldn't stop laughing!!!!]]
After dreaded bus duty: I was grading the word tests, and marked one wrong... then decided that it was a 12/12, and 100%. Oops... teachers make mistakes too!! ;-)

Helpful Hints
-Follow through with said consequences -- the students catch on and start to take advantage when you don't!
-Give higher reading groups comprehension questions for at home, so parents know what kind of questions to ask, and so students can work beyond the text.
-Integrate topics throughout day... so use the material from direct reading instruction in the guided reading groups, and maybe even use the theme texts throughout guided reading, centers, and direct reading instruction!
-Positive behavior management: "The things I like about the way [student] is sitting are..." -- The students knew EXACTLY what my CT wanted from them when she listed all the good things the other student was doing!

Need a Smile?
-CT: "What does 'greedy' mean?" Student: "My dad's greedy!" (oops... haha)
-Me: "Don't you want to create your own team??" Student: "I like the Bears, I better do them." (I don't think the Bears will be hurt if you create your own special team, but OK...)
-In the mentor text for reading today, my CT's now-husband wrote an ADORABLE note to her!!!! Wish I could remember it, it was WAY too cute not to share ;-)

First grade is AWESOME (yes, awesome, haha), and that's all I can say at the moment!!! :-D

Week 3: Learning and Teaching; Teaching and Learning :-)

Overall, this was a good week!!! :-D


Monday: No School, MLK Day! :-)

Tuesday: Calendar - piece of cake! This week I took over the direct reading instruction (a 15-minute lesson in the mornings). Today was "Immersion Day," meaning that I read all the books we would be using for the lessons. Easy peazy lemon squeezy.
My CT was looking for ideas to increase the kids' quality work, so I came in with a few. After reading, I make a sign to put by the basket where they turn in their work. I'll attach pictures :-) I got to explain the poster to the class, and I was SO happy when I saw them actually look at it before putting in their work. My CT suggested adding visuals for the non-readers, such as a crayon for "color," a sample line for their name by "name," and an eraser by the "erase neatly." The finished product is much more colorful than what I posted here!! [[ I also included pictures of the bulletin board I put up my first week :-) My first teacher bulletin board! ]]

Helpful Hints
-Use visual clues for non-readers
-Positive attention: on students' birthdays, they can choose students to give them positive comments. SUCH a cute idea!!!

Need a Smile?
-They found words that rhyme, such as "dip" and "sip." Try saying that fast... and think of a slight speech issue... I had to ask him to repeat himself to make sure he wasn't swearing at me! ;-)
-"Wedding? Eeeeewwwwwwwwwww!"
-"If I were a penguin dressed in a tuxedo, I would... go on a date." (Aren't you a little young for that?? haha.)

Wednesday: One student came in and told me right away that his dog died last night :-( He handed me a note that said his dog is in heaven. That was so sad! Luckily the students had their stuffed pets to keep them company. I had them talk to their pets during calendar, such as whispering the answers to my questions in their pets' ears and the like. Then we worked on looking at labels in books.
The majority of today I spent looking up and making centers for next week's football/Super Bowl/Chicago Bears theme :-D I had SO much fun creating all the papers, but I realized that I'd spent an ENTIRE day making it all, and that there's no way I could do that for every week of the year. Thank goodness there are so many resources available!
I found a Jack Prelutsky book at the library, so I asked my CT to check it out for me to read after lunch -- I was SO excited, but when I read it, I realized that Jack Prelutsky doesn't spell everything out in his poems, so most of it went over their heads... oh well... one student did enjoy it, though, and asked me to read more :-)

Need a Smile?
-"You really are a nice teacher!" :-D Awwww, they like me! They really, really like me!! ;-)

Thursday: One of the students yesterday said he had the same stuffed bunny that I had, so he showed it to me first thing in the morning! Adorable. :-) Reading this morning was talking about photographs in books... and that's all the lesson said. So... I had to make up what that meant on the fly! I think it went pretty well, I just talked about the difference between a photograph and a drawing, and why we like to use photographs more (because of all the detail). While I was working on that with the students, the principal walked in to talk to my CT. I stopped for a second because I got nervous, but I got right back in it, since I wasn't being observed. It made me realize how nervous I'll probably be come observation time... but it'll be OK :-) I also had the students do some exercises to wake up their brains, since we had an extra minute.
After lunch, I got to see them take a math test... then we had to put together these INSANE packets after we got all their scores. I can't believe all the work for an after-assessment packet!! Hopefully it's actually useful for them!

Helpful Hint
-Get into situations that make you think on your feet, so you get better at it!

Need a Smile?
-The students had to write what they wonder about, here are a few of their answers: "I wonder how cool I am." "I wonder if I'm cute." "I wonder when I'll get $300." "I wonder how tall I'll be when I grow up." ...oh wait, the last one was my CT. She's funny! ;-)
-Student blurts out: "My mom's having a baby!" CT:"Oh really?" Student:"Yeah, it's either a brother or a sister." CT:"Well, I hope so! What else would it be, an alien???" ;-)

FRIDAY!!!! OK, I have officially realized how big of a Bears fan I am, and it is seeping into my teaching. I tried to teach them the Bears Fight Song. Almost every student wore Bears gear. We silently cheered for the Bears as we were walking to Music. As soon as the bell rang at the end of the day we shouted "GO BEARS!" What a fun time ;-) I hope none of them are Packers fans... oops.
Morning: I did a mini-health lesson in the morning, because I saw at least two different students coughing into their hands then touching things, and I do NOT want to be out sick for student teaching! They seem to have heard most of it, but they're young so it hasn't become automatic for them yet. Oh well, I did my best.
I felt like the reading lesson was rough this morning, I was not at my most positive. I kept asking them to "stop" to "please don't." (Our lesson was to cover up the pictures and try to read a few words, then uncover the pictures to see if they helped us.) When my CT took over for Word Work, she pointed out all the positive behaviors (like she always does), and they snapped to it right away. It was such a huge difference that I noticed right away I had to bring my positivity back!
Meeting: I got to go to a Jolly Phonics training with my CT and two other teachers on the team. As ridiculous as it is, I was SO excited! I feel like that taught me more than a semester of reading/language arts methods did. It was quite an interesting experience... let's just say that teachers need their grown-up time... "uh, uh, umbrella!" LOL!
After lunch: I read Tacky the Penguin. It says that he's an odd bird. One of the [least odd] students said "I'm odd!" It was cute :-) I told him that we're all a little odd, so of course everyone else (except one) added that they're odd, too. Ohhh, kids. ;-)
At the end of the day, after our cheer, my CT added a cheer of her own: "Gooo lunch!" (There were some lunch boxes leftover in the basket!) I thought that was a great way to end a great week ;-)

My teacher nerdiness, which has been suppressed for the past couple of months, has come back out. I brought home my first teacher prep work!!! And I'm excited about it! Everyone thinks I'm insane... but we all know that this is probably the one and only time I'll be this excited to bring work home, haha. And so ends my third week... only 6 more left in 1st grade...

Finishing Week 2: The Honeymoon Phase has Ended...

It's crazy how much my energy level has changed from the beginning of the week! Let's rewind and try to figure out why... ( 'cause I'm sure THAT'S going to be difficult ;-) )

Tuesday: I still had difficulty with the whole morning routine -- still super choppy! I know I'll get it, though. If I can't even get that to work, I'm in for a rude awakening with the rest of my teaching experience!! ;-)
Later: I get critiqued by a student on my ability to put new nameplates on the desks. "There are a lot of bubbles!" "Wow, you're really slow at that!" "We finished all our work and you're still on the same table!" ...Oh boy, I hope they don't look at the kangaroo I drew as an example, or they'll start critiquing my art skills and I'll NEVER get any teaching done!! ;-)
Lunch: First, let me just say how much I LOVE lunch time. Thank goodness teachers have that rest period during the day! Anyway, today was nice to see the school community shown -- one teacher was having an off day, and every staff member in there was SO supportive. Wherever I end up, I hope that kind of support is there!!
Afternoon: Social Studies was about MLK Day -- the kids were so adorable!! I love that they have no concept of why on Earth there would be any reason to separate the African-Americans from the whites, or why someone would want to shoot another person. They are all about making sure everyone's equal and treated fairly. It was awesome! [ Note: I need to use a thesaurus and start including synonyms for 'awesome' in my vocabulary ;-) ]

I've decided to start including 2 different sections now: "Helpful Hints" (things my CT and other teachers say to make teaching smooth) and "Need a Smile?" (for those happy moments in the day that we could all use more of).

Helpful Hints
-Get familiar with technology, fast!!
-Try to call on a variety of students -- not the same ones every time.

Need a Smile?
-Student: "Miss Wodrich, you're a good citizen!"
-Student: "You're a good teacher!"
-Student: "You're slow at that."

Wednesday: YES!!! I finally feel like the morning routine went smoothly!!! Now the students seem to be testing me. One boy must have asked me to use the bathroom three times. When I gave him a time limit, he pushed that to the end. Two girls didn't want to come to the carpet for a read aloud. Even when I counted down, they moved as slow as molasses. I feel like taking a star for not being on the carpet in time is entirely too harsh, so I didn't. Hope they don't take it to mean I'm a complete pushover. Geez, balancing this is going to be tough.
Again, I helped a portion of the class with math. This section is so hard for them!! And then... half of the week was over.

Helpful Hints
-Have students pair and share stories when they want to talk about every page in the story.

Need a Smile?
-"My mittens are brown like babys." (From a tiny white girl whose whole family is white. Where did that come from???)
-Student boy: "Ladies first! Boys, let the girls get their shapes first!" (There is hope, chivalry is not dead!!!!!)

Thursday: Calendar went well again, woohoo! WAY more students came to play The Mitten game than were done with their center work. When I said that they had to have all their work done and that I was going to check, a few did go back to finish. When we were grading later, we found out some kids were less-than-truthful. To be expected, I suppose.
After lunch: Two students got in a fight. That was the biggest downer ever. My CT called down to the office and they were both bawling... my heart was breaking for them! That's going to be one of the hardest things for me: getting over the tears.
Later: I decided that we were going to tiptoe to our special. It kept them quiet, but it was slow going. We were already late, and a few kids were STILL trying to change from boots to gym shoes! I enjoyed it anyway :-) By the end of the day, I was ready to fall into bed.

Helpful Hints
-Time management! Try to get to specials on time. ;-)
-Share, share, share!!

Need a Smile?
-"My mitten is as brown as a beer." (I think he meant bear... but my CT and I could have used one of those at that point--what a week!)
-Me: [I'd found a hat in the hallway] "Do you like my new hat?" Student: "Give that back you ridiculous hedgehog!" [ From the play some of the students did! Great text-to-world connection! ;-) ]

TGIF!!! The honeymoon period of student teaching is definitely over; now I see the 'work' part. That's OK, hopefully there aren't too many down days!
The morning routine went well. I led the start-up for centers, which I thought I explained well, but there was a little confusion. Some the students performed a play! It was adorable :-)
Later: I led the "Lost Mitten" activity. I wish I would have thought about it more beforehand, though, because it didn't go super well. I needed a way for all the students to stay engaged.
Today was a huge blur. I'm slightly surprised I made it without falling asleep or completely snapping at one of the kids unintentionally! Thank goodness, though :-)

Helpful Hints
-Maybe it's OK to be a little stricter... kids could use some structure.

Need a Smile?
-Picture little first graders waddling like penguins down the hallway ;-)


Even though I'm dead tired, I'm still enjoying my experience a TON. My CT and the other teachers are amazing!!! ( And I'm not just saying that because they're reading it ;-) ) Everyone's just so nice!
I'm learning a lot from my CT, including something I like to think of as "SuperTeacher vs. RealisticTeacher." Since we don't have super powers, we can't be SuperTeacher all the time. We know what we should do, but with time restrictions and natural human imperfections, we can't physically accomplish it all. I'm glad I get to see the two sides; going into student teaching, I was worried that I was going to be expected to be SuperTeacher all the time!! I'm glad I'm allowed to be human :-)

Week 2, Day 1. It's a funny story... ;-)

I had my first hilarious classroom experience in this particular classroom... While I was reading aloud to the class for the first time, one of my students let one fly... and I couldn't help but laugh!!! I felt so terrible, but it was just so unexpected! I couldn't talk, and had tears running down my face... when I finally almost got it under control, I saw my CT (cooperating teacher) laughing, too!! It was a neverending cycle. Luckily, the poor student is more outgoing and was totally OK with it, and my CT and I tried to cover it by saying that it was a funny story from lunch that we were laughing at... I'm so glad I wasn't in front of the class during writing, cause he let two more go during that lesson. Oh boy!

So that made the day pretty interesting! Besides that, I got to do the morning routine (lunch count, calendar, weather, etc.) lead one guided reading group, and walk the students to their specials. I was more nervous than I thought to do the morning routine, and I have to work out some kinks since it took me forever to get through it all. My CT gave me some positive comments about it, though, and one thing to think about: some of the students didn't come to the carpet right away for calendar, so she said to think about other techniques to use to get everyone on the carpet, in case the students ignore me saying "Clean up your desk and come over here!" That's definitely something I should have in mind!

For tonight, my homework is to watch The Bachelor so that I can participate in the teacher's lounge lunch discussion about it tomorrow ;-)

Week One: Piece of Cake!

Since I've seen so many past student teachers keep blogs about their experience, I figured there might be something to it... so here goes mine!

Week One was easy and SO much fun! The worst part is getting used to this 6:15am wake-up... which involves a 10pm bedtime... which is not really happening.

Monday I did a lot of observing and some helping around the classroom: organizing supplies for Tuesday's math lesson, making copies, and grading the cut-and-dry assignments. I took a lot of notes, and wrote down questions about how the classroom was run: Is there a bathroom pass? What are the behavior procedures? Etc., etc.

Tuesday involved less note-taking and more preparation, but more involvement with the students. I got to settle a GIANT argument over an eraser ( ;-) ) and help students with work. Today the students seemed to realize that I could help them with more than tying their shoes, haha. My cooperating teacher also gave me a binder to start keeping copies of worksheets and other resources. I have a feeling that binder will fill up pretty quickly!! Tuesday mornings are also the 1st grade team planning meetings, so I had to get there a bit earlier.

On Wednesday, I was able to learn a little bit more about guided reading, since I don't feel like I was prepared for that at all. I also graded more writing assignments, learning what my cooperating teacher expected from the students. I started to catch on to which students were "graded" more leniently, and which students could be held more accountable for their work. [[They're not graded on every assignment, but they do have to complete all assignments. Student work isn't sent home until it reflects the student's ability, so some work is sent home with more misspellings than others.]]

Thursday was MUCH more involved: I took half of the class to work with them on their math lesson, while my cooperating teacher took the other half. The lesson was SO difficult for them; I don't remember learning to flip, slide, and rotate shapes in 1st grade! It was a difficult concept to teach, and a difficult one for them to learn. My cooperating teacher said she didn't know how the other teachers did it with only one teacher in the room. After that lesson, she gave me some positive comments about what she saw as I was working with half of the class, which was a very nice way to end that crazy lesson :-) I also got my first picture from one of the students, which immediately went into my binder ;-)

Friday went by SO fast. They have early release every Friday, so that the teachers can spend the extra time meeting as a team. Friday morning was a staff meeting, as well, during which the principal introduced me to the rest of the staff (slightly embarrassing, I wasn't sure if I was supposed to stand up or what!). The student who drew me a picture came up to me and said "I really hope you can be a teacher!!" It was adorable :-) I got a hug from one of the slight troublemakers in class, too.

It was an AWESOME first week -- I have such a great feeling about this class and my cooperating teacher! She's super positive, and keeps her room warm so I'm not freezing all the time ;-) Everyone at the school has been so nice, too. I feel bad because I can't remember everyone's names or positions, but they all come up to me and ask how my week has been and if I'm learning a lot. It's such a GREAT environment!! Hopefully the rest of the year will be just as wonderful!!!