Last week was crazy, it went by really fast and left me feeling quite tired for the weekend. We had parent teacher conferences last Tuesday and Thursday. They were pretty enjoyable; I liked having the opportunity to meet all of the parents. Tuesday was a half-day of school for students because conferences started at 1:00pm. We had a read-a-thon to celebrate March is Reading Month. Students brought in their pillows and blankets, their favorite books, and we had snacks for them. It was a great morning, they really enjoyed the read-a-thon. We're also in the midst of a school-wide competition for reading month. Students have little slips of paper they take home and for each 20 minutes they read, their parents fill out one slip. They bring it back to school, and each slip is worth one pony for our class corral. The class with the most ponies in their corral at the end of the month wins pony rides =) The students are very excited! They announced on Friday that we are in 2nd place with 123 horses, and the 1st place class was only 4 horses ahead of us.
Friday was a crazy morning; we had one incident right at the beginning of the day, and then just before lunch I had a little girl staple her finger. She screamed at the top of her little lungs when it happened... I ran over, pulled the staple out, covered her finger with a kleenex, and took her down to the clinic. The poor thing was shaking uncontrollably! I felt so bad for her.
This week, Mrs. Miller will be gone on Wednesday and I will finally be getting paid to sub for her. It'll be the first day I have the students all alone; any other days she has been gone, there has been a sub in the room with me. I'm sure everything will be fine, though!
Only 4 weeks left, but one of those weeks is Spring Break. I can't believe everything has happened so fast! It's a strange feeling.
Saturday, March 12, 2011
Wednesday, March 2, 2011
It's Been A While...
I don't have a whole lot to write about today, but it has been quite a while since I've posted so I figured it was time. Things have been going well, and I don't have any serious complaints! I've really been thinking about life after student teaching, and trying to find a job, which has been quite stressful. I can't believe I only have a month left already! Time is flying by.
I'm definitely feeling ready to start my own classroom! Some small frustrations are caused by the constraints of this not being my own class, but that is all part of the experience and I'm grateful for it. Today, my boyfriend Mike came in to bring me lunch and say hi to a few people (he attended the elementary I'm working in) and my students were so excited to meet him. They were watching for him out the window, so when I saw him walking in, I said "There he is!" One girl in my class said, "Ooh, he looks kinda cute... I'm excited for him to come inside so I can see him!" Then, when he got to the classroom, she said "He is cute." She then proceeded to tell him she thought he was cute. =) It was adorable. They were very disappointed when they got back from lunch and he wasn't there.
We have been working hard on many different subjects, but I'm really focusing on math and writing. These were the areas I thought I could have the biggest impact, so I've been trying many new things with the students. I feel things are going quite well. The most frustrating part is something I've been told for years that I wouldn't realize until I was in this position - we're told that students must learn certain things, but if they don't learn them in a certain amount of time we're supposed to just move on. I've gone against the grain for the good of my students during math, and pushed back their test for a week because I did not feel they were ready. Due to me postponing that test, almost the entire class earned at least a 90% on the test. That is what I think it is all about; I'm not going to let my students fail just to meet time constraints!
Today is Dr. Seuss's birthday. Obviously, he died many years ago (Sept. 24, 1991 to be exact) but it is still a fun day to celebrate with young students. I read them two of my favorite Dr. Seuss books, Fox in Socks and I Am NOT Going to Get up Today! They loved listening to me read Fox in Socks, because the entire book is a tongue twister. We had a special visitor dressed in a Cat in the Hat costume that delivered cookies and lemonade, and then we watched the cartoon version of Cat in the Hat while writing our own rhyming poems or stories. It was a very fun and relaxing morning for them!
Next week will be all of our parent-teacher conferences. I've been told it will seem to be a very long week, but I'm hoping everything runs smoothly! I'll probably post another update at the end of the week!
I'm definitely feeling ready to start my own classroom! Some small frustrations are caused by the constraints of this not being my own class, but that is all part of the experience and I'm grateful for it. Today, my boyfriend Mike came in to bring me lunch and say hi to a few people (he attended the elementary I'm working in) and my students were so excited to meet him. They were watching for him out the window, so when I saw him walking in, I said "There he is!" One girl in my class said, "Ooh, he looks kinda cute... I'm excited for him to come inside so I can see him!" Then, when he got to the classroom, she said "He is cute." She then proceeded to tell him she thought he was cute. =) It was adorable. They were very disappointed when they got back from lunch and he wasn't there.
We have been working hard on many different subjects, but I'm really focusing on math and writing. These were the areas I thought I could have the biggest impact, so I've been trying many new things with the students. I feel things are going quite well. The most frustrating part is something I've been told for years that I wouldn't realize until I was in this position - we're told that students must learn certain things, but if they don't learn them in a certain amount of time we're supposed to just move on. I've gone against the grain for the good of my students during math, and pushed back their test for a week because I did not feel they were ready. Due to me postponing that test, almost the entire class earned at least a 90% on the test. That is what I think it is all about; I'm not going to let my students fail just to meet time constraints!
Today is Dr. Seuss's birthday. Obviously, he died many years ago (Sept. 24, 1991 to be exact) but it is still a fun day to celebrate with young students. I read them two of my favorite Dr. Seuss books, Fox in Socks and I Am NOT Going to Get up Today! They loved listening to me read Fox in Socks, because the entire book is a tongue twister. We had a special visitor dressed in a Cat in the Hat costume that delivered cookies and lemonade, and then we watched the cartoon version of Cat in the Hat while writing our own rhyming poems or stories. It was a very fun and relaxing morning for them!
Next week will be all of our parent-teacher conferences. I've been told it will seem to be a very long week, but I'm hoping everything runs smoothly! I'll probably post another update at the end of the week!
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