WOW! I can't believe I'm currently in my 7th week of student teaching! The time is FLYING by--I'm almost halfway done! I took over full time teaching today, and I don't think there's been a faster day all semester. I'm really enjoying planning and carrying out activities with my kids, even if they don't realize how much work and thought goes into each lesson!
Today was also my first time leading a Guided Reading group. I found it to be pretty neat to be able to work with just a couple of students at a time and really get a feel for their understanding and abilities.
I'm currently planning out the rest of our transportation unit, which started today (overlapping with Dr. Seuss activities). For one of our centers, we will be making word family trains, where students have to match up words on train cars with the correct word family engine to make a full train, then write them on a recording sheet.
I cannot believe how quickly times goes every day and every week. I felt like today had just begun when I was dismissing the students to go home. And staying at school to do after-school work can make the time go just as quickly--an hour or two can pass in the blink of an eye!
I am glad to be getting the experience, though--it has really shown me what my life will be like when I graduate (in 2 months!) and get a job (hopefully)!
Well, back to planning in front of the fire..one great thing about living at home is my dad loves to build fires for my mom and I to veg out by in the evenings. :)
-Katie
Monday, March 4, 2013
Saturday, February 9, 2013
3 day weekend!
This week on Wednesday and Thursday, we had parent teacher conferences from 4-8pm. I sat in on them which was a very interesting experience for me. It was the first time I've been to a conference and been on the "teacher" end of it. It was funny for me to be the one sharing stories and things I had noticed about children with their parents, and to have them looking at me and asking me questions about their child's education and progress. It was also very nice to get to meet some of my children's parents who I hadn't met before. It was also great to hear some of them tell me that they had heard a lot about me over the past few weeks! :) (An added bonus was having off on Friday to compensate for the extra evening hours of conferences)
Speaking of weeks; I can't believe that 3 of the 16 weeks of my placement are over--I'm almost a quarter of the way done! It's hard to wrap my mind around the fact that in 13 short weeks, I will be graduating and looking for a teaching job of my own...
This week is Valentine's Day, so we will be making valentines for the kids' parents and making Valentine bags for our own celebration and exchange. Below is a picture of the valentines I'm making for the students:
The top says "Inching along to wish you a very happy Valentine's Day!" and a pencil is stuck through the middle. Very cute! Thanks Pinterest ;)
(credit to: alphamom.com)
-Katie
Speaking of weeks; I can't believe that 3 of the 16 weeks of my placement are over--I'm almost a quarter of the way done! It's hard to wrap my mind around the fact that in 13 short weeks, I will be graduating and looking for a teaching job of my own...
This week is Valentine's Day, so we will be making valentines for the kids' parents and making Valentine bags for our own celebration and exchange. Below is a picture of the valentines I'm making for the students:
(credit to: alphamom.com)
-Katie
Sunday, February 3, 2013
Family, food, and football
Happy Superbowl Sunday everyone! I hope you're all enjoying relaxing as our weekend ends..and watching the hilarious commercials :)
This week I have my first formal observation--on Wednesday, our 100th day of school. I will be observed teaching a math lesson and centers by my supervisor, so fingers crossed that all goes well and there's no major issues..yikes.
I taught my first whole group mini lesson on groundhogs this week and we made groundhog faces. Then we made a graph of our predictions using the faces we made. It turned out pretty cute--pic is below.
On Friday my coop and I stayed until 9pm at school..so it was an almost 14 hour day! I can't believe how quickly the time goes when we're setting things up for the next week and getting everything organized. We got almost my entire lesson planned for Wednesday so that I can have time to look it over and hopefully make sure everything's together. I then got to go back up to school for the weekend to see the boyfriend and friends. Overall, it was a great weekend and end to the week.
This week I have my first formal observation--on Wednesday, our 100th day of school. I will be observed teaching a math lesson and centers by my supervisor, so fingers crossed that all goes well and there's no major issues..yikes.
I taught my first whole group mini lesson on groundhogs this week and we made groundhog faces. Then we made a graph of our predictions using the faces we made. It turned out pretty cute--pic is below.
On Friday my coop and I stayed until 9pm at school..so it was an almost 14 hour day! I can't believe how quickly the time goes when we're setting things up for the next week and getting everything organized. We got almost my entire lesson planned for Wednesday so that I can have time to look it over and hopefully make sure everything's together. I then got to go back up to school for the weekend to see the boyfriend and friends. Overall, it was a great weekend and end to the week.
Monday, January 28, 2013
Sunday, January 27, 2013
It's Sunday?!
Well, the end of the week ended abruptly with our school closing early because of the snow, which was a nice surprise and got me home before too late on a Friday. :) I still spent a good hour or two putting together some activities for the 100th Day Of School and "grading" handwriting papers. I can only imagine the amount of time I'm going to be dedicating to student teaching over the next four months..!
I'm currently planning my first lesson to be observed by my supervisor during the first week of February. I'll be doing a math lesson on the 100th Day of School, and I think I'll be using this printable, having the students color 10 gumballs in each machine, and practicing skip counting to 100 by 10s:
(Courtesy of makinglearningfun.com)
I'm still trying to figure out how to make it some sort of "game" instead of them simply coloring the gumballs in. Ideas are welcome!
This week I begin taking over morning arrival, attendance, lunch count, folder check, and announcements in the morning. I will also be monitoring free play, snack time, and dismissal. Nothing too involved yet, but I've already learned there are always surprises in Kindergarten!
-Katie
I'm currently planning my first lesson to be observed by my supervisor during the first week of February. I'll be doing a math lesson on the 100th Day of School, and I think I'll be using this printable, having the students color 10 gumballs in each machine, and practicing skip counting to 100 by 10s:
I'm still trying to figure out how to make it some sort of "game" instead of them simply coloring the gumballs in. Ideas are welcome!
This week I begin taking over morning arrival, attendance, lunch count, folder check, and announcements in the morning. I will also be monitoring free play, snack time, and dismissal. Nothing too involved yet, but I've already learned there are always surprises in Kindergarten!
-Katie
Thursday, January 24, 2013
Where has the week gone?
Whew. I can't believe it's already Thursday night! I got home about 2 hours ago and haven't been able to force myself from the couch since. This week has gone incredibly quickly. Tuesday my first day went very well, as both I and the kids were excited for my first day back! Unfortunately I had to leave right after school to drive up to school for my 3 hour seminar course...and leave VERY early the next morning to get to school on time. I feel like I haven't been caught up on sleep since (although our 2-hour delay this morning did help some :) ). Wednesday-my second day-my supervisor came to do a check on the items in my binder, meet my coop, and get to know the school. And now tomorrow will be the last day of my first week! 1 down, 15 to go!
I've already been given a third of the class to work with during Kid Writing and centers, so I already feel very involved in the classroom. We've been talking about fact and opinion in our reading and writing, so this week we worked on writing facts we had learned about Martin Luther King Jr. We also focused a lot on what he believed in and made doves of peace, whose wings were cut-out outlines of each child's hands--very neat!
Something I'm struggling with at this point is classroom management. Although there are only 18 students in our class, a large number of them are impulsive and have very short attention spans. My coop teacher has said to me all along that this is one of the toughest classes she's ever had, and I can see why. I do not want to fall into the trap of only looking for activities that will be super exciting or over the top simply because I am trying to keep the students' attention all the time, so this is something I will be considering all semester.
Now I'm off to relax in front of the fire and get some homework (for my seminar) and school work (for Kindergarten) done...
-Katie
I've already been given a third of the class to work with during Kid Writing and centers, so I already feel very involved in the classroom. We've been talking about fact and opinion in our reading and writing, so this week we worked on writing facts we had learned about Martin Luther King Jr. We also focused a lot on what he believed in and made doves of peace, whose wings were cut-out outlines of each child's hands--very neat!
Something I'm struggling with at this point is classroom management. Although there are only 18 students in our class, a large number of them are impulsive and have very short attention spans. My coop teacher has said to me all along that this is one of the toughest classes she's ever had, and I can see why. I do not want to fall into the trap of only looking for activities that will be super exciting or over the top simply because I am trying to keep the students' attention all the time, so this is something I will be considering all semester.
Now I'm off to relax in front of the fire and get some homework (for my seminar) and school work (for Kindergarten) done...
-Katie
Monday, January 21, 2013
Tomorrow, Tomorrow..
Hey Everyone,
Tomorrow is my first day of student teaching, so I decided to create this blog to share some of my experiences, challenges, and triumphs with the blogging world, and hopefully gain some tips and good advice along the way!
I have already met my students and spent a week in the classroom with them, so I feel pretty comfortable with both them and the teacher. It's going to be a whole different ball game now that I have to do some actual work though, and I'm not just in there to observe and help out...
I will be in a Kindergarten classroom of 18 students at an elementary school in a small PA town, and I am so excited (and extremely nervous)! Fingers crossed for a great first day tomorrow :)
-Katie
Tomorrow is my first day of student teaching, so I decided to create this blog to share some of my experiences, challenges, and triumphs with the blogging world, and hopefully gain some tips and good advice along the way!
I have already met my students and spent a week in the classroom with them, so I feel pretty comfortable with both them and the teacher. It's going to be a whole different ball game now that I have to do some actual work though, and I'm not just in there to observe and help out...
I will be in a Kindergarten classroom of 18 students at an elementary school in a small PA town, and I am so excited (and extremely nervous)! Fingers crossed for a great first day tomorrow :)
-Katie
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