Hi Everyone,
An update about me, school and teaching are going great! I truly feel like Celebration K-8 school has become a new home for me. It seems so weird to think back that I just arrived here 7 1/2 weeks ago and now I go home in less than a month. I am so happy that I made the decision to stay for 12 weeks here, 6 weeks would have been WAY too short. I still feel like I am learning something new everyday with my students. Staying in one place for 12 weeks is really allowing me to feel confident in my teaching, understand my students and get to know the parents and staff on a deeper level.
This week is spring break...it was much needed! Teaching can be stressful and it is nice to have a break from the kiddos! This week the Ganley's took Tiffany and I to Daytona Beach for 3 days, it was beautiful! The weather was amazing and I love the sound of the ocean and getting a sun tan! The rest of our break has just been time to relax and enjoy Celebration. Tiff and I take bike ride almost every day and we still love running through the town. Tonight we are going to a Disney campground and we are going to "hoopty-doo review". Christina (our host mom) tells us it is like a country western theme with buffet style amazing food! So Tiff and I are putting on our plaid shirts and jeans and hoping for the best! Other than that, I plan to lesson plan and get things organized for my portfolio. I really can't believe it is all coming to an end already. Graduation is just around the corner...it really has been an amazing journey and looking back, I have no regrets!
I'll write more next week about the kiddos and teaching! Hope you have a fabulous day! =)
Dove Message of Day: Keep the promises you make to yourself!
Thursday, March 24, 2011
Wednesday, March 9, 2011
What is a Teacher?
Hello Everyone, and sorry I have not completed my "where memories are made part two". The past week and a half in the classroom, I have become very busy.
My unit on magnets is going great! We will finish that up this Friday. Yesterday we completed an activity, Watch Objects Move! We had a paper clip, scissors, a nail and a fastener as objects. Materials we moved through were a napkin, paper cup, piece of paper and a thin book. Each table or students had the opportunity to experiment with every object moving through every material. Outcomes: The students said it was hard to move the scissor through any of the objects just because of their mass (yes this was one child's answer, they connected mass to the scissors--every teachers dream to get such a perfect answer!) The students also concluded that the napkin was a difficult material to have things move through because the napkin was not sturdy like the rest. Overall, I have enjoyed this unit on magnets and I was able to include a lot of hands on activities for the students which I think has really helped in their understand of magnets.
In math this week, we started Weight, Mass, Capacity and Volume. I have struggled with this a bit, because we do not have enough scales for every child, or even every table group. We have one per classroom which makes teaching these topics a little more challenging. However, I have been very creative in tweaking the lessons in the book to make-do with what materials I do have! Hopefully this unit will be a success!!
Our class book on poems is slowly but surely coming along! We only have about 15 minutes every few days, but that's alright, we are working with the time we find! I have taught the students acrostic, cinquain, and shape poems. The students are allowed to write about whatever topic they wish, as long as they know a lot about the topic! I am finding that the students are having trouble relating the lines in their poem to the topic they chose. So today we brainstormed a list of 5 things each student is interested in, or something they enjoy doing. Then they had to pick on and write an acrostic poem about it, and pick another and write a cinquain. This helped some students, and others are still not grasping the concepts as well, but we will keep working at it and finish our class book!!!
In closing, I must say that through this internship, I am learning more than how to teach science, reading, math, classroom management or effective consequences. I already knew how to do those things coming into this experience because Ashland has prepared me to be successful at all of that. I am learning what is really means to be a teacher. I am experiencing parent/teacher conferences and the battles you may face with some parents. How to catch a child up in classwork that has been absent for a week and a half and has little to no support at home. What to do when a parent disagrees with how you teach or your homework policy. And most importantly, in my mind, how to treat every child equally. And I am learning that it is not easy to do! Teachers make a lot of accommodations for their students and parents, which in turns creates a lot more work for the teacher. I am also learning how important it is to have a support system of teachers and administrators who will be by your side during whatever issues or concerns you may have within your days.
I hope to add pictures of Disney soon and tell you all about our 14 hour day there =)
Dove Message of the Day: Happiness looks great on you!
My unit on magnets is going great! We will finish that up this Friday. Yesterday we completed an activity, Watch Objects Move! We had a paper clip, scissors, a nail and a fastener as objects. Materials we moved through were a napkin, paper cup, piece of paper and a thin book. Each table or students had the opportunity to experiment with every object moving through every material. Outcomes: The students said it was hard to move the scissor through any of the objects just because of their mass (yes this was one child's answer, they connected mass to the scissors--every teachers dream to get such a perfect answer!) The students also concluded that the napkin was a difficult material to have things move through because the napkin was not sturdy like the rest. Overall, I have enjoyed this unit on magnets and I was able to include a lot of hands on activities for the students which I think has really helped in their understand of magnets.
In math this week, we started Weight, Mass, Capacity and Volume. I have struggled with this a bit, because we do not have enough scales for every child, or even every table group. We have one per classroom which makes teaching these topics a little more challenging. However, I have been very creative in tweaking the lessons in the book to make-do with what materials I do have! Hopefully this unit will be a success!!
Our class book on poems is slowly but surely coming along! We only have about 15 minutes every few days, but that's alright, we are working with the time we find! I have taught the students acrostic, cinquain, and shape poems. The students are allowed to write about whatever topic they wish, as long as they know a lot about the topic! I am finding that the students are having trouble relating the lines in their poem to the topic they chose. So today we brainstormed a list of 5 things each student is interested in, or something they enjoy doing. Then they had to pick on and write an acrostic poem about it, and pick another and write a cinquain. This helped some students, and others are still not grasping the concepts as well, but we will keep working at it and finish our class book!!!
In closing, I must say that through this internship, I am learning more than how to teach science, reading, math, classroom management or effective consequences. I already knew how to do those things coming into this experience because Ashland has prepared me to be successful at all of that. I am learning what is really means to be a teacher. I am experiencing parent/teacher conferences and the battles you may face with some parents. How to catch a child up in classwork that has been absent for a week and a half and has little to no support at home. What to do when a parent disagrees with how you teach or your homework policy. And most importantly, in my mind, how to treat every child equally. And I am learning that it is not easy to do! Teachers make a lot of accommodations for their students and parents, which in turns creates a lot more work for the teacher. I am also learning how important it is to have a support system of teachers and administrators who will be by your side during whatever issues or concerns you may have within your days.
I hope to add pictures of Disney soon and tell you all about our 14 hour day there =)
Dove Message of the Day: Happiness looks great on you!
Wednesday, March 2, 2011
Where Memories Are Made (part 1)
That's right, Celebration is the perfect place to make amazing memories! Re-cap of last week in the classroom:
Last week is the classroom was great! We got so much accomplished and I am officially teaching all day (minus the PDA writing, which I will never teach) It feels so great to finally be a teacher! During my lessons my mentor will leave the classroom to go make copies or check her mailbox or do other things, and that allows me to really be on my own and experience things first hand. A few problems arose during my time alone, however. One: I had to send someone to the nurses office because they had a bug bite that was itching and very red, the thing at this school is since the hallways are outside (campus style) we cant send just one student to the nurse we have to send at least another one with the child going to the clinic. Well I remembered that i had to send two people, but I couldn't find the nurse passes!!!!! What a problem when your on your own, with 19 students staring you in the face, like what now miss. Lang! So after a good 2 minutes of hunting around in my teachers desk for a nurse pass, I finally found one and send the child to the clinic! Definitely a learning experience! Second problem, well, not problem let's say observation! 19 students can literally go through 100 pencils in one day, its unreal! I am constantly being asked if a student can sharpen his or her pencil or I am sharpening them myself! The electric sharpener is starting to dis-like how often its being used! It sharpens about 3 pencils and then overheats and wont work for at least 15 minutes! yes the little things really can throw off your whole day! Other than that, we had a pretty smooth week. We are continuing measurement in math and will take the chapter test this Friday. In science we completed force and motion today, and I will begin my unit on magnets tomorrow (I'm very excited about this!) and another awesome thing, my class is currently working on a "class book" that will be published by the library and available to buy for parents or teachers! We decided to make a book with poems, so this week in writing I am teaching the students about different kinds of poems and then they are writing their own and at the end of the week, we will decide which poem they want to include in our class book! How fun is that!!! The kids are very excited and keep asking if they can publish more than one poem, its adorable! Who ever thought a kid would write a poem about olives!? but yes, one of my students did today, and actually after reading it, I wanted to go eat an olive and I don't even like olives! Its amazing how well second graders can write poems!
Well, I am out of time for tonight. I have so much to tell everyone about last weekend at Disney World though. I'll add another post tomorrow after school. Enjoy your day =)
Last week is the classroom was great! We got so much accomplished and I am officially teaching all day (minus the PDA writing, which I will never teach) It feels so great to finally be a teacher! During my lessons my mentor will leave the classroom to go make copies or check her mailbox or do other things, and that allows me to really be on my own and experience things first hand. A few problems arose during my time alone, however. One: I had to send someone to the nurses office because they had a bug bite that was itching and very red, the thing at this school is since the hallways are outside (campus style) we cant send just one student to the nurse we have to send at least another one with the child going to the clinic. Well I remembered that i had to send two people, but I couldn't find the nurse passes!!!!! What a problem when your on your own, with 19 students staring you in the face, like what now miss. Lang! So after a good 2 minutes of hunting around in my teachers desk for a nurse pass, I finally found one and send the child to the clinic! Definitely a learning experience! Second problem, well, not problem let's say observation! 19 students can literally go through 100 pencils in one day, its unreal! I am constantly being asked if a student can sharpen his or her pencil or I am sharpening them myself! The electric sharpener is starting to dis-like how often its being used! It sharpens about 3 pencils and then overheats and wont work for at least 15 minutes! yes the little things really can throw off your whole day! Other than that, we had a pretty smooth week. We are continuing measurement in math and will take the chapter test this Friday. In science we completed force and motion today, and I will begin my unit on magnets tomorrow (I'm very excited about this!) and another awesome thing, my class is currently working on a "class book" that will be published by the library and available to buy for parents or teachers! We decided to make a book with poems, so this week in writing I am teaching the students about different kinds of poems and then they are writing their own and at the end of the week, we will decide which poem they want to include in our class book! How fun is that!!! The kids are very excited and keep asking if they can publish more than one poem, its adorable! Who ever thought a kid would write a poem about olives!? but yes, one of my students did today, and actually after reading it, I wanted to go eat an olive and I don't even like olives! Its amazing how well second graders can write poems!
Well, I am out of time for tonight. I have so much to tell everyone about last weekend at Disney World though. I'll add another post tomorrow after school. Enjoy your day =)
Monday, February 21, 2011
Work on President's Day??
Yes, that is correct! We had to work on President's Day. The district gave us off Friday, for Rodeo Day, and we had to go to school today! Oh well, still a 3 day weekend, and my what a beautiful weekend it was! 80 degrees and bright sunshine everyday! Tiffany and I had a relaxing weekend of laying out and lesson planning! I am still trying to think of when I want to start my unit. I am teaching every subject but writing, and need to figure out when would be a good time to begin a unit, since we are in the middle of units now, and I also can't decide what subject I want to focus my unit on. I love math, but science is usually a good subject to do units in, however we are still in the middle of the Force and Motion unit and we will be on that for another 15 or so days. After that, its the Human Body(doesn't sound too interesting)--I guess since this is an internship, I might as well go for the more difficult topic and learn from it! So as of now, that is my plan of action! I need to start researching what to teach second graders about the Human Body...I have my work cut out for me!
Today in school we did an awesome force and motion game called The Lid Skid! Its exactly what it sounds like, you need a lid and a yard stick! You measure one meter, put down a piece of tape as a marker, measure two meters, put another tape and then four meters! Everyone starts at the same line. You have to push the lid to the first tape line (1 meter) then go back to the starting line, and push to the second tape line (2 meters) and finally the last tape line (4 meters) we then talked about force and what kind of force you gave to the lid to get it to go to the first line, second and last! The kids had a blast trying to see who could get the lid the closest to the line! Overall i think it was successful and meaningful for the students!
After that science fun, they asked, "Miss. Lang can we play tug of war again!" because on Friday at the end of the day, I allowed them to play tug of war to experience pull! Again, they loved it because to them its like playing a game, but once we came back inside the discussion about pull and force was so good and everyone was trying to talk at once they were so excited! So if the students have a good week, I may allow them to play again! =) A little incentive to do well never hurts!
The rest of the week is pretty normal. In math we started talking about centimeters. We already covered inches, feet and yards. The kids also love Ticket Into Math which I created to start each math class! If I forget to start math class without a ticket into math problem, they always remind me! I hope that means they like it!
Well, off to watch some TV with the family and Tiff! Have a fabulous day!
Today in school we did an awesome force and motion game called The Lid Skid! Its exactly what it sounds like, you need a lid and a yard stick! You measure one meter, put down a piece of tape as a marker, measure two meters, put another tape and then four meters! Everyone starts at the same line. You have to push the lid to the first tape line (1 meter) then go back to the starting line, and push to the second tape line (2 meters) and finally the last tape line (4 meters) we then talked about force and what kind of force you gave to the lid to get it to go to the first line, second and last! The kids had a blast trying to see who could get the lid the closest to the line! Overall i think it was successful and meaningful for the students!
After that science fun, they asked, "Miss. Lang can we play tug of war again!" because on Friday at the end of the day, I allowed them to play tug of war to experience pull! Again, they loved it because to them its like playing a game, but once we came back inside the discussion about pull and force was so good and everyone was trying to talk at once they were so excited! So if the students have a good week, I may allow them to play again! =) A little incentive to do well never hurts!
The rest of the week is pretty normal. In math we started talking about centimeters. We already covered inches, feet and yards. The kids also love Ticket Into Math which I created to start each math class! If I forget to start math class without a ticket into math problem, they always remind me! I hope that means they like it!
Well, off to watch some TV with the family and Tiff! Have a fabulous day!
Monday, February 14, 2011
Happy Valentine's Day!
Well the perks to being a teacher....all of the chocolate hearts your students give you! I got WAY too many, but it is the thought that counts and we had a great Valentine's Day! My students are getting into the swing of me teaching most of the day and understand the expectations I have for them. The thing my students enjoy most during our day, are definitely the spelling word chants (we stand up and spread out all over the room and do movements to our spelling words. so far their favorite is "blast off" for each spelling word!) They also love the jumping jacks we do randomly to get some of their "wiggles" out! During the day if they start to get restless they ask "Miss.Lang, it think we need to do jumping jacks!" Our days are going a lot smoother with adding some activity to the schedule to get the kids up and moving!The best part of my day today was the read aloud that I did this morning. I read the book, Lilly's Purple Plastic Purse. Reason for choosing this book was to show the students that they may not always agree with the rules or decisions a teacher makes, but in the end the teacher will do what is best for the students and still be there for them and care about them no matther what! The students really enjoyed the read aloud and are looking forward to what I will be reading tomorrow! On Wednesday I will be reading 'Have you Filled a Bucket Today' I hope this will be another reminder to the students how they need to treat others. I am hoping between my mentor teacher and I we can collect enough 'buckets' to give one to each student. I think they will love to have the reminder of the bucket throughout the day, and it will help them work well with others in the classroom.
This week is a four day week for us, Friday is Rodeo Day. That will definitely be a new experience for me, and I hope the students will teach me something this week and help me better understand Rodeo Day!
Monday, February 7, 2011
Marvelous Monday!
Oh yes, what a marvelous Monday I had! Students were extra wound up today, due to the super bowl last night, and added to that, today was the 100th day of school!! We ended up having a great day! We started a new chapter in math today on measurement so we were able to have some fun comparing two or more objects! We used words like short, shorter and shortest and long, longer, longest! We were comparing the size of our desks to other objects in our classroom. The students responded well to the hands on activity and did really well. Also during math class, our "ticket into math" for the day was, if you could have 100 of anything what would it be and why? (because of the 100th day of school!) I got some very interesting responses, but we had so much fun sharing! Some students responded, I would want 100 dollars so I could be rich, others wished for Lego's or scooter-(not sure why one child would need 100 scooters but I went with it!) so said candy or cupcakes to eat, so overall I think they really enjoyed thinking about the question!
Also later this week, we will be starting a new unit in science, Force and Motion! I am really excited about this unit because there are SO many hands on activities to do with the students to help them understand force and motion, so hopefully I will have a positive outcome teaching this later in the week. It is also the first time I am teaching science so that's double the pressure!
My mentor teacher and I are getting along great! She loves all of the ideas I have and is so willing to let me try anything! I also told her last week that I decided to stay at Celebration for 12 weeks and she jumped up and down and gave me a huge hug! She was so happy to hear that and cant wait for me to teach the full day! I am still loving my teaching experience down here and I am learning a lot along the way!!
So this past weekend....fabulous (minus the weather!) Friday, Tiffany, Shannon and I went to Columbia, a restaurant in downtown celebration and got this 1902 salad that everyone we met told us we must try, so we did! Thoughts??......wasn't the best salad we have ever eaten, but definitely a good salad! They bring this huge bowl out to your table and mix the dressing ingredients right there in front of you and then stir it with these huge tongs, that was pretty neat!
Saturday Tiff and I woke up at 8:30 (yes our body clock is starting to be on school mode again...we can't sleep in past that if we tried!) we ate a nice breakfast and then went ORANGE PICKING!!!! SO FUN, one of the items on our Florida Bucket List that Christina had us create! It was so fun we got a huge bag and filled it to the brim with oranges and tangerines! YUMMY!
Miss Tiffany showing off and loving the all of the oranges!
On Saturday night the Ganley's, Shannon, Tiffany and I went to a restaurant in Disney! I forget the name of it, but it was great! The entire cast of Cinderella was there and we got our picture taken with all of them, including prince charming! =) Dinner was great, it was buffet style which means we all ate WAY too much. After dinner we took a monorail ride around Disney and we got off just in time to catch the fireworks, again (from a different view this time, it was so amazing!) I must say the fireworks every night are by far my favorite part of our weekends!
Yes, please look at the dessert above! There were two of those brought to our table of 9 people, after we had already eaten at the buffet! Let's just say that one of those would have been enough, but we never pass up ice cream! After Disney, Christina took us girls to the outlet mall =) This was fun, except for the little drizzles of rain that were going on the whole time! Sunday was the normal Church and relax day, which was much needed!
Hopefully here's to another great week in the classroom!!!
Dove Dark Chocolate Message of the Day: Take advantage of every free moment you have! (and yes, I will be doing that!)
Tuesday, February 1, 2011
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