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 =)
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