Fire Drills and Penguins

Monday
Today was one of those average days -- nothing exciting enough happened, but it wasn't horrible either.

Today was my first day teaching math! Overall it went well. We use a program on the computer which really seems to catch and hold the students' attentions. We just started graphing and the students are already doing well with it; although today was just basic stuff like figuring out the meaning of 'more,' 'fewer," and 'equal'. My cooperating teacher told me after the lesson that whenever she begins a new unit, she always does a pre-assessment first. I guess I'd noticed that before, but I never really applied it to what I when I would teach. There's always so much to
remember and I find myself forgetting things. Not terrible, though. Could've gone a lot worse.

Two of my guided reading group students were out today so my groups were smaller than usual. This was kind of nice because it allowed for more one-on-one attention and it gave me a better chance of working with the students deliberately on what they need extra help with.

Reading was fun too. Today was Earth Day so we talked a lot about that. We discussed recycling; what it means, what things we can recycle, and how to do it. They honestly didn't know much about this and it was cool to see them so interested in it. We also read a book about the earth and then did a tree craft. Turned out okay.

The rest of the day went fine too; nothing special to report.

Tuesday
We also had a sub today so the kids were a bit more noisy than usual. However, sometimes I enjoy teaching a bit more when my teacher isn't around. I just feel more in-control. And it doesn't seem like someone's watching me the whole time.

A picture actually taken during a
camping trip I took this weekend :)

We also had a fire drill today. Of course. I had a basic idea about what to do but generally had no clue. Luckily the sub helped me out. And the teacher next door. The kids weren't bad; although, a
fter, they had a ton of questions about it. It was cool to see them interested in the idea and curious about what to do if there was actually a fire.

Today in math we learned how to collect data. The kids asked their friends who liked certain foods better. They really liked the activity and they all seemed to catch on pretty quickly.

In guided reading we worked more with our flash cards and played a few games with those words.

During reading, we read read two books about bears -- one by Eric Carle and one non-fiction. Then, we did a bear art project. They seemed to like them. There were a lot of little parts involved and the kids were crazy throughout the project. It definitely takes a lot of patience during these little art projects. The kids are all in different places and always feel the need to come up to me and ask questions or seek clarification. Or, you know, just tell me random things.

Today was gym too. They weren't bad; not great either though.

Finally, we did our journal after gym. It was about Earth Day. The kids were actually pretty good with it. They stayed pretty quiet.

Wednesday
Guided reading went well today. I had made some new flashcards so the kids had new words to learn and look for in the books. They're doing pretty well at this. And they enjoy it more than other things.

We also read a book about bears and finished our art projects. They turned out really cute and the

Our bear projects. They turned out really well!

kids had a ton of fun with them. We also did some dictations on the white boards. After making sure that all of the kids had a board, a (working) marker, and an eraser, we got started. I read a word or a short sentence, containing mostly sight words, to the kids and they wrote them on the board before showing me and then erasing. They love the dry erase boards and they seemed to like the activity. However, it was tricky at first to make sure that they weren't just drawing pictures instead of actually doing the work. Overall, I think it went really well.

One of my more out-going students had already lost all of her stars by now. So, as a means of keeping her accountable for her behavior, since the behavior plan technically doesn't really apply to her now, I ended up making her sit out of play-doh time for about seven or eight minutes. She was really upset about it, crying even. I was fine with that -- she does it often. And it was the very first time I've seen her really impacted by any type of classroom management. Usually, when asked to pull a star, she just shrugs it off and keeps doing whatever it was. So, needless to say, it was encouraging to see her upset about being disciplined. It's going to be a battle with her.

Thursday
Today I brought in a video camera to record some footage for my Senior Seminar class projects. Of course, the kids saw it right away and got extremely excited. They wanted to know all about it. And then they kept walking in front of it, at least in the morning, waving their hands around and acting silly because they thought they would be on t.v. or something. After a while, the newness wore off. I think I got some solid footage too.

Thursdays mean library in the morning and then a long chunk of reading in the afternoon. Today we did some work on blends. The kids know a few blends -- the common ones -- but I don't think they quite get the concept yet. If you ask them what a blend is, they'll probably start talking about the kinds of foods you can make in a blender. Anyway, we did a cute activity with penguins today.

Each child got a little penguin with a picture on it. Each picture started with a blend (example: flower, school, drum, etc.). They were to identify the blend and then match the picture to the correct penguin blend. It was pretty fun. Each kid got a turn and it seemed to hold their attention for a little while. We also read a book that had a few blends in it and they tried to listen for the blends. That one didn't work out too well, but the book was cute.

Computers went fine. They were actually really good. The afternoon itself was pretty solid overall.

Friday
Today was a little bit crazy. It was a beautiful day and the kids were excited for the weekend. The management went okay overall.

Guided reading went well for the most part. The kids seemed distracted but they had fun on some of the little games we played. We've been trying to work on a few select words to get really good at them; however, they're still having trouble with a couple. I'd love to see them really pick these words up and have them in their little toolbox of words.

Reading went fine too. We read an Eric Carle book called The Foolish Tortoise and then made a
little art project about turtles. We also talked about opposites and the kids participated in an activity on the Smart-like board. They really liked that activity and their behavior imitated their interest.

Even though it took some time to make the activity, it was definitely worth it. I'm going to try to incorporate more of this in my lessons.

Gym was in the music room today because there was a first grade performance of a play happening in the gym itself. The kids were a bit confused by this but they adjusted pretty quickly. They weren't actually too bad after gym, surprisingly. We read a non-fiction book about turtles and tortoises before doing the surprise box. Because this was my first week of full teaching, the kids were still adjusting to my teaching styles and methods. So, needless to say, there weren't a whole lot of stars left on that behavior chart by today. I think there were only about seven or eight kids who got to go to the surprise box. So, my cooperating teacher and I spent some time planning out new strategies for classroom management for the next few weeks.

Honestly, Fridays have been worse. After school, I spent a good amount of time planning for next week. So, it's been a long but rewarding week. I'm excited to see what next week holds.

Managing Mahem

Monday
Today was a tired day -- you know, those days after long nights and short weekends. I'm also getting sick which doesn't help matters. Despite all of this, today was a pretty great day. And I'm learning to choose to make every single day great. Because your attitude impacts how you act.

Anyway, today I was evaluated during my guided reading lessons. They went pretty well and it was

Strategies to improve guided reading:
like using mini white boards for
phonemic awareness

really helpful to think more critically about what I'm doing each lesson and how I can improve to benefit my kids. It was also really interesting and helpful to hear about lots of different strategies to try with my students. I can't wait to put some of these to use.

My reading lesson today went well enough. My kids were pretty well behaved overall. I've been trying to incorporate some of the little games and activities that they love in order to keep their attention and get them motivated to learn. The lesson today was about rhyming. I know they already have a basic understanding of rhyming, but I really wanted to spend some solid time on it.

We began by playing a game in which a student comes to the front and chooses an object from a paper bag. That child then must think of a rhyming word that accompanies that object. It was a

little difficult to find objects with which I could implement this game, so I knew that unless I framed the lesson right, the kids would have a really difficult time with the game. They seemed to get it and they did alright with it. After about five or six, I cut it short, though, and we opened up a book of poetry. Shel Silverstein, anyone? I loved his poems as a kid and I though the students would find his words and pictures funny. However, after reading a few, I realized that some of the ideas were over their heads and that they weren't catching on as well as I would've liked. They had a bit of a hard time picking out the rhyming words too. So, I only read a few of those poems too. Then, I had students write a one line poem in their journal and draw a picture about it. I wanted to incorporate writing (because they haven't been getting a ton of this lately). This went well overall. They didn't particularly enjoy it, but they did a nice job with it.

Calendar went fine, as always. And, the walk to music was great. I implemented my 'mystery' too much about that. I also offered that if the class worked hard and everyone finished the journal, we could play a quick game before leaving for home. They did finish so I made up a silly little game on the spot (the ones I actually had in mind would've required more time) and we played for a bit before they left.

person game again (it works so well!) And then we did another journal after that. They didn't complain

Overall, today was a learning experience. I didn't exactly love all of my lessons today, but then again, I guess I won't always. I need to reflect on this and move forward. C'est la vie!



Tuesday
Today was alright.
My teacher was giving the students an assessment in math -- apparently it's from the principal. Important stuff. Anyway, my coop didn't really want me in the room because she didn't want students thinking they could get help. It was very individual. So, I got a bit caught up. I made copies of worksheets for center time.

Guided reading went okay today too. I had the students bring white boards with and we wrote out words to become familiar with them. Of course, they loved writing on the little boards and it got silly at times, but they were having fun and we were working hard too.

My reading lesson was pretty good today. We finished up our car projects which turned out pretty cute. Most of the kids picked the green bus. I was totally okay with that. I'm trying to give them choice where possible. We then read a book about wheels and focused a bit on comprehension. Since limos were mentioned in the book, the kids kept bringing that up. So that was interesting. And annoying after a while. Finally, we started another little car project. I made the example last night and they turned out super cute. I can't wait to see the kids'.

After lunch was calendar and then gym. They were a bit noisy but not terrible. They earned two stickers at gym so they must have been good there too. They were all excited about that. Apparently we're tied for second place right now.

After gym I decided we'd get a drink of water since they were asking about it -- they don't always. It wasn't too bad, actually. But they were really noisy after, though, so we ended up sitting quietly until we left even though they kept asking about the game again.

I still definitely need some work on my classroom management. I think it'll come with experience but I should keep worked consistently and deliberately at it.

Wednesday
In guided reading, I tried something a little new again. Included in one of the little baggies of books were a few flash cards. So, we went over the words and then played I Spy inside the book. I also had each student pass a word around and say a sentence with it. They seemed to like these little activities and they're doing really well with them.

Today I tried something a little different in reading. I read a sentence aloud and the kids had to write what they heard. It was a pretty basic sentence consisting of mostly sight words, but I wanted to see where they were at with this. Then, we read a book and finished our car projects which turned out really cute.

The book we read in reading today. They loved it!

We did play-doh at 11 during Aerobics. Some of the kids really wanted to play with other toys, but I thought we'd stick just to play-doh for the day. They got over it.

After lunch we did calendar and then they read from their book boxes. This has been going better. It's been pretty quiet for this activity and some of the kids really do work. I also try to find a (different) student to read with at this time. That student really likes it and I just enjoy having that  one-on-one time. Of course then, four other kids come up and ask if I can read with them next.

Music. Folders. Journal. Home.

Thursday
Today we did similar activities in guided reading. I've been trying to get the words from the flashcards ingrained in their heads so they have those words in their 'toolboxes'. For some it's working, others not so much. They always get stuck on the word 'our' because they're reminded of the 60 minutes is an hour kind of word. It's a bit confusing but we get there eventually. I really need to find another book or two at their level and make more flashcards for those.

Since we had library at 10:30, we only had about 20 minutes for reading so we went through a scholastic magazine about trash and preserving the earth. The kids were pretty into it. It actually went really well.

After lunch, we had computers from 12:30 to 1 which is our only afternoon special on Thursdays due to having library in the morning. Can be good or bad. Just depends on the day. Computers went pretty well. Today was free choice which always helps the situation. They were well behaved and just asked some questions. They like to show me what games they're playing and have me watch silly songs or whatever. However, at the end of computers, a few of them were just chatting and not following directions. So, it took us a bit of extra time to leave the lab before coming back to the room for our activity.

The kids liked the activity today overall. We've been talking a lot about wheels in our reading lessons through the books we've been reading so today we colored and made wheelbarrows in front of a garden scene. It turned out pretty cute and the kids seemed to like it overall. They did a pretty good job with it overall and most of them finished it. A couple of kids had a hard time with the cutting.

Friday
Made it to Friday! Today wasn't all that great. The kids were crazy and things got worse as the day went on. The reading lesson actually started out well. It's a long lesson on Fridays because we don't have Aerobics or computers. So, I needed to fill an hour and a half. And keep their attention.

We first reviewed sight words and talked about letters and sounds. I picked a few letters, put them on the board and then had kids come up to rearrange them to make different words. For the very most part, they were into it.

Some of our words

Then, we talked about cause and effect. We were reading a book If You Give a Cat a Cupcake so I incorporated that topic into the lesson. I had a little T-chart made on which was written 'cause' on one side and 'effect' on the other. Then, I had picked a few words and written them down as prompts for the kids.

However, right when I was beginning this little part of the lesson, I realized that they had been sitting at the rug for at least 25 minutes by now and they would probably start to get antsy soon. And we still had a lot to do there. So, spur of the moment I said "Everyone stand up". And then we proceeded to do ten jumping jacks. I figured this would be a good way of getting them active and moving before they were expected to sit for another 15 minutes. And I related it by asking how they felt as a result of the jumping jacks (to which they responded tired). Mission accomplished. I think this helped illustrate my developing knowledge of the learning environment Illinois Professional Teaching Standard #4 which states that "competent teachers must be able to analyze the classroom environment and make decisions to enhance student motivation."

Then we finished the chart; the kids really seemed to get the stuff. It was fun too. And then we read our story. It was cute and the kids were into it. Afterward, I asked some questions -- mostly comprehension -- and some about cause and effect. They did a nice job.

Finally, we started our art activity. We made the little cat from the story who was looking over a piece of paper on which they had written about why they would or would not give a cat a cupcake. They did really well with the whole art project. It got noisy at times but they had fun and the projects turned out nice. I was also glad I had incorporated writing. Now because we haven't done much with free writing (usually for the journal exercises, they just copy something from the board instead of writing their own sentences), I decided not to go that route today. They would be all over the place, all 20 would be asking for help and it would be a mess. So, I went around to each child and asked what he/she wanted to say. Then, I wrote their responses on post-it notes and they copied them onto their papers. Someday (soon) I'd like to move toward them writing their own sentences and ideas. I think they're just intimidated by the idea right now.

The afternoon got worse as it went on. When we came back from lunch, we were informed by the aide that they were not good (like at all), so my coop teacher took away the surprise box today. This did a couple of things. It illustrated to the kids how disappointed we were with their behavior. But, it also basically eliminated the classroom management plan from the remainder of the day. The kids had nothing to work for. So, needless to say, they were rowdy and noisy for the rest of the day. It also took away the reward for the kids who had worked hard all week and earned their stars (and let's be real, probably weren't the ones talking at lunch). Apparently my teacher does this sometimes, but I'm just not sure if I see that the benefits outweigh the negatives of this.

After gym, since there was no surprise box, we caught up on work. Anything that needed to be done but wasn't was handed back and finished. That felt good.

Home. Finally.
Monday will be my first day of full teaching!

Caterpillars, Elections, and Trains

Monday
Today was quite the transition. Mondays are just tiring. By lunch I'm ready for a nap. Luckily, everything went pretty smoothly.

The kids were introduced to manipulatives in the form of red counters. They did pretty well with them overall. Some were confused but I tried to give one-on-one where I could.

Guided reading went pretty well. I showed the kids the new books and they absolutely loved them. The student who loves dinosaurs was thrilled. We did a quick picture walk (where the kids just flip through the pages and look at the pictures to make predictions about the book) and then I read it to them. I figured that they could follow along and hear it read to them. On Wednesday I think we'll slow it down and see if they can read (parts of) it. I just love to see their excitement about the topics. That's more of what reading should look like. Next subject to look for: motorcycles.

After this, the kids finished their caterpillar art projects. They turned out really cute. On the caterpillar's 'tummy' are pictures of the foods he ate throughout the book. Then, my coop read them The Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle. I'm finding that I'm a huge fan of his :) Most

The finished product!

of the kids had already read the book at some time, but they all enjoyed it anyway.

After milk, they made their own mini books about the caterpillar by coloring pictures of fruit and some of the other foods that the caterpillar ate throughout the story. Again, since I had nothing else to do, I sat and colored with the kids. I'm finding that these are good times to really get to know the students. It also helps illustrate that you want to get to know them and they have an easier

time trusting you. It's also fun to color!

After lunch, I led the calendar activity, as I have been for a while now. Then, we had music at 12:35. I did some grading, passed out papers, and then the kids were back. We did folders and then the kids wrote in their journals. My coop and I were talking about having students write a little prompt down and then fill in the rest of the sentence. Today, the journal was: "Over the weekend, I..." The idea was for the kids to write a few words about what they did this past weekend. Even if their spelling isn't accurate, at least they're sounding out words and getting an idea for how sentences are set up. For some reason, this did not go over well. Some students got it quickly, drew their accompanying picture and were done. Others had a really hard time and asked me how to spell all of their words despite my constant reminders to just do their best.

It also got really noisy really quickly. While I tried to maintain a quiet room for this 20 minute lesson, there always seemed to be some kind of noise. And, of course, pencil boxes were dropped. At one point, I saw a student intentionally dropping his box. I was very frustrated and he pulled a star. Let's just say, it wasn't my best lesson. Next time will be better.

Tomorrow is election day so the kids have the day off. The teachers are required to be at school for various reasons. The kindergarten teachers will be screening incoming kindergarten students for next year. That should be interesting to see.

Tuesday

Add caption

Today was election day for the kids so they didn't have school. The teachers, however, had to be in school either for planning or for kindergarten screening. Since my coop is a kindergarten teacher, I got to observe the screening process for the current preschool kids.


I got to school at eight, as usual, but we didn't actually start the process until nine. So, I spent some time laminating and doing other miscellaneous stuff.

At nine fifteen we had our first little girl. She was precious and very, very quiet. At first I found myself wondering if she would talk at all throughout the little test. She did.

The test itself is pretty basic. The whole thing takes about twenty minutes and is really just a collection of questions for the students. The first section tests kids on their color, number, and shape recognition knowledge. The
second part is a variety of environmental questions. This determines the student's knowledge about everyday vocabulary and processing skills. It was really interesting to observe that the majority of the kids we tested got the same few questions wrong.

However, that's not to say that they all tested the same way. Some students struggled on certain areas more than others. I had a fun time trying to determine what that information told us about those students.

Other sections of the test involved concepts such as writing their name and drawing pictures, determining the difference between 'same' and 'different', words and their sounds, reading comprehension, etc.

I found the entire process fascinating. What a cool Tuesday.

Wednesday 
Today was my first day teaching the reading lesson. The only subject I'm now missing is math. It was a good day overall. We had one student out so things were a little more quiet than usual.  It was also storming this morning so the kids were wound up from that.

During math, my coop gave the kids a subtraction page. I sat at the table of kids who need a bit more help than everyone else and worked with them on the page. Two of those students actually really understand the material, they just have a hard time staying on-task and they fall behind quickly. They almost always finish later than everyone else. So, I sat and helped them at their own levels. For instance, for those who just needed affirmation, I was there for that (although, I'd like to get them off that somehow...). For those who  needed to have work checked because they work too fast and are often inconsistent, I could glance over their shoulder for that. For those who needed a better understanding of subtraction, I could walk through the problems with them. It was really interesting to see where each child was at with the math because they were at such different places in their understanding of the material. Next step: determining how to bridge the gaps in what they know and don't yet know so they can 'catch up' to the rest of the class.

Reading itself went fine. I read two similar stories to the class and then we discussed similarities and differences. We also reviewed the 'ot' word family endings as a class. They enjoyed this part, but
after a bit, they got antsy and noisy. For next time, I will definitely need to incorporate more hands-on and active learning to keep them engaged.

Lunch was a bit later today because of the hot lunch option that they have once per month. Today was Burger King. Of course, since things were out of the ordinary, the kids were confused and had a hard time waiting the extra half an hour. They kept asking how much longer until they could eat.

Since lunch was later on, that pushed the entire day back a little bit. Once they got back, we went right to music (although we were late because eight kids had to use the bathroom). After, we did folders quickly and then calendar. It was then time to go home. It was a quick day overall. Classroom management went pretty well. I'm finding that it's easier when I remind myself to be patient and to allow the kids to be a little chatty at times. To expect all 20 kids to be quiet most of
the day is just silly. They love talking and they should be able to talk and play sometimes. I'm learning that my attitude about the classroom environment really impacts my own levels of frustration and stress.

Thursday
Today was a bit crazy, but I'm starting to find that most days in kindergarten are. First of all, on my way to school, there was a light out on Ridgeland Avenue due to the lousy weather. Because of this, the roads were all backed up and I was a few minutes late to school. Not a big deal. I let my teacher know and she was fine with it; however, it was still a crazy start to my day.

Math went okay today. I tried to help some kids with the subtraction but I ended up feeling like some were just asking for help because they liked being helped. Not all of the students act this way -- some really need the help. So, I answered a few questions but gave the kids some space. It frustrates me when I know the kids can do the work but they just get distracted or they don't want to do it (by themselves).

Some of our new guided reading books

Guided reading was fine today. I accidentally switched up the groups by getting two of the kids confused. I thought one student was in the lowest group when really he's in the higher of the two groups. It ended up working out just fine; the kids who switched got along well in both groups and the differences in ability were not very noticeable. It's always nice for a change, too.

Since we had library at 10:30 today, we only had about 15 minutes for reading today. So, even though I'd planned a good

45 minute lesson, we only just started a book. Because we are discussing wheels, cars, and other forms of transportation, we also brainstormed what kinds of things have however many different numbers of wheels. My kids did a pretty good job! Many of them even know what a unicycle is.

After lunch, we had computers, in which the kids did a phenomenal job, probably because they got to play whatever kinds of educational games they want -- it's Thursday after all.

Finally, we did a spring art project in which kids made flowers. It was a cute project that I found on pinterest and really liked. It was fairly easy to figure out and gather materials. The project went well overall. The kids seemed to enjoy it and it fit

The example I made for students

within the time limit I allowed for it. I definitely discovered that i need to give much more clear direction, though. I should have had a system figured out for cutting the paper plates into the flower petals because the kids just didn't get it. Although I was able to refrain from getting extremely frustrated and the kids were, overall, pretty quiet, I definitely could change a few things about this lesson. Also, one student straight out refused to use a certain color pair of scissors. That was fun.

Overall a fun but crazy day.

Friday
Today was generally a good day. The kids were great for most of the day. Math and guided reading went just about as usual. Since I'm now teaching reading, I had a full lesson planned for today. Only to find out that we had Mr. Friendly again today. He's a police officer who comes to talk to

the kids about various topics -- today was trains. And how they're dangerous. Seriously. If I was in kindergarten, I probably would've started crying. They even showed a cartoon in which the little (talking) fox gets hit by a train in various different ways. I remember learning about stuff like this -- house fires, visiting the dentist, etc. -- and I always walked away from those little experiences with a new sense of fear.

Anyway, I was really impressed with how the kids did in this half an hour session. When we got back to the classroom I told them how happy I was and that I was going to give each of them a high five. Bad decision. Complete chaos. One kid got two by 'accident' and then they all wanted two and they were crowding around me. Etc. This whole situation reminded me about the importance of finding ways to maintain effective classroom management. According to the Illinois Professional Teachign Standard, the competent teacher "understands principles of and strategies for effective classroom management" (IPTS #5: Learning Environment). I definitely need to continue working on this one. I need to find a new way of showing them how proud I am of their behavior. This teaching thing is just full of learning experiences :)

Reading went fine, though. We started a project about wheels. That's what we've been reading about. They were pretty excited about it. And, you know what, they were pretty good. They got a bit noisy, but for the most part, they got it together.

Around this time, one student started coming up to me to inform me that her stomach hurt. Well, she'd been doing this for the past two days. And she'd told my teacher that she hasn't been using
the bathroom because "it comes out like water." She was out on Monday (due to sickness) so this makes sense, but she straight up refuses to use the bathroom. I encouraged her to try but she doesn't go for it. She must just not enjoy it. Anyway, my teacher and I talked about it, but we don't really know what to do about it. She won't use the bathroom and half the day she acts just fine: chatting and laughing as usual. She does enjoy attention. Well, regardless, I was definitely reminded of my summer spent at camp. We had a few of those situations.

After lunch but before gym, I got the kids all pumped for earning stickers during gym class. It's the behavior management policy that the teacher uses. Instead of 'threatening' and acting all mean about it, I used a different philosophy -- one I started with. I got all excited and spoke really softly,

The flowers my kids made yesterday :) I loved how each
was unique to its owner.

getting them interested in what I had to say. The approach you take with these kids really makes a huge difference in how they act. I've been trying to keep my patience and just have fun with the kids. They respond better and I don't get as frustrated. Turns out they got five stickers! Pretty good. I was happy. They were happy. And now all wound up.

The last half an hour of class was rough. But it was a good day overall. I had fun. And I learned a lot. And I'm hoping they learned a lot.

Baby Steps

Monday
No school! Easter Monday :)

Tuesday
Today was our first day back from 10 days of break. I knew it would be crazy. That being said, it wasn't too  bad. My cooperating teacher decided to take away another one of the kids' stars. So, now they only have three chances on the behavior plan before they lose the privilege of the prize box. The kids were a bit surprised and a little frustrated by this, but they adjusted quickly.

Other than that, we were back to the regular schedule. It was kind of nice, in a strange way, to return to a predictable schedule of events.

Straight off, after announcements, my coop. teacher passed out a subtraction worksheet -- even though we haven't covered that stuff yet. She was initially just going to try it with a few students who really have addition

down. Anyway, the kids kept saying they didn't get it and they didn't know what to do despite our constant reminders about taking a guess or just trying their best. After walking around, we both agreed that none of the kids were really getting it at all. It was a little disappointing, but I still think that some of the kids will pick it up quickly once we introduce it and give them the basics.

We had guided reading again and had the kids fill out a worksheet before reading with them today. I have the two lowest groups for this and they had a really tough time with it. After I explained it, a few of them were getting it consistently. Others were basically guessing. And they were all trying to look at each others' papers. That was frustrating. But, sitting at a small, round table encourages this a bit. Then we did some reading and the kids were all over the place. It was definitely obvious that it was the first day back from a ten day break. Wow.

Generally, they were pretty good on the walks to computers and gym. They went outside to play at the park
during recess and got all riled up.

After calendar, I took over the classroom for the rest of the day. This consisted of passing out folders, getting a drink of water (such a necessity after gym!), the journal, and packing up. Overall, they were Yeah, right. I'm going to need some extra patience for this age group, I think.

Picture taken in my classroom. Kids and their crayons!

pretty good. They were a bit noisy on the way back from the water break, but they did alright. And, the journal time was a mess. Of course, by then they were all wound up and anxious to go home. They kept asking if it was time to leave. Talk about needing patience. Some wanted to move closer because they 'couldn't see' the words. Others were just chatty. They kept asking where their actual teacher was. Over and over. And over again. And four of them dropped their pencil holders and their supplies went everywhere. I swear, once one of them does this, everyone wants to. Accident?

I am excited to get into more teaching, though. It'll be fun to start instructing and working with the kids more directly. It'll be a learning experience for sure.

Wednesday
Today was a pretty solid day, overall. The kids were a bit rowdy in the morning, but they behaved pretty well for me in the afternoon.

During guided reading, I decided that we're going to be switching the books up. Honestly, I'm sick of the books and I can read them just fine. I can't imagine how frustrated the kids must be. Anyway, the one group is cruising through them; the other group, though, is having a really rough time. I really just want to pull those three or four kids aside completely separately, to be honest. So, during music I replaced a few and grabbed some different ones. I also asked the kids what they like to read about so I could try to incorporate their interests into reading. It's just so discouraging to hear them complain (I mean, literally complain -- like out loud) every time they get pulled for guided reading. Some of them really hate reading. And that breaks my heart.

Our play-doh time today. It was fun :)

When aerobics time came around (not real aerobics, it's a computer program that helps the struggling readers, I think. I was confused at first too...) my coop decided that we would ONLY be doing play-doh today. Some kids didn't mind this. Others just wanted to play with the toys. Well, I had fun :) I literally sat there and played with them. I figured, I wasn't doing anything else. It's actually really relaxing to sit and just play. What a job! 

Lunch was a marvelous break, as always.

The afternoon went really well. I decided that it wasn't going to go like yesterday. So it didn't. I was firm with them from the moment we lined up for music until they left for the day. Sure, there were still times when I wanted to pull my hair out, but it was so much better. And I told them straight up that there would be NO dropping of pencil boxes today (or it might result in the pulling of a star). This seemed to work pretty well. I mean granted, I still had to remind them to quiet down and that there should be no talking, but it was so much better than yesterday.

I especially love it because my teacher gives me so much freedom. She basically just leaves and checks in every so often. She says she doesn't want to be 'breathing down my back'. I couldn't be happier. It's such a different environment from my last placement where I was never alone with the kids. There was always another adult in the room who knew more than me about the classroom and the routines.

I love it so far. Tomorrow I'll be helping the kids finish an art project because there aren't any specials on Thursday afternoons. So, it'll be interesting. But I'm glad to be taking on more responsibility.

Thursday
Today was solid overall. The kids came in a bit rowdy but everything went fine. During my guided reading groups today, I showed the kids the two new books that I had pulled from the computer lab (where we keep the books for guided reading -- honestly, it's a pretty good collection). My teacher all excited about it. It was about cars. You would've thought it was the coolest thing. So, needless to say, we read it. And they did okay. It wasn't miraculous, but they enjoyed it. Mostly. I mean there were a few complaints when we re-read it, but it was so much better.

A harder book for my reading kids, but they loved it!

showed me how to 'check out' the books and said I can do it whenever. So, I did. I found two books that sounded somewhat interesting. Anyway, the lower of my two groups saw the book I was going to use for the higher group and they got really excited about it!







So, I asked the kids again what they liked and I started looking for those kinds of books. After school today I found a book about dinosaurs. One of the girls in my group was practically begging for one about dinosaurs so I checked it out even though it's a 'D' book (my kids are on A, maybe B). Anyway, I figure, if they're into it, maybe it won't be as hard for them. I remember my professor telling me that when kids are interested in a topic, they can often read about that topic at a much higher level than usual. Makes sense to me. We'll see how it goes.

We had library afterward, but then no special in the afternoon. Well, according to my teacher. I consider computers a special. Anyway, so I was in charge during computers too. Thursday is a

'free day' though, so the kids are usually engrossed in their games. They're still educational and whatnot, they're just more fun. The kids were great, though! Other teachers came in sometimes to get books or use the computer, and I couldn't help but feel proud at how quiet the kids were. It was good.

After that, we did an art project. It was a cute little picture of three birdies in a nest. It went along with the book we read right before making the project. Everything went fine (although they were noisy throughout), but because it took a while to reign them in after the walk back from computers, we lost some time. So, we didn't quite finish the project. Not a huge deal, but still a little frustrating.  They really liked it though.

Overall, a good day.

Friday
My day began with a voice mail from my coop. teacher saying she would be out for most of the  morning. Turns out she went to Menard's. Let me explain. She's starting a garden for an after school program and has been slowly taking on more and more of that project as I've been stepping
into teaching. So, while there needed to be an aide in the classroom at points throughout the day (for legal reasons), I was essentially in charge until 10:30. Then, I took over after lunch at noon and taught the remainder of the day. So, I essentially taught the majority of this hectic Friday.

Subtraction worksheet the kids finished today -- some did better than others

We did some math in the morning and continued our work on subtraction. The kids understand the concept now and understand (for the most part) that it's something different than addition. Victory! My coop. had left a worksheet so we did that as a whole class. They first cut out little pictures of flamingos and essentially used them as manipulatives to complete the problems. The challenge was that about a third of the class flew through the math and seemed to understand the vast majority of it. Another third stuck right with me as I led the whole-group instruction. And the last six or seven kids needed a lot of extra help. So, with all good teaching, I embarked on the differentiation train. This whole activity helped remind me about the importance of reaching students where they are and bringing the material to their level. I'm really starting to notice the importance, and the difficulty, of "choosing alternative teaching strategies and materials to achieve different instructional purposes and to meet student needs" (Performance IPTS #6: Instructional Delivery).

It helped that there was an aide in the classroom, but it was still crazy. Some kids came up to me and asked what to do when they were done while others chatted with friends, their names having just been written at the top of the page. Frustrating, but, oh, so much fun :)

I started to find, throughout the day, that despite it being difficult without my teacher (the kids always ask where she is), it was really nice to have the class to myself. That's how I want to teach. Not really with six other adults in the room like at my last placement. Even though the classroom management stuff is hard sometimes, I'm learning so much more because I'm the one teaching, fixing what doesn't work, and forcing myself to learn to be efficient and organized.

Reading went really well, though. The kids sat on the rug, in a big circle and we read through a little phonics story. It was really quiet! So encouraging.

The 'story' we read during reading today. The kids were great!

When my teacher got back, she did an art project with them and things got loud. They were painting and talking. Not always the best combination. Then some kids started painting their hands. Oh man. My teacher wasn't very happy. She seemed kind of surprised about that. I wasn't really. They're six!

After lunch went well. Although stars continued to be pulled until the surprise box at 1:30. But, before gym, instead of doing their fantastique.

The book we read today :)

book boxes, I decided to just read to them. I pulled a book from the shelf and they sat and listened. It was really fun. I love that about teaching. They get so into the book and they want to see the pictures and they love the noises you make. And when you get excited, they get excited. It was great!

What a good day. This was probably the first time I've actually felt like a teacher. Crazy cool :)