Amazing Lesson

I have successfully completed my first week of teaching the 2nd grade! I am absolutely in love. We are beginning an author study on Kevin Henkes which is so awesome because I have studied author studies at UNLV. The book we reviewed today was Chrysanthemum (just like the flower) about a little mouse who gets made fun of because her name is too long and different. The students loved the story.

First,  the mentor teacher and I read a letter from our mothers about where our names came from and why our parents chose those names for us. (The students received this assignment for homework-ask your parents where your name came from).

We then did a little activity where we had all the students' names written on sentence strips and cut up letter by letter (vowels in red, consonants in blue). We put them in plastic baggies and passed them around the class. Students had to sort out the letters to spell their classmates names. It was hard for some of them, but a great way to learn names. To make it easier you could give them their own name.

Once they completed the sorting part of the assignment they glued that person's name on a piece of construction paper and gave it to the person. We then began to make circle maps about ourselves including pictures and words of our favorite things and places to go. This tied into a noun lesson we had done earlier in the morning. How AMAZING to combine lessons and make connections to each other and the teacher. I will definitely be using this in my own classroom :)

I am also making my first scholastic book order in the eyes of a teacher and man is it hard to choose! There is a Kevin Henkes pack available that I am purchasing so I can complete my own Chrysanthemum activity.

Until Later,
Amanda

A Week Away...

Well, that time has come. I am a week away from my first "first day of school" from a teacher's prospective. My information was wrong, I am not in a first grade class, but instead in a second grade class. My mentor teacher had looped her students so she has the same kids just a year older. How awesome!! I have been getting everything put together, slowly but surely. The good thing is that I like doing this kind of stuff (getting school supplies & getting myself organized). It's really an escape for me. I recently had to reorganize my whole "teacher closet" in our extra room because I had acquired so many resources. I put everything in categories including student incentives, teacher supplies, resources, student supplies & made sure everything was labeled, of course! 

Then I became inspired to get my desk organized as well. I made sure I had all my binder clips accessible (I love those) and enough pens of various colors available at arms reach. ;) 

And then my favorite part of my new ORGANIZED teacher room: my wall art. I am fortunate enough to have a Cricut. If you don't have one & are going into teaching or love scrapbooking: you HAVE to get one. I like to use vinyl with mine so the cut outs are sticky and don't require any adhesive. It took my mother & I forever to get it straight and centered & just the way I wanted it...I might have been a little OCD with it, but I am super excited about how it turned out. 

I created a schedule for myself on bright paper (of course!) I planned to have one for every week & I will just be able to write in what I have planned & what I have to get done...as teachers we know how things can change on an hourly basis! (That is pictured on the left).

I also created my very first parent letter for my little ones for Open House this week. I am very excited to meet them as well as their parents. I think adding a picture to the letter can add a little something extra as well as a pop of color. I think my excitement for this next week of preparation is apparent and I know that I will grow to love these kids for the next year. BRING IT ON :)


Until Later,
Amanda

A New Chapter Begins...

I just found out I will be in a first grade classroom yet again next year for my student teaching. I am very nervous, but super excited for what this adventure holds for me. My first thing on my agenda is an introduction to my students on the first day of school. Now this may seem pretty simple, doesn't everyone secretly like talking about themselves? But for myself I want this to be something my students will remember for the whole year. It is important to my students know that I am so incredibly excited I am to be in their lives. My thoughts on the project include a trifold board or foam board with descriptive words about myself and also include pictures of my family and what is important to me. This would be kept in the classroom for the students to be able to look at and then possibly create an extension for the students that gets them involved by having them choose something that I have talked about and inform me how they are either similar or different. This will allow the students to create a connection to me, allow them to talk about themselves and gain confidence in the class, and also let me learn something about them. I am really looking forward to this upcoming year...just about a month away! I'll make sure to post what I decide to do for my students :)

Until Later,

Amanda

Summer Time

I am so happy that it is finally summer time. Time to BBQ, hang with friends, & take a breather from the stress of "regular" life. Although I have yet to teach in my very own classroom, I can only imagine the bittersweet feeling it is to leave your students. I was with the first graders for about 10 weeks (90 hours) & it broke my heart to have to say goodbye. I felt as though I made an impact; & they confirmed that for me when I had 24 six year olds hugging me [at the same time]! What a great feeling...to know that I left a mark for those kids at such a young age. I am excited to continue collecting artifacts and using TPT as much as possible. I will get into another elementary classroom & will be able to help my future mentor teacher set up their classroom & be present on the first day of school. HOW EXCITING :) Enjoy the summer months, stay cool & keep checking for updates on this lovely journey I am taking to becoming a teacher!

Until Later,

Amanda

Making a Difference

I am super excited because I finally turned in my Analysis of Student Work today & after working on it for 3 months it felt amazing to get it turned in & completed. I felt very accomplished to have worked so hard. What is an Analysis of Student Work? Welllll, in short, I had to work one-on-one with a student, figure out their strengths, their weaknesses, their individual needs & do what all teachers do-help them! :) I worked with my student off & on, trying to figure out what interventions they needed & it went really well. 

Through this assignment I realized that there is so much that goes into teaching--more than anyone on the outside realizes. Educators want so much to make a difference in all their students' lives, but it just isn't as easy as pie. In the short time that I worked with the student, I know I made a difference & it felt amazing, BUT I also had 23 other students that wanted me to work one-on-one with them, too. What a catch 22, huh? Time seems to be the enemy...not enough time for science, not enough time for learning games, not enough time to work those above grade level students, and not enough time to make creative lesson

plans...WRONG! We have time for whatever we want to make time for. Of course there are extreme circumstances, but those above grade level students need just as much individualized instruction as the ones who are falling behind; science needs to be addressed in elementary school just as much as math or reading (just because it isn't in the standardized testing, doesn't mean it doesn't matter), and there is always time for creative lesson plans and learning games. What is the point of teaching students if it isn't interesting to them! Remember, if we don't like having a worksheet & boring lecture-6, 7, 8 year olds are definitely not going to be a fan of it. Make the students feel like PEOPLE.

If you think back to your favorite teacher from when you were younger, you probably don't remember what they taught you specifically, but instead you remember how they made you feel; how they made a difference in your life & left an impression on you still today. I hope to be that for someone for someday. I have been influenced by a lot of amazing adults in my life & I am determined to make a difference in a little one's life.

This entry was sort of all over the place, oopsie! 

It all comes down to making differences in children's lives & making the time to do so. I became invested in the student that I worked with this semester, I saw improvement & it was fulfilling; I was truly a teacher.

Until Later,

Amanda

Lately we have been talking about classroom management in all my classes. I have been trying to research ideas and what really works and came across this behavior chart (seen below) on Pintrest and the whole blog is great actually :)

 Something we have learned from Jane Bluestein are those magic sentences like "That won't work for me" or "We will come back to that later." These ideas are used when we give students options to their learning and allow them to take responsibility for their actions. If they don't want to do a certain activity, ask them what they would prefer...they might surprise you. Dr. Bluestein gave a great example of how a teacher assigned spelling (writing each word 5 times) and a student stood up and told her he thought it was boring-she challenged him to come up with something different. He came back the next day with a story containing the spelling words, a crossword, and a word search. Creativity really shines when we allow it to.

Negative behavior is the worst, isn't it? How do we get them to do what we want?? Putting their name on the board when they misbehave is just encouraging the behavior--they are getting that attention of having their name on the board and therefore will continue the bad behavior. Sending your "bad" students to an desk by themselves on their own "island'? Do you ever give them the opportunity to come back to the group? Having faith in those students might be exactly what they need. Come up with a behavior plan that has consequences, but also time for improvements. You must, must, must be consistent with penalties as well as rewards.

I have learned that classroom management is really the basis for teaching...we have to create an environment for all students to be successful. Fair is not receiving the same instruction, but it is instead giving the instruction that every child needs at their level.

Click on the links to learn more about classroom management and get the download for your own class' punch cards :)

Until Later,
Amanda

Spring Break

Spring Break is here! Now, me myself being a student I am super duper excited to get a little break. Although, a break is not what I would call it...I have projects & homework I have to catch up on, but I think saving gas money & not driving to the University is just perfect :)

A lot of teachers live for these breaks & we talked about it in my social studies class, how teachers always count down the days with their students to break time--now, I know, a break is what we all LOVE, but maybe we shouldn't show it as much to the students. My teacher made a good point in saying that although breaks are fun, if we as teachers are always saying "YES! I am so happy I have a week off!" It can come off like we aren't happy to be with the students. It is important to let your students know whyyy you are so happy to have the time off-are you going on a cool trip? Is family coming to visit you? Put a positive spin on being away from your students. Those unstable ones look up to teachers to be the one solid thing in their life and if that person is always itching to get away then the view of the teacher can change.

Convey to your students that breaks are awesome and much needed, but that they will be missed & when break is over you have a lot of fun things planned for them. It was something I never really thought about, but it makes sense. How are we to expect that kids love school & encourage them to come, when their teacher might be always counting down to Friday at 3pm. Excitement is contagious & I think that is something we all share as a blogging community of teachers--we love breaks, but we love our profession just as much if not more!

We have the privilege of enriching the little munchkins of the world--that is one special job :)

Enjoy the break
Until Later,
Amanda