Graduates

Congrats, everyone!  I hope you'll continue to blog about your teaching adventures.  :)

Miss you all already,

Miss Neal

Reflections on Student Teaching

                Writing a one page reflection of a semester’s worth of work guarantees that things will be neglected and details lost.  How do I convey the elation I felt when J’s elusive smile showed itself or the adrenaline pumping through my system while being chased by a pack of third graders in a game of tag on the play ground?  What do I say about what I learned about preparation from the worst day ever in kindergarten, which was followed by the best day because I changed my game plan? 

Sure, I could tell you ambiguously about how my interdisciplinary pedagogy improved when I implemented differentiation based on Gardner’s theory of multiple intelligences.  I could reflect on the degree of success I observed in literacy programs in their attainment of Vygotsky’s ideal instruction in the zone of proximal development.  You’d have perfectly logical unintelligible edu-speak.  Somehow that doesn’t get across the sinking feeling I got when I. shut down without her meds or the heartbreaking resignation in D’s eyes when he said, “I’m dumb!” so angrily. 

           Textbooks will drone on about Piaget for fifty pages and show detailed diagrams of effective assessments, but never have I read a chapter about The Magic.  Don’t miss my point.  I am pro-Piaget and pro-assessment, but why, in the name of every educational theorist who has ever breathed, do they neglect The Magic?!  For something so sparkling and magnificent, I would have thought someone would have at least given me a handout.  I believe we have a strong education program, but in this area, I was wholly unprepared.  I was unprepared for The Magic of good morning hugs every day.  I was unprepared for The Magic of the almost breathtaking ferocity they cling to you with when you tell them you’re leaving soon.  No one told me when they clamor for you to swing on the swings at recess or give you their most highly prized zebra pen that your heart swells to bursting.  I had plenty of practice writing lesson plans and reflections, I just wish someone had prepared me for The Magic of teaching.  

Miss Neal

The beginning of the end!

Thursday

I want you to stand in the back and put your nose to the wall.  That's what she told him after asking him if he'd had his medication and then laying into him because she didn't think he was trying.  That sure sounds like some redemptive, child-centered discipline to me!  When I overhear conversations like that, I want to just say, "See here, teacher of the year from 1978, you need a vacation, a permanent one."  Kids wear on you, sure, and if they ever manage to wear away your patience, get out of the classroom.  I've done a lot of observation today.  I've seen lots of good things being done, literacy strategies, organization and parental involvement.  This incident was not one of those things.  I know this kid.  He's a mover, a fidgeter.  You have to keep those kids moving or fidgeting or else.  Or else they'll drive you crazy and disrupt your whole classroom.  Today we had a staff workshop about word walls.  It was really fun!

Friday

Today was my last day!  The kids and Mrs. T gave me a basket full of teacher tools and a book that they made.  The prompt was “My favorite moment with you was…”  It was fun to see what they said.  I have so many markers and index cards and pens now!  We even got an extra recess and popsicles!  I played four square with them.  The teacher across the hall even gave me a stack of Flat Stanley books!  Hurrah! 

Last Day!!

Folks,

We're (almost) done! I hope you all have an AMAZING last day!

-Miss I/Inkner/Easter/Nectar/Itcher/Itched-Er (the list gets longer and longer every day)

Last week!

Tuesday

Tuesdays are usually long and wretched, but today has been reasonably quick.  We are studying cause and effect in reading.  Cause: Miss Neal did not drink her usual cup of strong coffee this morning.  Effect: Miss Neal was fighting back the Sandman all morning.  Note to self - it's worth the time to make a cup of coffee!  I'm going to be doing some observations this week, which should be fun. 

Wednesday

Mrs. T was gone today, so we had a sub.  I didn’t stay in class much, as I observed in Mrs. H, Mrs. B and helped with writing conferences in Mrs. S’s class.  I loved doing writing conferencing.  It's cool to see kids express their ideas and help them sharpen their imagery and word choices.  It was neat to see the different ways teachers can be effective based on the natural ways they manage.  Also, I have yet to meet a sub that is both effective and nice.  One of my kids brought me a bag of teacher loot today.  I got a teacher bag that’s YELLOW!  I also got some fun sticky notes and pens!  

Ups and downs of teaching

Oh today.  Wow.  Well, I had the kids for the morning because Mrs. T was at staff development for some computer program.  My voice was sore from raising it by the end of the morning.  They were loud, they were harassing each other.  We had two emotional blow-ups.  I sent a girl to the office and had another one sobbing on my chest.  It was a little intense.  I was emotionally exhausted by the end of the day.  I hate it when kids make decisions that require discipline.  It’s just not fun.  Sure, it’s for their good, but it’s hard.  My two great moments though were when one of the girls came up to me later and said, “Miss Neal, thank you for calming me down earlier”.  The other moment was when I read through a story one of my lower kids had written when we were talking about plot, and he GOT IT!  Mechanics were awful, but the content was there!!!  Hurrah!   

Well, this is my 2nd post

I am the worst blogger of all time. Just now, I updated my personal blog for the first time since August 23rd. Hopefully I'll get better at it.

I have officially reached burnout point. And it's not because of the kids- I just LOVE working with the Elementary kids (and I am still so surprised that I like it so much). It's the people that I work with. I am constantly around negative people, and it's gotten to the point to where I'll just eat my lunch alone in my classroom so I don't have to listen to it. I remember Dr. Bass always talking about the whiny teachers, and I figured that there would be a few of those at any school. But for whatever reason, all but 2 people that I work with are so negative.

Being around them has made me so aware of the fact that although we are called to teach in a classroom, we are also called to minister to our co-workers and be as Christ-like as possible. I think that God is trying to challenge me during these last few weeks. I have no desire to be around any of those people, but I realized that I might be the only person who will "show them Jesus" every day. So I'm going to do my best to just listen to the complaining, give an encouraging response, while keeping a smile on my face the entire time.

In other news, I have a job interview on Friday! Yay!

I'm looking forward to seeing all of you in a little over 2 weeks!!! We're SOOOO close, folks!

-Miss I/Ichter/Inkner/Nectar/Easter/Itcher/Eyekter (and the list goes on and on)

Swinging and sadness

Swinging is wonderful.  Today C, one of my adopted kids asked if I wanted to go swing.  The kids thought it was hilarious that Miss Neal was swinging with them.  C turned to me and said, “Dunnit feel good to be a kid?”  It was so cute.  D didn’t have his meds again today.  I didn’t realize this, but when he doesn’t have his meds, he has so much more personality!  I hate it that this medication helps him in some ways but destroys part of who he is.  I tried to help him with math, but he had a hard time staying with me because he was so fidgety.  It was so sad because he got really discouraged and said he was dumb.  I was so sad!

New post!

I haven't posted in two months... I've been indescribably busy. And I still am. Things are going okay. I'm alive. Barely, but I am.

That's all, folks. Bye. :)

HAAAAAAAAAAA

Oh the things that happen at school!  There was some noise coming from Mrs. S’s classroom so Mrs. T went to check on it.  Mrs. S. wasn’t there.  There were two kids who’d been put in charge because the teacher left and the sub wasn’t there yet.  HELLO!!??  They were playing a game, and were fine, but with that particular class of kids, I’m not sure how long that would have lasted.  Mrs. T asked me to sit with them for a little bit until the sub came.  We read for a little while, which they liked and listened well.  I didn’t really know what to do then, so I just taught them what I was teaching my class in science.  Mrs. St was in with me, so she yelled at the kids when they got loud.  At one point she leaned over to me and asked me if I really wanted to do this every day.  I told her that I really did.


Miss Neal 

WELL…I haven't written in a while but just thought I would say hello to you all! :) 3rd grade is VERY different than kindergarten and I realized very quickly that I thrive much better with the little bitties. I am doing a unit on rocks should be QUITE interesting. haha Things are a little too serious for me up on floor two. Let's go back to songs and dances and fingerplays!!!!

Luckily I have a job as a first grade teacher and can sing and dance it up everyday in my future! I am so happy! Hope you all are doing well!!!!

3rd grade

Whew.  Those days in 3^rd grade fly.  Yesterday we started reading The Westing Game for our before lunch read aloud.  I read it last summer, and loved it.  It’s a mystery, so I thought it would be a good change of pace from Winn-Dixie.  Yesterday we had a staff meeting with a webinar.  We conferenced with a reader’s workshop expert.  She works for the company where we get our curriculum.  It was interesting.  I really like how they emphasize meeting with your kids individually to talk about their reading and writing.  I haven’t seen the teachers do it, but I think it would be an effective way to improve literacy and writing, as well as meta-cognition.

Miss Neal  

Green green everywhere!

Better day today than yesterday.  I sat with the kids at lunch part of the time and went upstairs and got things done the second part.  Those kids are so funny!  I hate how they make them be so quiet at lunch.  It’s lunch!  It’s social time!  What’s a little noise?  Maybe I just feel that way because I’m a loud person.  Maybe not.  The teachers get so cranky when the kids talk, then they threaten them with “quiet time”.  Ick.  The teachers are talking and laughing away at their table.  Maybe I’m just being harsh.  I think the kids are ready for their science test tomorrow.  We did a little science war to help study for it, and they did pretty well.  We’ll see!  I got to help J with his math.  He said he didn’t want to take it home for homework, which made me think that maybe home isn’t a good place to do homework.  D came in with a green mohawk today.  I loved it.  I’m excited for Spring Break.  

Case study kid?

I may have found my case study kid.  I need to look back over the rubric to make sure of what would qualify, but this may be it.  His name is D and he is not dumb.  He might not get good grades, but it’s not for lack of ability.  He just can’t focus and get his work done.  When I sit with him and walk him through it, he’s fine.  At lunch today, the special ed teacher was there and they were talking about getting him tested and put in special ed.  THAT’S NOT WHAT THAT KID NEEDS!  Hello.  He just needs a little extra help.  I think putting him in special ed would just make him get behind and discourage him.  Bah.  We'll see what happens. 

Miss Neal  

School on a... Saturday?

All I could think all day was that being at school on a Saturday is wrong! In all seriousness, the day turned out to be much better than I thought it would be, even if we did have to get there earlier than usual. The theme was “Benchmark Boot Camp,” and everyone wore camo! We started out with a Benchmark pep rally where the kids sang songs about doing their best to pass the test. Then two men from the Army National Guard came and spoke to the students and allowed them to ask questions. They also let the kids crawl around inside their hummer. After a tour of the new “green” high school, lunch, recess, and snow cones, the classes went around to different learning centers where they participated in educational activities. I was really surprised at how many students actually came to school today. I think after having so much fun today, they will all be coming back the next time we have Saturday school! Too bad we only got a one-day weekend...

C building girls in our camo/army green!

-Miss Moore

My heart is still in kindergarten...

(This post is from yesterday, my first day in third grade.)

Today I moved up to third grade. To be honest, I really was not looking forward to it. As I drove up in the parking lot, it hit me that I will be walking into a different building from now on. I did not expect to feel so sad about not being with “my” kindergarteners. Although I am glad that there are no more snotty noses, untied shoes, and stinky pants, I will miss all the quotes, hugs, and smiles that I got to experience each day in kindergarten. I thought about Mrs. A’s class all throughout the day. :(

Mrs. N was very helpful all day as she informed me about pretty much everything I need to know about how things work in the third grade. Their schedule was a little off today because they were doing their TLI tests, which is a practice test for the Benchmark. I went with Mrs. P and watched her administer the test to a small group, as I would be doing the same thing later in the day. I also got to make two trips over to the administration office to deliver the tests so they could be scanned. The ladies over there are so nice! It is going to be such a big adjustment going from kindergarten, where they do not really take “grades,” to third grade where they have all these standardized tests. I will also have to learn twice as many names and remember whose homeroom they are in! All in all, it was a pretty long and boring day. Third grade just does not measure up to kindergarten in my book.

-Miss Moore

3rd grade... whaaaa?

Day 1, complete.  It was so weird!  There was no snot, no shoe tying, no centers, no ten minute lessons and no SMART Board!  The lessons were so much longer than in kindergarten, and they did so much more independent work.  The chill factor here, compared with Mrs. C’s class is huge.  Mrs. T is very laid back and doesn’t do much talking (or happy yelling like Mrs. C.).  These kids write pages, do their work at their desks, and are huge.  It’s also pretty boring.  I will definitely be spicing up this class with a few of the things I picked up in Mrs. C’s room.  I don’t think it’s Mrs. T who’s boring, mostly the curriculum.  Overall, the day was a success.  

Last Day in Kindergarten :(

Quote of the day: J- (singing) “Takin’ care of biscuits!” S- “Uh, I think you mean business.”

Today was my last day in kindergarten! For the final day of Read Across America week, we wore bright colors in honor of Dr. Seuss’ book entitled My Many Colored Days. I wore my tie-dye Ouachita shirt. In addition, we made green eggs and ham. The kids loved it! It seemed to be a pretty normal day until after lunch. Mrs. A sent me to the lounge to make some copies, and when I came back, all the kids were seated in a circle on the carpet and they yelled “Surprise!” There were also gifts, cake, and ice cream waiting for me! One student’s mom had even sent me candy and balloons, and Mrs. A gave me a big box full of teacher stuff. I was so surprised! Tears came to my eyes, but I pulled it together because I did not want the kids to see me cry. They even sang me an impromptu song called “We Will Miss You” to the tune of “Happy Birthday.” After we ate cake and ice cream, I gave Mrs. A the gift I had gotten her: a 6-pack of Diet Dr. Pepper, a box of Wheat Thins, and a big jar of M&M’s. (These are all her favorite things.) At the end of the day, Mrs. A had the students raise their hands and say their favorite thing they did while I was in their class. It was really neat listening to the things they remembered from the past six weeks. I will never forget all the sweet words and hugs I received from the kids as they were getting ready to go home. I am really going to miss the kids and teachers that I have had the privilege of working with this rotation. Because of them, my heart has been truly blessed.

Green eggs and ham!

Me with my cake!

Mrs. A was so sweet to give me all these "teacher" things!

Love my balloon

It's really hard to get 20 kindergarteners to be ready and smiling all at the same time, so this is the best picture we got. I think it's pretty good, don't you? I will miss them so much!

On to third grade!

-Miss Moore

Last day!

Friday

I got so many little hugs today!  I’m going to miss those kindergarteners.  They’re crazy, but so cute.  We made a Venn Diagram today (my favorite) of Dr. Seuss’s work and Nic Bishop’s work.  Mrs. C gave me a Subway giftcard.  I brought her sunflowers.  We’re kindred spirits.  She’s going to be a hard act to follow, but Mrs. T seems pretty cool.  Management will be a lot different, but that’s ok.  I think it’s closer to what I want to do.  We presented our book to the library today.  The kids were so excited.  I think they were sufficiently invested in the project, judging by the way they were so proud of being able to hand Mrs. Murphy a book to add to her library.

Week Summary

What a week!  It had highs, and it had lows.  I learned so much, and am sorry to be losing Mrs. C, even though I’m so excited to have Mrs. T and third grade.  It was a pretty tiring week.  I learned the importance of planning ahead AND being flexible at the same time.  I also learned about using your resources.  Mrs. C is a great one, and I feel like I didn’t quite figure out how to use her wisdom until the end.  I’m so so so so so glad that she was my first rotation teacher.   

Hey- ice cream Dinos Ed friends date on Monday?

Service Learning Project

Quote of the day: (The Star of the Week brought pictures from home for everyone to look at, and some of them were “glamour” shots, which is what Mrs. A told the class.) M- “Those are good grandma shots!” G- “Yeah she looks just like a grandma!”

This past Tuesday we had our community helpers assembly! (This was the celebration portion of our service learning project.) It went so well! Before lunch, Officer C came to Mrs. A’s classroom. Mrs. H’s class and Mrs. M’s class came in our room as well, and they listened to Mrs. A’s class read our classroom appreciation book. Officer C then spoke about some of the things he does, and the students asked him questions. We then presented him with our thank you cards, and he gave each student a sticker badge. During the assembly, which we had right before lunch in the cafeteria, we had students come up and help introduce the community helpers. We had a police officer, a mail carrier, a volunteer firefighter, and the president of the Lion’s Club. The students in the audience were so attentive! Miss G did such a good job of leading the assembly. Overall, I think we were very happy about how everything went. We received a lot of really good feedback from the counselor, the principal, and even the president of the school board! Wednesday during lunch, several other interns and I went around town and hung up our class appreciation posters in several local businesses. They were so great about letting us do this! They even seemed to appreciate the fact that we were asking them to get involved.

Here are some pictures of events from the day!

OBU Interns after the assembly

My class' sign that was hung at Southern Bancorp in Bismarck

Community helpers and students on stage

The students reading their book to the police officer who came and visited our classroom

Our class book!

Class thank you banner

The cards we made for the police officers... they say "You Deserve a Hand" and each child did their handprint in paint.

-Miss Moore

Getting there takes time... : )

Tuesday

These are the days you want to go home, cry your eyes out, quit and be a secretary.  Fear not, professor friends, I’m not quitting yet.  It takes a lot to make a Neal quit.  It’s just discouraging when the kids are crazy and you know it’s all your fault.  It was my fault that I didn’t manage them better, that there were cracks in my transitions.  Bah.  I was pretty defeated by the end of the day.  Mrs. C was really encouraging about it.  I guess my glad thing is at least it’s something I can fix.  It’s not as though I’m completely incompetent.  I just need to work on some skills.  It’s ok.  I’ll get up again tomorrow.  I’ll get back on that horse, and by golly I’ll ride it straight into the sunset.

Wednesday

Oh happy day, the world is in color again!  It was such a better day!  We made cake in the classroom.  I pulled the recipe up on the SMART Board, we made it from scratch and baked it in a crockpot.  I made a sock puppet last night, which they LOVED.  They wanted the puppet to read the books instead of me, which is funny because I’m not the best ventriloquist.  We also had our Pre-K buddies over and did Dr. Seuss puzzles.  I realized they were too hard, though because the kids didn’t know what the end result would be since there was no box to look at.  Note to self!  Great things happened all day.  I got my mission trip box at the end of the day, along with approval to go to a conference in San Diego!

The BEST Day

Quote of the day: J- “Do you have a baby?” Me- “No.” J- “You need a baby.”

Yesterday was probably the best day I have had as an intern so far! I had my second observation by my supervisor, and it was one hundred times better than the first! It was like a complete transformation! This process has definitely shown me the power of effective and consistent classroom management. That is a lesson I will never forget. For my lesson, I read the book If You Give a Cat a Cupcake since the letter of the week is C. Then I let the students help me mix the ingredients to actually make cupcakes! (We talked about how recipes are a special kind of writing as well as different tools to use when measuring.) I was so glad to have a sub in the room with me, because she was able to take the cupcakes down the hall and put them in the oven as I continued on with the lesson. After we mixed all the ingredients, we wrote our very own class recipe for a pretend pizza. I told the kids to be creative… their list of ingredients included chocolate chips, sprinkles, pepperonis, and... eyeballs? I was worried that they might get too excited during the lesson because it was so hands-on, so I thought of everything that could have possibly gone wrong and planned for it. I set my expectations up front, and I followed through. I would not say that it was perfect, because I know I can always improve. But I was so happy with the way things went. I feel like I have come so far! Today we iced the cupcakes and ate them during snack time. They were yummy!

One more day of solo week and only 6 more days in this rotation... I can't believe it!

-Miss Moore

*Emergency Room?!*

I am infamous for getting completely ill at the most inopportune times. I'm sure you all remember that I had the stomach bug during the Portfolio Presentation and now that solo week is here I've outdone myself. Yes, thats right….I was sent from school to the Emergency Room this morning.

I have been losing my voice and having throat issues for a couple of days and thought it was just because I had used my voice too much. I have never lost my voice before, so I just assumed I was okay. The nurse checked me for strep and I didn't have it, but she still told me to go home. I told her I HAD to stay because it was an important day so I taught the class by doing charades and a bell…it actually worked out better than you would think. Who knew? It was really hard being in that much pain, but since it was my solo week and we had a sub I pushed through which I shouldn't have done.

Today I got to school and I could not speak a SINGLE word, not even in a whisper. I woke up in massive pain last night, but told myself I was going to be okay. I've already been ill, so I can't miss many more days! I pushed through and made it to school, but the pain was so bad that I was fighting back tears. Finally my throat started swelling so much that I could barely breath so I wrote on a whiteboard that I needed someone to call my grandparents because I needed to go get help!

My grandparents brought me to the Emergency Room and they gave me a big, fat steroid shot to open up my throat so I could breathe. Apparently I have caught a virus that puts blisters all down my throat…yike! I am glad I went to the ER because I needed some help and FAST!!! I don't know what I would've done without our medical technologies.

There's a little dramatic update from me! Sorry I haven't written in a while…I just get side tracked with all my DVR to be honest.

QOTD: Miss Neal, how long until school's over? Me: 3 hours Kid: That's NOT what I wanted to hear.

No accidents today!  Hurrah!  Mrs. C said I did better with classroom management, so that’s encouraging.  I’m planning like crazy for next week.  It will be so nice when I get those plans turned in because I won’t have any planning left for the rest of the week!  Woohoo!  Being prepared in advance is great, it just takes a lot of work.  This week we’re doing ranch, and my brother, Cowboy Sam, came in to do a read aloud.  The kids LOVED it!  It was a lot of fun, and I look forward to doing plenty of guest speakers when I get my own class.  Next week is Dr. Seuss, which I’m so excited for because, well, I love Dr. Seuss.  

Bathrooms have great acoustics

Today was better.  I felt more organized.  The kids were still crazy (my fault, not theirs) because I don’t manage as closely as I should.  Mrs. C and I had a good conversation about it during our planning period.  She has so much wisdom.  I wish I could just save it in a permanent file in my brain so when I actually have my own classroom I wouldn’t make as many rookie mistakes.  Courtney and I were talking and she said she is keeping a notebook of quotes, supplies, and ideas.  I think I want to start doing that too.  She takes pictures of good ideas and glues them in her notebook so she can remember what she wrote about!  Had another accident today.  Stink.  But we’ve been accident free for a while before this, so I guess it wasn’t as bad as our three day streak at the beginning!  So glad to be a teacher.  

Find me a husband...

Well, I remembered to stop at the bathroom!  That was one positive for today.  The other was when J told Lindsay and I that we were both married.  I said, “She is, but I’m not.  If you want to find me a husband, you can”.  He agreed.  When I saw him later he said, “I’m still looking for a husband for you!”.  He’s in kindergarten.  Love it.  The lessons were a little scattered today, and the kids behaved accordingly.  I’m beginning to understand how very easy it is to be a bad teacher.  If you don’t watch good teaching AND implement it, you’re sunk.  I’m so glad I have Mrs. C to model for me.  I just hope I can absorb enough wisdom before I have to leave.  

QOTD: Miss Neal, I wish you looked more like Mrs. C.

After meeting to finalize plans for our SLP last night, the A-Team kicked off the Make Way for Family Time campaign.  We celebrated (girls chanting “Make Way” and boys chanting “for Family Time”), reflected and talked about the project.  When I talked with the girls on our ride home, Courtney said she had two little kids have breakdowns when they announced the project.  One boy’s parents are getting divorced and a little girl is in foster care.  She said she thoroughly explained beforehand that family includes aunts, uncles, grandmas, etc, because she knew some of her kids had difficult family situations.  There are some things in the world that I just hate.  Teaching went pretty well today.  I forgot to stop at the bathroom on the way back from P.E., but maybe that will help me remember better tomorrow.   


Much love,


Miss N

One of those days...

Remember those days Cami Jones warned us about? Days that would be "challenging, difficult, stressful, and exhausting?"

Yeah.

Wednesday was one of those days.

I was excited and nervous because I was having my first observation by my supervisor. I had put a lot of thought and care into my lesson, and I felt good going into it, despite that it was a phonics lesson and the kids hate phonics. This is why I tried to include some activities that would be F-U-N. Big mistake, I guess. The kids were the worst behaved than they have ever been, and that is not just my opinion. My cooperating teacher said the same thing. I cannot help but feeling like a failure. I tried all the little attention-getting techniques that I have seen Mrs. A use, and I even added in some of my own, but the kids never stopped talking, touching each other, moving out of their seats, not following directions, etc. I am just glad I made it through the lesson. I spent the last hour of the school day in the conference room crying, but my supervisor, cooperating teacher, and even the secretary were all so encouraging. I guess I learned that I need to be more strict, and next time I may not tell them in advance that an observer is coming. Tomorrow is a new day..

Don't waste my time...

Today was annoying.  I don’t know if that’s a professional word, but journal reflections aren’t exactly black tie affairs.  I only got to sit it on one conference today.  The rest of the time was either spent greeting (which was ok because I love to greet) or being frustrated in the computer lab.  The tech lady printed out instructions for us to link SMARTBoard presentations from the computer network to the website.  I was kind of excited to work on the website.  It would have been good experience doing things I’d want to do for my own classroom.  The only thing was, the instructions weren’t adequate for the job we had to do.  I spent several hours (to no avail) trying to get it to work.  She had conferences, so she was too busy to help.  She’s a regular classroom teacher and she does most of the tech things around the school.  It’s too much to be expected of one person.  There was a glad moment in the day though. 

Me (tap dancing in the foyer)

Principal: stop tapping in the hallway

Me: Yes, Ma’am

Principal: Haha, it’s ok, I’m just kidding, it’s cute. 

Me: (inwardly) WHEW!

We're doing ranch and rodeo next week for the letter R, any suggestions? 

Wonderful Wednesday

Today was our last day with kids for the week.  Tomorrow we start conferences and professional development.  My management is getting a little better as I watch Mrs. C and we talk about how things are going.  Today she reminded me that when I give them work, I need to model it really well before they do it.  They’re able to do it, they just need good directions.  Also… they were doing algebra on Monday.  It was so fun, and they got it!  I taught them about x!  I didn’t use x, but they got it.  Woohoo!  We need to expect more of those little kids.  :)

Rocks, rampages, and ready to GO

QOTD: Mrs. C: what’s a rampage? D: It’s when someone gets on a ram and tries to ride it until they fall off! 

The days keep going faster and faster it seems!  I’m so glad I’ve gotten used to the schedule.  Mrs. C taught all day today because the evaluators were coming from an ambiguous state department.  They did not come to our room, but we would have passed if they had.  Today we talked about presidents, the letter R and limestone rocks.  It was a great day.  

Happy Love Day!

Today was Valentines Day.  There was red and pink everywhere!  A couple of the kids brought me little presents, which was so sweet!  This being a teacher thing has its perks.  Mrs. C needed to take a call this afternoon, and it ended up being a call from a school I had applied to just the night before!  Wow.  That was a weird feeling!  We had a big party at the end of the day.  Some of the parents came, and the kids were so excited to see them!  We pumped them full of sugar and then set them loose to go home.  Ha.  I’m not sure if that was a kind idea, but it was funny!  

Happy "Valentime's" Day!

Quote of the day: S- “Mrs. A, C threw away the Valentine that N gave him!” Mrs. A (in private to C)- “C, that might hurt people’s feelings if you throw away the Valentines they give you. Why don’t you at least take them home, and if you don’t want them you can throw them away there.” C (through gritted teeth)- “That was a BARBIE Valentine. I DO NOT want it in my possession!”

Happy “Valentime’s” Day! (as Junie B. Jones and some of the students in my class would say) Our classroom was full of love today. The kids were so excited about giving each other Valentine cards. I had never thought of this before, but having the students write their classmates’ names on the cards and then have to look at them when passing them out is good practice for reading, writing, and letter recognition. I tried to incorporate some review on the numbers 1-20 by having the students sing “One little, two little, three little Valentines…” (all the way to 20) during morning carpet time. I passed out red hearts with numbers 1-20 on them, and when we got to their number they had to pop up really fast! When we mastered that, we scrambled up to make it more of a challenge. Instead of having a Valentine party, Mrs. A just incorporated the Valentine theme all throughout the day. In the afternoon, we had ice cream sundaes which were so delicious! The parents were so good to send all the items that were needed. Somehow we ended up with 6 jars of cherries, but we did not even make it through one! I also just want to say that I have the best kids ever. They are so sweet! Many of them gave me Valentines… I even got flowers, a teddy bear, and a huge box of chocolates! I think they liked the Valentines I got them… each one came with a tattoo. What a fun day!

Passing out Valentines

All the goodies!

My sweet Valentines from students!

Hope everyone had a happy day!

-Miss Moore

Casual Fridays are the best

Coming off of two snow days was great.  I needed the rest, and am now on an antibiotic!  I was jealous, though, because all the other schools had a third snow day.  Hannah was sweet and made my lunch the night before since she was fast asleep when I left.  (I usually make breakfast in the mornings and she makes lunch).  Today Mrs. Childs did a little SMART Board training for us.  We’re going to be her tutors during professional development, so we have to know what we’re doing before we get there.  She also said they’re going to make us do busy work during conferences on Thursday because sometimes the parents aren’t comfortable with having interns there.  I sure hope I get to sit in on at least one.  I’d like to watch one before I actually have to do one.  I know the interns get to do the busy work jobs because they’re interns, but I’m here for a reason.  Maybe that’s just me getting my sass on? 

Snow Days!

One of the perks to being a teacher... SNOW DAYS!

Student interns know how to have fun in the snow!

Have a great weekend, everyone!

-Miss Moore

Today, in 6th grade percussion class, the students were playing the "Surprise Symphony" on their bells. The teacher (who has returned!) asked them if they knew why it was called the "Surprise Symphony." The correct answer is because of the sudden changes in dynamics-- that was rare at the time the piece was written. The students were clueless, though, and it showed by their answers. They were so hilarious that I had to write them down.

Question: What's the surprise in the "Surprise Symphony?"

Student A: "The A natural in measure 4? 'Cause all the other A's are flat.""

Student B: "Is it because we're having a surprise chair test over it tomorrow?"

Student C: "Was it written for his birthday, and it was a surprise? Or maybe it was his birthday, and he died on his birthday."

and my personal favorite--

Student D: "Ooh, I know! It's 'cause a man pops out at the end and says 'ROAR!!'"

I love the high schoolers, but it's things like this that make 6th and 7th graders my favorites. :)

What a day it was at school...

Tomorrow, I’m going to the nurse.  Yesterday and today I woke up feeling achy and still sick.  Those silly germy kindergarteners!  Today I taught calendar and literacy as usual, and helped Mrs. C test the kids for their 3^rd nine week evaluation.  Most of the kids did really well.  They just had to identify numbers and letters, sounds of the letters and coin names.  It was interesting how many of them gave a “y” sound for the letter “u”.  Dr. Bass observed me this afternoon.  I have never heard the kids be so loud.  They were crazy.  It was all kind of funny because I was sick, Dr. Bass was there, the kids were loud, there was play dough on the carpet, the SMART Board broke.  Wow.  What a day it was at school!  Thankfully, Dr. Bass was gracious and thought the kids were pretty funny.  Perhaps tomorrow will be a snow day and I can recuperate a little. 

Hummmm

Is there any way we can upload lesson plans here?  That'd be a fun thing...

The 100^th Day of School was supposed to be Friday, but since we had a snow day, it was postponed until today.  We found chocolate kisses around the room that had the numbers 1-100 on them.  We lined them up on the hundreds chart and divided them equally among the students and they had to eat them according to directions (highest number you have, lowest, etc.).  We also finished writing our 100 words from words we’ve posted every day around the room.  They loved that activity.  Each day the words are a different color so the kids treat it like a treasure hunt.  Now we’re gearing up for Valentines Day and student/teacher conferences!  Mrs. C takes video of all the kids doing work samples so she can show the parents during conferences... don't know when we'll find time to do that, but I'm sure we will.  Dr. Bass is coming to observe tomorrow, so hopefully the lesson (that I haven't written yet...) will go well.  : ) 

Can I get a little input on what calendar lesson plans look like? 

Miss Neal 

100 Days Smarter!

Today was the 100th day of school! All the students were so excited. They had been anticipating this day for a very long time. It was so fun to see the 100th day shirts that many of the students had made at home with their parents. (Mrs. A had made some extras for those who did not bring one, which I thought was so nice of her.) I was excited to be able to wear my 100th day shirt, which included exactly 100 buttons of many different shapes and colors. During morning carpet time we read One Hundred Hungry Ants and The 100th Day of School. Other activities of the day included the following:

We ate the number 100 after creating it with a pretzel stick and two powdered doughnuts.

We filled a hundreds chart with beads and then strung them on a necklace.

We estimated which bag had 50 Skittles, which bag had 100 Skittles, and which bag had 150 Skittles. (One of the bags was eaten before I could get a picture of all three.)

We licked Tootsie Pops 100 times to see if we could get to the center.

And we popped 100 balloons!

All the kiddos and me with our 100th day shirts!

It was such a hectic, but fun day! There are more things that we did not get to, so we will continue celebrating tomorrow as well!

-Miss Moore