I Thought I'd Post More... Here Goes!

Week 0 (August 11): 
The first week of my student teaching experience did not include teaching. I went to orientation with my fellow interns to gain some more information. I also was horrendously sick this week which was a little terrible, but Sam, my CT was very understanding and let me come in to help her during the hours I could. So, on Tuesday I went to the classroom to help her set up but could only manage to stay from 10-2. Setting up the classroom is a lot of fun but a lot of work! She has literally over a thousand books in her library and she uses tablecloths for her bulletin boards, which is smart but not something that is easy! There's so many little jobs I never knew teachers had to do, like reorganizing all of their materials and cutting out SO MUCH laminating. So I did that again on Wednesday and Thursday. Friday was an Institute Day, so I attended the meeting in the morning with Sam which was pretty over my head, talked about the school's and district's goals for the year, a little about PBIS's plans for the year, safety concerns, and school improvement goals. The meeting was done for lunch, and then we had some students come in to drop off supplies in the afternoon. I met about six of my students that day. Some were shy but some were so chatty! I already know a little too much information about a couple of them, but that's probably a good thing. I stayed to help with a few more things after that and then went home to rest for the first day of school!

Week 1 (August 18):
The first day of school, was intimidating, but at the same time I was surprised by how much and how little we did. We had to spend a lot of time separating all of the supplies the students brought in. One of the first things Sam did was to establish her attention-getter "Hey class" "Hey yes". The students also got to shop for books for their book boxes. Around 9:30, the students had their first lesson where they learned the 3 ways to read a book, from the Daily 5 which I read this summer. The students even got to practice read to self on the first day. Their stamina was so low, they could only really read for a few minutes without breaking expectations. But, the students rated themselves afterwards and we did a lot of repeating expectations. At this point, I was skeptical of how our students would be able to build up their stamina! After lunch, the students went over school expectations, and even practiced walking in the hall. They also went over classroom expectations. Afterwards around noon, the students worked on some busy work, and then later were read to from the book "Heroes of 3rd Grade." I never thought about how students need so much to do during the first day because they do not know the class rules yet and do not have work to be completing. I also never knew how much modeling and repetition students would need. Day 2, our students had specials (art, music, and gym) for over 2 hours in the morning so we barely see them. However, we did have a meeting with the gifted liaison for the district, who discussed her plans for the year with the 3rd grade team. After lunch, the students reviewed the 3 ways to read a book. For the first time, a student had to clip down on the behavior chart. I liked how the students had to repeat what they learned to classmates. The students got up to 9 minutes of reading stamina that day. After read to self practice, the students learned about choosing good fit books with IPICK. Then the students worked on their busy work packet. While it may be busy work, it does show a lot about their writing skills. I learned about flexibility today when we had to start calendar math late because the students need a talk about choosing locations in the room to work best and reviewing expectations. I really like the Every Day Calendar program Sam has, I will definitely be purchasing it for my own classroom. The students look at patterns, counting , multiplication, and money each day. After calendar, the students got to brainstorm writing ideas in their journals to end the day. Wednesday, the students had a fun lesson about the five classroom rules and learned all of the motions for each rule. I kind of wish the students could have created rules, but I see the logic behind all the rules Sam created. After the rules, the students started Daily 5 by reviewing the 3 ways to read a book. Then, they reviewed the rules again and then practiced read to self stamina. The students got a brain break before the presentation by the principal Angie about the school expectations. After lunch, the students needed a reminder on expectations again. Sam is so persistent and patient, I hope to have as much as her! The students then listened to a read aloud to give them writing ideas and learned about writing What if...prompts in the journals. They also were told to underline words they cannot spell and come back to them instead of asking. After some writing practice and a brain break, we did calendar math and then they took a math pretest. I also learned about behavior documentation since we have a student we need to keep track of his behavior, and I also worked with a student who cannot read all of his letters to take his math test. To end the day, the students participated in a class read aloud to practice fluency, which was interesting to watch.

Week 2 (August 25):
Monday, the students began by reviewing IPICK to choose books. The students were given a day of the week they could bookshop (about five students each day) so they will do that at the beginning of that day every week. Then, we did calendar math and talked about multiples and adding. Afterwards, they reviewed the 3 ways to read a book and were modeled again. They talked about checking for understanding also. The students got up to 28 minutes of reading which blew my mind! The students had some packet work, then started with Word Work. They learned about the activities available and practiced. After lunch, the students worked on writing: brainstorming and adjectives. After some writing time, the students worked on the Math Daily 3 with math by myself and started math with someone. This day was difficult for following expectations, like I think every Monday might be. Tuesday we did calendar math before the students went to specials. One student kicked over a chair but would not talk about what was bothering him so he stayed in the room for 45 minutes. We had a meeting with the 3rd grade team about the collaborative inquiry cycle the school is trying with the gifted program and talked about RTI and how they need to review the students scores and start testing with Fountas and Pinnell reading tests. After lunch, Sam and I decided to start using Class Dojo for behavior instead of the clip chart. It is an app where you can give students points based on behavior and parents can access it and send messages. After explaining that, I did a read aloud with the students to review read to self expectations. After reading to self, the students had their first math lesson on equal groups. The students worked with counters and whiteboards to make equal groups and write addition equations to represent them. They tried to understand multiplication but it was a tough lesson. To finish the day they did some independent math work. I noticed how difficult it was to monitor every student during math time to see progress. I wonder if there is a way to make it easier. After school was PBIS meeting, where I learned about to implement and all of the ideas that go into making the program work at the school. Wednesday we started with calendar. After that, they learned the CAFE strategy to back up and reread with a read aloud modeling by Sam. After reading to self, the students got to work on word work. After that they had a read aloud of the chapter book, and then a tornado drill. After lunch, the students worked on writing. After that was math where they learned to Read Draw Write to work on math problems. The students did the exact same lesson with equal groups with different numbers but did follow better. They had a math sheet that was their exit ticket for the day. The students got to play with the iPads after going over expectations. Sam applied for a grant and gained 10 laptops and iPads for her class to use. I am wondering how to use notebooks for math so they are helpful for students.

Week 3 (September 1):
Monday we did not have school because of labor day, and so Tuesday we did not have specials. We started with calendar math and I learned they started talking about characteristics of shapes and odd and even numbers. After that, they started vocabulary with a work book. The students were given seven words for the week including "comforting" "expression" and "fleet". The students heard the words in definitions and poems. After that they read to self and then had lunch. Afterwards, the students practiced writing their what if pieces in their journals and went over parts of a story. Next was math, where they did a sprint (timed sheet). Next was a lesson with arrays and equal groups. The students then worked on a math worksheet and then math by myself. After learning parts of a multiplication problem they had their first social studies lesson. It was about geography, and distinguishing between streets, towns, states etc. I was surprised they needed this much help with it. After school was SIP team meeting, where we talked about the new student and parent goal setting conferences. Wednesday, we started with calendar math then vocabulary. They saw pictures related to the words and worked on a page. Then, they got to work on word work, which will be tied with vocabulary. After reviewing using prior knowledge while reading, they practiced read to self. Sam has started conferencing with students during read to self time which is interesting to watch. Next, they learned about tuning in to interesting words while reading from a read aloud. After going over school expectations and learning a lot about what goes on at recess and lunch, I had to go to a seminar, but I came back for library committee meeting which was interesting and dramatic.

Hope thats a catch up!