12: Week of Nov. 7

This week I was thinking a lot about classroom management and the different methods you use depending on what age group you are dealing with. For example, in Kindergarten Kindergarten, what works well is complimenting a student when others are misbehaving and immediately the others will start doing what you want them to. In middle school, if I did this, they would make fun of the student I complimented! In Kindergarten, I can "move someone's bee" and they will be devastated. In middle school, if you tried a system like that, they would all just laugh at you. In Kindergarten, singing songs and doing other exciting activiites like that are great motivation. In middle school, getting out of work is motivation. I think it is definately important to realize this, and teach age appropriately.

11: Week of Oct. 31

ast week I blogged about things that kids said that made me laugh. Although they do make me laugh a lot, sometimes they make me want to cry because I realize what they go home to at night. One child was discussing killing himself (of course this was reported), referenced weed during a lesson, and said something about "dirty dancing like girls." Many Kindergarten students know all the popular songs and music videos, no matter how inappropriate they may be for a 5 year old. A child was doing the Dougie dance from the Teach Me How to Dougie song which really isn't a song for young children. After home visits, I was surprised at many of the homes and how dirty they were. Students come to school wearing extrememly dirty clothes. "Backpack Bear" who gets sent home with a different student each night had to be thrown in the laundry and sprayed with Lysol because the smell of smoke was so strong. One student's coat had what looked like dried throw up in it. There was also mud all over the front, and this was brought back more than one day. Some students almost fall asleep every day because they don't get enough sleep. One student told me she was moving because a man was mean to her mommy. All of these things just remind me that I really don't know what goes on at home. I need to take that into account when I am really frustrated with them. Their situations are not their fault, and they cannot make people help them at home. The best I can do is show them love while they are there, and hope for the best!

10: Week of Oct. 23

I have been interning for 10 weeks now and have heard a lot of funny things that kids have said. Everyone says you should write the funny things down, so I have decided to write them all here!

I showed a picture of Abraham Lincoln and a boy told me, very seriously, that it was his uncle. Someone else knew George Washington.
I made "pumpkin pointers" for the students by gluing pumpkin erasers to popsicle sticks and writing their name on the stick.The word "China" was written on an eraser and someone asked why. I told them because it was made in China. His next comment was "Cool! An eraser from China! Did the Chinese boy know my name and write it on there for me, too?"
I said something about Asia and a boy asked me where that was. I told him it was the other side of the world. He said he used to live there. After he said that, four other students told me they lived there too.
During writing, I always do an example first. The first day, I wrote about a spider in my car. Many other students wrote that too. The next time, I wrote about jumping on the trampoline. Suddenly, everyone had trampolines. The third time, I wrote about working at a corn maze and I told them they better not write about that because I was sure they didn't work at a corn maze. One student still wrote about working at the corn maze and tried VERY hard to convince me of it! Someone else drew their own picture, but copied my sentence about working at a corn maze.
When doing an estimation worksheet, a student became very upset that her estimations were wrong because I wouldn't let her erase them. She thought she was being sneaky and changed her "85" to a "9." I said something about it and she just kept saying "I am right!" and getting closer and closer to my face while growling.
A student told me estimation is just like excavation.
A student came in late and I asked her what took so long (she had been known to play in the bathroom.) She replied, in front of the entire class, "I had to p.... I had to do number 2!"
When learning about symmetry, a student kept saying magical instead of symmetrical, so all I heard the whole time was "Mrs. Younkin, does this look magical?"
Some students' parents do their homework for them, and while its not funny, it is funny that they think I wouldn't notice!
A student told me the hardest part about writing workshop is reaching the pencil box. Another student said the hardest part was making triangles and the easiest part was making squares. I wasn't aware we did that during writing!
A little girl came to school and I could see some places on her body that had marker on them. I asked her why there was marker on her and she said because her brothers couldn't find any paper so they held her down and used her instead.
When learning the letters, I told a little girl that "D" was like d, d, dog. The next time we came to the card she said "Woof Woof!"
During home visits a student told us her mom had a tattoo of a bull on her butt. The mom was sitting right there... awkward!

The point of this is not to make fun of students, but just to remember the funny things that have happened! I know there are more, and I will add them as I think of them or experience them!

9: Week of Oct. 17

I started my inquiry project this week with the Lucy Calkins method. It went really well, and I am seeing good things already. Again, I noticed how much the students are on different levels. One student can write sentences with phonemic spellings with a picture that goes with it. Another student just scribbles for both the picture and words. Some students are very confident and will try very hard to spell words. Some students won't write anything because they are so scared they will spell it wrong. One girl who is very, very intelligent, waits until others have written things and then she copies them because she is a perfectionist. I am hoping that throughout the writing sessions, these students will gain confidence in themselves and not be afraid to try. I am interested in what this girl can actually do when she decides to do it! Another goal I have is to lower the number of students shouting "How do I spell..." I want them to be able to use their sounds to spell the words as well as they can. This is the idea of Lucy Calkins, so I will try it and see how it works! I am excited about this series and I am curious to see the progress by the end of the semester.

8: Week of Oct. 10

This week I taught the morning calendar activities as well as Math. I really had fun planning the activities, and I think I did pretty well teaching it. One thing I know I need to work on is not feeling bad about disciplining students. The students each have a bee in the green bee hive and if they get in trouble they have to move it to the yellow hive. If they get in trouble again, they have to move to the red hive. I know I should move more bees, but I always feel bad and don't. This is something I am going to work on next week because I know it would help the students listen to me better. Overall though, I did not have any major behavior issues. In planning for my full-time teaching next week, I realize what a HUGE task this is! It was not too hard because all three Kindergarten teachers brought me materials and gave me lots of ideas, so I just had to schedule everything in and pick what I wanted. If I had to come up with everything on my own, it would have been very difficult. I can see again how important it is to stay organized, get things done in a timely manner, and plan ahead as much as possible. I am also going to be starting the writing curriculum next week which I am excited about. This is a part of my Inquiry project, so I am hoping it will turn out well and the students will enjoy it. I am interested to see the variations in ability level among the students as well as the rate of progress they make.

7: Week of October 3

This week I have bee thinking a lot about organization and how much this helps teachers. My mentor teacher is super organized, and this makes the day run so much smoother. First of all, it eliminates wasted transition time. She knows exactly what she is going to do next as she is finishing up one activity and can direct students on what to do. All the materials are laid out prior to beginning the activity so no time is wasted searching for things. She keeps the aid very informed about what she needs which eliminates a lot of miscommunication and keeps things running smoothly. Her lesson plans list everything out in a very easy to read format so they can be followed by anyone. Another thing I like that I have seen in different classrooms is having a place to put the materials for the week. For example, in my class there are hanging file folders for Monday Math and Monday Reading where you can find all the materials. In another class they use drawers. I like this idea because you can easily see if you have what you need. I have also been in very unorganized classrooms that encountered lots of problems because of this. Time was wasted, materials were not easy to find, and things did not get done. Especially for me, being a beginning teacher, I need to make sure I am organized to help make up for other problems I will encounter.

6: Week of Sept. 26

This was my first week in Kindergarten. So far, I love it! My mentor teacher is very organized, and I really like that about the class. Everything is very well planned so there is not that much wasted time. There are 22 students in the class and they have a very wide range of abilities. I didn't realize how much difference there would be in skills since they are only 4 and 5 years old. Already at this point, there is a definite gap. Many of the students have parents who work with them at home, and this makes all the difference. The gap is already wide, and it will only get wider if intervention does not take place. I was impressed that at only 5 weeks into the year my mentor teacher had already begun intervention and working with certain students to try to get them on the right track. I am most looking forward to seeing the progress made by some of the students and where they will be by the end of my time there. Another thing I really like about Kindergarten are how the students respond to activities and projects. They get so excited and try to do a good job. One of the main differences between middle school and Kindergarten is the motivation level. The middle schoolers did everything they could to get out of work, and it didn't matter what it was, they didn't like it. In Kindergarten, they love almost everything and will do anything. My question is, at what age do students decide that they suddenly hate school and why does this take place? In my experience, I have seen the change begin to happen around 4th grade.