Student Teaching

I started student teaching in a 2nd grade classroom on Tuesday and my first day was a huge success!

Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs

Back in the spring, I was planning to do a read aloud. I decided to use one of my favorite books, Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs. I didn't want to just read a book, I wanted a fun activity too and thanks to Pinterest, I found this.

Ideas for my student example:

I wish it would rain Kit- Kats because I already own two kitty cats.

I wish it would rain Strawberries because I love them berry much.

I wish it would rain Snickers because then you could snicker at all my jokes. 

(Insert uncontrollable laughter) C'mon, this stuffs gold!!

I ended up going with the Strawberry one because I knew the 2nd graders would get that one however, I love the other two because they are so much more original.

Teacher Appreciation Week

Last week was Teacher Appreciation Week. Growing up I always respected my teachers and was thankful for all that they did but ever since I entered the education program I have a new respect for teachers. I have never worked so hard at something in my life. I want to make a difference. I want to inspire students. I want to help students find a love of learning for a subject they never thought they would like. I want to show students love and model respect. I strive to do my best and I always feel like there is more to do or things I could have done better. I am never caught up and always have a long to do list but yet the day goes on. I am stressed, tired, and completely overwhelmed but then the bell rings and I see hundreds of smiling faces which makes me smile. I am so lucky to a teacher and although I miss getting more than 3 hours of sleep a night I would not trade any of it for the world. 

Last week was an incredibly interesting week. Below I'll share a few highlights:
- At morning meeting, it was J’s turn to share with the class his favorite part of the school day. He said his favorite part of the school day is Daily 5/ Writer’s Workshop. When another student asked why, he said, “Because the teacher’s are proud of me.” Both Mrs. R and myself spoke up and shared about his improvements and how proud of him we are. He was beaming. 
- Saw a mouse in the hallway. About 30 minutes later, Mrs. R goes to look for the mouse and all of the sudden I hear 30+ kids screaming and running down the hallway. I mumbled to myself, “Looks like they found the mouse!” Some of my kids ran into the hallway but I lured them back in, closed the door, quieted everyone down and started reading from our book, “Wayside School.” As Mrs. R, two other teachers, and the principal tried shooing the mouse outside our classroom was quiet. Mrs. R came back and commended me for how I handled the situation. 
- Teacher Appreciation Week comes with perks. There are not many perks to the job ie. money, but I thoroughly enjoyed the Parent Association's efforts to make us feel special. There was breakfast (I ate Yogurt for the first time), Biaggi's was catered for lunch, and there was Dessert Thursday. It also put a smile on my face to see all the chalk drawings in front of the school. 
- And last but not least, on Thursday, my mentor teacher was out which gave our class the opportunity to do something special for Mrs. R and I think it turned out great!

Sneaky Spy Detective Y

Meet Sneaky Spy Detective Y

Last week, we learned about words that end with the letter Y but make the long E sound. Below is the script I used for my lesson.

This is Sneaky Spy Detective Y. He is found in words like baby, sorry, happy, and tricky. These words end in y but make the long e sound. The long e sound is e. Everyone say e. I am going to read a list of words and I want you to really listen for the long "E" sound at the end of the word. Happy, silly, snappy, sneaky, funny, and bunny. When you spell the word happy, does it end in the letter e? No. Happy is spelt: H-A-P-P-Y, it ends in y but sounds like our friend, long e. Who can raise their hand and give me another example of a word that ends with the letter y but has the long e sound?

Sneaky Spy Detective Y needs our help completing some sentences. Each of these sentences is missing a word that ends in y but sounds like e. Give me two thumbs up is you think we can help him complete all six sentences. I know we can help him out! (Turns on projector)

Thanks for helping Sneaky Spy Detective Y! You all did a great job!

I have a Jelly Jar and I want you to work with a partner to fill up your jar with as many words as you can that end in Y but have the long E sound.Words like baby, sorry, happy, tricky, and jelly. You will work at your desk and Mrs. R and I will pass out papers. Are there any questions? Please get a pencil and sit at your desk. 

 

Student Interview- Social Studies

Student Interview

If you had to explain to a stranger what social studies is, what would you say?

I would say social studies teaches us history.

What is history?

Like life long ago, it’s stuff that happened a really long time ago.

What kind of stuff?

You know, school and life.

What are important social studies topics?

Timelines, life long ago, transportation, communication, and school long ago.

Why are transportation and communication important social studies topics?

Because of all the inventions.

What kind of inventions?

The invention of the telephone, the invention of the car, you know, inventions like that.

Why do you think you are learning social studies?

Because Mrs. R wants to teach us about life long ago.

How can you use social studies in your everyday life? Can you give some examples?

No, I only use social studies at school.

Your teacher says, “It’s time for social studies.” What is going to happen? What will you be doing? What will Mrs. R be doing?

We will put our math book away and sit on the floor close to the board. Mrs. R will be teaching and I will be listening.

When you see someone who is good at social studies, what kinds of things can this person do?

They listen, know how to do the activity and they learn.

Do you think everyone can do well in social studies if they try?

Yeah!

Is social studies something that is useful to know? Why?

Yeah! If you know about social studies you can compare life long ago to now.

Are you good at social studies? Why?

Yes, because I try my hardest.

How do you best learn social studies?

Mrs. R and you teach social studies the best.

So, you learned social studies best when you have a good teacher?

Yes!

Is social studies your favorite subject? Why or why not?

No, Social Studies is okay, but I like math better.

Student Interview- Math

Student Interview: View of Mathematics

If I had no idea what math meant, what would you tell me? Or what is math?

Math is math books, which are kind of like homework. In math we do math stations and Mrs. B and now you help our class with math stations.

What are math stations?

Math stations are where we get in our small groups and go around the room doing different math activities. Sometimes we play math games on the mini iPADs and sometimes we play games like Money Bingo.

What are important math topics?

Subtraction, adding, knowing the minus and plus signs and learning about money. Math Bingo is important too because it helps us learn how much a dime, quarter, and penny is worth.

What do you think you are learning in math?

We are learning subtraction and have a test on Wednesday. I hope I am in your group! (They take their tests in small groups too).

How will you use math? Can you give me some examples?

I use math to add, subtract and count.

What are some examples?

Oh, um, 5+5=10 and 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9.10- That is counting.

Is there usually one-way to solve a problem or more than one way?

More than one way, that is the fun part about math!

Your teacher says, “It’s time for math.” What is going to happen (what will you be doing, what will the teacher be doing?)”

We don’t do whole class lessons. Mrs. R works with kids at stations. Us kids go through stations and we play games like Face Off and Math Bingo. We work in small groups in stations and sometimes we count coins other times we do our math page.

When you see someone who is good at math, what kinds of things can this person do?

They can do lots of things but they do it well. If they are really good, I say to myself, “Wow! They are really good!” It makes me happy they are working so hard.

Do you tell your friends they are really good at math?

Yes! It makes me happy!

Do you think everybody can do well in math if they try?

Yes!

Who is good at math?

Me, Mrs. R, Anders*, my mom and my dad are all good at math.

Is math something useful to know? Why?

Yes, it’s fun and we use it every day!

Are you good at math?

Yes!

Why do you think so?

I am good at math because I try and I don’t give up even when I get the wrong answer.

How is math best learned?

Math is best learned in the classroom with Mrs. R or at home with my mom or dad.

So you like to be in small groups or working one on one with a parent or teacher?

Yes, I don’t like big groups.

How do you learn math best?

Um, sometimes I learn best in small group and sometimes I learn best in large group.

Is math your favorite subject?

Yes!

Why is math your favorite subject?

Because adding is easy but we are doing hard subtraction and it challenges me.

Echolation

Back in October we were reading tons of books about Halloween. One day we specifically focused on Bats. We read Stellaluna, made upside-down hanging bats and watched this YouTube video called, Echolation. We also had Mrs. R stand in the middle of the room and a student hide somewhere. The student and Mrs. R would "beep" at each other and eventually Mrs. R found her. The kids loved that and they really seemed to enjoy learning all about bats! 

Since I was in such a batty place, I wanted to introduce the 16 month old I nanny for to bats too. She enjoyed my singing of the Echolation song and the cute bat song below:

Flutter, flutter little bat,
How I wonder where you're at.  

Swooping through the darkest night, 
You find your way without a light.

Flutter, flutter little bat, 
How I wonder where you're at!