September; Space and Substitues

The past few weeks have been so busy. I finished my community unit and started on space. The kids have loved space and have surprised me with their ideas and thought process about the solar system. I wasn't even going to focus in on rotation but when it came up in a book the class really started to question it and begin ti develop an understanding for why the planets have different time lengths for rotating around the sun.

For this unit I did two book studies, one with a nonfiction book about rockets and spaceships. I wanted the students to understand that rockets do not stay in space, they just help the spaceship get into space. After we discussed the book they then made their own spaceship and used objects in space for their setting. I let them use aluminum foil, glitter and construction paper. The kids had a lot of fun and they turned out so good.

For my second book study last week we read Green Wilma Frog in Space and then the students made an alien and had to decide what planet it would live on. For this book I focused on setting and how two characters do not always do well on the same setting. With this project I had painted puzzle pieces and made the worksheet to make the setting and give some information on their alien. They had to give the alien a name, a planet to live on, describe the planet and say what the alien likes to do. I thought with this project the students' personalities really came through in how they saw their alien and what they thought an alien would do.

 

This month I also had to spend quite a bit of time outside the classroom. I started working on my professional development where I am focusing on math instruction, specifically with my lowest math group who need a lot of help with number sense and number in base tens. I really enjoy teaching math and believe that it is a strength of mine. But within 6 days I was out for 3 and not did not enjoy writing sub plans. Being gone last Thursday I felt like I had to go back over all the rules and procedures on Friday. While I think reviewing is important I also feel that my kids are missing out on real instruction time. My next day out was Monday and it went so good. The sub left a great note and actually worked through the lessons. The kids enjoyed her and I felt like they were valued while I was gone. That all changed though with my sub today. She was exactly what I was afraid of. I use a behavior clip chart and she had my entire class clip down numerous times. Yes they are not perfect but I cannot imagine what they all could of done to warrant that. My coworkers also told me that a few of my kids were crying through out the day and just seemed to be incredibly sad. I felt horrible and instead of making up for the lack of teaching I felt that I had to rebuild some of their self esteem. So hopefully after this chunk of time I won't have to leave them for awhile. 

An Upward Swing

I've almost made it to that one month mark. The first two weeks were by far the hardest two weeks I've ever experienced. I knew they would be hard but I wasn't expecting to feel so discouraged. Every night for those weeks I questioned what I was doing and if I was truly ready for my own class. But clearly I made it through and this week I started feeling like I was starting to get it. Those first two weeks I was getting to school around 6 and staying to almost 5. Even being there that long I still felt like I was behind and was just trying to get through each day. This week I still get there pretty early so I can beat traffic and use the copier without anyone being there. But I'm able to leave close to 4 and I even left my laptop at school one night because I didn't feel like I needed to work at home. 

There are still some aspects of the job that I'm struggling with. My team lead is in her second year and is following a different curriculum than the rest of the team. She also was as she said, "screwed" with having so many high kids who won't show as much growth. So she isn't someone who can provide me with much support or even someone who I can relate to with our teaching styles. This week I also started filling out the CST  paperwork for a student but it's been tough figuring out what I need to have for it and having to wait and keep teaching while she is struggling and needing interventions and modifications that I can't provide. 

This week though I also started to really get to know my kids and see them settle into the classroom and the routine. During meet the teacher night a mom told me her son barely talked and never really spoke to his kinder teacher. However, this week he was talking and when he was calendar leader he was able to talk in front of the entire class. I have seen students start to really use the material we have learned and use the vocabulary across subjects. We have been learning about community and yesterday one of my girls commented that the character from our read aloud was a community helper. 

I'm hoping that this upward swing continues and the rest of this month continues to get better. 

Week 1

Well I survived. It was one tiring, amazing, nonstop, and chaotic week. Here's some of the highlights of the week:

• On Monday despite my planning I went through my activities too fast and had to make copies in the middle of the day. 
• I had a "crier" whose grandma said I wasn't nice enough and tried to go behind her parents back and get her transferred to another class. 
• First fire drill of the year happened and I was more freaked out than the kids. 
• I found out that scarlet fever still exists and already have a student out sick.

Despite all of that I still think it was a good week. I already love my class and can't imagine having a different group of kids. I could have had some back up worksheets ready and practiced lining up more for a fire drill. But now I know and know I will have things set up for the second week. 

The hardest part has honestly been keeping track of all the school/district/state pre-tests. I swear in the first three weeks those kids have to take about eight tests. And most of the material is stuff they don't know and I can't answer questions about. They get so stressed out and I hate that I just have to sit there. They are also annoying because about half of them need to be done one-on-one. The rest of the class isn't independent enough to do much meaningful work so I feel like it's wasted time for them. 

Starting on Monday I am beginning my first thematic unit, community. During student teaching this was one of my favorite units I observed my mentor teach. I love seeing the kids think about jobs and discuss citizenship. I also thought it would build on the first week stuff on rules and procedures. Hopefully getting into more of a routine next week will help cut back on the chaos. 

But now I need to finish getting my lesson plans typed and make a better seating chart.

One Week Left

I officially only have one week left before the first day of school. This summer has gone by so fast. I felt like I was on top of everything but now that I'm really in my room and working on stuff I feel so behind. Today I was able to get caught up and feel more prepared for Meet the Teacher Night which is Wednesday. It was hard to work in my room since all last week I had orientations and trainings all day. Starting tomorrow I again have trainings and meetings all day.
When I got my room assignment and was able to check it out I was not too excited. It was full of stuff, a lot of it being junk or too outdated. I spent days cleaning it out, sanitizing things and organizing the items I kept. It was great to get materials and supplies left behind but it was a lot of extra work. So here's some pictures of my room after the cleaning stage

The pictures above are from the first few days I worked in my room. I was still taking stock of what was left that I could use but also bringing in stuff that I had. The tables had been stacked on top of each other and I asked the custodian to help me move them. 

Now I'm at the stage where I've got all my furniture setup and my supplies put away. I've been able to start decorating and making it my own classroom. I still have a lot that I want that I want to put up but most of it is going to be projects I do during the first week of school. I also didn't want to have an overwhelming amount of stuff out that the students didn't know the procedures for using. 
Looking back over the summer I think I could have worked on more stuff at home so I would feel more prepared now. But it's all a learning process and now I know what to do before hand and what could probably wait. I would spend more time working on getting a welcome letter and data folder setup and wait on getting displays planned. I had found my masters for the first week but I waited until today to make copies and separate into folders and by days. But I am happy with what I've done and I like how my room is turning out. I like the activities I have planned for the first week and think I will learn a lot about my students and their families. But I still wish I had just a couple extra days!

It Takes a Village...

Over the past week I have gotten more settled in Phoenix and also started to get some bigger projects done.  There is no way I could have done these projects without advice and help. 

The first project in this picture was pretty easy and only took a few minutes. I bought empty paint cans at Ace for maybe a dollar and then covered them with duct tape. It was much cheaper than buying pre-decorated containers at a store. This is a project I did on my own but if I was going to make a lot of them I would probably have asked for help to cut back on time. I like them because they're not the normal container that other teachers will have and if they get ruined I won't be upset at money wasted.
The milk crate seat project was the Pinterest project I was most excited to try. It started in May when I asked my boyfriend to try and make it and he found out after going to a number of stores that these colorful crates come out with school/dorm supplies at Target. Two weeks ago I bought a crate and the plywood at Home Depot. The man was very helpful and made sure the wood fit right into the crate and left room for the fabric. Then this week my great aunt who was a home ec  teacher for 27 years and my mom helped me to make the seat parts. The first one took about 15-20 mins but by the last one it only took a few minutes. I love how colorful they are and that they will be something different for my students and also give me extra storage space. They cost more than I would have thought but it was mostly because I didn't already have a heavy duty stapler. 

Adding a ribbon handle made it easier to get the seat on and off. I also used the same color on all three to tie them altogether and it was the only ribbon I had.

The next project I finished were these cork board crayons. My boyfriend got a sheet of thin cork board and then cut out crayon shaped pieces. The edges of the cork start to fall off so he put a border of electrical tape so they would hold their shape. I had left over fabric from my seats so I used that to start covering the cork. My great aunt made a pattern and helped me cut out the fabric and then we just folded the edges over used tacky glue. Crayons are my theme so these will be a cute decoration but they also will be great to put in areas where it would be hard to hang things. I was thinking about putting them near my turn-in tray and putting no name papers on them. I have 3 of each size so I also was going to use them to hang pictures on of school events. 

I could have done these projects on my own, I'm more than capable of doing them. But they might not have turned out as well and it would have taken much more time. As a new teacher I think we want to prove we can do this and don't need any help to setup and run our classes. Even going to Home Depot I wanted to be able to act like I knew all about lumber but I had to admit I needed help to figure out what would work best. I think teachers both new and old need to always be willing to ask for help and let someone else teach you how to do something. I can't say that I will always be this willing to ask, but I hope that I am able to be more open to getting advice from other people. 

Back on Track (Almost)

Well I am back in Phoenix and trying to get back on track with my planning and preparation. I'm able to go in my classroom but I can't move my furniture for a couple more days. They moved my projector but the actual smart board still needs to be put up. This is what I've been doing for my class

*I went through the art supplies left behind and got rid of the materials that were taking up space, too old or falling apart/almost out. I then sanitized all the scissors, markers and containers that I was able to save. 
*I attempted a Pinterest project where you use duct tape to add a decorative edge around plastic bins. It didn't work for me, the tape kept peeling off so I just ditched that project.
*Today I filled out all my official new hire papers. A little overwhelming but also nice to feel like an adult. 
*I wrote a list of my procedures and information I want to type up for parents that I can hand out during Meet the Teacher Night. 
*I bought a milk crate and plywood to make a seat, haven't finished it but I'm feeling pretty good about it working out. 
*A Pinterest project I did really enjoy was taking paint chips and using them to write sight words on like the picture shows. I didn't stick to one color like the picture shows and I also hand wrote my sight words. But I love them and it was worth all the trips to take paint chips. 

I would like to start working on making decorations for my theme (crayons). I have templates made for labels and crayons for a bulletin board so I need to actually start using them. I'm hoping that if I can get some of these done now then when I can move my furniture the setup will go much faster and be easier. 

A couple days ago I saw that Target was starting to put out their school supplies. It was tempting to buy a ton of stuff I saw but I was able to walk away and wait until more of it goes on sale. I also didn't want to buy anything without having my list and coupons. But I am getting that excited new school supply feeling!

And The Roadbumps Begin....

So far my journey into teaching has been pretty easy, busy but not too many bumps. Until today. I haven't seen it and really in a way don't want to but while installing my projector for a smartboard the roof broke. From what I gathered the panel broke and it and the projector fell and shattered. They need to fix it so it can hold and also reclean my carpet so it will be clean and safe. I know it isn't the end of the world but it was so frustrating since this was going to be the week where I started really getting into my room and setting it up. So after driving up to Phoenix I am driving back home to Tucson for awhile and will just work on stuff there. I guess this eventually had to happen and it's better to get that first roadbump out of the way now then when I have kids in the room. I think this was such a blow because I haven't experienced something like this and I kind of panicked and had a rush of frustration all in one. But it'll all work out and I will still get stuff done even if I'm not in my classroom. But seriously make sure your things are installed correctly so you don't have any freak accidents!