So it's been a while. Things have been kind of crazy this past week. I think my evaluation went ok. Lots of behavior issues, but that's to be expected in my class. I think I dealt with them in a positive way (I hope).

I got into a car accident on the way to school yesterday. Got to school late. I was shaken up, so I sat in the teachers room a little while to calm down while they covered my classroom. The kids ended up finding out what had happened. They always look for my car and today they said they saw my "broken car". But at least I am ok, and that is what I told the kids.

We had two of our Bess Beetles die. A couple kids found them, and I had to go into the circle of life, you know, Lion King, Hankunah Matata and all that jazz. Then I took it out and we examined it. The kids lined up to take a closer look, they were actually pretty interested. On the morbid side, it kind of looked like a line to pay your respects at a wake. haha

I have been having a lot of trouble with a student who has a lot of anger inside of him. He has good reason to be angry, with some of the things that have happened to him, but I have been trying to find ways for him to appropriately deal with his anger. He lashes out at other students all the time. lately he has taken to screaming at them. I had to take him aside yesterday and explain to him that I understand that he feels angry inside, and that that is not a fun feeling. I told him that he can't yell at other students and that when he is angry he should walk away, come find me and talk, or find a quiet place to sit and calm down. It seems to have worked, although I have had to remind him a few times.

This same child really is very sweet, I just wish things were better for him. He came up to me today and told me he had a secret for me. So I leaned down and he whispered in my ear, "I wish you could come to my house and help me decorate my Christmas tree". He also told me that he knows where I live and that he broke into my house and stole my Christmas tree, but only for a little while, and then put it back. Oh, if only I could see what goes on in that brain of his.

This kids have been really getting into yoga. They look forward to it each day. I really need to find a yoga program for children, as I am running out of poses to teach them that would be appropriate.

I am just looking forward to Christmas break. I think the kids will calm down a lot after that. They are too excited for Santa! haha

Do you ever want to feel popular? Become a first grade teacher! All you have to do is go to a professional development training, be absent for the morning, and pick the student up from lunch! They will run at you, yelling your name and hug you. They will tell you how much they love you and how much they missed you. Or, at least that's what my kids did, because they are crazy, and all (and pretty awesome, I can't say my ego wasn't boosted by that! ;) )

Anyway....

Today I should get a good teacher award...because today...squeamish me who is scared of all things creepy and crawly....picked up a Bess Beetle.

Don't know what one looks like??

I'll show you!!!



Freaky, huh??

Well, I introduced the kids to them today, and they thought they were really cool (NOT my first thought on what their reactions were going to be haha). They were asking if they could touch them and I said go for it. They also wanted to pick them up but wouldn't do it unless I did it first. So I did. I was shaking like leaf. but I survived, and did my good teacher duty for the day. All in the name of SCIENCE!!!

Two of my kids somehow got pinched my them, though. I felt bad, but I had no idea they could pinch! Plus, our science kit manual said it was safe to hold them. Oh well.


So my evaluation is this Thursday. I am a bit nervous, still, because my reading groups have not been going so well, and that is what I plan on doing. We still have tomorrow to work on it. And I had a looooong talk with the children at the end of the day about my expectations and I told them about m evaluation and how this was very important to me. They seemed to understand. One said, "Oh! So it's like you get a report card, too?" Yeah, kinda. Except my consequences are a little more extreme if I get a bad grade. haha. ::gulp::

Well, we will see. Other than that, not much else has happened so far this week! I am hoping things stay calm, at least until Friday!!! :)

Today we celebrated Thanksgiving. While I was expecting the kids to be off the wall, they were surprisingly very good! I made them coloring books that told the story of the first Thanksgiving. They also made cards with hand turkeys on the front and a Thanksgiving poem on the inside. I told them to take the card home and give it to someone they are thankful for. Half the class gave me their cards. I was truly amazed. I never really thought about how much children appreciate their teachers (little ones, at least) and that activity really surprised me. I told them thank you and then I asked them to make another card for someone at home. Some of the cards were really cute.

While we were making the cards, one child said to me, "You are like my mom."
I told him, "I am too young to be your mom" and I laughed a little.
He then told me I should have some kids.
I laughed at him and told him no way, not now.
Then they started asking me if I had a boyfriend, if I was getting married, if I could invite them to my wedding when i got married. They started getting off the wall so I had to stop them and say, "No, I am not having any kids right now, no I am not getting married right now, and I am not telling you whether or not I have a boyfriend." They still laughed at me. Then they started asking me, "If you hve a kid can you name it chocolate?" and kept coming up with ridiculous names. (which reminds me, one child said when they have a baby they are going to name it fruit roll-up. okayyy then....) I tried calming them down, but then they had to go to art class. Oops. I bet the art teacher didn't appreciate that. Crazy kiddos.

I finished making the outlines of my new guided reading. I am going to try a ten minute mini-lesson with the whole class, then spend 90 minutes taking each group, then having a 5 minute share at the end. While the children are meeting with me, one group is scheduled to be on the computer, and the other two groups are free to choose an activity, as long as they complete the must-do activities of the day. Each child is going to have a folder with different word work activities. I think this will be a great way to differentiate between children. I can get the children who really need work with short vowels the help they need, and I can challenge the children who are ready for higher-order thinking skills.

I am excited to start, but a little nervous, since I will be doing reading groups when I have my evaluation on Thursday. I am trying not to worry about it. I know if I stress I will mess up, so I am just going to pretend it's a regular day, do my best, and pretend my principal and the master evaluator are just hanging out...or invisible. ha.

Well, I should go finish some planning so I don't have to do much more work this weekend. I could use a little break!!! :)
Happy Thanksgiving!!!!

There's nothing like burning yourself with the iron on Monday, then having a child refuse to come in your room and throw himself on the floor two days in a row, have reading groups that just won't cooperate, and then having to clean 7 dead stinky decomposing snails out of a nasty fish bowl.

Needless to say, I am glad this week is almost over.

I will start with the snails....

Snails are part of our mandated science curriculum. I introduced them on Monday, the kids were super excited and were being very gentle while holding the snails (I am pretty sure some of them were dead at this point). Some of the kids started complaining that their snails weren't moving. I said it was probably because they were scared. In the back of my head I was thinking, "Oh crap! What if these snails are dead?! How do you tell if a snail is dead, anyway?" So I went to my computer and googled how to check if a snail is dead. The results were not too helpful. I just decided to let it be for the day, and that I would check on them tomorrow, to see if they were in the same place.

Well, today when I got in I saw that about half the snails were still upside down on the bottom of the tanks. So I waited until science, started passing out the *living* snails, and then went to clean out the snails.

They. Smelled. AWFUL!!! Some were even falling out of their shells and starting to decompose. TMI, I know, but trust me, I am sparing you the worst.

One of the children started complaining that their snail smelled really bad, so I checked it, and it was dead, as well. UGH!

This then prompted all the children to decide to smell the snails.

One said their smelled like lemon...hmmm....I didn't really know what to say to that one.

I finally threw the dead snails away when the children weren't looking. Thankfully, no one asked me what I did with the dead snails. The rest of the lesson went pretty well, for what it's worth.

I am SO not looking forward to introducing the Bess beetles and Pill Bugs next week!
haha

Anyway, one of my students has very bad separation anxiety. Last week this student had a couple of very good days. This week, the student has run out of my classroom multiple times, thrown himself on the floor in the hallway, and refused to do anything. He has basically lived with the principal the past few school days. I have been keeping strict documentation on him, but I have no idea what else to do. I have tried rewards, behavior charts, praising, ignoring, bribing, you name it. Hopefully I will find something for him to respond to, soon.

I have a different student who has ADHD. The past two weeks with this student have been great, but today I had trouble getting the student to write. I have heard that students with ADHD have difficulty writing. It even got to the point where the student was crying. I tried sitting with them, I wrote four things they could write about and asked them to cross off one (they didn't). I tried giving them a simple graphic organized (they refused to do it). I tried talking to them. I tried prompting them. Nothing. So I said we could take a break and try again after lunch. They wrote. And very well, I must say. This child is reading on a third grade level. It is confusing why they have such a hard time writing. Maybe they cannot get their thoughts on paper easily? I am not sure. They would not talk to me about it. I am going to research this, further.

I am going to revamp my reading groups for next week. Complete overhaul. I am finding that it just is not working for some students. I think they are at the centers for too long. So I am going to have them rotate around the room independently, while pulling my regularly scheduled reading groups. I am going to try the Daily 5 method, as well as having centers they can go to by choice. I am thinking having 3 must-do activities each day, and then having free choice after that. I have to do some research on this after I finish writing this, actually. haha. I will update when I figure out what I am going to do.

I am not sure when the work ever really ends for a teacher. I am getting slightly tired of going to school early, staying late, and bringing work home each and every single day. I don't know how to manage this work load in a way that isn't so overwhelming. I try taking time for myself, like taking time to work out each day.I just don't even seem to be able to watch a TV show anymore without doing school work. I am constantly multitasking with work. I wish I could figure out a more productive schedule that allows me some breaks. Who ever says teachers are overpaid should spend a week in my shoes.

With that said, I should really get back to working. haha

This weekend flew by! I can't believe tomorrow is Monday, already. Oh well, at least this week is a short one.

I am thinking about trying Reader's Theater in my classroom as a center during Guided Reading. Or even as an extension of Guided Reading. I'm not sure yet. I have been looking for age appropriate scripts online and found two good books on amazon (one is for phonics, yay!!) I think it will get the kids motivated to read and keep them focused while reading to each other. I find that if I just send them off to read to a partner, at least half of the class gets off track. I am starting the CAFE (Comprehension, Accuracy, Fluency, Extending Knowledge) method next week and I really think it would match the fluency part well. I am also adding High Speed Fluency Drills into my Guided Reading Centers. They will time each other to see how fast they can read a list of 4 words that repeat in different orders. I chose different sets of words for each group, as they are all reading on different levels. It will be interesting to see how they react to this new center. I only have 4 groups now, which is great, I will be able to spend much more time per group. My book club group will be starting in full swing this coming week, so I am also very excited for this!!

I am also thinking of trying out sign language in my classroom (maybe five signs per week, one per day?) Jessie, if you read this, I need your help, haha. I am not sure of the best way to introduce this. I just want to do simple words. I want to broaden their perspectives a bit with this. Thoughts?

I have been doing a lot of work on kindness and friendship in my classroom. I have found that many of my student's have a hard time getting along and dealing with conflicts. I basically expected this because people are not born knowing how to solve conflicts or how to be kind. It has to be taught. And six years old is a perfect time to learn. I have a chain of kindness hanging up in my classroom. We started it by drawing names out of a box and writing something kind about the person whose name we drew on strips of paper. I read them aloud and stapled them together to make a chain. Now whenever someone does something kind for a student, that person writes it on a strip of paper and I add it to our kindness chain. Last week it started to really take off. This week I am going to try some of the activities suggested on actsofkindness.org (a website I found while reading a story from a book on Ethics that the second grade teacher gave me). Hopefully this will add to the unit.

Something else we are doing is pretty amazing. Amazing for the sheer fact that it was an idea from a six year old. I received an email from one of my student's parents last week talking about how her child was watching the news and saw a story about the soldiers in Iraq. The child suggested that they make cookies for the soldiers and send them overseas for Christmas. She also wanted to write letters, and from that, thought of her whole class writing letters. Her mom wrote me the email to see if I thought this would be OK. I thought it was a wonderful idea and we are going to write the letters the week after Thanksgiving. It is an incredible thing that a six year old thought of this. Many six year olds are still egocentric and have a hard time relating to others and seeing in the perspective of others. This six year old has a very big heart and is always thinking of ways to help others. I am so happy she had that idea and I am very excited to try it out with the whole class.

As for me, I am stressing about my student loan payments. As of right now they are over $300 per month. The first ones are due on the 5th of December. On the website it says I can lower my payments but it is extremely confusing and I am unsure of what to do. I feel very clueless. If it stays at $300 per month I am barely going to be saving any money. If anyone has any advice on this, I would gladly take it.

Well, that's about it for now. I have been working basically all day on school stuff and I think it's about time I settled down, worked out, and watched some of my shows on the DVR. How exciting. haha

So I survived my first round of parent teacher conferences. Three and a half hours of non stop talking, but it really wasn't bad. It went by fast and the parents were nice. I was nervous, for the most part. I think I stuttered quite bit, haha. I am still afraid that people look at me differently because I am so young. I am afraid that they will think I am not an effective teacher or that I do not know what I am doing. The truth is, sometimes I don't know what I am doing, but I certainly try my hardest. I have spoken with veteran teachers and even they have moments where they don't know what they are doing. I guess it just comes down to being a very stressful job that throws curve balls at you sometimes. For a beginning teacher, those curve balls hit just a bit harder.

Speaking of curve balls, one of my challenging students had a great day the other day, and today had a...not so good day, to put it lightly. A throwing them self on the floor and screaming not so good day.....but we somehow got through it and the afternoon seemed to be better for him. I am baffled by this student. Their behavior is highly unpredictable and changes with the wind. Some days I feel I'm getting through to them more than others. I guess it just motivates me to work that harder. It is hard not to get discouraged sometimes. When I do, I try to think about how important it is for that child's future that they get past this, and it is my job to give them the most help that I can. I just wish that there were five more of me, so my 17 other students didn't fall by the wayside during the child's outbursts.

I wish there were five of me for other reasons, as well. Like the massive amount of paperwork that I just can't seem to get filed. Or the cleaning of my classroom. Or lesson planning. Or copies. I try to stay on top of things, but the pile keeps getting bigger. If I didn't have so much darn paperwork I think things would be a heck of a to easier. So, anyone want to come file for me? haha.

As for the Yoga, I tried it during morning meeting. The children remembered that I told them the afternoon prior that we were going to try it and were very, very excited. My only trouble was getting them to stay focused and not be silly (a VERY difficult task for first graders.) I don't expect them to be perfect, especially not the first time. Maybe I will try playing music in the background next time.

I use music very often in my classroom. When the children are writing, I put on instrumental music to keep the room quiet and calm. I do this during morning work, as well. I think it makes for a much more positive environment. I also appreciate some soothing music. I am sure that it helps my musical learners, as well. We also worked on a money song this week about coins. The song goes faster and faster each time it is repeated, and they seemed to have a lot of fun with it.

Today I realized that I have four more students who have the potential to be reading on a third grade level. I have two students who were doing that right off the bat. I started doing a book club with them this week. They are reading a chapter book, Junie B. Jones, to be exact. We read a chapter together, they read a chapter to each other (taking turns reading each page) and then they read some of the book by them self. The next day, we talk about what we have read so far and they continue reading. I am going to test the four students tomorrow, and hopefully I will be able to add them to our book club. It is a lot of fun for the two students I have in it, and I am sure the others will enjoy it just as much.

It is amazing to me how varied my student's reading levels are. I have about 6 students who are reading below level, six who are reading above level, and six reading on average levels. Hopefully those four students will test at a third grade level tomorrow and I will be able to combine them into the highest group. Then I will have only four reading groups and I will be able to spend much more time with each group. That way, my students who are low will get more. The problem with first grade is that the target is constantly moving. First graders make a huge amount of progress throughout the year. They are expected to come in reading a RIGBY level of 3 and in June they are expected to be a level 18. It is amazing. It is, however, unfortunate to the children who are far behind to begin with. I am trying my best to find resources for them to boost their reading levels.

I should also include that my wonderful boyfriend drove all the way to my school this morning to set up my Bess beetles tank for me, because they grossed me out too much. I also was supposed to receive guppies, but they came to me half dead, and all ended up dying. He got rid of those, too. And when he gags, you know something is seriously gross. haha

Well, I think that is enough ranting for now. I am exhausted, but very happy that tomorrow is Friday!!!!

Every day is a new adventure

I sure can't complain about my job being boring! Today I had a student wet their pants. I felt awful for him after, but thankfully the other students didn't notice. How do you explain that to other children without scarring the affected child? I just didn't make a big deal out of it, and redirected the class while I sent the child off to the nurse. Between head lice, this, behavior challenges and a multitude of other things, I am truly getting a trial by fire first year of teaching. I'm trying to take each thing as it happens and just thinking of them as learning experiences! (side note: teaching has miraculously made me a more positive person, lol. If I talked to my past self a few years, or even months ago, I would not have the same perspective!)

On another note, I have been totally obsessed with TpT.com. Ever since I was introduced to it this weekend, I can't stop finding amazing worksheets! Such amazing ideas! It is so refreshing to know that I don't have to reinvent the wheel.

I teach at a title 1 school, so I am fortunate enough to have a smartboard. I have been attending training sessions on how to use the smartboard, and I am crazy about this, as well! As a matter of fact, the first thing I did when I got home tonight was make a cute new slide to take attendance and lunch count. Mornings are going to go SO much quicker with this *I hope*! The kids were also trying to come up with names for the smartboard today. I think we will take a vote on them tomorrow, Some were really great ideas!

Tomorrow I am also going to try adding yoga to our morning routine. I, myself, LOVE yoga, and I know how refreshing it can be. I have read that, for children, it can relieve stress and clear their minds to make learning more effective. I am going to try doing one or two poses with them tomorrow, to see if they like it!

If anyone has any suggestions on how to introduce yoga into the classroom I would be more than happy to hear them!!!

First Post

I'm sitting here, Sunday morning, working on school work. I am feeling slightly overwhelmed. Who says teacher's don't work on the weekends? haha. As a beginning teacher I find myself working many long hours during the week and many consecutive hours on the weekends. Not that I mind. I want to become better for both myself and my students, and I know the hard work will pay off in the long run.

I should probably introduce myself. I am Amanda. I am a first year first grade teacher. I am 22. I fortunately landed this job right after graduating (I still don't know how haha) and I am finally getting in to the swing of things. I have to admit, the first month and a half was very very hard. It still is hard. But I am finally learning to cope with the stress and I am finally getting to know my students. I look forward to working with them each day. We have fun and they always make me laugh.

I want to begin blogging for a number of reasons. I would like to reach out and get advise from other teachers all over the United States. I want to share ideas and stories. I also want a place to vent!

I already have a few funny stories from my classroom. A student asked me if I have a husband. I said no. Another student said, "That's why we call you miss."Suddenly, from across the room, a little boy yells, "WHAT? YOU'RE FREE?!?! I'm gonna tell my dad! You should meet my dad. You will like him!" I had to sit down because I was laughing so hard. The next day he comes in, "I told my dad about you. He wants to meet you." Well....This is going to make parent-teacher conferences a bit awkward. haha.

A little girl in my class is very huggy. She will hug me whenever I am standing still, pretty much. One time, she was hugging my legs and I told her she had to get in line to go to gym. She looks up at me and says, "But you are like a refrigerator and I am a magnet. I am stuck on you!"

My class has also become very attached to me. They get upset when I am out of the room. I have been attending numerous Professional Development sessions, mainly half-day ones. The past two times I have picked them up from lunch after being out for the morning, they have run at me and basically tackled me, yelling my name and hugging my legs. Kind of an ego-booster, I must admit. It feels kind of nice to be adored by 19 6 year olds. haha

I have stories that make me kind of sad, however. Like when one student said to me, "I know I am not that smart in my head, but I try very hard because I want to be a teacher like you when I grow up." I told her, "You are very smart! The reason you are in school is because you are learning. I know that you try very hard and I think you are doing a great job. If you decide to be a teacher one day, you will be wonderful." It made me think.....how did she get it in her head that she was not smart? Did someone tell her that? It is moments like these that motivate me each day to tell my students how smart they are. I don't want any of them to feel like they can;t do something or be something because they are not "smart" enough.

Well, I suppose that is enough rambling for now. I should get back to my work, haha.

Until next time,
Amanda