Thursday, August 27, 2009
I love my class...
Week 1 almost done and it's been fabulous! I am convinced I am one of the luckiest first year teachers ever. I have an absolutely fantastic 5th grade class. They are a lot of fun!
Monday, August 24, 2009
First Day of School
Wow! I survived the First Day of School. It feels good, but I'm the definition of exhausted. Let me try to lead you all through my day. I don't know if everyone will be interested in all the details, but I know all TFT friends will be.
Lets see....
The morning started off with all the kids coming into see their new classroom. They were all so quiet. I was shocked. I didn't expect them to be so nervous. I even had one boy cry to his mom because he was so nervous. I went over and told him I was so scared last night I cried (which is true by the way - I really did!).
When the bell rang they all got started on a crossword puzzle for about five minutes until the timer went off. We went over procedures and then transitioned into Morning Meeting. They did great, but they were so quiet. The whole morning they were so quiet. I could tell it was definitely a "honeymoon" phase, but it honestly had me worried to death. They were so quiet I couldn't tell at all what they were thinking. I couldn't tell if they were buying into anything I was talking about. They just sat there. I realized later they were still just getting the nerves out.
After they went to computers, the whole class filled out a reading questionnaire for me, while small groups got to explore the classroom library and choose an AR book. Then it was recess!
After recess I had them put together their Readers' Notebooks. This took longer than I planned but it was all good. We then did Interactive Vocabulary together to learn new words in the book we starting to read Sarah, Plain and Tall. The boys were really into. I couldn't tell what the girls were thinking.
Lunch then came sooner than I expected. Oh, and one thing I just realized today is that we don't have bells! No bells in the whole school! It's crazy. You just have to watch the clock. I would definitely change that if I had my way :) Anyway, lunch was good. I assigned groups of students to sit together. During lunch they had to find 5 things they have in common with each person in the group and then be prepared to share with the class. There was one minor problem at lunch recess with two of my boys and two boys from another class. But we worked it out!
During the afternoon the kids started to find their voices again. They were definitely getting comfortable. I read them Don't Pop Your Cork on Mondays. They learned they can read that book anytime they feel stressed. Thanks Don for the idea! We'll read the rest of the books every day this week also. Then they shared about lunch we did a short math review. They had recess.
After recess we did a mapping social studies lesson. Not bad. I put them in small groups and they definitely liked visiting with their neighbors (no big surprise there). Before I knew it the day was gone. I didn't get to go outside like I wanted to do to do a couple of trust initiatives. We'll try for one tomorrow. We quickly filled out their planners. They were so excited to have their own planners. This is something the school provides to only 5th graders. They felt so grown up with them. It was pretty cute.
Then that was it. They were gone. I couldn't believe it. That was it. Now it's on to tomorrow. I just have a few copies to make then we're ready to go. But like I said I'm so exhausted. Good luck to all my fellow TFTers who will be starting soon. You'll do great! It definitely feels good to have the first day under your belt, just remember that!
Lets see....
The morning started off with all the kids coming into see their new classroom. They were all so quiet. I was shocked. I didn't expect them to be so nervous. I even had one boy cry to his mom because he was so nervous. I went over and told him I was so scared last night I cried (which is true by the way - I really did!).
When the bell rang they all got started on a crossword puzzle for about five minutes until the timer went off. We went over procedures and then transitioned into Morning Meeting. They did great, but they were so quiet. The whole morning they were so quiet. I could tell it was definitely a "honeymoon" phase, but it honestly had me worried to death. They were so quiet I couldn't tell at all what they were thinking. I couldn't tell if they were buying into anything I was talking about. They just sat there. I realized later they were still just getting the nerves out.
After they went to computers, the whole class filled out a reading questionnaire for me, while small groups got to explore the classroom library and choose an AR book. Then it was recess!
After recess I had them put together their Readers' Notebooks. This took longer than I planned but it was all good. We then did Interactive Vocabulary together to learn new words in the book we starting to read Sarah, Plain and Tall. The boys were really into. I couldn't tell what the girls were thinking.
Lunch then came sooner than I expected. Oh, and one thing I just realized today is that we don't have bells! No bells in the whole school! It's crazy. You just have to watch the clock. I would definitely change that if I had my way :) Anyway, lunch was good. I assigned groups of students to sit together. During lunch they had to find 5 things they have in common with each person in the group and then be prepared to share with the class. There was one minor problem at lunch recess with two of my boys and two boys from another class. But we worked it out!
During the afternoon the kids started to find their voices again. They were definitely getting comfortable. I read them Don't Pop Your Cork on Mondays. They learned they can read that book anytime they feel stressed. Thanks Don for the idea! We'll read the rest of the books every day this week also. Then they shared about lunch we did a short math review. They had recess.
After recess we did a mapping social studies lesson. Not bad. I put them in small groups and they definitely liked visiting with their neighbors (no big surprise there). Before I knew it the day was gone. I didn't get to go outside like I wanted to do to do a couple of trust initiatives. We'll try for one tomorrow. We quickly filled out their planners. They were so excited to have their own planners. This is something the school provides to only 5th graders. They felt so grown up with them. It was pretty cute.
Then that was it. They were gone. I couldn't believe it. That was it. Now it's on to tomorrow. I just have a few copies to make then we're ready to go. But like I said I'm so exhausted. Good luck to all my fellow TFTers who will be starting soon. You'll do great! It definitely feels good to have the first day under your belt, just remember that!
Sunday, August 16, 2009
The Thesis is Complete!!!
I haven't updated my blog lately because somewhere in the midst of boxes is my cord to connect my camera to upload pics. I didn't want to update without pictures. However, I can tell you all this. My thesis is done!!!!! I'm printing it out at this very moment. Aaahhh...the sweet sound of the printer as it prints out all 70 something pages. There's nothing like it :)
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