Two Week Review and 3 Day Weekend
It's been two weeks so talk to each other about what's transpired. What did you do of interest over President's weekend?
posted by Chris @ 5:30 PM
8 comments
It's been two weeks so talk to each other about what's transpired. What did you do of interest over President's weekend?
posted by Chris @ 5:30 PM
8 comments
8 Comments:
As of recently Sophia and I have been converted into substitutes. Our school was very short on subs last week and so our principal asked us if we would step in. I was honored they trusted us with this but terrified when they told me it would a random first grade class. I was only the sub for the afternoon and after talking to the morning sub I was ready to turn around and leave. This class in particular has trouble with listening and following directions. They are also very loud with 3 students on behavior plans. It was a challenge to say the least but I went into the day knowing I would need to be strict and it turned out very well. It was rewarding to know that I can survive in a classroom by myself. Since then I have substituted for my teacher once, which was so much easier, and the first grade class one more time. I didn't know I would be doing this but I am happy to help. We are heading to Verona and Venice Italy for the three day. It is the start of Carnival so there will be lots and lots to do. I am very excited! Hope the rest of you have an amazing long weekend!
So much has happened in the past two weeks it is hard to even know where to start. The weeks seem like they are just flying by. Like Haley said I have had to do some substituting as my teacher was sick for a whole week. It was successful and it is definitely a nice feeling to know that I was able to survive without my teacher! The kids were all good to me and the week went smoothly. Haley and I also started doing recess duty, which has been fun but cold!!! I also videotaped my TPA lessons last week. They went quite well and I feel I have some good footage to look through. It is hard to look through 3 hours of footage and only take out 15 minutes to use. I have officially taken over the class now and it is a great feeling.
For the long weekend I went to visit family up in Munster. It is a town near Cologne! I had a great time relaxing and eating good food :)
Oh my goodness...Haley and Sophia! I am so proud of you that they have asked you to sub for the school. I saw your facebook post about it and was so excited for you. I still get slightly nervous to teach my own class alone so great job being thrown in to another classroom! Perfect learning experience.
In our classroom we have been extremely busy lately. With Valentines Day and the 100th day of school we have been kind of crazy lately. We have been also working on treating our classmates with respect. One of our boys who has an IEP and behavior plan doesn't know how to correctly interact with other children so if he is mad he will just hit, kick or spit in their face. We are working on getting him to stop doing that and also getting the other children to ignore him, walk away, tell him thats not ok and that they are not allowed to do the same in turn.
There has been multiple times in which Carol has had to take him off of another kid. He really doesn't get along with one child in particular and often picks on him specifically....its been an interesting two weeks to say the least.
For President's day weekend we went to Athens. As we were preparing for our trip there was a ton of news about the riots there. Thankfully we didn't see any. There was hardly any evidence of them either. The people there told us that (of course) the news made it sound much worse. I guess that people protest every 3-4 months there and have been for the past few years. On the day that one was schduled we headed out to the island of Aegina. It was beautfil there and I think we walked over most of the entire island!
Last night we went to a Fasching festival downtown Weinheim. Everyone knew we were american for sure because we knew all of the words to the american songs they were playing! It was an absolute blast! Something I will need to do again!
Kimmi - It sounds like you had an amazing time in Greece!! So good to hear :)
It also sounds like you have your hands full with that student with the behavior problem! There aren't any students with serious behavior problems in my classroom which is very nice. A lot of the students have been complaining of others not being very nice to them so we are going to have a friendship talk tomorrow. It is so important to create a safe environment and a classroom community so I think I might have them do a little activity to help remind the students of this and build their respect of each other.
Oh, and I had a very embarrassing moment today while on recess duty. I was playing tag with some of my third graders and I turned a corner a little too fast and fell right down!! It was rather embarrassing as I had mud on my pants. Of course Haley saw it from the other end of the field too!! lol
Oh no Sophia that is bad!! I was walking backwards the other day when I was bringing them in from recess and tripped over a planter. They thought it was the funniest thing ever!!
We had a friendship talk too but it doesnt stick for very long in first grade! We also had the school couselor come in and read a book about a bug named Shupert. He has to make choices in the one she read. They really took that to heart. You should ask your school counselor if he/she has or knows about them.
Sorry for the late post! My week without Monica actually went very well. I was able, for the most part to keep the students attention and luckily had established myself as an authority figure in the classroom while Monica was still there. Don't get me wrong, there were days when I decided teaching was no longer for me, however, the more you push through the more you realize that you are capable of doing this job and can have success even under difficult circumstances. Highlight of the week was that almost every student aced their spelling test and that they even got several of the bonus words right. Therefore, my teaching couldn't have been too bad. (At least in Spelling).
Monica came back on Valentines day and the kids were very happy to see her. One of them asked me during out math lesson that day, "Why are you still teaching if Mrs. Smith is back?" That was probably my low moment of the week : ) This was the same student that told me my older dog was probably going to die soon though so I didn't take it too personally.
3 day weekend was amazing! Athens is a beautiful city with lots to do. Highly recommended Bambergers.
Awesome to hear about your substituting experience guys! I'm a little relieved that wasn't me but also a little jealous. Sounds like an awesome opportunity. I miss you guys and want to see you soon. Let's make something happen!
In our two weeks off I have officially taken over the classroom. Math has been a bit of a learning curve (fractions are not 5th graders favorite math subject), but I am enjoying the time with the kids. I think my teacher secretly didn't want to teach the material so she gave it to me. Just kidding. Additionally, I have written my first big project for Science. In our focus on gravity and inertia, I put together an Egg Drop activity. It has been a lot of work, but a lot of fun so far as well.
It amazes me at times how long things take for students at times. I made the mistake of deciding to extend a lesson a little by have students make a graph of the data they had collected. Little did I know they had no idea how to make graphs, and I spent the majority if the whole next science lesson teaching them how to make a line graph. It was a great lesson though. Never assume.
For Valentines Day, I taught a lesson on compassion and the human heart. 5th graders do not go as crazy for the day, or 5th grade teachers rather, as the 1st and 2nd graders do. Seeing as how it was my big day, I had to do something for it. My teacher said she really liked how I tied it all together and kept it academic-- so that was nice.
We ventured to Greece for Presidents weekend. Athens is a wonderful city. Kimmi was the most beautiful girl at the ball and all the Greek men wanted to talk to her. She almost got herself kidnapped on an island, but in the end her two bodyguards kept her safe and sound.
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