Catch Up

Wow it has been forever since I last posted and a lot has happened.

I have finished up my first placement for student teaching.  I was really sad to leave, but I am now one step closer to having my own classroom!  So here is a little recap of the rest of my placement.

I'll start with educational aspects and then move on to the fun stuff!

I really enjoyed my full time teaching.  I taught the water unit with my kids for science.  It was hard to teach at times.  The kids had a hard time understanding what surface tension is...heck I don't even know if I fully know what it is.  All I know is that it is like the water's skin..you have to remember science was is my worst subject.  In reading we started a unit dealing with sequence of events and text features.  In writing we finished up our "How to" unit and moved onto research.  It was fun teaching kids how to research and how they could write their stories.  Finally, in math we finished our multiplication and two-step story problem unit and moved onto fractions.

Now some fun stuff...

Our next big day after the 100th Day of School was Valentine's Day.  I took crayons broke them up and then melted them in a heart shaped pan.  I made one for all of the kids and put it on construction paper and wrote "You color my world."  I also got them Valentines that were hidden object pictures.  The final things I got them were pencils and candy.  Here is a picture of all of their Valentines together...

 
Then all the fun was done and it was my last day.  I took a photo frame and cut crayons to make the letter "I" for my cooperating teacher. (Her last name starts with an "I")  Then I let the kids sign the matting in the frame and we gave it to her on my last day.  The kids and my teacher made a book for me called the "Tips and Thanks for Miss Drake."  Each kid gave me a thank you and a tip.  Some of them were pretty funny and some almost made me cry.  Here are a few of them...

"Thank for teaching us you teach good.  Wen I need help I ask you and you help me.  I fell relley sad win you go.  and I well never frget you."

"Never be to boring!"

"Be carefull with the other people at the other school." (talking about my next placement)

I was really proud of this one because it came from one of my kids that really liked to challenge me with his behaviors! "Thanks for helping are class teaching science and teaching fractions. Love, (insert student's name)"

"Thanks for being the second best teacher out of the hole life world. Thank you.  You rock!"

My favorite tip..."cut your class some slack"

"Don't let the room go crazy.  P.S. Make sure they be safe"

One of my students tip..."be cool"

The book is pretty neat and it will definitely be something I go back and check out when I'm having a bad day or need a pick me up.  Then one of the girls in the class gave me a gift that was from the whole class.  She told me that she tried to find a softball for the class to sign, but she couldn't instead they all signed a pink (my favorite color) bucket with a teddy bear inside it.  They also put on a play for me that consisted of them being on my softball team with me, them cheering me on because I'm the best and the believe in me, to one of them lending me her bat, and I hit a home run! I didn't tell them that I never hit a home run when I played softball...haha! After all of that fun it was time to play Minute to Win It.  We split up into team and played games.  Here are a few pictures from the games...

Trying to move a cracker from their forehead to their mouth by using their facial muscles only

Dropping CDs on top of cups...they had to land on top of them like lids

Had to keep three balloons up in the air at one

It was a lot of fun to see the kids active and having fun together on my last day.  After this I gave them their gifts.  Their gifts consisted of a few things....

A pencil so you can write down all your brilliant ideas!

An eraser so you can erase your mistakes.  Remember no one is perfect!

A smart bead necklace for you to remember how smart you are!

Some crayons because you are a bright student!

And some candy because you’re sweet!

Also inside of their bags was a card from me, a picture of me with the student, and then finally an envelope with a stamp and my address.  I told them they could write me whenever they wanted.  Monday when my parents got home they informed me I had received two letters from my students.  That would mean two kids had to put their letters in the mail on Saturday after getting their envelop on Friday afternoon right before they left school.  I have received a few letters so far, but here are two of them that I thought I would share...

 And this ladies and gentlemen is why I can't wait to have a class of my own!  I have enjoyed working with these kids so much, and I hope I can continue to stay in touch with them.  I am writing them letters back and with their letter I'm including another envelope with my address and a stamp in case they want to write me back.  

I have had the week off to work on my TWS over my first placement, and I have also worked on a few job applications.  I will start my next placement for my special education minor starting on Monday.  Before I do that, I will be visiting my kids one last time before I head back in May for a few field trips.  I am going back to help celebrate Dr. Suess's Birthday!  

I think I have made this long enough...my goal for my next placement is to make posts at least twice a week.  I plan to be an avid blogger like all the teachers I am currently following!