Flip-book

I have officially survived my first two full days of full time teaching in middle school!  I have to say teaching middle school is a drastic change from teaching first grade, as expected.  I believe I have finally made most adjustments and switches needed to adapt with the changes. It is great to give the students a little more freedom and independence, as at this level students are able to handle more independent work.  I have been working on creating and building student-teacher relationships and building a productive, yet positive community atmosphere where students are engaged, having fun, and learning!  I love being able to delve deeper into the science realm and release a little of my science nerd personality. 

Today, I was able to incorporate a ‘flip book’ idea I gained from my education classes at the University of Wisconsin Oshkosh.  My class was a little ahead of schedule and something needed to be used to fill time.  Thinking on my feet, I quickly came up with creating flipbooks of the vocabulary words we were studying for our new unit on Force and Motion.  I was extremely ‘proud’ of myself for referencing an old (but good) idea, as well the quick thinking which produced an engaging review/study tool that the students will be able to reference! :)

Force and Motion Flip-book

Force and Motion Flip-book: Term, Definition, Sentence

We are currently beginning a unit on Force and Motion and will start our Trolley lab tomorrow in class.  This lab, will take us a few days to complete as we need to create a problem statement and hypothesis, gather data, calculate averages, create graphs, and answer conclusion questions!  It is great be able to see students interacting, using inquiry skills and engaged in activity; this is one of the many reasons I absolutely LOVE science! 

Trolley :)

Lastly, through my placement, I have been introduced to Twitter.  However, it may not be the way you are thinking.  Twitter is an exceptional tool to use as a professional learning network.  I have created a Twitter account to help me stay informed on new and upcoming teaching techniques including science, literacy, common core, technology and overall education related topics.  It is amazing how with technology so many great ideas can be shared with others, which of course directly impacts the learning experience of our students!  I am very excited to continue to learn more about using Twitter as a professional learning network and of course contributing my ideas to others as well! :)

Middle School

Hello Readers...

I am so sorry it has been so long.  I have been busy and to be honest kind of forgot about my blog for awhile.  I would like to post and update you on my current status.  I have begun my 2nd placement in middle school!  I am currently in an 8th grade science placement and it is going very well!  It is quite the change from first grade, but the kids are great and so far so good...

I am just finishing my spring break.  During break, I studied up by reading blogs and browsing pinterest for new ideas to incorporate into my middle school classroom.  I created a new seating chart for my classes, made a magnetic sign for daily targets, created a class-starter 'Riddles' power point, developed/formatted an idea for class breaks, and of course, had time to enjoy my family and friends!  I was also able to go and visit my little first-ies from my last placement.  I miss them so much and it was great to see them again!  I look forward to getting back to the middle school world tomorrow and incorporating my new ideas!  Only a few weeks till graduation and moving forward with future endeavors!

"Today's Targets": This magnet will hang on the white board and I will write the daily targets on the board so the students are aware of what we are going to accomplish each day!

These two magnets will be placed on the white board (one female scientist, and one male scientist).  Each day, one female student and one male student may take the magnet off the board and place it at their desk.  Throughout the class period they may choose a time when they would like to take a 'science break'.  That particular student will then have brought in a science article they will share with the class.  The student will share a brief summary on the article and explain why it is important or why we should care.  That student will then earn extra credit/participation points for the day! (This idea was adapted from the 'poetry breaks magnets' that were introduced to me by Dr. Ford from the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh!)

Here's to a productive 8-weeks and looking forward to my future! :)

End of 1st Placement...

Ahhhh My first placement is already finished.  I can't believe how fast it went and I can honestly say I am very sad to leave. However, it makes me all the more happy to graduate and find a job of my own so I can have my very own class to love and look forward to teaching every single day!  I learned so much from my first placement and I am can only hope my second placement goes just as well.  I will be transitioning from 1st grade to 8th grade; it will be a huge switch but I'm excited to be introduced to another perspective/atmosphere of teaching.

I also had a chance to try out some pinterest finds which makes me very happy!  <3  pinterest!

Last but not least, I also began and introduced several aspects of whole brain teaching!  I love so many of the characteristics of whole brain teaching and I feel with more time and practice I would absolutely love to incorporate several aspects of whole brain teaching into my future classroom.  My absolute favorite piece is 'blow it in your hand'; the students blow the answer into their hand and when the teacher says release it...the students say out the answer!  The students love to do it and it gives me a chance to quickly see/hear who is on the right track.

Pictures:

Full Weeks

Hello Readers! :)

I know it has been wayyyyyyy too long since my last post, since then I have been full time teaching in the classroom!  I am surprised at how well it has been going.  To think that I have gone from NEVER teaching anything by myself to teaching EVERYTHING for an entire day/week in just a few short weeks is very exciting!  I truly believe I have grown a lot in confidence, ability and management during this placement.  I am again teaching a full week this week and can not believe I only have less than two weeks left in first grade.

I have also had an observation by my principal!  I was very happy that she was able to come and observe one of my lessons.  I received great feedback and also had a chance to meet with her one on one to discuss comments and questions.  I also set up another observation and I really hope she is able to come and observe me again for another lesson!  I appreciate receiving all the feedback I can to better myself as a professional! :)

I am still loving my placement and am beginning to get a little nervous/excited to begin my placement in 8th grade...I have enjoyed every minute of my first grade class but I'm also looking forward to the challenges and learning that I will gain with my new placement.  I believe it is extremely beneficial to have experience in all age levels to truly understand what all students need...I look forward to beginning my last placement and then moving forward to graduation and the job search!

I hope to post again soon with more specific details on my full week of teaching including lesson highlights and pictures! :)

Laura Numeroff//Dr. Seuss

Alright...It has been wayyyyyyy too long.  I have several pictures to share and of course an update on how things are going!  I am teaching a  lot now and it is definitely a challenge.  I love every second of being in the classroom and I enjoy my little first-ies and all the cute projects I can do with them!

Shared Reading/Writing: We have been working on a Laura Numeroff unit for interactive reading and writing.  We have read the book several times and created a circle map of the story using paper plates and clip art.  They were super cute but I forgot to get a picture of the final product. :(  This week, we decided after reading about cookies and milk we were hungry for some of our own cookies and milk!  We decided to do a taste test of different kinds of cookies and milk!  We then made a picture graph of our results, which just happened to perfectly fit into our unit 6 of math!  We are learning about using picture graphs and answering questions in math so this fit perfectly into our current curriculum!  :)

RTI Update: I teach a small group for reading intervention Monday-Thursday and the past two weeks we have been working on making connections with the text.  We read the book The Relatives Came and made connections with the story.  The following day, I gave each student a grape with a word on it.  Students had to find their partner/matching grape.  The student with the silver writing had to make a connection to the story, and the student with the black writing had to make a connection to their own life.  The activity went great and after the students had partner share time we presented our connections to the class and made the grape poster while enjoying some red grapes as a snack! :)

I also did a connection piece using the book Wemberly Worried!  Gotta love Kevin Henkes! :)  We read the book, made connections and then made a 'R.I.P. Said' Chart!  We discussed how word choice impacts our reading and writing and created a list of words to use in our writing instead of always using 'said'.  We then used the new word list to practice reading fluency, by reading with expression! :)

Writing: I taught my first week of Writing this week and it went pretty well.  Definitely had some challenges with trying to keep kids on track.  I am teaching an 'All About' unit which includes a how to paper, parts of page, kinds of page, about the author, table of contents, dedication etc.  It is challenging because students must stay on track and can not really fall behind or they will miss the next step.  Finding everyones topic was a little more difficult than I thought, but it seems we are doing alright! :)  I will be teaching full time  for the next two weeks; I am very excited!  I am so glad that I have been given this opportunity.  Teaching first grade is definitely different than any other experience I have had this far A LOT of lesson planning and teaching in every single day on top of the dozens of parent notes, emails and miscellaneous events that occur each and every day.

Dr. Seuss: Friday, was Dr. Seuss's Birthday! We celebrated in the classroom with Dr. Seuss read alouds, dress up day, snacks, and of course...art projects!!!  We made 'Thing One' from The Cat in the Hat.  The project turned out ADORABLE and I hung them in the school hallway for everyone to adore! :)

Reading: On Monday, I will be beginning Reading and I am doing the final celebration to wrap up the previous unit.  I found a super cute 'Superhero Scavenger Hunt' on pinterest and have adapted it to work for my reading unit celebration!  I am making superhero glasses for the kids to color and wear during the scavenger hunt and I can't wait to do the lesson; I think the kids will LOVE IT! <3  Pinterest  <3

Power Teaching: Last but not least, I have decided to try and incorporate some strategies of 'Power Teaching' into my classroom.  It has surprisingly went pretty well.  I just introduced some of the strategies on Friday and they are already doing pretty well with it.  I will continue with it for the duration of my placement and I will keep you posted on the results I see and successes! :)

Wishing you all a Happy and Relaxing Sunday!!! Can't wait to post after my first FULL WEEK of TEACHING!!! :)

P.S. Forgot to share this as well...Gift I got from my coop. teacher before I went to Madison for the weekend.  She knows I'm a baby on 'long' car rides and thought she would try to make it more bearable. I received a gift card for some Diet Cokes and Swedish Fish!!! :)  SO CUTE!

Leap Day!

Happy Leap Day! :)

 I wanted to post so I can always see the date on my blog! :) I will post soon with updates from my week; I will hopefully have a lot of pictures to share as well.  I have had a busy week and have done quite a few fun projects in my classroom!  I will post pictures and give details within the next few days...stay tuned!

Hibernation Pajama Day!

Today was our Hibernation Pajama Day!  It was a Blast!!!  The kiddos were so excited all day to ‘hibernate’ and do science…Mission Accomplished :)  First of all, my little first-ies were absolutely ADORABLE in their jammies!  Secondly…getting down to business.  We started by meeting in our classroom library to discuss what was all going to happen during our science lesson...aka…hibernation simulation!  Then, we became squirrels and scurried around the room to gather food to prepare for hibernation. The students scurried around the classroom searching for their ‘hibernation snack mix’ and set their snack bags on their desk for when we woke up…after hibernation, animals are hungry!!!  We then found a spot in the classroom to hibernate.  The students ‘hibernated’ while I read a story we all took our heart rate and counted our breaths per minute before and after our hibernation.  A thermometer in the classroom helped us to know when it was time to begin hibernating, as well as when to wake up from hibernation.  The students just LOVED this lesson.  We finished by gathering again (with our snacks) and talking about the life of a hibernating animal.  Students were able to understand what animals do to prepare for hibernation, when they hibernate, why they hibernate, what happens to their bodies when they hibernate (heart rate, breathing) and finally what they do when they wake up from hibernation!  The lesson was a complete success and the kids were 100% engaged!!!! :)