Day 2

Today was my second day observing as a student teacher. 

 Due to snow and inclement weather the Yorktown Central School District had a three hour delay. The school day started at 11 a.m. and there was only time for a few periods before dismissal. I arrived a little earlier than normal, and I made copies of a letter introducing myself, to the parents of the children I will be working with for the next few months. Then I spoke with Mrs. Spiridigliozi a fourth grade teacher while she corrected Daze assessments, before my cooperating teacher arrived. Once all of the students were settled, the announcements and pledge were said along with the word of the week, analyze. Every Wednesday the students receive a new word to ponder about for the week. During first period Ms. Barber and I helped out in Mrs. Stern's fifth grade class. First things first the students ate their snack and then listened to Mrs. Stern as she verbally delivered the instructions for the day. Since the students have a social studies quiz in a week, Mrs. Stern went over all of the different flow charts the students have to know and she also reviewed the different forms of government such as Democracy, Dictatorship, and Parliament. The students all seem pretty prepared for this quiz! The second part of first period was dedicated to setting up for the science fair. The students went down in groups to the gym and put their finishing touches on their projects and poster boards. Tomorrow will be the real science performance! During second period, three of Ms. Barber's special education students took part in PI. I will make it my goal to find out what PI means tomorrow. Anyway, two of the students worked on long division with Ms. Barber while I worked on fluency with the third student. 
 student I worked with is reading level M books. Today she read a book about Ichiro the Yankee baseball player because she loves reading about sports. As she read the book, I stopped her in certain places to check for comprehension. Even though she is at a low reading level, her comprehension is top of the line! In the future we will have to help her slow down when she reads and to sound words out instead of skipping them. Overall I think she did a great job. Period 3 was lunch. During this time I looked over the school's emergency plans and took notes on spelling assessments the students have taken throughout the year. Mrs. Stern even popped in for a quick visit to see how I was holding up. She also told me that another student teacher will be joining our school next door to us.

 Period 4 is dedicated to ELA with Ms. Barber. Everyday after lunch Ms. Barber turns on her mini lamp and puts on a lovely classical tune. When the students enter her room they grab their writing notebooks and take a seat on the rug. Ms. Barber starts her lesson by having each child take a deep breath and relaxing for a minute before they start working. Then when everyone is ready she gave them this writing prompt, "I am grateful for..." The only other directions the students received were that they could not be grateful for a person and they had three minutes to complete the task. When the three minutes were up, Ms. Barber asked the students if it was difficult thinking of things to be grateful for besides people. All of the students responded yes, because they are accustomed to being grateful for people. We went around in a circle and said one thing we were grateful for. These students were grateful for coats, boots, warm fire places, heat, snow, glasses, a hot breakfast, and pets. Then everyone returned to their seats to write the final draft of their thank you cards. Each week the students write a thank you card to someone in the building or a family member that has influenced them or helped them out that week. Some students wrote thank you notes to Mrs. Goodwin saying she won the best nurse ever award! Other wrote notes to their reading teachers for helping them decode, and others wrote to their parents thanking them for a new phone or shoveling the drive way. All of the students in this class are very caring and respectful individuals. Unfortunately at this time I had to leave school early in order to make it to my meeting at Mount Saint Mary on time. 

Teacher tips:

1. If a group of students enters your class out of control, send them out into the hallway and ask them to enter the room on their best behavior.
2. If you have the courage to begin, you have the endurance to finish what you started! 

Tomorrow

January 23, 2014

Thursday will mark my third day of student teaching and the beginning of the fifth grade science fair! I look forward to writing about everything that happens :) 

Quote of the day:

"Success is a state of mind. If you want success, start thinking of yourself as a success." Dr. Joyce Brothers