Welcome to my teaching blog! I am an SEI teacher for kindergarten and 1st grade students, and this is my 3rd year of teaching in my own classroom. Every day is a new adventure, and there's never a dull moment! Please consider following my blog. :)


Monday, April 30, 2012

Monday

Notes:

  • Learning Walk is tomorrow...SUPER SCARED.
  • Formal evaluation next Tuesday...SUPER SCARED.
  • dandelions shoved in my face all during recess...I've created monsters!
  • MATSOL conference on Friday...not that amped...

Saturday, April 28, 2012

Thursday/Friday

Notes:

  • a 4th-grade student's mother passed away yesterday, and I can't even imagine the heartbreak his family is going through right now :(  
  • last new hire meeting was Thurs. afternoon-- 2 surveys about my mentors
  • email went out about final formal observations...too bad I never had my 3rd one either! ugh
  • read Eric Carle's Little Cloud book, and the kids loved it...we went outside to see which shapes we saw in the clouds as well as made our own shapes with my crazy glue/shaving cream concoction and cotton balls...some came out so cute! :) 

Photos:

giraffe and butterly

bird, purse, rainbow, heart

Wednesday

Notes:

  • So APPARENTLY, my students saw dandelion weeds all over the field outside at recess, and they were picking so many of the weeds and making wishes on them!  SO CUTE!  My para said that they made so many wishes, and then one student H brought me 2 dandelion weeds so that I "could make wishes too."  My heart just melted!  It was so cute!  They were so excited and obvi I had to make a wish.
  • Cat 2 training after school..next will be May 30th! last one :)

Tuesday, April 24, 2012

Tuesday

Notes:

  • "I Wish" poems came out sooooo cute!!! Found a Pinterest idea for writing wish poems and using a black back drop with grayscale photos of the students blowing dandelion seeds...soooo cute!!!! :) Lots of compliments on them :)
  • assembly this morning with a cello player..most of my students loved it-- a few were probably wondering why they had to sit in the front row (as they were covering their ears-- rude!)
  • very cute Guided Reading today with 2 of my DRA 4's...they were taking turns on page reading and really helping each other out with strategies and cues-- authentic moment! :)
  • confused about next year!... and nervous about my final informal and formal observations this year...
  • 37 school days left :)

Photos:

Monday, April 23, 2012

Monday--and back at it

Today wasn't too bad for the first day back after April vaca!

Notes:

  • ESL went well-- glad to know when kids are totally lost
  • began Laura Numeroff stories to reinforce cause and effect with the first-graders...they loved the silly cat in If You Give a Cat a Cupcake...new story tmrw...
  • longgg day today with staff meeting until 5:10pm and K Math Night set-up, event, and clean-up until 7:45pm = I'm in my jammies right now ready for dinner and bed
  • 2 of my kids showed up for K math night-- I was so proud of them and their parents!!! yayy!! :) It's so fun working with them outside of the classroom
  • Forgot to send myself the pics for my dandelion/ "I Wish" display-- ughhh

Photos:
wind socks from before vaca!  display cause and effects of the wind (1st grade) as well as favorite seasons (kindergarten)

one student said they looked like jellyfish-- haha!

Saturday, April 14, 2012

Wed - Fri

Super lazy = 3 days in one!

Notes:
  • kids were crazy this week-- of course! because it was the week before vaca!
  • last day for my little friend L yesterday...super sad :( Made her a yearbook where all her friends wrote her a message/picture for her before she left...and put a bunch of photos from the year in it-- she loved it.  gonna miss that freshy!
  • took so many photos of my kids this week-- not even a joke.  wish i could post all of them!!

Photos:


Tuesday, April 10, 2012

Tuesday

Notes:

  • fire safety presentation by Mr. Firefighter today...the kids l-o-v-e-d it, but an hour long was quite a long time for 5-7 year olds to sit tight!  They each got to practice "stop, drop, and roll" as well as wear the fire jacket and helmet, though. :)
  • began quilt making today
  • excited to see if the students understand my inferencing song that I found...
  • another teacher turned off my student's affective filter today...grrr!
  • crazy last half hour of the day! blahh
  • kindergarten math test went okay...1 100% :)

Monday, April 9, 2012

Monday Monday

Notes:
  • I passed my ESL MTEL. what whattt
  • my mentor got me a DD certificate for passing my test-- how sweet! :)
  • forgot about Red Sox spirit day today because of the weekend chaos...oops!  Oh well, made headbands with the kids today for the Wally assembly in the afternoon
  • interesting pre-tests today for kindergarten HF tests...
  • my principal asked me if I would prefer having bathrooms in my room next year to being near K colleagues...hmmmmmmm...
  • 4 more days until April vacation!

Friday, April 6, 2012

Thursday

Notes:
  • all day math DSAC course today from 8 to 3:30pm...
  • Was able to sneak back to school early and saw the kids for 5 minutes before they were dismissed-- they were so excited and shared their sp 100s and pictures drawn from the day
  • The sub said that she liked being in my classroom and that's always nice to hear :)
  • stayed until 6:40pm after school getting ready for next week (aka the week before vacation)...gotta get it done!
  • holla holla, long weekend! :) :)

Wednesday

Notes:
  • whirlwind day again...great lessons in math today though...the kids did really well with the extended responses of partners and totals.  Using the individual whiteboards as tools really worked out today!  
  • 4 students went home -- fevers and dr appts...eek!  Something is brewing in Room 24...
  • was 20 minutes late for my category training today b/c I was setting up sub plans for my all day PD tomorrow..I hate being out!

Tuesday, April 3, 2012

...

Notes:
  • Just typed in "Thursday" as my title post...SURPRISE-- it's not.  bummer!! because then my long weekend would have started!! uggg-glug-glug
  • Learning Walk today was really nice...I enjoyed seeing how another classroom was set up and how reading groups worked at the 3rd grade level
  • interesting to come back to the classroom and not be in full teaching mode during ESL time since my para had things under control
  • crazy class-work being done during my preps and lunch time today
  • my girl L read up to a level C today!! to think that 2 months ago, reading an A level was hard for her-- you go, girl. :)  Thinking of guided reading activities for that group of "C"s and it is super exciting for me!! Just wish I had more time in the day to work with the kids on that...
  • had to postpone the kindergarten math test today because they are nuts, and I could tell their mindsets were out of whack.
  • our silly sentences for April Fool's inspired Dogs Don't Wear Sneakers turned out a little better this afternoon when I showed them my sample one
  • the reading specialist said that she was super impressed with my kids and told the principal--then she said that the principal thinks that I have a really great learning environment-- :) :) that's so nice.
  • K screening for next year began yesterday...wonder what's going to happen...
  • Math PD all day on Thursday; so tomorrow is almost like a Friday I suppose...minus jeans

Monday, April 2, 2012

Today

Notes:
  • I am getting super lazy from blogging because I just finished a humungo assignment for my grad class and I'm pooped.
  • Pretty good day today, and all my dears stayed on green! woop woop
  • The kids are infatuated with the Rubik's cube that I bought...solver gets to go in the prize box! haha
  • forgot to mention that 2 of my kiddos read higher than I thought they would on the DRA...guess I'm 3 for 3 with those...
  • Finished my egg display on the door...not too shabby for a quick deco
  • Read Dogs Don't Wear Sneakers by Laura Numeroff, and the kids thought it was so funny.  I'm trying to have them make their own class book version, but the creative juices weren't flowing today for them.  I made a model after school; so maybe we'll have some better products tomorrow...

Photos:

 
 
"I am a good egg because I share my stickers with my brothers."

"I am a good egg because I am a good friend.  I share with my friends.  I read and share books."

Friday

Notes:
  • Back to normal with my para back, and the kids were so much better behaved.  They just hate leaving the routine alone...gosh darn it, I've created monsters!!
  • We read Last One In is a Rotten Egg, which was suggested by another blogger.  Then, I made egg templates, and we brainstormed what "good eggs" do...this is as Easter-y as I'm going to get this week! :) pictures coming soon... 
  • started Reading Buddies today with the long-term 4th grade sub's class...super cute, I love the idea of it!  Hope the kids build friendships :)

Thursday

Notes:
  • Day 2 of my para being out-- had a sub that I've had before and she's awesome.  However, I feel like having a sub is like having an extra student because you constantly have to give directions and point things out.  SUPER exhausted...went to bed at 8:30 and was passed out by 9pm.  womp womp

Wednesday

Notes:
  • My para was out all day today because of that stomach bug-- cuh-ray-zee day!!!
  • Last minute sub...still crazy.
  • Plum exhausted!