Thursday, October 3, 2013

A Peculiar Day Indeed


Today is a rather peculiar day… Who am I kidding, every day is peculiar in an elementary school. ;) First of all, it’s a jeans day! As a reward for a school fundraiser, most of my kids get a free dress day and the teachers also get a jeans day. It’s pretty cool actually. I love seeing what the kids wear when they’re out of uniforms. Even the type of jeans they wear shows a lot about their personalities. Also, jeans day is highly convenient because I maybe sorta slept in 13 minutes past my alarm today and woke up to my roommate’s alarm (love you Monica, yous a lifesaver!).

Nextly (new word, second grade level), one of my trouble-makers is gone from school today. Another student left early for a Dr’s appointment. That takes my already small class down to only 15 students, as relieves me of the biggest class distracters. It’s been weird, but a nice break.

The third weird thing about today is that we have been doing an abnormal amount of reading. This is partly because of our preparation for Grandparent’s Day (tomorrow). The kids have spent time making bookmarks and pictures and writing about things they love about their grandparents. Another reason is because my rockstar teacher is introducing another online form of assessment to the students. My students take a star reading test, and today they are practicing a new AR test. The AR test tests their comprehension in reading through asking questions about details in books. It’s kind of cool, although I’ve never seen it done in another SC school.

All in all, it’s mostly a peculiar day because I haven’t had to teach much. And considering that next week I should have the whole classroom, sitting back for so much of the day is weird. But I do get a lot done. Like correcting our journals today… I even had time to jot some good ones down for ya’ll ;)

Today’s prompt was to write about what might happen if you spent a whole day walking backwards.

“If I spent a whole day walking backwards I would barf. A then I would get raely disy a then I would keep on throwing up. A then I would fall down a then I couldnt do anything walking backwards and it would be raely raely boring and I mean super super boring and that would be hard and I bet I could not do it and I cant even walk forward for a whole day my legs would get raly tiered and I would be sweting and that would be hard to get a drink and to eat and you cant sit down.”

“If I spent a hole day walking backwards it might be like. I would invete these gogles so I could see behide me. Then I would get stuff to eat by open the frige with a toy I would hold behind me. The when I come to school I would not bring the gogles that I invetid I would look behide me. And that is what it might be like if I spent a hole day walking backward!”

One of my students asked for the word “somebody.” He had already written some, so I was explaining that somebody is a compound word. I asked him how to spell “body.” And he looked at me like I was crazy and said, “No. I want ‘somebuddy’.” In his head, that’s how the word sounds and how it should be written. Hilarious. These little guys never fail to amuse me. And they are starting to impress me with their writing.

Final Funny of the day.
This morning, a pair of mystery panties was found in the girl’s restroom. UHM, YES. So, none of us are really sure which girl was avoiding getting her panties in a bunch or perhaps ran into a real panty dropper, but the teachers had a good long laugh about it. My bets are on one of the Kindergarten teachers. Elementary school is weird. (and I love it.)

Until tomorrow,
Peace, love, and mystery panties,
Jayna

Wednesday, October 2, 2013

“What a Blessing”


Is it too late to change my major? Holy moly rocky, please say no. I’m glad that I chose to brag in my blog yesterday because today was definitely not a day to brag about. Math was rough. ROUGH. And it was really one of the only things I taught today (because of our weird schedules in preparation for Grandparents day). I literally just want to bang my head against a wall. There were too many directions, too many kids in all stages of understanding and not understanding and wanting to tell me stories, and circling random numbers and forgetting their simple addition facts and being so oblivious to patterns that I can’t handle it. It was like trying to give one-on-one help to all 17 kids at once. And here’s what my teacher had to say, “what a blessing.” RIGHT. They are, and days like this are. They are learning days. And learning days are downright painful.  (Although on the bright side, one student today said, “I’m getting the hang of this!” He was so proud that he was understanding math. Adorable.)

Crap. I need a drink. And a nap. And a cuddle buddy. Someone help me out here!

Maybe I will have one tonight (all of the above. Maybe a roommate will volunteer to cuddle). But! I also!!! Have plans!!! Because tonight BCU hosts Mside in volleyball. Even though I don’t play anymore, I can’t wait to stop those stinking mustangs back into the ground where they belong (do I sound bitter or competitive?). I don’t think the animosity that I feel for them will ever diminish. Not one bit. Plus I have grown to HATE the color maroon, from high school and college.

Time to be done ranting. Back to being an exhausted student teacher and college athlete. It should be a fun running work out today (NOT).

Until tomorrow,
Peace, love, and BCUVB,
Jayna

Ps- I'm not actually changing my major. Just so that's clear ;)

Pps- One of the 2nd graders in the other class called another kid "buttcheeks" today. So inappropriate, but I DIED LAUGHING.

Tuesday, October 1, 2013

Flying By The Seat Of My Pants

Like at all times. And (surprisingly) it's going really, REALLY well. Today was a perfect example. I realized last night that I was super underprepared for my lessons today. I had mapped out what I planned on doing this week (last Thursday- eek!), but I also failed to bring home any of my manuals to refresh my memory. So after 5 days, I stepped back into the classroom (okay, trudged. I'm still so, SO tired). I put on some untired eyes, a peppy smile and made it through an abnormal morning filled with unscheduled practices and teacher flexibility. And I was okay with that.

Until my professor showed up unannounced (SURPRISE!) to observe my math lesson. Sweeeeeeet. At the time, I was sitting in the computer lab, overseeing my kid's free time and prepping a social studies test (you bet I'm writing it!). And suddenly, I see my professor walk by, double take and come back. And I'm thinking... Oh crap. Please don't ask for a formal lesson plan, please don't ask for a formal lesson plan, please don't ask for any form of lesson plan!! After returning from the computer lab, I began my lesson on fact families. Literally all I had prepared was a sticky note with an intro (conveniently located in the teacher's manual) and my handy objective written on the board from last Thursday. Boom. Let's do it.

Here are the "went well" comments
"1) enthusiastic 2) lesson pace very good 3) gives specific directions & expectations 4) guides practice 5) knows content & uses academic language 6) children understand fact families! Awesome job"

Heck yeah!! I'm sorry for bragging, but I'm just really excited that this whole future career/student teaching thing is going super well.

In other news, here are some questions from the back of the class...

  • What the heck is going on with the government? Why are we closed? Since my roommate Kat graduated and left me for the west coast again (seriously, can someone please just squish the map up between here and there?!) I am so lost. Politics are not my thing. Neither is government. I'm lost. 
  • How am I still functioning on so little sleep? I feel like this shouldn't be a thing. Maybe it's a side effect from living with Grace this summer. (Grace I hope you read this and know why.)
  • Who invented high heels and why did it feel like a good idea to wear mine all of Saturday night? OUCH. 
  • How awesome is spring semester gonna be when all I'm doing is running track and finishing up regular college classes? (HINT: it's gonna be GLORIOUS.)
  • When will I actually start studying for the Praxis II? Why do we even have to take that stupid thing? Who cares about pedagogy? WHYYYY??
That's all for now folks,
Peace, love, and Adam Levine, 
Jayna

Ps- I'm watching The Voice... Adam Levine and Blake Shelton. Best Show Ever. 

Monday, September 30, 2013

Running on 4...

As in 4 hours. Of sleep. BAD IDEA. Although this weekend was so fun (my last homecoming was definitely one to remember!), I was definitely not well rested for today's Diocesan Ministry teacher's conference adventure. We left at... wait for it.... 5:45! (As in AM. Like the morning) Woo!

The conference went well, and the keynote speaker was really entertaining and had a great message. After 12 hours of attempting to be an official teacher lady, I am pooped. Off to bed for this girl! But as another parting gift, I shall leave you with a few photos from the actual homecoming game! Which we won! (I figure that pictures are worth a thousand words, and I don't really have the motivation to write any more words today. Genius.)

Baby Dingus came to cheer on the Chargaz :) 

Momma and Daddy came up too! 

Shaughn let me pose as the king. Apparently I wasn't very convincing!

 A quick royalty pic before being announced at halftime. I'm not saying that I cartwheeled my way out to the 50 yard line, but I'm not denying it either!

 "We came for the applause"

These are two of my favorite underclassmen :) Morgan and Paige are great friends! 

It was national pose as a Charger day! Just kidding, but I dressed these two up and took them with me anyway :) 

Bonus picture! I found one of my friends, a BCU grad and now employed teacher, at the conference! I swear he's not always a dingus :) 

That's all for now folks!

Peace, love, and early bedtimes, 
Jayna

Friday, September 27, 2013

The Art of The Keyboard


As I have previously mentioned, my rockstar teacher is notable for the power of her emails. Truly, she has mastered the art of the keyboard. And that talent has for sure come in handy lately. Conferences have been unusual this week (according to my teacher, parents usually aren’t like this). It seems as though we have an atypical of STUBBORN parents. One particular mother and another particular father seem to be on the warpath. Because clearly (according to them), we simply do not understand their children. We are not reaching out and differentiating in appropriate ways. There are different sides to every story and we are not getting “the correct” story. Generally, by politely and appropriately telling parents what we have noticed and observed, where we have seen progress and seen struggles, and our future expectations, my rockstar teacher and I have been appreciated and well received. I suppose someone needs to stir the pot and be a stinker about conferences. It’s good experience, just unusual and annoying. And (joy, joy) one of those parents has also been complaining to the principal and other faculty. CALM DOWN, lady.

However, whereas some parents seem a little obsessive and loony about how their children are NOT successful, it is comforting to also see parents who agree with our observations. Parents who, instead of becoming upset, become our allies. Because in reality, we are (or should be) all on the same team here. The focus should be on the student and not on one or two incidents or complaints that are blown out of proportion. The student should be the priority.  Teachers and parents need to be working together for the betterment of the child despite the individual obstacles that each child faces. Thank goodness we already have many parent allies.

In other news… this post was originally intended for yesterday, however I got busy with Coronation activities after school and didn’t have time to post it! So here is the low down on coronation (because I know you’re all dying to know!). Coronation was a fun time! My momma and grandparents came down to support, and a lot of the students came out too! But, there was one important student who wasn’t in attendance- my escort and one of the candidates for king! He is a captain of the football team and had a mandatory practice, so he was not at coronation! Although I’m going to give him a hard time, his commitment to football is admirable. :) Instead I got to awkwardly form a three-some couple with two other candidates. After showing a senior slideshow (gahhh, we are SENIORS), they announced us all up to stage and then revealed that my good friends Shaughn and Grace were our new king and queen! I’m very happy for my ex-roommate and bonus roommate (Shaughn pretty much lives in the 205!). All in all, it was a great experience and a fun night.

To wrap up today’s posts, here are some sneak peak photos into the past week! 

Homecoming Court 2013. Such a great group of friends!

My escort, at least for the Pep Rally!

Runners up with the King and Queenie :) 

We're not really a serious group. 

These two have always been some of my biggest supporters!

...And here is a picture of my classroom objectives board! It's not all fun and games, people! 

Now I'm off to celebrate my day off from school... by working on school things! It will all pay off when I'm able to celebrate and dance them night away tomorrow night! 

Until Monday... 
Peace, love, and formal occasions, 
Jayna

Ps- if you click on the photos they will enlarge so you can see them better and flip though all 6!!

Wednesday, September 25, 2013

A Day to Live in Infamy

That’s right folks, take note of this day. I said no to a doughnut. YOU HEARD IT HERE!! Amongst a teachers lounge filled with three boxes of birthday doughnuts, I SAID NO (thank you, of course). Making healthy(ish) life decisions, you bet… for now anyway.

In other news, it is school picture day! Today, my kids get to wear their own choice of clothes, which is adorable. They are very dressed up in clip on ties and bows and sweaters and dresses and plaid and stripes and collars and all.

In addition to the dressed up cuteness that I’m unable to fully illustrate to you all, here is the heart melting, smile-cracking journal entry that I promised (and actually remembered!). 

“My favorit Wild animal is bigfoot. Because the tv show and the beef jerky camurshl. And on one they found bigfoot and the people always make noises to see if they repli back and the pepole wher night vison gogals and they have this thing that tells them wher bigfoot is.”

Kids these days. Although our society can be backwards and ugly and wrong, there is something about the innocence of children that is still truly humbling. That is one thing that I really like about my (future) job. Even if those humbling little angels sometimes drive me bonkers.  

Tomorrow will be a day filled with parents, conferences, lesson planning, and coronation festivities! I can’t wait!

Until then…
Peace, love, and afternoon cookies (guilty!),
Jayna

^ that's me!!! 

Tuesday, September 24, 2013

PSL Round Two


 As you might have guessed by the title of this blog (predicting… it’s a big second grade reading skill!), I enjoyed another pumpkin spice latte this morning. But this one was significantly different (and a little less delicious). I find that my days (yesterday and today) have been comparable to the quality of my pumpkin spice lattes. Today was a little less delicious and a lot different than yesterday.

This morning I overslept my alarm. YEP, IT HAPPENED. That thing that all functioning adults fear. I clearly remember setting two alarms last night, however it was my roommate’s alarm that woke me up at 7 am. (S/o to Monica! You saved my whole life, seriously!) Now, understand that after sleeping in (so nice), I only had 25 minutes to get completely ready for school. I’m talking shower, makeup, hair, breakfast, the whole 9 yards (not so nice). I have no idea how, but I pulled it off. MAGIC. I was all done up and looking like a real teacher lady in 23 minutes flat. Act like you’re not impressed. I even impressed myself.

Let’s fast forward to school. Today our whole school (PreK-2) went on a field trip to our rival college (do I sound bitter?) to watch a play. The play was Little Red Riding Hood. It was cute, and the kids really enjoyed it, but holy wow that theater was MADNESS. It was packed with classes from PreK-4th grade. At some points the audience involvement got completely out of control. It was like the PreK kids thought the play was an episode of Dora The Explorer and they had to awkwardly shout out all the answers (HE’S THE BIG BAD WOLF!!) Cute at first, but mostly just annoying. And it seemed that some of the teachers had absolutely no control of their classes, and that kind of management does not fly with me. I’d rather be a strict teacher with tough classroom management and her sanity than work any other way.

After the play this morning, our whole day was weird because it was not a normal schedule. Luckily, the time flew by. However, I told you (for some unknown reason) it was just a strange day. I was in a very weird mood. There are points (I assume in everyone’s lives, but especially in mine) where I just can’t. I can’t. It’s not really that I crack, or have a major public meltdown or anything, but I just get upset and worked up about all the stupid little things that compound into a huge to-do list/mess. Being over involved and under-rested leaves me busy and annoyed and generally frustrated with all aspects of my life. So today was one of those days.

Fortunately, it was nothing that a phone call from my dad and a good workout couldn’t fix. I even got a follow up phone call from daddy just to say, “Hey, I thought I’d call and check if you still need to be on a suicide watch.” Ha! It really wasn’t that bad, but if you know me and the girls in my family, you know that days like this in life are generally dramatic. Fortunately they are happening less and less. Except maybe not for my sister Baby Dingus, she’s just starting those years. (Hiiiiighschoooool.)

And now, for your entertainment, more samples of my student work (straight from their daily journals). This is the stuff that never fails to make me smile. I hope it will make you smile too.

Today’s journal prompt was, “Write at least 3 sentences about a wild animal that you would like to have as a pet.”

“I want a lizard. I would play with him. I would name him lethrhed. We would have fun! I would feed him. I like his name.” (Usually it’s like pulling teeth to get this particular student writing, but he has one heck of a creative bone, so I was glad to hear about the lizard. Even though I could never say that name.)

“I would have a bear. I do not know what to feed her. I do not know what to call it.” (Well, it looks like you don’t know much except for the fact that you want a female momma bear as a pet. Not so sure about that one. That might work out, but mayyyybe not.)

“I would like a raccoon. I would like a snakes. A tiger to that has a loge tale. a walres I say!” (I say go for it, I say. So cute.)

There were also two HILARIOUS entries about big foot that I dare not attempt to replicate because I could NOT do them justice. I’m so sorry that I forgot them!! Maybe I will remember to include them tomorrow… no promises though (I’m a scatter-brained almost teacher lady)!

Well, it’s looking a lot like bedtime to me.

Until tomorrow…
Peace, love, and pet walruses,
Jayna