Whistle While You Work

Snow White Style!

Hello all! Happy Monday! After a busy, social weekend (filled with LOTS of friends and fun and boys and roommate bonding and sleep and hours spent laying on my futon. All personal panic crisis averted- WIN), this student teacher is BACK and ready to roll. Kind of.

So far today we have still been dealing with some of the events that occurred late Friday afternoon. Two of our boys got into a physical altercation, which resulted in contacting parents and the principal and lost recess time (to write apology letters- MWAHAHA) today. Friday afternoon we also had a puker. (Woohoo- vomit in a hot school!) Said puker had complained about a tummy ache for most of the afternoon, but seemed okay, and truthfully, the class had a rough day. Any child faced with a spelling, STAR comprehension, and math test in the same day might start to feel “upset.” Anyway, this usually bright child had an unusually low score on her math test and asked (or at least her mother asked) to retake it. SIGH. The questions of the day became, “Do we let her retake it? Is that fair to the other students? How shall we address such MADNESS?” After conferencing, my rockstar teacher and I decided that it would be best to allow the student to retake the test and to average out the two scores. Fair and square? I hope so.

Other than dealing with leftover shenanigans from last week, this Monday has been exceptionally normal… Including another early out for heat (SCORE!). The insanity that is elementary school scheduling is really testing my ability to be flexible. Thank goodness it’s not based on physical flexibility, because I would fail (and NO, I’m NOT failing at scheduling flexibility).

Later this week, I’m planning on (hopefully) doing some fun activities to practice spelling words. But it’s a super secret…. Okay, you cracked me! I’ll spill! I want to do the write-on-your-desk-using-shaving-cream-activity J I’m excited about it, but also a little worried about how well my kids will handle it… considering we are still working on some, ahem, listening skills. Only one way to find out!

In addition to operation clean desks and practice spelling words/listening skills, I’ve got a social studies lesson on community helpers in the works. Not quite sure what it will be yet, but I’m excited to be doing something original and not out of the teacher’s basal. Those things can get reeeeaaaal boring reeeeeaaaalll fast. Just sayin’. So in search of the perfect resources, I’ve turned to two of my trusted friends: the internet, and the public library. For those of you who are too cool for reading or libraries or public or whatever, you’re missing out. That place is good stuff. Although in our public library they always look at me funny (because I have a college kid’s card… Sorry I don’t live here!). And then there’s the fact that people in this town just don’t have an overall friendly demeanor. Like no one ever waves from the car at anyone else. (Like ever.) Don’t even get me started on that one.

Questions, Comments, and Concerns to wrap up today:

• Why can’t school just be out early everyday? I LOVE this stuff.

• Why can’t I get on a normal sleep schedule? I swear it will be the death of me.

• Which one of my kids will be the next to start hugging me? I’m up to 4/17 consistently… and I love that super awkward cuteness.

• Why did one of my boys attempt to spell the word “dry” and “j-r-i-y”? Is there something wrong with my speech, or is sounding that one out especially hard?

•  Does anyone have cool ideas of what I can do with all of the “gifts” that my students bless me with? IE, today I received two colored pictures of Spongebob. Bahaha. I’m also holding onto one student’s apology letter for “brlrten” out in class. Annoying, but endearing.

• When will I finally see the whole personality of some of my kids? A few of them are so stinking shy that they are just now (after 3.5 weeks) starting to open up and be quirky.  And it is ADORABLE. Which leads me to my next comment….

•   If you’ve never spent time watching a group of kids before, do it. I promise you will not be disappointed in the entertainment value. Watch how they interact together, or (even better) watch just one specific kid in a group setting (like a playground). Okay, as I’m starting to re-read this I’m realizing that I sound semi-pedophile-y, but seriously kids are hilarious. The things that they do when they are playing and don’t realize that anyone is watching are priceless. Smiles and laughs for days.

It’s nap time for this girl before the FIRST TRACK PRACTICE OF THE YEAR. WOOOOOOO- FALL TRACK!!!!!!!!!!

Until tomorrow…

Peace, love, and BCU T&F,

Jayna

TGIF

This has been one of the longest short weeks ever (curse you full school days). I really have nothing else to say. (Insert gasps of shock and awe here!) This girl is ready for the weekend.

So TGIF.

And keep your fingers crossed that it goes well for me…. Whatever that may entail.

As a parting gift, I will share with you the two most hilarious responses that I received from asking my students to journal about the things they would like to learn in Spanish class. First, understand that most of my students responded that they would like to learn the ABCs. Which is kind of silly because it’s much like our alphabet but with different sounds and a few bonus letters (difficult and mostly unnecessary). Anyway, a couple of my boys had hysterical answers…

“I’d like to know what 2 + 24= ? in Spanish?” -Uhmmmm okay, but why? Where did that even come from?

and my absolute favorite….

“In Spanish I wont to lorn abaw waffles and the sun.” -A valiant effort on spelling, and honestly I’m impressed, you nailed the most important word (priorities). I really don’t know what I would teach about waffles… but it has potential to be awesome.

And the best part is, he is totally serious. I suppose we could maybe learn about breakfast food… YUM.

Until next week,

Peace, love, and español,

Jayna

Cherry Pie

In my classroom, we play a spelling game called Cherry Pie. Every Thursday, the kids get out of their desks, form a circle and practice their spelling words.  My rockstar teacher says a word, the first student repeats the word, then each following student spells a letter of the word until the word is finished… then to end the word, the next student says “Cherry Pie.” For example, the word success would sound like this.

Rockstar teacher, “Successful.”

Students, “Success.” “S” “U” “C” “C” “E” “S” “S” “F” “U” “L” “L” “Cherry Pie.”

And “successful” is exactly the word I would use to describe my observed lesson today!!!! Woooooohoooooo!!!! I received lots of positive feedback from my student teaching advisor including: good management and transitions, managed time well, prepared and used real pictures, repeated vocab often, materials ready, enthusiasm and confidence. CHA LA HOMIES, THAT IS WHAT I’M TALKING ABOUT. Haha maybe not the most professional expression of my excitement, but holy wow, you have no idea. I can actually do this.

Bonus things for today.

One first grader asked me, “Hey, are you 29?” “No.” “18?”

And another asked, “Did you know me when I was five?” “Uhhhhh… no.”

Also, one of my students stayed in from recess today and wrote me an apology letter for “blrdting” (blurting). So. Stinking. Cute.

Until tomorrow,

Peace, love, and personal panic attacks,

Jayna

Ps- SORRY THAT THIS POST IS SO LATE MOM AND DAD!!

Alive, Awake, Alert, and Enthusiastic!

Scratch the alert and enthusiastic. College life + student teaching = no sleep. If I have to be up in front of the class, I’m alert and enthusiastic and my normal over-the-top-self. But if not, holy wow I am mentally exhausted. And being mentally tired is frustrating because I’m typically used to be physically tired. Physically I feel like I could run for days, but mentally I am in my bed by 7 pm. But I suppose that this is just an adjustment phase. I’m going to be tired, but I’m going to be used to it. The other part of student teaching that’s finally setting in is that this is real life. Like, this is really happening. I’m going to be here all day, everyday, all semester long. And then I’m going to be doing this for the rest of my career. (alright, that part doesn’t really bother me.) The part about being a college kid and a teacher at the same time does. All I want to do is socialize and procrastinate and live the college-kid dream…

Kids, don’t grow up. It’s a trap.

Bonus things!

•         One of my kids got hit in the eye while playing soccer yesterday. Today his eye is purple and literally swollen shut. He totally milked his injury and got out of wearing his glasses…  which he hates. Hmm. I see you working, kid.
•         I have had a lot more hugs from kids lately! It’s those quiet ones who sneak up on ya. They are just so stinking cute.
•         I’ve adopted a new punishment tactic/consequence. My kids write apology letters when they owe me time for recess. I love that they have to take ownership of their mistakes, apologize, plan how to fix their problem next time, and write a formal letter. They hate writing and missing recess. Genius? I think so.
•         To spice up my observed religion lesson for tomorrow, I asked my students to bring in personal photos from their baptisms. I have taken some of these pictures and incorporated them into a bulletin board (My very first one!) and plan on using the pictures (which were hung without sticky-tack, staple or push pin holes) during my lesson tomorrow. Making personal connections and a prettier classroom. Gosh, it’s like I went to college to get good at this… Weird.

Peace, love, and extra shots of espresso,

Jayna

A Bad Case of the… Tuesdays?

 Hello again blogger world! I missed you! Hopefully ya’ll had a fabulous Labor Day… it’s debatably my new favorite holiday. Believe it or not, I actually had a relaxing weekend. I spent some good time at school and lots of time at home with my momma (on a rollerblading/biking adventure), with my sistahs, and my daddy. It was nice to do nothing! Now back to the real world…

And the real world is TIRED.  Try as I may, college always gets the best of me when it comes to bedtime. For example, last night I planned to drive back to school, do a little lesson planning, and go to bed. But in reality I drove back to school, chatted with my roommate and her boyfriend (so spicy!), went to Glofest (a gathering of BCUers filled with music, food, glow sticks, and yard games), and stayed late up telling stories and shooting the breeze with my friends. Gahh. I will keep attempting to sleep more… but until then, Starbucks vanilla doubleshot energy drinks will be my best friend. YUM.

I’m going to need that caffeine to figure out what the heck I’m doing with my teaching! The subject I’m picking up this week is… drum-roll please… social studies! Social studies is stressing me out. It’s a tricky subject really, especially in 2^nd grade. Because truthfully, the school system and state standards do not really care about social studies. Insert surprised gasps here! But it’s true. The standards for social studies are vague and time allotted for teaching social studies is sparse (because all of our time- and I do mean ALL of it) is spent stressing reading and math. While reading and math are vitally important subjects, the time spent in reading groups and doing math drills has pushed social studies and science almost completely out of the curriculum. While students do learn a lot about social studies in the lower elementary grades by interacting with each other, I do think that there should be more time spent teaching social studies… but then it becomes a question of WHAT to teach. 2^nd grade spends a lot of time learning about their community, so I’m hoping to teach this week about community helpers. I’m just hoping that through late night brainstorming and excessive amounts of caffeine, I’ll have some sort of epiphany or revelation for a kick butt lesson plan.

Speaking of kick butt lesson plans, I’m currently working on one to impress my student teaching advisor. She is coming to observe me during my religion lesson on Thursday. That being said, this lesson plan has to be even more bright, shiny, and sparkly than most. It also has to be written down… correctly… and detailed… in the BCU lesson plan format. Gahhhhhh. That stinking thing sucks the life outta me every time. Also in the works is a fun Fiesta Friday activity on the Spanish days of the week and based around a listening activity. Hopefully I’ll be able to keep my space cadets LISTENING and involved!! Time to get planning!

Finally, to answer my Dad’s question, “What funny happened at school today?”

Today, one of my kids brought in his WWE wrestler dolls for show and tell. He proceeded to tell the class all about the Smackdown, John Cena, the Undertaker, and how each of them aren’t reeeeaallly wrestlers, just acting, but they are all pretty good. Also, he is a wrestler, but a real one.

So. Stinking. Cute.

Until next time…

Peace, love, and a slow death by lesson planning,

Jayna

Just A Blogging Fool- Friday Edition!

Today I’ll keep it short and sweet…

Questions, comments, and concerns from the back of the class.

Question: What is it going to be like to have actual full days of school next week?

This week, although hot, hot, hot has been incredibly nice. Early outs are inconvenient for learning purposes, but oh so convenient for busy college students and/or crabby teachers. I had better start catching up on sleep this weekend because I’m sure that next week (with a normal 8:15- 3:15 school days) is going to seem eons long.

Comment: There is a very fine line between evaluating and judging.

*Disclaimer* There are two boys in my class with very similar names! Today while grading spelling papers, I noticed and commented to my rockstar teacher (she’s back today!!) that one of our students simply has NOT done very well on his spelling. I thought to myself, “self, this boy has had two weeks of bad spelling tests in a row. This boy is not trying. He does not listen in class, he must not have practiced at home, his spelling is simply not going well and it should be.” Later, I noticed that it was not in fact the same boy who had done so badly on his spelling, but rather the other boy with a similar name. And then it occurred to me, that I had not been evaluating papers for just correctness, but I had also been wrongly judging my students. (Ouch.) I am not a perfect person, nor do I pretend to be. Honestly, I felt guilty about my mistake (even though no one really knew about it.) My job as a teacher is to instruct, aid, correct, and encourage my students (sculpting minds-duh). Not to judge them. It’s an important thing to remember.

Concern- This weekend! It’s a three day-er!! Yippee!!! I’m excited to feel like I have a life outside of school again! Plans for this weekend include sleeping (such a tired little teacher lady), watching my little sister cheer for her first college football game (so proud of you sissy :)), going out with my volleyball friends while they have a free Saturday night, going home to cuddle my littlest sister (DINGUS!), visiting with my parents and family (HI MOM AND DAD!! I know you both read this often!!), planning for next week of teaching (I’m picking up Social Studies in addition to Religion, Journaling, and Spanish), and hopefully… wait for it… relaxing. For those of you who know me, it’s much easier said than done! Wish me luck!

Until next week…

Peace, love, and 12 weeks to go,

Jayna

Just Keep Swimming, Swimming, Swimming...

…What do we do? We swim! LA LA-LA L A LA! I love to swiiiiiiiim! Just a little Finding Nemo fun today! The good news is that it’s totally relevant! In this sink or swim day without my rockstar teacher, I feel comparative to Michael Phelps. Things are going just swimmingly! My substitute teacher is awesome, the kids have been well behaved, and even though it’s an early out day, I feel that we have gotten a lot done… and I taught it. (HOW COOL IS THAT?!) Like I feel like I can really do this. Maybe, for real sometime. Teacher lady status.

And today…. That’s about it. Just feeling slightly sweaty (as the hot, hot, heat persists) and very accomplished. And tomorrow is FRIDAY with another early out! Plus Labor Day means Sunday-funday, no-school-Monday!! I can’t wait!

Peace, love, bubbles, and clinical strength deodorant,

Jayna