Rebecca Black Style

You know what I mean… “IT’S FRIIIIDAYYYY, FRIIIIDAY. GOTTA GET DOWN ON FRIIIIDAY!!”

School today was overall pretty good, pretty chill. The kids were a lot better behaved than they been so far this week, which was awesome. And today we were just finishing up projects from the week so I didn’t really even teach anything. Sweeeeet.

The only concern that I have for today is the amount of food that I am faced with at school. I have a fear now of birthdays, and that’s because I’m going to get fat because I can’t say no. Like, “It’s your birthday? Yes, I would love to help you celebrate by eating an entire pan of frosted brownies, breakfast pizza, and chocolate pie. Sure. Happs Birth!” It’s an actual problem.

And now… for your entertainment. An excerpt from a 2^nd graders journal.

“I am going to play socker tommor mourne. Tommor we have pichirs. We are going to wine. My sister plays socker to.”

You know what? Sometimes I too say to my self, “Self, tomorrow we are going to wine.” But I actually mean WINE. :) It’s nice finally being 21.

Actually tonight has been more of a chips, salsa, and margarita night. Coupled with deep cleaning with my roommates… we’re just living the dream.

Until next week…

Peace, love, and lesson plans for days,

Jayna

Friday eve- Aka Thursday

Do doo doo. Just being a teacher lady today. I feel like I have done less this week than I have in the past weeks. Does that mean that I’m ready to take over more of the classroom? (GASP!) The only things that I don’t teach are Reading and Math. Those are the two core subjects, and they take up a LOT of our day. During the morning block, we spend three hours in a literacy block. THREE. HOURS. Granted, spelling and phonics (which I already teach) take up some of that time. And the students spend time each day practicing the Daily 5/CAFÉ (teacher reading skill programs for students… don’t worry about the teaching lingo), but that is still a significant amount of time spend with reading instruction. And while I am endorsed with reading, I want to give my teacher a couple more weeks to get our small reading groups finalized.

So that means that I will most likely be taking over math next week. Math is not my favorite thing. Especially not in the private schools. The public schools recently adopted a math program that is a challenging, different way of thinking about numbers and number sense, but it kind of rocks… I worked with that program all year last year and now that’s not an option. I guess it’s time to put on my big girl panties and deal with it. I’ll let ya know how that goes next week, dear faithful readers.

And now, for your entertainment… The difference between boys and girls as told through a journal prompt. Today the prompt was, “If you could invent your dream car, what would it be like?” Drumroll please!

Girl: “My dream car would be like all blue on the outside and all rianbow in the inside with cats on the seats and sporkls. And the car had a tv in it and the car code have a bottin you code push it and it code dive by its silf.”

Boys: “I wod invent rodot car and it wod have big rocit bostrs and it wod be flowting and it wod have a TV. And I can have egg’s and a big seat and a leters and a snake and a hotdog. And it wod be named zoos.”

I don’t know what our cars of the future will look like, but maybe one of my students will design them. They have a lot of creative ideas, that’s for sure!

I’m just glad that it’s Friday eve and that the weekend is coming soon. Because it’s been the longest week ever… and collectively the 2^nd grade, teachers and students, are sick of it. DONE.

Peace, love, and EXIT signs (as in get me outta here),

Jayna

EEKK

EEKK usually represents partner reading. Elbow to elbow, knee to knee. I’ll read to you, you read to me.

But today, EEKK also stand for Endless Excitement about Killing my Kreative lesson… okay that one’s a stretch but! Guess what!! I’m so excited!! Because the Snow Spelling shaving cream lesson went really well!! And our Principal walked in during it!! And observed me being a competent, creative teacher!! And the kids were enjoying the lesson!! And they were listening!! And they were even spelling their words (mostly) correctly!! And EEKK!!!!

So, there’s that :)

Another reason for EEKK is the way that my kids acted this afternoon. HOLY WOW. They were so distracted and fidgety and straight up rude. Like blurting and fighting with each other and all sorts of annoying things. I guess that’s what I get for having good kids this morning. Too bad for them that I was tired today and NOT putting up with their crap. I made some pretty serious promises to them (promises not threats) about improving their behavior for tomorrow (or they will miss both recesses and specials. Time that they will spend writing to explain, solve problems and apologize.) More updates on how that goes tomorrow.

Thoughts on today.

Being September 11^th, naturally as Americans we remember the events that transpired 12 years ago. The terrorist attacks that launched our country into war and shocked our nation brought us together in a wave of patriotism. Today, in my second grade classroom, there was really no discussion of 9/11. Mostly because the attacks happened 4 years before my kids were even born. Our country has been involved in the Middle East and at war for the entirety of their lives. Crazy to think and reflect on how much life has changed since I sat in my 4^th grade classroom and tried to comprehend happened in NYC.

That’s all for now folks.

Until tomorrow,

Peace, love, and an overwhelming scent of Barasol,

Jayna

"How are you in college if you’re always here?"

Sometimes kids have really good questions. Note the word SOMEtimes. But often, their questions are wildly ridiculous or a complete repeat of exactly what you just said. Such is the teacher life I suppose.

Today has been the day of individual talks. Both my rockstar teacher and I have had one on one talks with various students throughout the day. It’s getting a little old honestly… and the root of the problem/reason that we need to individually address students is because they have underdeveloped listening skills (which also leads to the ridiculous, repetitive questions.) It’s a little maddening. Perhaps it’s just the lengthy Tuesday getting to me (On the real, Tuesdays take eoooons to pass. It’s. Only. Tuesday.).

So on the list of things to work on:

1.     Listening Skills

2.     Following Directions

3.     Problem Solving

I really think these are the most frustrating things about teaching at 2^nd grade level. The students are adorable, most of them still love learning, and love you, and want to try hard to impress you etc. BUT SHEESH. We will learn to listen, follow directions, and solve our own problems this year. (Thank you, thank you, thank you Mom and Dad for teaching me how to problem solve. Sorry it probably took until my junior year of college. I finally understand some of your pain.) Either we learn now, and quickly, or I’m going to have a LOT of kids in for recesses. And that’s just no fun for any of us.

#lifeskills

#pictureofawhale

#YOLO

Final Thoughts of Today (Terrible Tuesday):

The more that subjects that I take over in the classroom, the more that I learn about myself as a teacher. (Imagine that!) Anyway, I’ve already learned more about my classroom setup than I expected to learn. For example, at the beginning of the year, I’m probably going to have a LOT of blank space in my room. That way, I can fill it up with the kid’s work. Yes, some of our bulletin boards are necessary and cool, but I think it’s also necessary and super important to leave (A LOT of) room to display student work. The kids work SO HARD (usually). And I want them to have the opportunity to take pride in having their work on display. It ties into what we are studying and gives them an objective to have neat, creative work. Win, win.

Now, it’s off to night class for me (GACK. GAG. BLECK). Aaaaand then time to go prepare for my close-up in helping with a BCU COMMERCIAL.  Keep your eyes peeled for me, folks! I could soon be a movie star.

Until next time…

Peace, love, and compliments on my roommate’s clothes,

Jayna

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!!