But Really, The Worst Blogger Ever

… okay, I know I’m really not the worst blogger ever, but I’ve been pretty stinking bad this week. It has been a very crazy, busy week. Track practices have finally picked up which is very exciting, but also highly inconvenient. Our practice time is usually at 3:30 or 4:15. I can’t leave school until 3:45 and I usually need to stay behind so that I can be prepared and planned out for upcoming lessons. I’ve also been attempting to have a social life (ehhh), and have been an avid Charger cheerleader in the final matches of volleyball season and for upcoming wrestling season. (I can’t wait for wrestling!!) (And basketball too :))

Okay, anyway I really have been making an effort the past few days to get the blog up. Here’s the proof…. The drafts of Wednesday and Thursday’s blogs. I had even started on today’s already!

Wednesday:

Our journal prompt today was to write about your favorite book. Here are blurbs from two of my favorite writers, Breakfast Boy and The Ranter.

“My favorite boob is Green Eggs an Ham. It is funy. I wont to eat Greer eggs. Sam I am is funy!”

“My favorite book is Click Clack moo Cows that tpye. I dont know how cows know how too spell and tpye? It was funny when they wrote a letter too farmer brown. Saying were closed no milk too day and it said to eggs too.”

Thursday:

HAPPY WEEN!

“Halloween is the funest holiday because you get to where costume’s and you get candy!”

My kids are so stinking sugared up. Good thing we didn’t plan on learning much today!

Friday:

Apos’trophe’s

This week we have been learning about apostrophes. Apostrophes are a hard concept for second graders so we have spent a lot of time talking about ownership, singular words and plural words. (We have not addressed contractions yet.) The kids are catching on, but there has also been a hilarious amount of apostrophe abuse in our journals.

Despite how crazy these kids can make me…. I do love second grade.

Here’s what else happened today…

We had to do the mass today for All Saint’s Day. The kids did an awesome job of reading and singing and participating, but especially reading. There were some hard words like Solemnity, extraordinary, and surprisingly enough Lamb and pure were tricky for them to spit out. But they practiced and made me very proud today :)

The cutest faithful journal ever…

“I contit wate for November 1^st it is all saints day we have mass saints day is very fun. Some days’ are fun like Halloween and crismis so is sanse day to! Saints day is all abawt all the saints that follow Gods 3 cmandmits. Saints are holle pepolle in the world and they blev in God.”

Also, one of my students (Breakfast Boy) has been journaling about a pet lizard that he got for his birthday. Today, Breakfast Boy (who sits in the front row) quietly gets my attention and says, “Miss Specht, I have to tell you something.” Then he proceeds to tell me, “We found out that my lizard’s not a boy; it’s a girl.” I asked how he found out and he replied, “She had babies.” So now instead of one birthday lizard, my Breakfast Boy has 7. When I asked, he said that they were keeping them for now and that he changed the lizard’s name to Mrs. Leatherhead.

It’s so hard not to laugh out loud sometimes. It was impossible when he told me that the new name was Mrs. Leatherhead.

So! I have exciting news! Next week is my last full week! Of teaching absolutely everything! So that we be really cool! Also kind of sad. It’s crazy how fast this semester has gone by!

Speaking of almost being done, I am almost (almost) done with all of my Praxis testing. I take the last part of the test tomorrow morning at 8. Say a prayer for me please!

Until Monday,

Peace, love, and surprise sex changes,

Jayna

I'm the Worst Blogger Ever.

More to come tomorrow...
and I promise that it won't suck!

Peace, love, and rainchecks,
Jayna

The Longest Day of the Week

I’m so sorry my loyal bloggers! Tuesdays are the longest days of the week. Not really because of school because we do have music and 45 minutes of library and computer. But no, after school is what makes things impossibly long. Our student teaching night class is held on Tuesday nights from 4:30 to 5:30, which means that I miss practice. So after class, I get to go lift solo (with another team). Today that team was boys basketball. I love their sound track, but it’s hard to lift with all of them around, plus I don’t want to show them off by out lifting some ;). Kidding! (Mostly.) Anyway after working out I took a nice nap and then headed to the NFC for wrestle offs. (I love wrestling.) In all the crazy, I totally (almost) forgot to blog! Luckily I had already written down a few funny journal entries from today. The kids were supposed to write about their favorite book… here is the aftermath from two of my favorite writers, Breakfast Boy and The Ranter.

“My favorite boob is Green Eggs an Ham. It is funy. I wont to eat Greer eggs. Sam I am is funy!” (Careless, careless spelling. Hilarious ideas.)

“My favorite book is Click Clack moo Cows that tpye. I dont know how cows know how too spell and tpye? It was funny when they wrote a letter too farmer brown. Saying were closed no milk too day and it said to eggs too.” (I just love the way that he writes.)

Since it’s late o’clock, I’m going to keep this short and sweet and head off to bed!

Goodnight until tomorrow…

Peace, love, and (almost) hump day,

Jayna

Right On Time

… or a couple of minutes late. That’s about how my Monday has been. We were a couple of minutes late starting math, a few minutes late to lunch, right on time for art, and a few minutes late getting ready to go home. Sheesh. I’ve been trying to watch the clock, but I also (sometimes) forget that it takes a long time (sometimes a very long time) for us as a class of 2^nd graders to get anywhere.

Monday has been a pretty typical day, with the exception of a few students being stubborn and difficult. About 7 students got the privilege (misfortune?) of staying in for some of their recess to finish or correct their work. And we did have one with water works. They are so stinking cute, and you really want to feel sorry for them, but some of my students are just plain stubborn and stinkers. I can’t let myself pity them too much…. However…

After a long discussion with my rockstar teacher today, I have spent a lot of time reflecting on families. Each student comes from a unique family situation. I really believe that the core of each person, the heart, the root of their being comes from the family. Parents need to cherish, encourage, and challenge their children to grow everyday. Not just to become better students, but better people. I don’t know, I suppose I could rant on and on about the importance of parents and siblings and a positive, loving, attentive but disciplined family, but there’s no point. I just sympathize for some of my students who seem to be lacking somewhere in the family or personal life. I realize that in my school, familial issues are less common, but I still just feel so bad for the sweet little kids who sometimes don’t have a choice or know better because of their family and background.

I suppose, as my teachers often say, “That’s just the way it is.”

Deep sigh.

The only good news about today (other than that it is Monday and I love Mondays) is that I have all of this week planned out so I don’t have anything to do! The bad part is that with my lesson planning done, I should be working on my electronic portfolio. Which I (REALLY) don’t want to. But I suppose “that’s just the way it is.”

Until tomorrow,

Peace, love, and homework,

Jayna

Busy

Hello All! Happy Weekend! I'm sorry that this post is late (kinda cool, ya'll get some Saturday insight) but as you can probably infer (2nd grade skill) from the title of this post, I have been very busy. All that being unmotivated coupled with the busy-ness of being an active college student really took a toll on me. I was so behind that I stayed at school until 6pm yesterday. 6 pm ON A FRIDAY PEOPLE. Gah, here's to a lesson learned and to never doing that again.... At least not until I'm a real, certified teacher lady.

Other than staying ridiculously late, school yesterday was great. The kids were well behaved, I was planned out (at least 1/2 a step ahead haha), and it was nice to get Friday wrapped up. Of course with next week being Halloween and our All Saint's Day Mass, it's bound to be pure madness. Typical. Good thing I've already got everything planned out!

Oh well, I will save Monday's troubles for Monday. (Matthew 6:34)

On to this weekend! Last night Boyfriend came down to visit. We had a great time watch the vb team sweep CU in three, then headed over for some free ice skating at IBP. We laughed (a lot) and had (a lot of) fun. It was a great way to end my busy Friday just by hanging out with him and some other BC friends. 

Tonight I'm off again to watch some BC home volleyball! It's senior night, and beyond crazy to think that it should be my senior night too. I miss volleyball and I miss my teammates. I'm proud of them and everything they have done and accomplished both on and off the court throughout these past 4 years. And even though I'm not a part of the team anymore, I'm proud of what I've done too both with them on the court and campus, and without them on the track and in the classroom. For me, there will always be a special place in my heart for the 6 BC recruits from the class of 2010, soon to be the graduating class of 2014. 

A picture is worth a thousand words... here's a few thousand. 

My volleyball girls as Sophomores. Love, love, love you all. 

 A couple of ice skating freaks :) 

And hopefully this loads as a funny video of me and Boyfriend spinning on ice last night. He is obviously very graceful. 

Until Monday...

Peace, love, and relaxation,

Jayna

The Ugly Truth

 SPOILER ALERT: Student teaching is not all fun and games. Definitely not. At all. It’s hard. You have to jump through a lot of hoops. You are still a guest in someone else’s classroom although you are technically in control of it. Student teaching is full of trials, tribulations, and triumphs. It’s expected that we, as teacher candidates, struggle. It’s also expected that we thrive, even if some nights we cry over lessons gone wrong or overwhelming stress. Such is the norm in the life and future career we are preparing to embrace. And such are the feelings reflected in my blog. So there’s that.

Today, was one of those “overwhelming stress” days that I was referring to. It’s ten o’clock at night (aka late o’clock) and I am just finally sitting down to relax for the day. I’ve been running from school, to education department meetings, to coaches, to off campus parties (not the fun, 21 year old kind), to the Y, to pick up dinner, and now I’m home. Needless to say, it’s been a rough day. (Insert deep breath here.) Tomorrow I will plan for next week. All of it. Even if it means skipping track practice, which I really don’t want to. But I will.

Growing up sucks.

But teaching does have its perks. Like reading hilarious journals that literally make me laugh out loud and other entries that melt my heart.

“I like to play football with Sean, Jonny, and Jake. Teams are normaly me and Jake agianst. Sean and Jonny. Sometimes its me and Jonny on a team. Agianst Sean and Jake. One time we played me and Sean aginst Jake and Jonny. That wasnt fair at all.” (Alright Mr. Athleticism, I see you working. :))

“I like to play with Nora. She is my best friend. Do you have a best friend at coleg. I hope you have friends. Do you have 10 or 1 best friend?” (What a sweetie. She’s worried that I don’t have friends… with good reason maybe. Teaching doesn’t leave much time for friends at the moment!)

Alright friends (wait, I do have friends! My readers!) , I’m out. It’s time to write out the full plan for tomorrow and to fill in the details of a (hopefully) super cool Spanish lesson. Let’s do thissssss!!

Until tomorrow,

Peace, love, and reality checks,

Jayna

Ps- Sorry Mom. 

Turn Up The Heat

But seriously, it’s freezing in my school. On Monday, the janitor turned the heat OFF at 9:30 because “he was hot.” Yes, probably because you are a 43 year old man who is working while my seven and eight year olds are shivering in their seats. Not to mention the poor student teacher (that’s me) who is also shivering despite her socks, shoes, and sweater.  It has been three days and it’s not even that outside cold yet. At some point, the heat is going to have to be turned up. That or I will be sitting on the windowsill/countertop/heater during class. Crazy to think that just a few weeks ago we had early outs of HEAT. Darn this crazy Midwestern weather.

Today was yet another hilarious day in 2^nd grade. (In case you couldn’t already tell, I’m feeling much more optimistic and motivated today. Thank the LORD!) Here are some journal entries from the kids (because I know you've missed them). The prompt was to write about what might happen if you spent a school day with your hands tied together.

“You would fall over and Skin your Knee and cry.” (The capitalized words were obviously very important!)

“I couldint be abe to do anything with my hands tied together.  I could only play soccer. If I only new how to play iny other gomes for your feet. I can’t play baskitball and for sqwaere.” (Soccer. Clutch.)

“It would be hard to write because we have to sit backwords. Do you like to write backword. I would be bizzy. Do you like to do it.” (Do I like what? Like do I regulary tie my hands together and sit backwards? Uhh…)

“I might have trouble writing. And I might not be able to grab my pencil. And I might not be able to write. And I would not be able to read.” (Because having your hands tied definitely effects your eyesight. Naturally.)

“If I had my hands tied together I could not pikc up a cop or I could not eat food I could not do my homework. I could not play baseball. I could not do inethg. I could not rite in my notebook.” (I’m so proud of how much this little guy’s writing has improved so far this year!)

“ If my hand’s were together I can’t eat in the Luchroom. And I can’t pick up a rock. And I could not turn on the TV. And I could not hug my friends.” (I would miss hugging my friends too, you little heart-melter.)

“I would eat. But it would be hard. It would be hard to get on the bus. How would I write?” (This is my breakfast boy for those of you devoted blog readers. Of course he’s worried about how he will eat… typical :))

In addition to hilarious things written in class today, other hilarious things were said.

The secretary came on over the PA to relay a message, and I thanked her by saying, “Thanks Kelly!” This is what I heard next from two students partner reading by the door...

(Whispering) “Who’s Kelly?” “That’s Mrs. S’s real name….” (I really did laugh out loud at that.)

While the kids were still partner reading I was attempting to finish reading their journals. One of my students (who is ADHD and just started medication this week) was sitting next to my desk reading with his partner. This kid (besides for being adorable) is very smart. And now that he’s medicated, he can actually focus (not that I’m an advocate for medicating kids, but this one really needed it). This kid continually impresses me by spreading his learning across all of the disciplines. Here was our conversation while he was partner reading…

“Miss Specht! I found different. That’s an –er word. And I wrote it on my –er, -ur chart.”

“That’s great! Keep reading!”

“Other seeds stick to the fur….Hey, fur! One of our spelling words!”

Honestly, the kid is impressive. He spent his whole recess making two charts for our spelling patterns this week –ir, -er, -ur, and –ar. He’s been filling in words as he comes across them. I’m so proud. Slightly annoyed that he wants to tell me every. single. time. that he finds a word, but mostly just proud.

Well folks after all this ranting, it’s time to set sail off the procrastination nation of blogging and back to real life lesson planning (yuck, I know).

Until tomorrow,

Peace, love, and hump dayyyyee,

Jayna