Week 1

Rivesville Elementary/Middle School

Ahhh.. the start of a new school year. I have always loved the first day of school as a child. The smell of a clean classroom, the new bulletin boards, excited teachers, that really cool "trapper keeper."

As I entered Rivesville Elementary yesterday, I was just as excited. Instead this time I would help create the clean classroom and newly created bulletin boards.

I felt like such a "teacher" as I attended Faculty Senate and the Faculty Meeting with the veteran teachers of Rivesville. My favorite part of the morning was Principal Stutler's congratulations to the teachers as Rivesville met the AYP for the school year and the students did unexpectedly well on the WESTEST. :) We celebrated with lunch and cake!

During the afternoon, I helped my host teacher, Mrs. Swann, prepare our kindergarten classroom. We worked on several bulletin boards and organized flashcards into plastic baggies.

Mmmm.. what an exciting time of the year!

Week 5 - Tuesday

Mrs. Swann's

Classroom Management Plan

Classroom Rules
PRAISE, ACCEPTANCE, RESPECT, AND RESPONSIBILITY will be the primary traits for creating the desired school behavior.
Good manners will always be expected.
Listening and following directions will be stressed.
Raising a hand to share or ask a question will be utilized.
Quiet working and completing all work will be expected.
Respecting others’ space and property will be stressed.
Assuming responsibility for actions and returning things to their proper places will be developed.
In keeping with the school-wide-K-4 Discipline Policy, we will remind the students of expected behavior. A verbal warning will be given and if necessary their behavior light will change from green to yellow or red. The time-out chair will be utilized if necessary.

Grades
In kindergarten, the children will not receive a report card until January. We are spending much time getting into the school routine and doing an inventory of skills. Much of our work is done as a whole group and the children are gaining readiness skills in all areas of the curriculum.

Class work/Homework
Finishing class work is a classroom rule and must be followed. Ample time is given to each student for completing the assigned work. Homework assignments will be given each evening. The homework should be completed and returned the following school day. The homework will be an extension or practice of a lesson we have worked on in the classroom. This will give you an opportunity to see what your child is working on, and helps the children practice skills as well as develop the responsibility of getting it to school the next day. These organizational skills will carry over for all their lives.

Closing Thoughts
This will be a great time of learning for all, and we hope you are aware of the vast amount of development that will occur this year. We are looking forward to the rest of the school year. As the class gets to know each other, they discover the individual strengths and weaknesses that create their own uniqueness. The Specialist teachers (Mr. Wagner, Ms. Moore, and Mr. Himes) are assisting the students in the self-discovery of their special interests and talents. As we learn songs, poems, shapes, colors, letters, numbers, words, organization skills and routines, the students have the important task of doing their very best and being responsible for their work and behavior.

Please take a little time to discuss these points with your child.
Always try and eventually you will be successful.
Talk differences, problems, or misunderstandings out.
Walking, not running, inside the building is for safety.
Listen to directions and follow them carefully.
Speak quietly at all times during learning activities.
Listening when others speak is respectful and necessary.
Waiting in line for drinks and restroom breaks develops patience and self-control.
If you take it off the shelf, please return it to the proper place.
A single file on the right side of the hallways and holding onto the stair railing insures safety.
On the playground, children must sit on the swings and slide. They must hold on with both hands and always practice safety on the equipment.

Never leave the classroom or school property without the teacher’s permission!

Thanks Mrs. Swann for creating an encouraging and safe atmosphere for our students. I am soaking it all in and making notes on things that will work well in my future classroom!

The treasure chest is a great motivator for students!

Week 4

Kindergarten Math

Helping students with math
Our Math Textbook

Last week I started teaching one subject a day, math. So far I have taught about 4-5 lessons based on the topic of sorting. The students sorted many things like attribute blocks by color, shape, and size. We also sorted the class. I sorted the class by gender. Boys on one side and girls on the other. Then I made it a little harder and sorted the class by hair color. The students had to figure out which attribute in which I sorted them. The class did a great job sorting, and understanding the concept of it.

I believe a stength I have had during math time was classroom management. I worked hard to keep the kids involved. I really appreciate Mrs. Swann's treasure chest, it is a huge motivator for the students to pay attention and answer questions correctly. I also use the thumbs up or thumbs down technique to see who and getting it and who isn't. If anything, this technique helps to keep the students attention.

I want to continue to work on differentiating my instruction. Most of the lessons I taught were focuced on the on-level learner. I want to work to stretch the advanced students, but also work on interventions for the stretegic intervention students. I would also like to do more hands on activities with the students, maybe even get them outside while it is nice to learn different math concepts. I really want to work on my Depth of Knowledge. I want to work on asking level 4, 5, and 6 questions to get them thinking. This will come with time.

Question I want to continue to think about:

How do I help the Below-Level Readers with their sight words? What stretegies can we use for intervention with these non-readers?

Working on the following words/letters:

Aa, Bb, Cc, Dd, Ee, Ff, 1, one, 2, two, green, red, blue, I, am, little, the

Week 3

Mrs. Morris asked in the last post,
"What will be my biggest challenge now that I have met my new class?"

The whole day is very challeging for me in Kindergarten. Coming from second semester third grade last semester, it is a HUGE leap backwards to first semester Kindergarten. I often find myself frustrated with the students, some of the students are defiant and don't know how to be a part of a large group. There are also several students who are great and want to be in school. This large range of 23 students makes the day very difficult right now. I feel like this is the biggest chellenge right now and will just take time for the children to adjust to being in school all day.

The week flew by. We worked on the Kindergarten Baseline assessment as a whole group over the course of the week, we finally finished it on Friday. I also took students one by one to assess their reading readiness. Asking questions such as, "Point to me the title of this book." and "Show me a capital letter." There weren't any students who got all of the questions correct. The item that seemed to stump all but 2 or 3 of the students was the concept of the period. I believe all could not point to me a sentence in the text. Many pointed to a picture when I asked them to find me a sentence.

I feel this was a good test to determine where these students starting point. I also worked on flashcards with each of the students individually with their words/letters for the week: 1, one, red, I, am, A, a, B, b. This was also a good assessment to gather information on the students progress throughout the week. I worked on these concepts all week. I ask myself the questions, "What can I do differently next week? How can I better help these students understand what we are teaching them?"

I will be starting to teach Math next Wednesday. I wil be covering the concept of sorting. Sorting by color, shape, size, etc. I am looking forward to this.

Week 2

Tales of Kindergarten

Circle Time

Our Classroom - 23 Students

This week the students arrived for their first day of school! The Elementary school students all began on Tuesday, yet the kindergarten students arrived 2 days later on Thursday. The first day was full of emotions. Many of the children were overwhelmed with their new home for the next year. Several of the children were nervous and missed their parents, yet others were excited to be in kindergarten.

Thursday and Friday were hard days. There are three "adults" in the classroom with the 23 children. Mrs. Swann is on host teacher, Mrs. Ferguson is the aide, and myself. We have worked on our "tag-team" method for managing the classroom. This include 5 groups trips to the bathroom everyday, going to and from lunch and specials, and other classroom activities.

I am excited to see the students grow over the next 4 months and become more comfortable in a classroom setting. I cannot wait to see them become learners and find a joy in learning.

Tomorrow is a new day for the students and we will have to continue to teach the young students the ways a classroom operates and how to interact with other children. It is going to be a fun and challenging week!