September 27, 2012

         Today was a very productive day. When our students arrived one of them came up to me with an envelope addressed, in their own handwriting, to Miss. Switalski.  I opened it to read an apology about their behavior the day before. After I read the card I called the student over to thank them for apologizing. The student’s eyes began to water as they wrapped their arms around me and verbally told me how sorry they were. I was in shock and amazed. What a great way to start the day. After our morning routine we introduced math centers to our students and spent forty minutes rotating centers every twenty minutes (so, only twice today). Right now we started off by introducing our students to only four different math centers. 
          I took pictures with our classroom camera so I will make sure to post them as soon as I can. Mrs. Irvin stayed posted at center # 1 so I had to rotate between the other three centers. It was hard juggling all of the students concerns and confusion on my own, but I realized once I had one students understanding I could encourage them to help their friends at the table. This helped a ton! I am looking forward to having a parent helper during center time in the future. Once we get the students use to the idea of centers we will be encouraging parents to help out in the classroom, leading or monitoring one of the centers.

         My highlight of the day today, actually this week so far, has been hearing from several of my colleagues about our student’s progress. We have been working very hard, and spent a lot of our time these past four weeks reinforcing and continuously teaching rules, behavior, and expectations. It is awesome to hear that we are making progress and that we can slowly start to steer more, and the majority, of our attention on the curriculum. I mean lets face it, “All we ever needed to learn, we learned in Kindergarten” – unknown. Right?

September 26, 2012

         Today we started our day off with some good ol’ professional development at 8am. Once our students arrived I started our daily morning routine (attendance and calendar time). We have been slowly taking out free time, which I think has been very beneficial. Before this week we were up to three to four free times a day. Usually after we have free time our students are more rowdy and the activity or lesson that follows is always very chaotic. Our students haven’t seemed to notice that we have been taking it out, so I think we should continue only having one to two small free times a day. Save all that energy for recess!

         My highlight of the day today was participating in yoga after school with a few of my colleagues. I have never done yoga before and I really enjoyed it. I was a little hesitant signing up because I am not very flexible, but Mrs. Irvin promised it was for beginners and it wouldn’t be difficult for me. I will probably be very sore tomorrow so we will see how long this “highlight” will last. I am excited to get to know some of the women better that I am working with outside of the school setting. Wednesdays from here on out are yoga days.

September 24, 2012

More to come. But for now....


My highlight of the day today was seeing all of the different hats that our students wore for hat day! We had a Mickey Mouse hat, fire fighter hat, baseball hats, a wizard hat, bedazzled hats, ski hats, and even cowboy hats! I had expected only to see students wearing baseball hats, but I forgot how creative and imaginative our students are! They definitely took hat day to the next level, and it was awesome!

Oops!! Friday September 21, 2012

Today our students were very rowdy. According to Mrs. Irvin it was because a full moon is in our near future. We started teaching our students about the different parts of a tree today. They didn’t follow our story very well, I think because it was too in-depth for their attention spans today. In effort to avoid loosing our patience with our students, we spent a lot of time outside today. After lunch we took our class outside with another kindergarten class to let them plant their own tree.

This hands on experience was very helpful and allowed our students to see in person and touch the parts of a tree that we had learned about earlier in the day.  

My highlight of the day today was seeing the friendships that are forming in our classroom. Many of our students are starting to feel more comfortable with their classmates and they are starting to form little clicks (it is strange to see this happening as early as kindergarten)! But today I had fun eavesdropping on some of the boys talking about their "girlfriends" that they are already claiming in our class. Of course I had to interrupt them and tell them that we don’t have girlfriends in kindergarten, but little did they know how much I enjoyed listening to them plan how they would steal each others “girls”. Overall my students won again today. Even though they were outrageously energetic and unfocused they didn’t fail to continuously put a smile on my face throughout the whole day.

September 18, 2012

         Today was a great day! When I went in I immediately went to work on updating our bulletin board in the hallway. This week is themed around the letter Aa that stands for Apple. We started centers yesterday and continued them today. The main centers involve students working on practicing the letter Aa and writing the number 3. When the students are done working at the centers that involve the letter/number practice they can choose to pick a book to read or build a puzzle. The centers are a little chaotic but overall I can see them gradually understanding what we expect of them, just in the past two days. I am so excited about the progress we have been making with my “special friend”. With the use of four different behavior strategies and some dinosaur stickers we are starting to see some progress with his behavior.

         My highlight of the day today was seeing the progress we have made with one of our students. It feels really good to see that all of the work you are putting into one child is making a difference in their life. Later in the day this same child’s mom came to pick him up early from the classroom. As she was leaving she told me that all she ever hears about at home is “Miss Pakowski (Switalski)”. She told me how much her son admires me. All I have to say is, tough love really does pay off! It was such an awesome ending to a great day with the kiddos.

September 17, 2012

         Today I was full of energy. I spent, what feels like, the whole weekend recuperating (napping) from last week! I met Mrs. Irvin in the classroom in the morning and she greeted me with a gift. I have an amazing mentor – if I haven’t mentioned that yet! She picked out a very cute pair of earrings and a matching bracelet from a jewelry show she went to over the weekend. I love them. Anyway, today we started an awesome new character development program called Bucket Filling. Bucket filling is an easy-to-understand concept: Everyone carries an invisible bucket that holds our good thoughts and feelings. When our buckets are full, we feel happy and when our buckets are empty, we feel sad. I was first introduced to this development program during my pre-internship, at Mattawan Later Elementary. After my first week in Kindergarten I mentioned the program to Mrs. Irvin. Luckily, a few other teachers in our school were implementing this program into their classrooms as well. So Mrs. Irvin decided to give it a try. I launched the program in our classroom this morning. I began by reading, Have You Filled a Bucket Today?: A Guide to Daily Happiness for Kids by Carol McCloud and David Messing in Books. After I read the story, we brainstormed as a class what it means to be a “bucket filler”. We came up with a great list! I then told our students every time I see a student acting as a “bucket filler” I will fill our class bucket with a cotton ball. When our bucket is full of cotton balls the students will earn a popcorn party, special treat, extra recess, etc. Children quickly understand that they can fill buckets when they do and say things that are kind, considerate, caring, and respectful. During this school year we will be encouraging, reminding, and recognizing everyone’s efforts to be bucket fillers at home, at school, and everywhere they go. If you would like to learn more about bucket filling, visit the Bucket Fillers website, www.bucketfillers101.com.

My note from one of our students!

         My highlight of the day today was when one of our students asked me if they could go to their backpacks to get something. I of course let her, and she came running back into the classroom with a note that she wrote me over the weekend. The note had a number of words that she had spent time practicing spelling over the weekend. It was sealed with a kiss in an envelope addressed to her home address. I loved it! It was exactly what I needed and put a big smile on my face for the whole day.

Oops! Last Thursday September 13, 2012

         Today was a very long and exhausting day (13 hours to be exact)! Our main focus today was on two color patterns. After our morning routine we worked on a two-color apple pattern and as the students finished they were able to have free time. Once everyone finished their apple patterns we had students work on an Aa printing page in their ABC book. Later in the day, after lunch, students worked on another two-color pattern activity. They had to create two different two-color patterns with fruit loops. 

Then after they colored their worksheet based on what they had laid out, they were able to eat their fruit loops. Our students loved this – and what a great incentive to keep them on task! Tonight was also curriculum night at Lanigan, as for why I had such a long day. I learned so much watching Mrs. Irvin interacting with the parents and running curriculum night in our class. One thing that is going to be very helpful in the future when I have my own classroom is Mrs. Irvin has been letting me take master copies of all of the worksheets we run off for our room. This way I wont be starting with nothing my first year, that is if I teach kindergarten!

         My highlight of the day today was interacting with the parents of our students. I spent a good amount of time talking with a few of the parents when curriculum night came to an end. I was ecstatic when they came to talk to me about their child in the class and really felt like they looked at me as their child’s teacher. It was awesome!

          Another highlight was going out to dinner with a few of my colleagues, including our principle, in between school and curriculum night. It was great to get on a personal level and get to know our school principle outside of the school setting. One thing that has blown my mind away from this experience, so far, is how incredible the staff is at Lanigan. They have been so helpful and supportive throughout this whole experience.

September 12th 2012

         Today was a short and fun filled day! We had a meeting with our university coordinators and another set of student teachers that are teaching at Cleveland Elementary in Livonia. The meeting started at 1pm, so I only had a half-day with our kiddos in the classroom. 

         After the morning routine and calendar time, Mrs. Irvin read Chicka Chicka Boom Boom by Bill Martin Jr., John Archambault, and Lois Ehlert to the class. Next to her she had a felt coconut tree magnetized to the white board. After she read the story to the class she passed out magnetic letters to the students. Then she started with A and called the students to come up to the board to place their letters on the alphabet tree. 

         My highlight of the day today was taking over the Chicka Chicka Boom Boom activity. During the activity, unfortunately, one of our students got sick, so Mrs. Irvin had to step out of the lesson. This allowed me to step in and finish teaching the lesson. The students were distracted with what was going on around them, but I was able to pull them together and continue the lesson. It went really well and I really enjoyed getting up in front of the class. I usually leave feeling like the drill sergeant in the room, continuously correcting misbehavior. But today I felt like the teacher. It was incredible. 

September 11th 2012

         Today we started our day off with a moment of silence in memory of September 11^th 2001. It is crazy to think that our students were not even born when we experienced the tragedies that woke our country on September 11^th 2001. I never thought I would hear silence in our twenty-five kindergartner filled classroom. But during this moment of silence the class stood still.

         I learned a lot today by watching Mrs. Irvin provide feedback to our students. She and I are constantly monitoring our students as they work. But one thing that has been working for us is rewarding positive behavior. When I verbally acknowledge a student who is staying on task and following directions other students follow that students behavior so they can be praised as well. All of our students are off to such a great start this year. I am so excited to watch their growth and development over the next few months. I can already see some changes in the last few days!

         My highlight of the day today was watching the students draw their self-portraits. They all have such incredible imaginations and our very creative. The self-portraits will be taped to their chairs on Thursday for our curriculum night (parents only). This way each parent will have an image of their child at their desk during the school day. Such a cute idea! 

September 10, 2012

         Today, being Monday, I anticipated it to be a slow moving day. But the chocolate mini snickers that I bought at 7am before school really helped get me through the day. We had two behavioral specialists come into our room today to monitor a few of our student’s behavior. I spent a small amount of time talking with them and discussing the behaviors that I have seen from one of the students in our classroom. In the next few weeks I believe we are going to have a behavioral plan ready and set into action for our student. Hopefully this will help him get on track and stay focused during the school day. I am looking forward to seeing how behavioral specialist work in the classroom and learning from them through this teaching experience.

         My highlight of the day today was when I pulled my “buddy” aside to talk to him about a specific behavior. 
 After listening to what I had to say to him and with out being asked he walked himself out into the hallway. I thought for sure he was going to make a run for it, but I ran out to find him sitting at my designated time out (talk it out) spot. He had put himself in “time out”. 

First day with 25 Kinders

September 7^th 2012, 

         Today was challenging. It was our first day with all of our students together in the classroom. Mrs. Irvin and I discussed a behavioral plan for the day as soon as I arrived. We decided that it would be best as Mrs. Irvin led the class I would monitor and address the misbehavior that was taking place. Then we agreed that we would do this for each other through out the year, and she would monitor when I lead the class in the future. It only took twenty minutes or less into the morning for a student to become my “permanent buddy.” Meaning, that I spent the majority of the day addressing his behavior and spent a lot of time talking to him and explaining to him our expectations in the classroom. He listened and acknowledged what he was doing, but usually turned around and acted out in a different way. 

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        We also struggled with another student today. As I addressed his behavior and talked to him he continued to act out and act in ways that are not school appropriate. This led to Mrs. Irvine and I composing a note together to send home to his parents. This student had me leaving school feeling defeated. All of my strategies that I have learned through my schooling and my experiences in life did not pay off with this particular child. It really broke my heart. But I know that this only means I need to do some research and practice some different approaches with him, if it continues, on Monday. I have the perfect book to start my research with; Challenging Behavior in Young Children by Barbara Kaiser and Judy Sklar Rasminsky. Hopefully after looking through this book again I will find some additional strategies to bring with me on Monday.

         My Highlight of the day today was when I walked into my classroom and saw a beautiful bouquet of red and white carnations sitting next to a card on my desk. I opened it to read, “Congratulations Lauren! You made it through the first week. Hooray for you! And… I am so glad to b e working with you.” The card was signed by Mrs. Irvin. I am so thankful to have such an amazing and inspiring mentor teacher to work with through this experience!

Three First Days

September 4^th 2012, 

         Today was the first day of school for eight of our students.  Wednesday and Thursday we will get 8 new students as well, and Friday all 25 students will be in the classroom. I think that this is a great way for teachers to get their testing done, but more importantly build a strong foundation with each individual student. After the students said their last goodbyes to their parents in the classroom, we gathered them up and had them join us on the circle rug. Once all of the students were seated quietly, Mrs. Irvin had each student introduce themselves to the rest of the class. Then we introduced the calendar chart and had students volunteer to place the day in the correct slot on the calendar, describe the weather, and tell the class what day was “yesterday” and “tomorrow”. Mrs. Irvin has options for the students to choose from that are magnets on the white board. I thought this was a great way to get the students to learn from the resources in the room right off the back. Throughout the day Mrs. Irvin and I called students over to test them on a number of things; such as color identification, shapes, and numbers. We had a rowdy and very excited bunch of students!

         My highlight of the day was when we went out for an extra recess during the afternoon and one of our students (a boy) decided to go to the bathroom on a tree near the playground. Luckily we saw what he was trying to do before he got to far and quickly called him in to go inside to use the restroom. What a great ending to my first day and a great reason to laugh after a stressful morning! 

September 5^th 2012,

         Today was our second “first day”. We got our second bunch of students in and repeated everything that we did on Tuesday with our first group of students (Mrs. Irvin calls this the “groundhog day” week – relating to the movie). Today Mrs. Irvin invited me to read one of our stories for the day to the class and run the activity. I thought it went really well. One thing I noticed that I needed to note for next time was to double check and make sure everything I need for my lesson is where the students are seated. I forgot the example to show them, so I had to get up and leave the circle. I then lost 50% of their attention and had to move/work fast to gain it back. Our group of students that we had today was a lot more cooperative than yesterdays and immediately worked well together! I really enjoyed watching this group while they played together during their free playtime.

         My highlight of the day was when the students all looked at me with a blank stare as I was leaving the lunchroom. I walked back to ask them what was wrong and one of them said “Miss svkalkci (that’s how they pronounce my last name) where are you going?” I answered them by telling them I was going to have my lunch with the other teachers and explained that I would see them after their recess. Then another student asked, “But will we see you after?” I said of course and another student got up and said they were going to miss me while they were gone. The joy of working with kindergartners – still so mushy! 

September 6^th 2012,

         Today was our third, and last, “first day” of kindergarten. We had a few challenges throughout the day with one of our students – not following the rules in the classroom. Today I read Owen by Kevin Henkes to the class and instructed the activity that followed. The activity involved the students coloring in an illustration of Owen the mouse and gluing on his blankie that we learned about in the story. I don’t know if the students were tired or what but the storytelling went over extremely well and every student sat quietly and intrigued. If only every lesson can run that smooth now! On my drive home I was constantly thinking about tomorrow. I am very anxious, excited, and nervous to have all of our students together for the first time. I know we have a great bunch but that is not to say we don’t have our hands full.  

         My highlight of the day was when one of the students (one I would least expect) hugged me during an activity and told me that he loved me. It's the little things that make your heart melt and it definitely reminded me of why I chose this field!