No longer a future teacher.. I have a classroom!

I haven't posted in a while, but that's because I have been so busy with student teaching, graduation, my wedding, moving into our new place, and GETTING a job!! I am so happy to say that I am no longer a future teacher, but a second grade teacher! I couldn't be happier! The school I will be teaching at is fabulous and I am even more thrilled to be in second grade.

Because I am no longer a future teacher, I am starting a new and improved version of my blog where I will be posting ideas and things that I create for my new classroom.

If you'd like, hop on over to my new blog, That's So Second Grade!, and check out the pictures I took of my new classroom where I will be teaching this August!!!

The Best First Day!!

Today was my very first day of student teaching! I have been so nervous for this day and am happy to report it was my best first day of school ever! I have never felt more welcome at a school than I do this one.. by both the my teacher, the staff and the students. I felt right at home as soon as I entered the front doors of the school and knew immediately that it was going to be a wonderful semester!

Now, I will admit that this morning I was having a rather extreme case of the butterflies and even spit up my coffee because I thought I was going to be sick. Who knew that a group of 24 seven year old kids could make you feel that way?

When I arrived, my teacher had two things waiting for me: 1) a copy of the book First Day Jitters and 2) a folder/book from the class. Reading this book put me at ease and made me chuckle a little at the fact that I was ever even nervous. My students were absolutely delighted to meet me (as I was them) and I felt that my time spent with them today couldn't have gone better. I learned so much about them in just one day that I feel like I already know them so well. They created a book for me to tell me the most important things about their school, their classroom, teachers, and themselves. It was so great to read what they wrote. I chuckled at quite a few of them.. and especially at the sweet pictures they drew me.

Some of their drawings..

This week my county is doing quarterly testing, so things are rather hectic and it's a rather stressful week for my teacher. I really admire her passion for teaching and know that I will learn so many wonderful things from her this semester! I can't wait to see what these next 16 weeks hold for me..

But first, I must get some rest tonight.. I'm one exhausted student teacher!!

Student Teaching Here I Come..

One week from today I will begin my student teaching in a 2nd grade classroom! I have known for a few months now about my placement, but it becoming very real to me as I begin to learn about my students, meet my teacher and principals, and plan for the next four months!

Right before Christmas I met with my supervising teacher and I could not be happier! Our personalities are very similar - type-a, organized and precise, plan-aholics, and enthusiastic. I cannot wait to learn many wonderful things during my time in her classroom.

We have kept in touch over the holidays about everything and just spoke on the phone tonight! Have I mentioned that I can really tell this is going to be a great experience! Not only will I be attending a PTA dinner auction at the end of January, but I get to experience my first day of planning with the other second grade teachers next Friday (after a week of quarterly testing).

I am excited to meet my students and get to know the great school community that I will be joining this semester. I have been counting down the semesters until student teaching and it is finally here! Before I know it.. I will have my own classroom!

Also, I found out that I will (most likely) be teaching 'telling time' as my first unit in the upcoming weeks! I am so excited to begin planning and doing teacher things again. More to come on my student teaching adventures!

The end of my internship in Kindergarten..

I know I haven't updated my teaching blog in a while, but things got so busy this semester and it was all I could do to get a few hours of sleep each night, plus keep two other blogs updated! I interned in a kindergarten class this semester at a school in my mountain town. If you have been reading my blog for a while you would remember my fear of being in a kindergarten class. I have never thought I was would want to teach kindergarten and can safely say that I would still rather teach upper elementary.

This semester my sweet kindergarten students won over my heart and even though I still want to teach 3rd grade, I do love the sweet, innocent kindergartners that I had this semester! Their joyful, carefree spirits made me realized that every now and then I need to sit back, relax, and enjoy the little things in life.

A recap of my internship in kindergarten..

This was one of the math centers during the unit on nonstandard measurement that I taught

I brought in real turkey feathers to show my students on the day I taught about Native Americans

I am demonstrating how to point during a choral reading of Pilgrim, Pilgrim 

(part of the Thanksgiving unit I taught)

our Mayflower bulletin board display

I love reading to these kids!! 

Last Friday was my last day in their classroom. I decided to make them homemade crayons to put in their goodie bags that I gave each of them. I had been wanting to try to make these crayons since I first saw them on Pinterest back in August.. they were so much fun!!! 

They turned out to be very cool looking! I also made extras to give to the kids that I babysit!

My sweet kindergartners made me a book so that I can always remember each and every one of them!

 Ms. McClain is pretty

Ms. McClain I like that you eat with us (at lunch) and I love you.

Ms. McClain is fighting a t-rex.

I will certainly miss seeing their sweet faces every morning, but am looking forward to meeting my new class of 2nd graders in January!! 

Math & Science Teacher Conferences

Over the past few weeks I have had the pleasure of attending two conferences for professional development. At the end of October I attended the North Carolina Teacher's of Mathematics Teacher's Conference. I attended two workshops where I was introduced to new and innovative ways for using math centers in upper elementary school. The speakers at the math conference were fantastic and I am looking forward to attending again someday! My favorite part of the conference were the books that I bought! I am a children's book fanatic and was able to pick up many of the books that were on my wishlist!

Here are a few that I picked up:

At the North Carolina Science Teacher's Association conference, I was a little disappointed with the sessions that I attended. I went to one teaching the water cycle and another on teaching about rocks in the elementary classroom. Neither of the session I attended were particularly insightful. However, I did score a bag of rock samples that I will be keeping for my future classroom. I also held a tarantula of some sort!! In addition, I found out today that I am the lucky winner of a $100 gift certificate to Carolina Biological Supply!!! I entered a drawing at their booth at the conference and won!!! LUCKY ME!!! I can't wait to pick out things for my future classroom!

  P.S. I have been slacking big time keeping up with this blog but will be making an effort to blog regularly on it very soon!!!

  

Children's Book Giveaway = Right Down My Alley

Tonight while being in the midst of frustration about my internet not working, I came across an amazing giveaway by Courtney at Miss. Third Grade. I have been following Courtney's blog since this summer and am so inspired by her adventures as a first year 3rd grade teacher. After all, that is exactly where I hope to be this time next year! I was so excited to see that she was doing a giveaway of three wonderful books that she received from Scholastic, but already owns! If you know me at all, you know that I LOVE LOVE LOVE children's literature and will read anything and everything I can get my hands on. I have been collecting (spending all of my money) on children's books for the last few months in hopes of creating the BEST classroom library possible for my students! I would love to add three new additions to my collection!

She is giving away the following books (all around third grade reading level):

*Flat Stanley's Worldwide Adventures
*Judy Moody Girl Detective
*National Geographic Kids: Cats vs. Dogs

I can't wait to see who the lucky winner is tomorrow!

32 Third Graders and One Class Bunny

A few days ago I borrowed this book from one of my methods professors. I was in her office and just happened to see it on the shelf and KNEW that I needed to read it! After all, I do want to teach 3rd grade someday!

A few nights ago I started reading it and I was enthralled by the first page. I felt that everything I ever knew or thought I knew about teaching and teachers in general was captured in the very essence of Phillip Done's words. I was taken aback by the first chapter that I decided I wanted to write it down and keep it somewhere since I would be returning the book to my professor. What better place to keep it than my blog!? If you have not read this book, you should really consider reading it! (I can't believe I'm recommending a book that I've only read the first few chapters in.. it's just that good!!)

Chapter 1:

I am a teacher.

I read Charlotte's Web and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory every year, and every year when Charlie finds the golden ticket and Charlotte dies, I cry. I take slivers out of fingers and bad sports out of steal the bacon. I know when a child has gum in his mouth even when he is not chewing. I have sung "Happy Birthday" 657 times. I hand over scissors with the handles up. My copies of The Velveteen Rabbit and Treasure Island are falling apart. I can listen to one child talk about his birthday party and another talk about her sleepover and another talk about getting his stomach pumped last night -- all at the same time.

I fix staples that won't staple and zippers that won't zip, and I poke pins in the orange caps of glue bottles that will not pour. I hand out papers and pencils and stickers and envelopes for newly pulled teeth. I know the difference between Austria and Australia. I plan lessons while shaving, showering, driving, eating, and sleeping. I plan lessons five minutes before the bell rings. I know what time it is when the big hand is on the twelve and the little hand is on the nine. I say the r in library. I do not say the w in sword. I put on Band-Aids and winter coats and school plays. I know they will not understand the difference between your and you're. I know they will write to when it should be too. I say "Cover your mouth," after they have coughed on me. I am a teacher.

I examine new braces and new blisters and holes in mouths were teeth have just fallen out. I can spell vacuum. I know the magic word. I wear four-leaf clovers and dandelions in my shirt pocket that have just been picked with love at recess. I pray for snow days. I pray for Stephen to be absent. I spent Thanksgiving vacation writing report cards, Christmas vacation cleaning my classroom, and summer vacation taking classes on how to relax. I know the difference between a comma and an apostrophe. I can say "apostrophe." I buy books about cats and dogs and sharks and volcanoes and horses and dinosaurs. I turn jump ropes and am base in tag. I am glad you can only get chicken pox once. 

I correct pencil grips and spelling mistakes and bad manners. I push sleeves up while children are painting. I can touch the paper cutter. I own one suit, two pairs of shoes, and eight boxes of graham crackers. I have ever teacher mug that Hallmark ever made and every Save the Children tie too. I say, "Use two hands!" when they carry their lunch trays. I say, "Accidents Happen," after they did not use two hands. 

I wear green on Saint Patrick's Day, red on Valentine's Day, and my bathrobe on Pajama Day. I poke straws into juice boxes and untwist thermos lids that are too tight. I unpeel oranges that are too tight too. I sign library passes and yearbooks and new casts. I attend soccer games and Little League championships and funerals for guinea pigs. I answer to both "Mom" and "Dad." I am a teacher.

I hope April Fool's Day is on a Saturday. I blow up balloons that will not blow up. I always blow the whistle too early at recess. I can borrow and carry very fast. I give them more time to answer six times eight than two times three. I never end a sentence with a preposition. I know what a preposition is. I draw stars and smiley faces. I say, "Take over," in four square games when I was not looking. Once I forgot eight plus seven. I know when to say "can" and when to say "may." I have worn green marker, red paint, yellow chalk dust, glue stick, and glitter all on the same day. I hate glitter.

I always begin a sentence with a capital and end it with a period. I always walk in line. I always lose at arm wrestling. I leave "shuger" and "vilets" misspelled on their valentines. I know all my continents and all my oceans. I tape pages back into books. I can find the end of the new roll of Scotch tape. I call on children whose hands are not raised. I know that colonel is a really hard word to read, and so is doubt and so is gauge. I know that kids will read started, when it says stared. I have spelled out because and beautiful and friend six million times. I am a teacher.

I look both ways before crossing the street.  I save balls stuck in basketball hoops. I have given 842 spellings tests and have written "Have a Good Summer!" that many times too. I collect milk boxes and coffee cans and egg cartons. I know all my times tables. I can type without looking. I know that two pretzels do not equal one Hershey kiss. I can make a telescope out of toilet paper roll and a totem pole out of oatmeal boxes. I can make snowflakes out of coffee filters and a space shuttle out of Pringles can too. 

I know my notes because "Every Good Boy Does Fine." I know my directions because I "Never Eat Slimy Worms." I know all my planets because "My Very Elegant Mother Just Sat Upon Nine Pickles." And I can only say my ABCs if I sing them. I fix watchbands, repair eyeglasses, and search for lost milk money after freeze tag. I know when their fists will make a rock and when they will make scissors. I know when I child does not understand. I know when a child is not telling the truth. I know when a child was up too late last night. I know when a child needs help finding a friend. 

I am a teacher.

WOW.

What a wonderful future to look forward too!