Dino Disco

The class has taken the next big step in their math career...learning multiplication! The students have been off to a strong start by learning their 0's, 1's, and 2's. They aren't to shabby on their 3's and 5's either! To mix it up a little, we played a multiplication practice game called Dino Disco. After the class answered  7 problems correct the Dino earned a new dance move. The kids really got a kick out of this and at the end of the game you were able to choreograph your own dino dance with all the moves you earned. This activity got the kids so excited to practice their multiplication. I had students asking me what the website was that they could go to at home. The second time we played the game, a student shared that she had been practicing at home and had explored other interactive math games as well. This was an awesome feeling as a teacher, to know you had inspired your students to not only practice their math at home, but to know they had fun doing it. These types of  small rewards you receive as a teacher, make it all worth it!
Here is the awesome webite: www.multiplication.com

What a Buggin' Week

The class has been learning about informational texts, specifically the features of non-fiction books. Throughout the week most of the informational pieces used had a bug theme to them.  This was unintentional on my part, but just seemed to workout that way. The topic was definitely of high interest for the students. One of the days I brought in a few of the bugs which the class had been learning about, such as the Goliath Beetle, Giant Walking Stick, and the Bird Eating Tarantula. The students are measuring the Giant Walking Stick with their ruler to see if the comparison in the book was a true statement. To their amazement it was!  I never fully appreciated my husbands bug collection, until I saw the look on the kids faces when they were able to see the real bugs! 

A Presidential Appearance

On Thursday October 3oth, Waterloo Elementary had two very special guests; Senator Barack Obama and Senator John McCain (impersonators)! It was a very exciting day that the students had been preparing for all week. Both third grade classes researched the main issues of the election and where the candidates stood using information from Time Magazine for Kids. Working in groups they then came up with question they would want to ask each Senator about the issue their group researched. The hot topics were; Education, Health Care, Economy, Iraq War, National Security, and Environment. During our "School Hall Meeting" students came up and asked the candidates the question their groups had generated. The kids were very professional and excited to participate. The Monroe Evening News was also at Waterloo that day taking pictures and interviewing students about their experience. Our special event even made the front page of the newspaper on Friday, October 31st! I want to give a BIG Thank You to Jacob Stamper (Obama) and Adam Rokas ( McCain) for doing such a great job. You guys are AWESOME! The kids learned so much through this authentic experience and had fun doing it!

Busy, Busy!

The students have been learning so much throughout our unit entitled, " The Road to the White House." Here they are photographed while working on an election process timeline. The students did a great job as they demonstrated their knowledge of what takes place on "The Road to the White House."
Last week was a challenge to say the least! I lost my voice! What does a teacher do without a voice? Thanks to Mrs. Shugarman taking over the class for the majority of the day, I was able to save my voice and still teach the lessons in my unit. The kids were the most well behaved, quiet, and considerate I've seen them all year! They're usually are all of those thing, but the class was especially considerate this week. A BIG Thank You to both Social Studies Classes!
My attention getter for the week was a tamborine, which I must say worked very well. I might continue the practice, anything that helps to save the voice is a great thing!

1st Time MEAPers

The students had an event filled week. On Tuesday they began taking the MEAP for the very first time. This year the state has set the days and times the kids must take each section of the meap, which had them meaping all day long! The kids are doing a great job! As my roll of student teacher, I volunteered to work with the students that would be testing seperately with their resource room teacher. I really enjoyed working with a small group of students and being able to connect with them as individuals. We played math games working on addition and subtraction, practiced focusing their writing using pictures of wild animals as a prompt, and vowel teams and consonant blends. This week the students used the Smart Board for the first time during math. They learned how to count money by sliding the dollars and coins across the board into the rectangle. They were all so excited to take their turn and help other students when needed. The last picture above was taken when the kids went outside to have some fun after a hard day of meaping!

Favorite Fall Things

During writing this week the students went through the entire writing process as they shared their favorite thing about fall. Whether it was Halloween, jumping into a pile of leaves or going to a fooball game everyone was able to create a writing piece they were proud to share. In the picture above, a few students show off their final writing piece before it is published by hanging it out in the hallway. I meant to take more pictures of the students decorating their writing piece, but I was so busy during the class I completely forgot! The time really flies when your in the middle of a lesson. The biggest thing I've learned this week is that everything takes longer than you think it will! It is a neccessity to plan ahead, but be prepared to be VERY flexible!

Excited...Write!!!

This week the class met someone they had never met before, someone with the softest fur in the world, someone to be excited about meeting! No it wasn't my husband, Mr. Jake Stamper, although the kids were interested in meeting him too. The real visitor was a baby chinchillla! The day before the visit the class brainstormed what they knew about a chinchilla, what they wanted to know, and then what they had learned. Their faces beamed as each student was able to pet the little chin. After our friendly little visitor left, the students were then asked to write a letter telling someone all about the chinchila they had just met. It was really awesome to create an authentic experience for the students to be so excited about and then express their excitment through words.

The Cat's Meow

This week Mrs. Shugarman rescued a kitty cat from the school parking lot! It was a day long event trying to save the small kitty from harms way. After many attempts througout the day, the kitten was rescued out from under the hood and engine of Ms. Grier's car! The students were out for a short recess at the end of the day when the cat was spotted under the car! Thanks to the help from other staff members, Mrs. Shugarman was able to catch the kitten and to our suprise has decided to keep her as a family pet! We all think her name should be Lucky.

I'm learning so many things about how to run a classroom. It's not as easy as it may look! Transitioning students smoothly from one task to the next requires planning and skill. I've noticed some of the challenges that occur throughout the school day, demand that the teacher be able to quickly regain the classes attention for the learning to continue. As I was reading to the class for Reader Workshop this week I also noticed that the more extra commentary I added during the reading, the more talkative and silly the students became. So I guess you could say I'm learning when and where to keep my comments to myself!

I'm amazed at how fast the school days fly by. I have never been much of a morning person, however this week my husband said in amazement, " I don't know how you're getting up so easily in the mornings?" I stay up late and get up early, excited for another day to begin. After his comment, I realized that I'm right where I'm supposed to be in my life and I'm doing what I always thought I wanted to do when I grew up... be a teacher.

We're Growing!!!

The week really flew by! The classroom routine has been established and the students are hard at work. The school had it's annual open house on Thursday night. The halls were decorated with fanastic student work from the past two weeks. It really looked great! It was nice to meet and get to know so many parents of the students we work with.

This week we worked on writing about a specific topic. The topic was, "A time when I felt lonely." Despite the sad focus, many students wrote great pieces about different aspects of loneliness, like visiting animals at the Humane Society or how they could help a friend not feel lonely. The students gathered together in a circle to share what they had written with the class.

In science class the students are observing the growth of their bean plants. Some sprouts have really taken off! The plants are growing and so are we! There's a new adventure in the classroom everyday and it's so exciting to be apart of it!

And So It Begins...

The start of another school year has quickly come upon us. An exciting, nervous energy is in the air, as we all begin to shift gears from warm summer fun to cool back to school. Well, forget about the cool part for now anyway, I'm sweating more in the classroom, than at the gym! Maybe it's my nerves, but I prefer to blame it on the humidity. Mrs. Shugarman has graciously opened up her 3rd grade classroom to me for my student teaching experience. In the short time I have been in the classroom, I've come to a realization of what the definition of "student teaching" really means.

Student Teaching: Real students, teaching me everything I need to know about teaching.

I'm truely, grateful to be working with such great staff and students at Waterloo Elementary. I look forward to sharing my "ahh-ha" moments with you along the way.