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.