Transitions

Our students are finally getting into the swing of our Kindergarten routine. We have a lot of aides in our class, so they help children get on tasks during transitions along with us. When things are getting super hectic, we turn the lights office and the children put their hands on their heads and look to us for instruction. We have an amazing class, so we haven't faced many problems. We have the occasional student wondering the class or distracting other students but that is normal for Kindergartners. When transition to our specials, lunch, bathroom, or recess we always sing this song while children are lining up in ABC order:

My hands are right beside me

I'm standing very TALL
My eyes are looking straight ahead
I'm quiet through the halls!

On Tuesday my mentor teacher was filling in for our principal so she had a substitute. The substitute and I worked really well together and she let me take over pretty much the entire day. I really got the feel of how the day ran without Cheri to guide me. I feel like I am right on track in regards to what I should be doing and learning.



We had MAP testing this week so that took some time. It was interesting to see how each child did when faced with a computer and no teaching on how to do each question. It was upsetting to a few but overall I was impressed on how these five year old handled themselves in a computer lab and with a computer test.

I also got some great documentation of my two literacy mini-case studies. I have one emergent and one beginning reader/writer.



We are finishing our week with a huge Johnny Appleseed celebration tomorrow. We will be making apple sauce, apple pie, dried apples and more. Should be a fun day of APPLES!!!

Middle of September already...

This week has been super busy. We started the week with a bus safety assembly where the students learned all about bus safety and got a visit from "Buster". It was so cute seeing the faces of the students when Buster talked to them and showed them the safe and dangerous things on and off the bus.

Our class has been doing really well learning high frequency words and writing their names properly. I am surprised to see the progress in many students writing from the first day of school to now. The class is ding well with most routines and we are beginning to get a great group of learners and soon to be READER'S!

I have been thrown on the spot and done calendar, big book reading and small group work in math.

All though I feel like I am a little lost or overwhelmed I have to remind myself that I am learning and it will take many many years to be so smooth and wonderful as my mentor teacher!

Professionalism

Definition of Professionalism:

When it comes to professionalism, teachers have to balance connecting with students and projecting a professional image. In addition, teachers have greater ethical concerns than many other professionals, and also have to maintain standards on their required testing and certification.

Professionalism is very broad and differs for every profession. Teachers especially have to present themselves in an appropriate clothing attire, proper manners, and be aware of their actions. We as teachers have the responsibility of our students and their future. We have to make sure that we honorable and fair in every situation. I'm a VERY organized person, so I believe you have to be organized to keep a good professional classroom running.

I also read a few articles on Teacher Professionalism and I feel like these three characteristics sums it all up very nicely!

Teacher professionalism contains three essential characteristics, competence, performance, and conduct, which reflect the educator’s goals, abilities, and standards, and directly impact the effectiveness of teaching through the development of these qualities.

Literacy Experiences

Today I had some time to check out the classroom library. I had a hard time finding 10 new books to read. I love children's books, and find that I keep adding to my own person library. After reading these new one's, I found some more books that I needed to purchase.

We had some extra time last week, so the class got to take a bucket of books to a quiet place. They all were taught how to properly take care of our books. It was really interesting how each child read/flipped through their books and how the comprehended their books.

I have noticed the children getting better about not interrupting, staying on task, and remembering out daily classroom routine. During the first week at school we had the class make a drawing and we wrote the sentence to what each student did to get ready for school. Jillian raised her hand and waited for Mrs. Mattson to call on her. Jillian said, "I hugged my mom before I left for school. " It was nice to see that Jillian thought of her mom because her mom had been sick during the prior week and she was worried about her mom while she was gone. Then Jillian went back to her desk and made a picture of her hugging her mom, and I wrote her sentence at the top. We attached all the children's pages and made a class book. Mrs. Mattson also used the Promethean board to show Jillian how to write it. Jillian also had the chance to use the Promethean board, which was funny watching the kids write on this BIG computer/white board.



We started reading Pickled Pepper in class today. Mrs. Mattson explained to the class that good readers look at the pictures to know what our story is about. On the front of the cover Savannah raised her hand and said, "A mouse in a house. That rhymes!" She was so excited and it was great to see that Savannah was looking at the pictures and finding words that rhyme. Once we opened the book to sing a short song, Lauren noticed that the girl on the right side of the page was the same girl under the teapot on the left side of the page because they had the same pants on. I love seeing children figure out these small things.