A Funny Story for the Day

This past week has gone really well, I've taken a back seat to observe some teaching - so hopefully I'll get in there soon!  There's not anything too interesting to write about, so instead I'm going to share a story that will make a great memory for me:

At lunch today, Kelly (another 3rd grade teacher) told me that a child in her class, we'll call him Jack, was talking about Mrs. Arnold.  He apparently is a sweet kid with pretty funny remarks and today he asked Kelly, "What if...Mrs. Arnold had an assistant name Mrs. Schwarzenegger?!"  Kelly said she just laughed and was thinking, 'Well, Schletzer is close'!  And then our plan was made ;) We decided that at recess Kelly was going to introduce Jack to me and I was to play along as "Ms. Schwarzenegger".  So later in the day, sure enough Kelly and Jack walked up to me and Kelly said, "Jack, I'd like for you to meet Ms. Arnold's assistant."  I shook his hand casually and said, "Hey Jack!  My name is Ms. Schwarzenegger.  How are you doing?"  Jack's eyes got SO big and a smirk slowly started to form.  He just looked at Kelley and started giggling in excitement and said, "Oh.my.god!!!  My joke came true!!!"  I just laughed and went along with it for a few more minutes, until I finally burst his bubble and told him my real last name.  To end the joke, I did tell him that if he couldn't remember my name, he could call me Ms. Schwarzenegger from now on ;)  So, I'm expecting a lot of confusion with my last name in the coming days!

"Me Museum"

Today was a great first Friday!  When the kids were entering the classroom, many of the parents greeted me (and said my name right!).  One parent in particular made a point to bring up the fact that he read my "Meet Ms. Schletzer" bio in our newsletter, and talked about the things me and his daughter have in common.  It was super sweet and I could tell he's trying to make a point to be involved and make sure his daughter gets to know me as well.

 We started off the day with the first homework assignment given, "The Me Museum".  It's pretty much a glorified version of 'show and tell' that also gives us an idea of each child's writing level.  Each person (including Jen and I) brought in 3 items and for each item, 3 sentences were written on a notecard describing them.  We let the kids set up their "museum" and they spent about 20 minutes walking around to each desk, observing their friends' things.  They had a BLAST with this.  Some items included purple guitars, karate belts, leggos, cookbooks, pictures, etc. While touring the "me museum", Jen and I made notes about each child's items.  After the 20 min was up, we asked the children questions to see if they could remember who brought what.  For instance, we would say something like, "Who won a medal in a gymnastics competition?"  The class actually got every answer right, which was rewarding because they actually paid attention to their friends' belongings!  Side note, our class is filled with strong writers and good handwriting ;)

Many children brought in trophies and toys.  This child also brought in a boomerang he was super proud of :)

Everyone also made a sign for their museum.  This was definitely one my favorites!

Stuffed animals seemed to be a hit among many of the girls in our class.

Jen offered to take a picture of me with my "museum" :)  I brought in my drum pad, a Belgian birthday card, and Ferg's and Maybel's favorite toy.

  During our math block, the kids played a game about place value using whiteboards.  This game just gave us an idea of how familiar our kids our with this concept so when we teach it next week we have an idea of strengths and weaknesses.  One child in particular was struggling with the concept of the game, so I was sure to help him through it and explain things.  The child sitting across from him called me over and said, "Ms. Schletzer, you're going to make a great teacher someday.  Really, you are!"  That comment alone made me feel so good!  It's amazing how good children can make an adult feel.  I'm hoping I can (and am) have that same affect on them :)  I think this child is one of the few that actually knows I'm interning.  Many of the children have asked if it's my first year at this school (but they think I've taught my own classrooms before).  Jen and I purposely didn't introduce myself as an intern and have been trying to split the teaching as evenly as possible at this point in the year.  Based on these comments, it seems like the kids see me as a "real teacher" (not an intern) and have full confidence I could run a classroom by myself.  It's a great feeling and wonderful way to start off the year!  

First Week of School

The first week of school is almost over, and I've already learned so much!  I feel like I've really connected with the kids, and I'm so excited for the upcoming year.  On our first day (Wednesday), we had a lot of children with first day jitters.  One in particular was super nervous and crying while we walked into the classroom for the first time.  It definitely brought me back to the days when I would get super nervous for the first day of school simply because I didn't know what to expect.  Jen was sure to comfort the student and explained that 3rd grade will be really fun, not scary.  She was also sure to point out the fact that we aren't mean teachers ;)  After we both talked with her, she calmed down and later said she had a lot of fun that day.

On the first day we really focused on making the children comfortable and introduced ourselves.  We did some fun activities to help us find things we have in common with each other.  I lead one of these activities and it went very well.  I had each child come up and draw a strip of paper out of a basket.  On the paper was a phrase the child read out loud and an action to accompany it.  For instance, a strip might say, "Pat your stomach if you visited the beach this summer" or "Give your neighbor a high-five if you have a bedtime".  If the saying applied to the children, they did the action and if not, they didn't.  They seemed to have a lot of fun with it and helped them learn about each other.  At the end of the day the kids wrote about their day in their calendar folder (explained in an earlier post).  One child wrote, "Mrs. Arnold and Ms. Schletzer are awesome" - yes, I know it's small BUT it meant a lot to me.  I'm glad we were able to make a good first impression on the kids because it makes me feel like they're looking forward to the year.  I definitely want the children to like and respect me, not listen to me simply because they're scared.

On the second day, I lead a time capsule activity.  I took a shoe box and decorated it with signs along the lines of "3rd Grade Time Capsule: Don't Open until the Last Day of School!"  I explained the point of a time capsule and had the kids fill out a sheet about their "favorites".  On the back of the sheet, they wrote some goals they had for 3rd grade.  They shared their work with others, and we also had some come up and show the class their "favorites" using our dot-cam (basically an up-to-date overhead projector).  I learned that some of the children were confused about goals (one child said their goal was to get her ears pierced) and hobbies (many didn't know what the word meant).  I was able to clarify these things for them, and once again reminded me how innocent 3rd graders really are.  I also took pictures of each kid (one normal one and one goofy) next to our "Welcome to Third Grade" sign.  It'll be very fun to see how much they grow before May!  I also learned the stock "silly" face is to put your fingers in your mouth, spread your cheeks apart, and stick out your tongue. :P  I ALSO learned not to delete original copies of photos when downloading them because when your iphoto program shuts down, you lose all of your pictures (AKA I have to retake these pictures again...)  On a brighter note, here is the sheet the kids filled out for the time capsule! :)

The kids were also able to color their picture once they were finished.

Jen and I also made an "Meet Mrs. Arnold and Ms. Schletzer" newsletter.  I think this is a great idea, especially because I didn't get to meet all of the children's parents on "Meet the Teacher Night".

Slowly but surely, the kids are learning to say my name!  The next step: getting the rest of the teachers and staff to feel comfortable saying it.  I can definitely tell they don't like to call me anything because they either 1) Don't know my name or 2) Don't know how to say it.  My goal by the end of the year is to have everyone know who I am :)

And speaking of goals, today the children made a bulletin board about "Reaching for our Goals".  Jen and I made a bulletin that said "Our Goals" and the children traced their arms, decorated them, and created goals to reach.  On each Friday, we'll see if the kids met their goals and if they did they can take their goal down and put a new one up.  

With this assignment, I feel like I had my first memorable teaching moment.  One of the children sat in his desk and did not trace is arm and hand at all (which is very unlike him).  I asked if he needed help and he refused to answer.  I gave him time to think about whether he needed help or not, came back 5 min later, and noticed tears in his eyes.  I pulled him outside to talk to him and he began crying.  I asked him what was wrong and he said, "Every time I try and trace my arm, it looks really fat."  It broke my heart when he said that because I could see in his eyes how self-conscious he was.  I explained to him that I have things I'm self-conscious about too, and everyone's shaped differently and he has nothing to be ashamed of.  After we talked for a minute, I went back inside and with his permission helped him trace his arm.  I angled to the pencil to give the outline a more 'slimming' effect and the second he lifted his arm up to see the tracing, an immediate smile came across his face and he talked about how he was going to decorate it.  Words really don't do this situation any justice. It's one of those "you had to be there moments", but something I can tell really meant a lot to him.  It was quite possibly one of the most rewarding moments I've had as a teacher, knowing I helped him feel better about himself.

And lastly, I saw one of my preschoolers in the hallways today!!!!  The second I saw her standing with her kindergarten class, I felt like such a proud mama and couldn't help but have a huge smile on my face and wave to her.  She waved back, but I knew it didn't click who I was until she passed by me closer.  I saw her smile and wave get bigger once she made the connection.  This little girl was also a child who made an impact on my teaching career.  When I left for spring break last semester she sent me a letter via snail mail stating she "loved and missed me".  It's moments like these, I know I've chosen the right career path.

Meet the Teacher Night

Today was our last day of inservice!  When I walked into the classroom this morning I had some beautiful flowers on my desk.  Jen had bought some for both of our desks for "Meet the Teacher Night".  They were beautiful flowers and I'm very appreciative!  I'm definitely a flower kinda girl :)

My Beautiful Flowers!

Throughout the day we had 3 meetings, so we felt pretty rushed getting our finishing touches of the classroom done.  In one meeting I learned how to use an EPIPEN.  It's crazy to think of how many allergies kids have these days!  Even though we were pressed for time, we still were able to finish everything in time and even get some planning done :)

While preparing our classroom, Jen gave me some materials for my future classroom and some helpful tips as well.  I've already started filing some great materials and I know it'll be very helpful next year.

Birthday cards Jen gave me.

An awesome folder with multiple pockets that tell parents what work
can stay home and what work needs to be sent back.

At the end of the afternoon we planned for the next few days.  Tomorrow I'll be reading one of my favorite books, Corduroy, and will be doing an activity with the children to help them get to know each other (I'm sure I'll give more details on that tomorrow).

Of course I had to practice reading Corduroy out loud!  Maybelline = my pretend 3rd grader for the night ;)

And FINALLY, I got to meet my students!  The doors opened at 430pm, but a line started forming outside of the school an hour before that.  I was very surprised, but also very happy to see how eager the kids were to meet their future teachers.  I was super nervous while waiting for my students (especially because they didn't know they'd have an intern), but very excited too!  And finally, my kids started trickling in to meet Mrs. Arnold and me.  We showed them their desks, encouraged them to look around the classroom, and showed them their lockers.  In third grade their lockers are in the hallway and I loved the look on their faces when they learned about this new change.  The only way I can describe their facial expressions would be "Oh my gosh, I'm a big kid now..."  It was pretty adorable and I'm constantly reminded it's the little things in life that can make a child's day.  Each one of my students definitely has their own, unique personality.  I've forgotten what an awkward stage of life 8 and 9 year olds lead.  Whether it's Star War legos or jumping around the classroom like a squirrel, I've  already encountered it within the 5 min I met each one of them.  I'm loving this impressionable (and slightly weird) stage of life and can't wait to start teaching them!

Jen and I waiting to meet our future students outside of our classroom!

Meetings Galore

I haven't felt well all day, so I'm really happy to get a bit of a break to recover.  Overall though, today was good!  I'm pretty tired so I don't feel like posting a lot.  But in short, I had one meeting about common core (a new math program we'll be adopting - seems super beneficial to the kids!) and a meeting with my professors and mentor teacher (along with the other mentors and teachers in my program).  I came out of both meetings feeling hopeful about the upcoming year and am glad to have so much support from the staff.  I also bought my first book today for my future classroom.  It's called The Treasure Tree and it's a story of 4 different animals and how their personalities are different.  Jen has cut outs of the animals and each day the children can mark which animal they identify with that day.  It seems like it's going to be a great ice breaker and teach them about acceptance of diversity.  Jen and I also planned my solo weeks for the upcoming semester.  These will be weeks I'll plan completely by myself and teach...I'm nervous about them, but I know Jen's setting me up well!  Jen also gave me some materials so I can start filing copies of worksheets and other helpful things.  She's been so helpful so far and I've already learned so much from her.  She's definitely going to help me become a great teacher :)

Classroom = Ready!

To start off the day, Jen and I met up with the other 3rd grade teachers to meet and discuss a few things.  I learned I'll be in charge of morning duty on Thursday mornings...what that entails, I don't quite know yet.  BUT I'm glad they trust me enough to do it :)  We also received a little bit of information about each of our students, very basic info, but helpful none-the-less.  After our meeting, Jen and I headed to the 'gifted and talented' coach's room to pick up some free supplies she was giving away!  I came away with a crateful of things.  I got a few books (I have no clue what they're about, but I can always weed through them when I set up my classroom to see if they're useful or not), some organizers, a money kit, and a few other things.

My box of free goodies!

After finding some freebies, Jen and I headed back to the classroom to finish organizing and decorating.  We made them folders, name tags, hung posters, and decorated our own poster for our front door!  Jen and I each wrote our own names to show our personalities :)  We hung this poster on the outside of the door and the children's names are on separate polka dots surrounding the poster.

Our Welcome Poster

Earlier yesterday Jen told me about a great idea she had to help the kids reflect on each day and also learn to use their calendar skills.  We took a copy of the calendar I bought and stapled each month into a folder.  At the end of each day, the kid's will write how they felt about their day on the calendar.  It'll be sent home so the parents can see some feedback of what happened that day.  We'll also send out weekly newsletters.  Jen definitely seems like she knows what she's doing when it comes to communicating with the parents, so this is definitely one of the traits I'm excited to pick up on.

Our August Calendar Reflection

My favorite part of today was putting together the classroom treasure box.  Jen explained the system she uses for her class and how it's different from the younger grades.  Instead of having a weekly treasure box, Jen has a sticker system.  The children can earn stickers by engaging in positive behavior and can 'spend' the stickers to buy something out of the treasure box.  A child can buy something for 5 stickers or save up and get a bigger prize for 10 stickers.  I put the box together today in a new treasure chest Jen bought.  Something she added that I loveeee are "passes".  These are worth 10 stickers and are simple privileges the children can earn.  It definitely brought me back to what's "important" and "cool" at this age, and I really enjoy being reminded how the most trivial things seem to be the coolest things ever.

The left side is worth 10 stickers (consisting of things like highlighters, teddy bears, Star Wars books, etc)
The right side is worth 5 stickers (pencils, rulers, bookmarks, etc)

My favorite part of the treasure box! : The passes :)

And FINALLY, we finished decorating our classroom!  It's exciting to walk into, and I can't wait to see the kids' and parents' reactions :)

The view when you walk into classroom

Our group area.  Jen's chair is the white and mine is the blue :)

View from the back of the classroom

Small group area

"Our Shining Work": The kids will hang their best work beneath their name on the locker :)

Overall today was a good day!  Tomorrow I'll mostly be in meetings, so not nearly exciting.  But TGIF, right?

The Beginning of My Teaching Career!

 And the year long internship begins!  I started my first day yesterday and inservice has been surprisingly not-so-bad.  Yesterday I got to the school around 730am and learned where my classroom would be for the next year!  At 815am we had our first meeting, which consisted of introductions, simple announcements (with tons of acronyms that I had NO idea what they stood for), and a 'social' game of bingo to get to know staff members.  For the rest of the day, Jen and I unpacked boxes to prepare our room!  I learned that I'm going to have my own desk (which I wasn't expecting for some reason), and I've been super excited to decorate it.  Last night I got together some pictures and used scrapbooking materials to help spruce up my area.  I took some pictures from day one and day two to show the progress we've made so far.  While yesterday was mostly unpacking boxes, today we did bulletin boards.  I learned how to do my first bulletin board ever!  A small task, I know, but an extremely important one as well ;)  Jen also taught me how to use the laminator today... I'm crossing my fingers to never mess this up :)  Our theme in the classroom is polka dots, which I love!  It's still young, but not too girly or childish.  I also got to put together my desk today and it makes me want to sit there for days on end...it's pretty cute :)  Our 3rd grade team went to Cheddar's today and Jen was super sweet and treated me to the lunch.  We're getting along together so well already, and I'm excited to see how well we will work together throughout the year!

Day 1: Starting from Scratch

One of my first tasks: Separating TONS of construction paper 

Day 2: Making Progress!

A bookshelf I decorated for the kids to see as they enter the classroom

Jen's polka dot desk!

 My first desk!