My kids made me laugh, rub my head (due to a little stress), and amazed me today. First, they are becoming so independent on the laptops. They are coming in every morning, getting out their laptops and emailing their commitments to me. :) It's amazing! I had a huge grin on my face today as I overheard a group of boys talking about college and "how important it is to get your degree". SUCCESS!! Our week has been much better than before and my students are working very hard. I have a very unusual group of students. Not in a bad way, but interesting. Usually the drama is with girls but with my group this year it is my boys!
Boyfriend and Girlfriends have started! Why don't members of the opposite sex have cooties anymore? I thought boys were gross until at least middle school! I had a student tell me that one of our school family members is a heart breaker (but in a whole lot more words) and he was very concerned about the girls of 4th grade. It was so funny and I had a hard time keeping from laughing.
One of our school family members has been out for a few days and the rest of our family has missed him very much. When he walked in today they all cheered that our friend was back! I have these trophies that I got from the Dollar Tree that students hand out to each other when they see an act of kindness or someone making good choices. Well, when our missed family member walked in the door a student gave him a trophy because he was so happy he was back. I am seeing a lot more encouragement, well wishes and support in our classroom and it is nice to see this hard work pay off. Well, 2 more days of the week... here's to a great end of the week!
Wednesday, September 30, 2009
Saturday, September 26, 2009
It happened :(
I want from being the favorite teacher to being the not so favorite teacher. My students did not earn the privilege to play Playstation this week. I had a lot of threats to skip school on Friday. One student even said, "I'm going to tell my mom I have a fever of 106!" Of course, ALL of them came to school on Friday. Then, another student thinks that black isn't their color since that is the color I wrote the word Playstation in this week. We will go back to orange next week since they are a little superstitious. So, we will try again next week. They were pretty upset but hopefully they learned that it is a privilege that you have to work for.
Sometimes I wonder how much my students are really learning by the time I stop putting out all of the little fires throughout the day. As I am sitting here thinking about the week I realize that they learned a lot, especially on the laptops so hopefully they will remember that next week and I can actually pull some small groups. :) Here are some things they learned on the computers this week:
* Saving files to the H drive
* Saving files to a flash drive
* Setting up a table in word
* How to use email and had the opportunity to email friends and teachers
* How to create a powerpoint
* Completed the first webquest about Texas
* Inserting word art and clip art
So, that is what we learned on the computers this week. Next week we will try for more academics. :) Even though I get frustrated when we don't get all of our academics covered I see them coming together as a school family and a lot of active learning going on in the room. I am preparing my kids for more than a test, I am preparing them for life and it is essential that they know how to get along with other people and handle their problems.
I find it amazing that you never stop learning as a teacher. I keep thinking I know everything that works until I get a new group of kids and have to start all over. There isn't a one size fits all formula in teaching and every student is different, making every year different. I love this job and I love how every day is different, keeping my life interesting. So, the quest to be the best teacher I can continues as it always will until I retire.
Sometimes I wonder how much my students are really learning by the time I stop putting out all of the little fires throughout the day. As I am sitting here thinking about the week I realize that they learned a lot, especially on the laptops so hopefully they will remember that next week and I can actually pull some small groups. :) Here are some things they learned on the computers this week:
* Saving files to the H drive
* Saving files to a flash drive
* Setting up a table in word
* How to use email and had the opportunity to email friends and teachers
* How to create a powerpoint
* Completed the first webquest about Texas
* Inserting word art and clip art
So, that is what we learned on the computers this week. Next week we will try for more academics. :) Even though I get frustrated when we don't get all of our academics covered I see them coming together as a school family and a lot of active learning going on in the room. I am preparing my kids for more than a test, I am preparing them for life and it is essential that they know how to get along with other people and handle their problems.
I find it amazing that you never stop learning as a teacher. I keep thinking I know everything that works until I get a new group of kids and have to start all over. There isn't a one size fits all formula in teaching and every student is different, making every year different. I love this job and I love how every day is different, keeping my life interesting. So, the quest to be the best teacher I can continues as it always will until I retire.
Wednesday, September 23, 2009
The quest continues...
Today I introduced e-mail to my students. Right now, I am using this as a way to increase communication within our class. However, eventually I want to use it as a way for them to turn in assignments by emailing them to me. I found this great website www.zilladog.com, which is kid friendly email and requires a parent to set up the account and buddy list. Most of the day my kids wanted to email each other. In fact, they even passed up recess to stay in and email!! I couldn't believe my eyes!
I am discovering that it is taking longer for my students to complete their assignment because typing takes longer than writing. I don't mind because they are very engaged in their learning and are not complaining at all! It's amazing! My book club that was supposed to last a week will extend another week so I don't have to worry about rushing them and I want to make sure they complete their assignments to the best of their ability. This has given me motivation to find grants in technology so I can permanently have a laptop cart in my classroom. Thanks for reading about our adventures! It's nice to have a place to get out my "teacher" stories. :)
I am discovering that it is taking longer for my students to complete their assignment because typing takes longer than writing. I don't mind because they are very engaged in their learning and are not complaining at all! It's amazing! My book club that was supposed to last a week will extend another week so I don't have to worry about rushing them and I want to make sure they complete their assignments to the best of their ability. This has given me motivation to find grants in technology so I can permanently have a laptop cart in my classroom. Thanks for reading about our adventures! It's nice to have a place to get out my "teacher" stories. :)
Monday, September 21, 2009
We are currently experiencing technological difficulties...
At least that was the motto today in our classroom. I am always finding ways to encourage and motivate my students. Well, let's be real... our students probably know more about computers than we do! So, I have brought in our laptop cart and am fortunate enough for every child to have one to work on. We spent the first morning setting up some charts for reading and going over rules and such. Then, we shut down the computers and lost all of our work. Bummer! Little did I realize, the school district has it set up so that whenever the computer is shut down it deletes any files that were saved. I have bought some flash drives to use so hopefully this will work out better tomorrow. :) My favorite part of the day happened as I was passing out the laptops. One of my students said, "Mrs. Edugator this class keeps getting more awesome everyday!"
Saturday, September 19, 2009
New Idea... we'll see how it goes
In the past, this has been a blog to educate my parents about events in our classroom. However, I always wanted to create a blog about my adventures in the classroom. (Names have been changed to protect the innocent) *smile* Kids are funny people and say funny things and do amazing things. This blog is where I will share the challenges, adventures, funny stories and touching stories about my students. In the past I have taught kindergarten for 5 years and third for 1 year. This year, my principal asked me to move up to fourth grade. I'm a little nervous because we add another state test, writing. However, I know the kids from last year and have a few of my students from my class.
We have had an interesting first month of school. We had a lot of ups and downs and have been working hard on becoming a school family. We have stopped lessons to do the time machine (a problem solving strategy) many times and encouraged each other a lot! Here are some notes from the first month about exciting events.
* In science we were studying the three states of matter. What better way to show the three states, than with dry ice? My kids thought is was very cool and enjoyed playing in the "fog" and watching the bubbles go over the container from the gas building them up. I got my first "Mrs. Edugator you are awesome!" when I had to throw the dry ice on the floor to break it.
* We have been having a hard time working together as a school family and following directions so I emailed my principal with a plan that I had. This past week we worked as a class to earn 15 minutes on Friday playing Guitar Hero on the Playstation. My class thought this was amazing and we had the best week ever! Yes, I am that teacher... We played Guitar Hero and I saw amazing team work and students helping each other with the ones that had never played before. It was so great!
* We are learning the steps to Thriller. My kids are huge MJ fans!
* We had speeches this week about something we are an expert on. I modeled my speech on Florida Football. I am in no way an "expert" but to my class I am. :) One student said, "I've never had a teacher that knew so much about football". Ha ha! Now you do!
I have had a lot of challenges in the first week with behaviors but it is amazing how I can see changes in the students already in improving their behavior. I am looking forward to a fun year and getting to know these amazing kids in my class.
We have had an interesting first month of school. We had a lot of ups and downs and have been working hard on becoming a school family. We have stopped lessons to do the time machine (a problem solving strategy) many times and encouraged each other a lot! Here are some notes from the first month about exciting events.
* In science we were studying the three states of matter. What better way to show the three states, than with dry ice? My kids thought is was very cool and enjoyed playing in the "fog" and watching the bubbles go over the container from the gas building them up. I got my first "Mrs. Edugator you are awesome!" when I had to throw the dry ice on the floor to break it.
* We have been having a hard time working together as a school family and following directions so I emailed my principal with a plan that I had. This past week we worked as a class to earn 15 minutes on Friday playing Guitar Hero on the Playstation. My class thought this was amazing and we had the best week ever! Yes, I am that teacher... We played Guitar Hero and I saw amazing team work and students helping each other with the ones that had never played before. It was so great!
* We are learning the steps to Thriller. My kids are huge MJ fans!
* We had speeches this week about something we are an expert on. I modeled my speech on Florida Football. I am in no way an "expert" but to my class I am. :) One student said, "I've never had a teacher that knew so much about football". Ha ha! Now you do!
I have had a lot of challenges in the first week with behaviors but it is amazing how I can see changes in the students already in improving their behavior. I am looking forward to a fun year and getting to know these amazing kids in my class.
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