Sub for a day!

Today was BY FAR the best day of my student teaching, so far at least! My CT told me last week that she was going to be gone today because she had a meeting to attend. In order to get my feet wet and take some initiative, I asked her if I could be the "teacher" for the day and just let the actual substitute observe my teaching. She told me that that would be fine since I already have a connection with the students and know the routines, so it would make for a pretty smooth day. When I got to school this morning, I wasn't sure if the sub was aware that I would be there of if she would mind just sitting back and letting me jump in. When she walked in, I immediately introduced myself and told her that I felt completely confident in my ability to teach the entire day and that I was ready to just go for it..and if anything went wrong she would be right there to help out if I needed it! She seemed content and pretty excited that she would have a laid back day and agreed to let me do it all on my own....and I'm so glad I did!!!

Before today I was very unsure about my ability to teach, to take over in the spring, to be full-time, to be able to manage everything on my own, etc...all of the things that pre-service teachers worry about. Because I hadn't had this opportunity before, I was very nervous about how things would go and if I would be able to make it or not. As it turns out, the day went GREAT! I am so happy that I took over today because it really gave me a sense of what kind of teacher I am going to be and showed me that I have the ability to handle things and I should just believe in myself and give myself more credit, be more confident. I tried not to rely on the substitute for much, even when it came to getting materials ready while the kids were at recess or walking around and helping the students with the project they were working on. I did this because I know that someday when I have my own class, I will be on my own most of the time and I will need to learn how to stay organized and manage my time, even if that means coming in an hour before school starts to make sure everything is completely ready to go so that I don't have to worry about it the rest of the day. I was also able to get some really great feedback from the substitute at the end of the day. She had some really positive things to say about my management skills and the way I deal with the students, as well as my ability to be flexible (since I had to scrap the last lesson due to time constraints, meaning I had to think on my feet and decide what to do instead). I think her feedback meant more to me because she is an outsider who has never seen me teach before and doesn't know anything about me, but yet she observed me the entire day and was able to make comments about the way I handled things and the way I ran the class. It was really nice to hear.

Anyways, I won't ramble on anymore about the specifics of the day. This blog isn't about how wonderful the day went or to brag about the great feedback I received...I just wanted to write a blog about the day that I first realized I do have what it takes to be a teacher. Eventually I hope to have what it takes to be a great teacher, but I know that that will come with experience. But for now I am comfortable in knowing that I can make it from the beginning of the day to the end of the day without any problems, without any help...just me and my students, my lesson plans, and my confidence, because I can do it!!!

Science Fair

I meant to write this blog earlier..but better late than never! ;)

Last week was Columbia's Science Fair! Originally I had no intentions of going to the science fair, but the day before I discovered that 8 of our Kindergarteners were doing projects! I was so excited to see what they had come up with because I don't ever remember entering a science fair when I was 5 years old...or if we even had science fairs.

I have said this before and I'll say it again..I am always so amazed at how kids' minds work. The knowledge that they have and the things they want to learn more about are so incredible. I am so proud of the wonderful and amazing work my kids produced last week! All of them were so creative and unique and I loved every single one of them! Check out the pictures below to see some of their neat ideas...

This first student wanted to know.."Why does it rain?" She created a wonderful representation of the water cycle to show us how it rains. Kindergarteners have such great minds..when they want to know something, they find a way to get the answer!

This student wanted to know.."Do different kinds of apples have different numbers of seeds?"

As it turns out, they do! Apples can have between 3-10 seeds depending on the kind. I thought this was a neat idea because it wasn't something I would have ever thought twice about, very cool idea!

This student did a classic science fair project..."How do volcanoes erupt?" The project had a really neat model of a volcano, I could tell it took a really long time to make! So creative!

This student was curious about objects that floated and objects that sank! They decided to test a large number of objects, such as an orange, golf ball, a piece of foil, screw, marble, pencil, etc. and took note of which ones were able to float and which ones sank. They also discovered that an orange with its peel will float, but an orange without its peel will sink! Pretty cool!

This student came up with the unique idea of testing "Which kind of cat food cats like best."

The conclusion was that most cats prefer fish or chicken flavored cat food, rather than beef flavored, and that cat food companies should stop making beef flavored food because cats don't like to eat it! I thought that was pretty cute!

This student wanted to answer the question..."What happens when you put an egg in a glass of coke?" They had an egg that had been sitting in coke for a few days and it was really interesting because the sugar from the soda made the egg look sparkly, as if someone had put glitter all over it! Puts a whole new spin on easter egg dying..it actually looks pretty sweet!

Great job Kindergarteners! I can't wait to see what they come up with next year :)

First day back...

Today was the first day I had seen my Kindergarteners in a long time! I couldn't believe how excited I was to get back and see the kids and hear all about what they had been doing. I was in for quite a surprise though...today was Gingerbread baking day, a Columbia kindergarten tradition that Mrs. Uttech started long ago. Even though Mrs. Uttech is still on maternity leave, this is one project that had to be done! :) But the baking isn't even the best part of this tradition, it's what happens afterwards that is so exciting.

Prior to today, the students have been reading/hearing various stories about the Gingerbread man. Even though every story was a little different, they all ended the same way with the Gingerbread man escaping and running away...I'm sure you know the story. Well, once the dough had been made into balls, rolled out flat, and cut in shapes, it was finally time for them to be put in the oven. By the way, none of this would have been possible without the help of our WONDERFUL parent volunteers! Not only did they assist the kids in rolling out their dough, making their Gingerbread men, and cleaning up all of the flour and dough that had made its way onto the floor, but they also helped bring in the supplies we would need to make all the cookies! Such lovely parent volunteers we have!! The parents gathered the cookies that each student had cut out and took them down to the school kitchen...of course every kid made sure to get as many cookies as they could out of the little bit of dough they had, so we had a million cookies that needed to go into the oven ASAP! Now, I am going to tell the rest of the story of today from the kid's perspective because it is much more exciting that way!

Once the students got back from recess, they knew it would be time for their freshly baked cookies to come out of the oven so that they could spend the rest of class decorating them. All 22 of the Kindergarteners made their way to the kitchen only to discover that the Gingerbread men were not there! We asked the cook if she had seen them but she said that they had escaped and all they left behind was a note. The note told the students that they were afraid to get eaten and had decided to make their way around the school.

Where could they have gone?! Luckily, we found a trail of flour on the ground that led us all the way to the main office. Thank goodness we were finally going to find them! Once we got to the office, the students asked our secretary Michele if she had seen their Gingerbread men. Unfortunately, all they left behind was another silly note...this time letting us know that they had headed to a room where they could browse through some books. AHA! The library! We tiptoed upstairs, following the trail of flour, in hopes of sneaking up on the men and catching them once and for all! Once again, just a note saying that they had gone to visit the 1st graders. Back down the stairs we went, only to find that the cookies were still on the loose!

Finally, we noticed some suspicious flour footprints heading right underneath the Kindergarten door...they must be in our classroom! As we entered the room, laughter filled the air and everyone was so excited and relieved to see that the Gingerbread men had made their way back to the best classroom in the school...our room :) Now they were ready to be decorated....which meant more messes were to be made! But it sure was worth it!

This was definitely one of the most entertaining classroom activities I have been a part of. The look in the Kindergarteners eyes when they were searching for the Gingerbread men was so entertaining to watch. I had forgotten what it's like to be at an age where the world around you is so magical and you can get lost in the world of make-believe. This activity also showed me how much work and effort it takes to put some lessons together. The mystery didn't take very long to solve and the cookies didn't take long to make, but the planning behind it all was very intense and I'm sure somewhat overwhelming.

All in all, the day was full of adventure and excitement and the kids loved every minute of it! It was absolutely wonderful to be back with the kids...I was even greeted with some belated Christmas presents since I hadn't seen them in so long :) they were very thoughtful! I just love my kids and am so glad to be back!!