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!!

Blog Hunting

There are so many wonderful blogs out there these days! Teachers, students, first-time moms, engaged couples, everyone seems to be hopping on board the bloggin-train! I have spent the last few days browsing the world wide web looking for great blogs by new teachers, or just teachers in general. I came across a couple that I really enjoyed and wanted to share with you.

Kindergarten Tales
http://kdgroom102.blogspot.com/

This blog wasn't written by a new teacher but I really enjoyed this blog, it was by far my favorite! This particular kindergarten teacher shares all of the games and activities that she is doing with her students and even posts pictures and videos of the students doing them. Some of her most recent blogs are pretty entertaining since it's the holiday season. She discusses Turkey Day activities the students were working on and also has a video of the students in their costumes on Halloween, too cute! It's a great blog because it captures all of the fun and exciting things the students are doing in Kindergarten, but it also provides the reader with links and information for doing those same activities and lessons in their own classroom. On the right hand side, she lists blogs in other grade levels that are also neat to look at. My interest in this blog probably stems from my newfound love of Kindergarten, but I really enjoyed it!

The Story of a Beginning Teacher
http://kdgroom102.blogspot.com/

I really enjoyed this blog because it was so honest. This blog is written by Michelle, a beginning teacher, who is writing about her experiences in her first year of teaching. I liked this particular blog because it noted the struggles and successes of being a new teacher and described what it's really like when you are finally on your own. For example, her most recent blog starts off by saying "After many months of feeling unsuccessful, I finally feel successful..." Michelle does a nice job of discussing her feelings before the school year even started and what the first day was like, and now takes note of the changes she is making and new strategies she is implementing to be more successful. A great blog to read for teachers who are nervous about being a first-year teacher!

Of course, there are many more blogs out there than just the two I listed. The web is packed full of blogs written by teachers and each of them contain information that may be helpful to pre-service teachers like myself. Happy Blogging!

The Twins Are Here!

For those of you who don't know my current classroom situation, let me give you a brief summary. My cooperating teacher, Leanne Uttech, was pregnant with twins when the school year started. When I was given my internship placement I was told that Leanne wasn't going to be there the whole year because she was going to be taking some time off to have her babies and she would be returning in the spring. Leanne is an amazing Kindergarten teacher and I am so thankful for the time I was able to spend with her and I look forward to her return. Leanne was put on bedrest in October and Mrs. Connie Cogburn has since taken her place. Connie has been teaching for many years and was perfect for the position. Connie is another wonderful Kindergarten teacher and I feel very blessed to be learning from two incredible teachers!! :)

So, this blog post is dedicated to Leanne's two new beautiful babies, Tev Elliott and Ella-Rae Marie. The two were born on November 14th at about 8:15am. Tev weighed in at a whopping 7lbs. 2oz. and Ella weighed 5lbs. 13oz...both very good sizes for twins! The babies are very healthy and are currently getting all settled in back at home. I can't wait to meet them both, they are so very precious!

Congratulations to the Uttechs!

Biggest Surprises So Far...

This week's prompt is all about surprises! There are so many new and exciting things that we are learning and experiencing as student teachers and this blog post is about the things that have surprised us the most since the year started. For me, there has been an endless amount of surprises but since I don't have the time or the space to list all of them, I want to focus on a couple that really stand out to me and some that I believe many other student teachers are experiencing also!

Surprise #1- Teaching is exhausting! I just want to take a moment to give kudos to all of the teachers in the world because teaching for 6 hours is so tiring! I haven't even done it yet, and I'm still tired!! I have only taught one lesson at a time, but just being in the classroom all day and working with the students non-stop can be mentally and physically draining. Of course, when it comes down to it, the students are worth every minute of time that you invest. But I want to give a hand to all of the teachers out there who have taught day in and day out for years and years and who continue to work for their students even after the actual school day is over. This just goes to show that teachers are truly amazing people and they deserve so much respect!

Surprise #2- The lessons you assume will take forever, don’t. The lessons you think will be quick, aren’t. It is so difficult to judge just how long an activity or lesson is going to take. Sometimes I think no matter how much you plan it out and how much time you estimate, it’s hardly ever going to be the right amount. I have learned how powerful flexibility is! This is especially true in Kindergarten because often times the littlest activity can be very time consuming. For Halloween, the students drew a pumpkin on a piece of paper and then painted it. Once the orange pumpkin dried, the students were able to go back and paint a face on it with a different color. I had assumed that painting 2 eyes, a nose, and a mouth on a pumpkin wouldn’t take very long, I was wrong. We ended up scrapping the entire afternoon lesson because we needed to make sure that every student had enough time to finish up their pumpkin before Halloween. I have learned that sometimes it doesn’t matter whether it takes 5 minutes or an hour, as long as the students are learning and working hard that’s what counts!!

Surprise #3- I love Kindergarten! I knew that I would enjoy working with children in the primary grades, but I had no idea how fun and exciting Kindergarten would be! This is my first time working with Kindergarten students and I think it’s safe to say I have found my niche! I absolutely adore the students in my class and it is so exciting to watch them make progress each and every day. I have such a sense of pride when I watch them hard at work and observe them making good choices, giving 100%, and improving in areas they were once struggling in. These kids are so incredible and I am so thankful that I get the opportunity to work with them because they truly are a blessing. They are so smart and so full of life, they love coming to school every morning, they love their teachers ;) , they are learning how to make friends, and best of all they love to learn! I am just amazed at the work that these students put out and the attitudes they have towards school. I could only hope that they are learning as much from me as I am learning from them. It is going to be very hard to let these kids go in June and accept the fact that I won’t see them much anymore, but I hope to have my own Kindergarten classroom someday soon.

Teaching and Reteaching

Prompt: Consider a lesson you have taught, with an eye toward reteaching or extending your lesson for particular groups of students.

I have spent the last few weeks developing lessons for a Social Studies unit with my CT. I will not start teaching these lessons until later this week, so I am choosing to focus this particular prompt on a read aloud I did recently. I am choosing to focus on this lesson because the outcome of this lesson helped us to develop one of the lessons I will be teaching during the upcoming unit.

The Learning Target: My focus for this lesson was on the rules of the classroom. Although the beginning of the year had passed and the students had already spent time learning all of the rules, our class was having some trouble following them. I decided it might be beneficial to do a read aloud related to classroom rules and develop some discussion questions that would allow us to review the rules. The read aloud book I used for this lesson is called "When Kangaroo Goes to School." The book is about a Kangaroo that is going to school for the very first time and doesn't know what to expect. Throughout the book, Kangaroo learns all about what takes place in Kindergarten and what rules will help to ensure that she is safe at school. I chose this book because I thought it would be a great way for the students to feel like they were "professionals" in the department of classroom rules! I gave them opportunities to help tell Kangaroo how she should behave at school and explain to her what the rules are and why they are important. My overall goal for the lesson was to get the students to list some of the rules they had learned so far this year and to get them discussing the purpose of these rules.
Evidence of Learning: I believe the students responded particularly well to this lesson because it gave them an opportunity to show off their knowledge. The students completely exceeded my expectations and were very enthusiastic and engaged throughout the lesson. I knew that the students would be able to name rules that we have in the classroom, but I wasn't sure if they understood their purpose. The responses I received from students were proof to me that they did truly understand why rules are so important. I heard a number of students saying things such as "Rules keep us safe!" "We need rules so people don't get hurt." "We need them so everyone has a turn."
Reteaching the Lesson: If I had to reteach this lesson, I would have a discussion related to the people who make the rules and how rules are created. After reflecting on the lesson, my CT and I realized that the only concept students didn't seem to understand was how rules are made and who makes them. The students believe that only teachers can make the rules (they do not believe that they are allowed to participate in making the rules) and I think that they have this idea that rules are sort of "picked out of the sky." We decided to use this idea to develop another lesson that helps address these ideas. (see extension)
Extending the Lesson: My CT and I have worked together to create the first lesson of our upcoming Social Studies unit and it will focus on establishing classroom rules. The lesson will allow us to come together as a classroom community and develop a list of rules that we believe belong in the classroom. This lesson will give the students an opportunity to decide what they believe our classroom rules should be. Obviously, we will help the students create this list to ensure that it truly does contain important classroom rules, but we want the students to see how rules are created and give them a chance to talk about what rules we should have and why. By doing this, we are hoping that the students will be more obliged to follow the rules that they have created and they will have a better understanding of the rules. Once our list has been created, the students will "sign" it (using a painted handprint) and it will be hung up in the classroom.

Personal Growth

Prompt-
Interns: You've been in your internship classroom since late August, assisting your Classroom Teacher in launching the school year. For your first blog post describe, briefly, one strong conviction about teaching that you brought to the classroom that has changed considerably during this time. What changed, and why is this a sign of personal growth?
If there is one thing that I have learned so far this year, it's that teachers HAVE to be flexible! I don't want to say that I didn't know this coming into student teaching, but I don't think I realized the extent to which you have to flexible sometimes. I have had a very interesting start to the school year and after watching some of the challenges and difficulties that my cooperating teacher has had to face, I realize that sometimes entering the teaching profession (and most other professions) can be like entering the "unknown." Fortunately for me, I was blessed with an amazing cooperating teacher and someone that I really look up to and hope to one day emulate. I watched her rise to the occassion despite being pulled in different directions and being thrown curveballs day after day. These last few weeks have helped me to grow because it has made me aware of the fact that difficult situations can arise and you have to be able to roll with the punches and stand strong. Although my experience thus far has been very unique, it's still experience. And every bit of teaching experience that I can receive will benefit me in my future career.