Busy Busy Busy

Well I knew student teaching would be busy but combine that with coaching and you have real life. It has taken me a while to get into a routine but I am getting used to it and I love it. First grade never ceases to surprise me the other day I confiscated a chap stick that was being passed around the playground and someone decided it was a good idea to give my kids pixie stix on Friday. They were bouncing off the walls except for Raul who just had dental surgery and cant have sugar (poor kid).

I have taken over teaching everything and it gets a little hectic with planning. Making sure you plan more than enough gets hard but I have been learning to utilize songs and fun activities to pass the "down time". We have been doing a plant unit in science and the kids really enjoy growing plants in cups. With math we have been working with pattern blocks and mental math. My goal is to get my kids to do their addition facts 1-10 without using their fingers to count. Some kids are very good at it and others struggle and rely on their fingers for even 3+2. We do fun activities with a projector and white boards that they enjoy. I have learned to use the "freeze" button on the projector which gives the math lesson a magical feel, although some kids peek and ruin it for the rest.

Math and Reading are really being drilled in Wisconsin schools after NCLB was in place so we spend about and hour and a half a day on both. To get some more math practice the school did a Math Olympics to go along with the winter games in Vancouver. Everyday we did some math test for fun and if the students missed zero they got a gold medal for the day, 1-3 silver medal and 4-6 bronze. Our class did really well and earned a lot of medals I was very proud of this because it was the week after I took over teaching math.

I cant believe it is already March! I have so many stories I have to post and hopefully I can categorize them and post them later this week because they are worth sharing! Trying to make spring break plans since mine doesn't start till April 1st and Carthage's is next week. (Not much of a spring break with still 6 inches of snow on the ground)