Did this get harder or am I imagining it?

So today I went back to my field placement for the first time in 2 weeks and boy was it intense. I honestly think that some of the kids didn't remember my name when I first walked in (yikes) but quickly seemed excited to see me none the less. I learned that we had a new student, which is the first to come in the middle of my time at the school. The new student was so excited and so new to school. He did not understand lines, yelled out in the hall, and hit other students on accident. During our 5 minutes alloted outside, he ran off to the other playground and I spent an extra 5 minutes chasing him around the monkey bars. I was exhausted by 9:30 and it really made me realize how much work my mentor teacher put into the class in the first couple of months of school.
As the day went on, I got back into the swing of things. While the kids were at specials I helped my MT rearrange the room for the new theme: GARDENING! I just started my own garden this weekend and I couldn't be more excited to be covering this theme in my classroom. My MT also said that this is her favorite unit of the entire year and we're both really excited. As I was helping her decorate the room, I noticed a plan bulletin board with a few sheets of paper tacked to it. I asked her if she would mind if I decorated the bulletin board for our new theme and she laughed and said that she could tell that I wanted a craft to do. By the end of the day, I was exhausted from the kids but eager to do my bulletin. I went to the new teacher store I had heard so much about and spent a half hour walking around admiring all of the things I wanted to buy one day. I went home and let all of my frustrations from the day be channeled into energy for my bulletin board. I think that's how you know you're a teacher :) I just finished it and can't wait to show my teacher tommorrow!

Back to the grind...

It's been 1 day since spring break, 1 week since my field experience and what feels like 1 century since I've been in school. When my alarm went off this morning, the sound and time on my phone were unrecognizable. I don't know how I did it for an entire week in the elementary school, but I did and I loved it.

My week in the elementary school was amazing. When I walked in on Monday the kids were excited to see me but didn't quite realize that anything was different because I don't think they have totally grasped the days of the week :) I got right on that and started the day with  calendar time and a brand new greeting that I came up with! We made a morning train around the room and let everyone get on board. It was a little confusing at first because it was new but my MT told me not to get discouraged and the kids caught on soon and we all had a good time. My MT  also gave me the chance to create a door/wall decoration for class for March and I came up with my very first one!


St. Patty's Day wall decoration



I decided to do my unit plan on shadows and started the week with a great book called Bear Shadow. We spent one day talking about the book and our own background experiences with shadows. The next day, I created a story hill with pictures from the book and had the students come tape the pictures up on hill to work on story sequencing.  In small groups, my students explored with flashlights to create shadows with objects in the classroom. Finally, on the last day, we went outside! I lined up the students and paired them up. They took turns drawing each others shadows with sidewalk chalk and then measured the lenghts with plastic lengths. The kids really got itno it and it was so fun. It was great watching my kids explore and learn about shadows during the week. They would identify them everywhere we went.. on the smartboard, at recess, in the hallway. I felt so proud :)

Fun with shadows

I believe that my unit was so successful because my students were interested in it. They saw shadows in their everyday lives and wanted to know more about them .This is not much different from what Ray talks about in Ch 12 about units in writers workshop. The guidelines that I used for picking my theme for my 5 day unit plan are almost identical to the guidelines that Ray suggests for selecting units for writing. First, the topic should be interesting to the teacher and she students. If it is not fun to teach or to learn about, no one will be engaged or will enjoy what is going on. I picked shadows not only because I thought my students would enjoy them, but because I thought that I could really have fun teaching about them Next, resoucres played a huge impact on my unit. I wanted to study something that I knew I had the supplies to do something meaningful with. The same is true for any subject. It is even better if other teachers are doing the same thing and you can share resources.  Whatever the subject, both students and teachers need to know where they are going and what is next. Units help us to do this.
If there is one thing that the week in the school has taught me it is that a little extra preparation goes along way. Well, that and a lot of coffee.