I'm Officially The 3rd Grade Teacher!!

     Today I signed everything for my new job and was overloaded with crazy crazy information. I should have my new email and access to the district in 72 hours. Crazy!! This just makes it feel so real. I also went to a training over NUMBER TALKS. I love this and have actually seen this on YouTube a while back and thought how cool. I will show what I have learned as I learn it. Today was just an overview of NUMBER TALKS.
 
     I should hopefully see my room again tomorrow or Thursday. It depends on the time I can go. I am going to take pictures so I can plan for my room. I have already bought things for my room. Not decorations yet.

   This is my 1st Dollar Tree run. Haha. As you can see it is simple things. I bought the little containers for my dice when students are at centers and need them. They are real quiet and are just the right size. I will need to put tape on the sides so the lids will not accidentally come off.  Excited about those. 

                                                                       

The next thing I think is really neat is this hanging picture holder. You put a number on top and have students answer different concepts. I made this quickly to show what I did. Definitely will be nicer in my room. $1 at the Dollar Tree!!! This can be at a station or to help students when they are finished with their work to keep them busy until it is time to move on. One suggestion, is for students to write in the back of their math journal the answers. I have been looking at a lot of blogs and got these two ideas. Plus, many many more.

Another thing a blog has made me do (They did not twist my arm, but hey they were pretty convincing) is to get this teacher planner. It is by Erin Condren. I am a very organized person and I was going to make my own "Teacher Binder" but why now. This has everything that I want. I bought it!!! It was mad money but it is worth it I am sure. Of course my name is different then on here and the school. But it will look like this color wise. Click the picture to go to Erin Condren's website. Check these planners out that are just for teachers and to see how you can get them all personalized and in different designs.

To wrap up from last time, I was able to see my beautiful niece for the first time since she was born March 28th. She was born at 27 weeks and has to be in the NICU. Brooklyn will hopefully be out by July 28th. I am praying that she will be out.                       

 I will continue to work at looking at Blogs to help prefect my room and come up with my own ideas. The other interns (use to be interns) and I are going to have a Pinterest party and this is a time to catch up and share our ideas.

Until next time,
      -PFons-

What A Crazy Semester And I Am Back!

    I am back. Yes! Will I keep up with my blog as I plan, WELL probably not, but will try try. I had a pretty busy spring. Here is a list of things I have done and accomplished.

1. Finished Intern II.
2. Became the full-time substitute for my mentor. Did a lot from scratch. Great learning experience for me to kind of know what to expect. 
3. Graduated as one of the top of my class. Not sure where my number was but there was only 17 out of over 200 students who were recognized. 
4. Got a job! 3rd grade math and science teacher.
5. Started a Spanish class. Buenos Dîas! Learning basics. haha

   Now that I have a job and the crazy semester is over, it is time to plan plan. I have been a little stressed out about how to plan. What do I plan for and being only a math and science teacher can I do some of the things I have planned? In addition, I am not teaching reading and that takes a lot of the fun decorating away, maybe we will see. 

   On that note, decorating has not been number one to me. It is, do not get me wrong, but I am more worried about being organized and having everything ready for the first day and week of school. I have training starting August 12th, but is that enough time to prepare? I want to decorate my room with the under the sea theme. I think it brings nice bright colors and I want to have everything bright and inviting. Here are a few things I have planned that I want done by the beginning of the school year, August 26 to be exact. 

1. Make my teacher binder - what all goes into one. haha
2. I am making each one of my 44 or 48 students their personal folders. These folder will be with them for the entire year. It will consist of:

• A calendar for their homework to be written on. Got a calendar from a fellow blogger.
• The school districts calendar 
• The student's standards for the year
• My expectations for the year 
• A student contract saying they will achieve my expectations and make it their own and add two of their own. They will sign it!
• Then their demerit block. I am not sure if I will do it like the calendar or weekly yet. Still debating.

      3. A letter to the parents welcoming them to a new year

      4. Plus, decorate/set-up my room

      5. I want an interactive bulletin board

      6. Buy my storage units for my classroom. They would like for all manipulatives to be visible.

      7. My students personal folders for teacher-parent conference, IAT, etc. 

   

     I think the point is put across. I have been using my friendly Pinterest to help me with this and found some great resources. I have also been to one training for my school district and it was AWESOME. I have several things I will be using from there.

    I have my work cut out for me this summer. I have a new hire orientation Tuesday and will definitely be updating about that. I hope I can keep up with blogging. It is a nice release and I want to post pictures all the things that I have done. It was my intentions when I started the blog originally. 

Until next time,

    -PFons- 

    

Intern II So Far

Intern II has not been all that it has cracked up to be. My husband tells me when I get to a place, after working hard for it, I am expecting fire works and a big WOW moment. I still want to be a teacher, but I do not think I have gotten the experience yet that I need to get that,"Oh yea, I belong here."

So, I try to stay positive and wait for my moment of glory. Which should hopefully be Tuesday! I am starting my first lesson and unit. I am teaching Science!! I am doing the Texas TEKS 3.8 B, C, & D. This TEK and the sub TEKS are supposed to be taught in 2 1/2 to 3 weeks and everyday, according to my scope and sequence. I will only have hopefully 6 days and only 30 minutes to 45 minutes, if I am lucky, for two days a week.

I have already written out the entire unit, but just need to get the extra guiding questions and language objects in my lesson. I also need to finish up my Prezi and foldables. I am going to do stations and a lot of student teaching in my lesson. Click the link below to see my Prezi over Sun-Earth Connection that has been done so far.

Sun-Earth Connection

I will also add all of my photos of my foldables and all of my lesson attachments.

So much still to do.

Until next time,
-PFons-

The beginning of intern II!!

Well intern II officially started. I have not done much and have not interacted much with the students :-(. I am told that I am to observe the first week and as time goes on I will get a little more hands on. This is a huge transition for me since in Pre-K it was not stop moving. My feet would be hurting from standing and moving all day, but now my butt hurts from sitting all day. I thought I would be moving a lot and this would definitely burn off those unneeded pounds. Well nope, I was wrong.

I start teaching Science on January 22nd. I will be teaching about the our solar system. Fun! Whatever I teach it will be interactive and hopefully with coloring involved. I need to start doing research and get my vocabulary figured out ASAP. My students need to be introduced to some vocabulary before they begin a lesson so they will not be lost during my teaching. I have some neat ideas from my ESL class to use.

I am tired and need sleep.

Until next time,
-PFons-

Pre-Day before the big day!!

Today was interesting. I learned a lot and will have my work cut out for me this semester. It will be fun. I actually start teaching January 22nd. I am so excited. I will first start teaching science for the first week. Then the next week I will teach science and social studies. Then the following week I will teach science, social studies, and math. Then the fourth week, I will teach science, social studies, math, and ELA. Then each week after teaching all the subjects, I will loose one subject a week starting with science and then social studies, etc. I was suppose to teach for only thirty days, but will be teaching a lot more days. This will be interesting. Tomorrow I will meet my students and super excited to get to know the different personalities.

Today I was told, by two people from administration, that classroom management is KEY!! I could not agree anymore. I went and bought a book that I have been eye balling at Barnes and Nobles about classroom management. I have already started reading it, making highlights, and making notes. So far so good.

Like I have said in a previous post, I did not get a lot of instruction on classroom management and I think educating myself will be beneficial. I also will choose a classroom management technique and apply it to my classroom. My supervisor/assistant principle will come and observe me using it. In addition, I will write a paper over how it worked.

Here is my first day outfit.

I am starting my weight loss again. It's not a diet. What I will be doing is getting back to my workouts and just eating better. I need to get ready for another MUD RUN! Hopefully I will be able to blog tomorrow. I am going to make an organized intern II binder.

Until next time,
-PFons-    

It's Time

It is time for internship II tomorrow. Tomorrow is teacher preparation day. I will not meet my new students until Tuesday. I am extremely nervous and excited. I was really nervous on what to wear. I guess worrying about clothes takes some of the anxiety away. I decided on a white button up dress shirt and blue Gap Perfect Khakis. It is chilly here so I will wear a grey sweater and my grey converse/all-star shoes. I painted my nails to make me feel better. Hopefully I won't be to busy tomorrow to write about my first day.

Until next time,
-PFons-

Intern II and Sticky Notes

     Well just a few days away from Intern II. I am just as excited as I am nervous. I have not been calling it Intern II but work. I have already made my binder of scope and sequence and the calendar for third grade. For the next few days I need to know what the students should be doing or starting. This will be a little harder than Intern I because I do not know the students and they know the classroom rules better than I will at first. I like to think I am a quick learner and that I will catch on quickly. 

      What is so neat is that I am now truly considered a teacher. I know I have had my licenses since this summer and have already done Intern I, but it is real now. I can actually get a job before the end of the semester. I hope to get a job or be considered for a job by April. This is really pushing it, but it never hurts to hope. I would not mind to stay at my Intern school. I really enjoy being there and the staff has been really great and helpful.

      In a previous blog I mentioned, I wanted to have notes sent home as often as possible for my students. I have a blank sticky note template and a sticky note printout. This is for the 3 x 3 sticky notes. The purpose of this is to be able to let the parents know what good choices or bad choices their child has made that day/week. I think every student should have a note or praise go home at least once a week, preferably daily. If all we do is give negative feedback to the parents about their kids, the parents will think the teacher does not like their child or is just a mean teacher. I know this because my son had a teacher like that and my son was very good, but got conduct marks everyday with no explanations. He would never get praised for doing good and when asked about his behavior she said nothing but positive things about my son. Go figure :-/

Click the picture or Click Here for the sticky note template. Click Here for the sticky note blank template.

     
      What you would do is printout the blank template and add your sticky notes to it. You will then put your paper with the sticky notes back in your printer. Make sure the adhesive part of the sticky note goes in the printer first. Then just print. If you edit the sticky notes you can add each students name to save some time. In addition, scan or copy the whole page of notes to keep for your records.

    It is important to remember this is for the perfect world that this can be executed every day/week. I think it is something that should be considered and added as a normal practice. I think doing this would be great while observing students during work stations, independent practice, or just to lunch. It also can be what some other teacher told you that they caught the student doing good or bad. This is something I will keep in my future classroom management binder for sure. 

   Hopefully next time I blog it will be with great news and new ideas about Intern II and teaching. 

Until next time,

-PFons-