Teaching Small, Medium, & Large Lesson

      I finally taught my second big lesson for my internship. I am going to attach my lesson and the book that I used. I am also going to add the book I probably should have used. My lesson was okay. It was not basic enough for Pre-K. There are tons of things that I should of done different. With this being a new concept to the students it was a little overwhelming for them. I should have used a more basic book for the students. I should have not used partners, but I feel that the students need the practice to work with partners. Due to time and feeling like I needed to get the lesson moving, I did not pair the students like I would of wanted too. The students really never worked in pairs. If the students were already partnered up before the lesson and sat next to their partner on a daily basis, it would have worked really well. I had fun doing my lesson, but I think that I let my nerves get the best of me. I had very good criticism from my mentor and she felt the same way I did about some of the things that I should have done differently.

*Click the picture for the lesson plan. The two links to the book are right next to it. I added the basic book and the book I originally used. All the pictures are form Google Images.*

 
Book drawing Apple sizes small, medium, and large




Basic Book on drawing different sizes small, medium, and large








    After my lesson, I went to observe a bilingual first grade class and it was amazing!!! I could not understand half of what the teacher was saying because I do not speak any Spanish. I understand some words, but definitely not enough to completely understand anything. The teacher was so amazing that I was able to follow along with everything she was teaching. I also like how the teacher teaches Spanish in Syllabus and how the teacher teaches consonants and vowels together (Ex: Pa, Pe, Pi, Po, and Pu). Why do I not see this taught in English classes? I think this would help English students completely. Plus, the teacher was using so many hand gestures and facial expressions. Also, the teacher praised the students for getting the answer right and even when they were wrong. Just AMAZING!!!

    I have so much still to do and I need to get a lesson together to explain the Scientific Process. This will be for a 5th grade class. YIKES! I think I can do it.

Until next time,
-Pfons-

Quick Put together!

The two following are things I put together. There is a senses printable that I used for my 5 senses mini lesson. Click on the image below and you can get the pictures I used and made. I got all the pictures from Google Images!

The next print out that I have is to compare BIG and Small! I am still debating if I will use this for my comparing sizes lesson coming up. Just click the image below. All the pictures are from Google Images!

 That is all I have for this moment. I have to some how squeeze in homework before class. Almost down one paper out of three that are due in one week. Stressful for sure. Honors Initiation is this weekend. That will be fun!

Until next time,

-PFons-

Down Right Muddy!

   Well been overloaded with school. I have been trying to stay ahead and it has not been so easy. With Disney World quickly approaching I have to stop messing around and take advantage of all my time. I need to practice staying up late and getting up early. Ha! I am not sure if that will ever happen. I have been wanting to start back at my workouts, but when I attempt I am like crap I got to do something else. I also want time to stare at the TV without thinking too. I have to figure this out.

   What happen to me that was exciting was that I actually did Might Mud Dash. It is a 5K obstacle course that involves MUD AND MORE MUD. It was a lot of fun and I was able to do this with my sister in-law. I think this will be my new thing and my inspiration to getting back to working out. I am looking at the next big obstacles courses they have coming up in the new year to attend.

 

That is my daughter with her hands out. She hugged me and got covered in mud.

 This video was one of the last walls we had to endure. I did it with ease, surprisingly. The wall was covered in mud and it was very slippery. This was the great adventure I have been part of. Now it is time for school and all of the work.

 For a lesson that I will be teaching on Halloween, I am making a comparing size cut out book. I will post it as soon as I am finished. Hopefully today! I could not find any great books to compare sizes for Pre-K students. I want the students to be able to relate to the book and a lot of books I have found are not what I am looking for.

Until next time,
-PFons-

Background Info

I wanted to briefly show what I have done in September.

Yep, everything is almost highlighted off. I hate having things not highlighted. It eats away at me. I still need to do a Special Education Resource Binder and My Education Lab. In addition, I need to come up with all my classroom rules and take my first exam for my online Geology class. A lot will carry over into October, but I am ready. This is October at this moment.

October does not look bad, but it is only the second day of October. I had slacked one weekend and it was not because I chose to. Things came up where I felt like family was more important. I still made sure I watched my TEXANS. All school work stops while they play. So, I technically lost two days out of a week and it added so much stress to getting things done. I had two papers to write, a lesson to write and teach, and another lesson to write. Sounds easy but one of the papers were 12 pages long. I am waiting on grades for all my papers and lessons. I hope they are up to my instructors standards and that I do not disappoint myself. I currently have a 3.8 something GPA and I want to get at least a 3.9 when I graduate. I want to be in at least top 10 percent of my class. What an accomplishment that would be for me and for my life.

Here is a little background of me. I am a high school dropout, I never tell people that because I am too embarrassed, and I was a teen mom (I was 16). I was kicked out of my house living on my own taking care of a baby. The old saying goes, “A baby taking care of a baby.” I ended up getting my G.E.D. when my son was 1. By 18 I got a job working for a bank and met my husband. We ended up having a daughter and I was ready to do something with my life and get out of working for a bank. I got my cosmetology license and started cutting hair. I started working at SportClips, a men’s salon, and I was making $10 an hour and I received anywhere between $5 to $10 tips per cut. I was cutting an average of 21 cuts a day. I was making descent money, but I wouldn't make much more money and I was always gone from home. I decided to go back to school and I quit working. Getting my Associates Degree was my first step and as far as I thought I would go. I started community college and I just couldn't stop. A Bachelor’s Degree seemed reachable as soon as I was done with my second semester in community college. Now that I am about to get my Bachelor’s Degree my Master’s Degree does not seem like that big of a deal or hard to obtain.

That was a little background information about me. I know a lot of Principals and Superintendents would like to know where you have graduated from and year, but I do not share my G.E.D. story. I know it does not matter anymore because I have my associates and I am about to get my Bachelor’s. I just thought this was important to write for a strange reason tonight.

Until next time,

-PFons-    

Side note read through my blog and needed to make some much needed grammar corrections. I suck at it. lol were or was that is the questions...haha

BEEN BEEZY

I have not been able to blog the last couple of weeks due to it being crazy busy. I had a lot of things due the end of September. I can tell you it has been busy with keeping up with school, with my kids, and keeping up with the house work. I like being busy, but it really is taking time away from everything.

Now on to what I have done! 

I did a mini lesson over the 5 senses and it went great. I read the book “My Five Senses” by Aliki and made a poster size cartoon boy with the 5 senses labeled. The kids really like the cartoon boy. I had made the following pictures from clipart and laminated them. I used sticky tack to stick them to the poster. After reading the book and going over the poster, I demonstrated what they would be doing by using the drum as the example. I asked the students as a group, “What sense do you use when you have a drum.” The students told me you hear the drum. I then asked where I would put it on the poster. They told me by the ear. I then put students in pairs and had them discuss their picture and the sense. The students love to talk, why not give them something to talk about! The students did great with this. After some time of discussing the picture, I had one pair at a time get in front of the class and tell what their picture was and the sense you use to go along with the picture. All the students did a great job and they clearly understood the objective of this lesson.

I will figure out how to upload the 5 sense pictures or will just add them as a picture. 

If this was a full lesson, I would continue the lesson with the students drawing a picture that uses one of the senses. They did great and this was a beautiful lesson to do with my Pre-K students. I was actually TEACHING!

In science methods, I did a bottle rocket car. I have to make two more making one change.  I think I will change the size of the tires. I think this was a good activity and would love to do this in a future class.

Another thing I am working on, besides writing lessons and writing papers, is I am making a quilt with my 5 classroom rules. My Mommaw is going to help me make it. I have the pattern and the material. I just need my Mommaw to help me with making the blocks. I am super excited. The green material will be the trim around each block and the yellow blocks will be the blocks I write or sew my rules on, one rule per yellow box. The material with all the students will be the back of my quilt. I so excited and hopefully I can start on this upcoming weekend.

One more side activity I have done is making a Halloween wreath. I am not completely finished, but love it. I got the idea off of Pinterest. Love Pinterest!!

That is all for now. Crazy month ahead, but I think I will survive!!!!

-PFons-

Staying Ahead!

   It has been a while since my last post and it has officially been two weeks since the beginning of the semester. WOW! I have had two full days in my Pre-K classroom and it has been amazing. I really enjoy my  mentor teacher and the kids. Each day I take several things away that I did not learn in my education classes. Management is one of them! Yes, I have taken a management class, but it does not prepare you enough. I think being in the classroom is the only way to be prepared, but I also did not get the appropriate education on classroom management because it is hard to teach. So, when I get my Masters Degree I am going to try as hard as I can and become a professor at UHCL so I can teach Management. As of right now that is the class I want to teach while being a principle. I think it is important for future teachers to be more prepared. My education has been great and UHCL has done such a great job, but there needs to be a little more enforcement in management. I think this will make a more effective teacher!!!

Lets get off of that and tell you about my first couple of weeks. Better yet let me show you my first couple of weeks.

 

   I try to stay very organized and you have to be with 4 classes plus adding interning it is a lot. Everything that is done is highlighted. So far I have stayed on top of things, but one missed day I can be stuck so far behind. It has been intense, but I am staying very positive because it is my last semester. I write everything down and it bugs me if it is not highlighted off. If I do not write everything down I feel like I will forget something important and I will. You have to be honest with yourself when making your calendar and doing time management. Sometimes I overload a day, but I always write in the calendar when it is due so I can see the end. Some times I will do light days of homework just to get the petty things out of the way. This will allow me to focus an entire day on the major projects regardless if they are due in a couple of days or couple weeks. This is just a sneak peak of how I keep organized. A lot more goes into, but will get into that later.

  Surprisingly, I have kept up with my kids school and the one thing that I fallen from is cooking. I need to get back into the habit of make my delicious dishes. I guess I need to go Pinterest some more recipes. I have one class online which is Geology. So far it has been ok. I wanted to take a test today so I need to really study. I like to take test before they are due because it allows me to stay ahead and with this not being a face to face class I need to show more discipline in getting things done for this class.

  This is my spill for now. I want to leave you with an activity I did in my science methods class which is "Build Your Own Scientist." There was no pattern to follow and you make it your own view of a scientist. I did not have glue so everything is held together by tape and we had to work with construction paper. My scientist is made by layering my construction paper cutouts. I think I did a swell job for doing it in roughly 10 minutes. This was my first time to make my scientist. He is not glued to the paper it just looked better for the picture. PHOTO OP!! LOL

Until next time

-PFon-

Here We Go!!

   I want to make sure I stay somewhat on top of my blog this semester; last semester was not so good. It is my first day of school for me and my kiddos. How exciting.

 This is my official last semester as a student/newly intern. Next semester I will be known as strictly “The Intern”. Since I passed all my state required tests I should be called “The Teacher”. Ha Ha. I really do not like the first day of class because it is all about the syllabus and introductions. I just want to know what my professor look likes, what work I have to do, and when it is due. That is it! I am a little discouraged in this morning class because I have to be in a group of 9 people and put together this source book for special needs students. The number of people in my group is not discouraging it is my grade depends on all of us to get it down the same and right. That is scary. It is like being part of an organization and I will get through it. One more thing about this morning’s class, me and another lady are the only ones in internship. Everyone else is on their first to second semester. I have not decided if this is a good thing or bad thing.  Did I mention this is my last semester?

   I woke up at 5 this morning, after yet again not sleeping at all last night, to go workout. I was dreading it, but my husband is right it will wake me up and make me feel better throughout the day. I workout better in the mornings anyways. After my descent workout my husband and I finished packing lunches and got the kids up. We all got ready pretty smoothly today and I was happy we all did. My little Emily did not want me to walk her into school today. We already had “meet the teacher” and she was ready to do this on her own. Hunter on the other hand wanted me to wait to the last possible second to drop him off. I hope he is having a good day in a new school. He is now in 5^th, middle school.

  Tomorrow is the big big day. Interning begins! I cannot wait to get into my Pre-K class. I got my mentor teacher some hand sanitizer for her classroom and I am going to go buy a small thing of coffee, Splenda, and cream for the teacher’s lounge. Momma needs her coffee in the morning, especially with the little ones. Plus, it is important to contribute back. I am going to get a nice little bag to put the items in to bring. I have one more class today and that starts at 4pm. It is an ESL class at a school, which I am excited about. My internet class is already up and I already have things due. Here are things due as of today:

Internship – Analysis paper this Saturday

Chapter Notes Review - Special education class- Next Tuesday

Chapter one quiz- Geology (internet class) – Monday

This by the way are just three of my five classes for this semester.  Still have two more to go too. FUN!!! I cannot wait. It is my last semester of classes!!!!

-PFons-