2nd grade

My first week in second grade is coming to a close, so I thought I would give you a few highlights of my week:

• Being called "Miss G".....it sounds like such a simple thing, but for some reason "Miss G" sounds so much more appealing to me than "Miss Gehman"....one reason being that I tend to get called "Mrs." a lot and "Mrs. Gehman" is my mom....not me! But I don't know anyone called "Miss/Mrs. G" so it works great! Plus, I get quite tired of pronouncing/spelling my name for people.
• One of the second grade boys telling me I had a ladybug on my....ummm, bottom. Haha, and yes, that is the word he used...and yes, he did hesitate to say it.
• Being able to sit by a boy and help him work through his math and seeing his face light up when he gets it
• One of the second grade boys just loves to annoy me by leaning his chair back and balancing on the back two legs. It has become quite the thing between us as I can simply look at him and he puts his chair back on the ground. Anyway, a lady comes in to help in the afternoons on Tuesdays and Thursdays and on Tuesday, this boy asked the lady if she and I were related. Now, mind you, we look nothing alike, but you want to know why he asked? Because we both tell him to put his chair down! :) Haha! I couldn't help but laugh when I heard that one....
• I got bombarded today with questions about what the "ozone" is, because my teacher had them write the sentence "We must protect the ozone", to work on their spelling words. They did not know what "ozone" meant and asked her, but she refused to tell them because it wasn't important at the moment. Then she got caught up talking to another teacher for a few minutes and stepped out of the room for a bit, which is when they all turned to me and asked, "Miss G, what's the ozone?", "Are we breathing the ozone?", and, my personal favorite, "Can you walk on the ozone?" (Where do they come up with this stuff??) Needless to say, I had to make sure they wrote their sentence rather than try to explain the ozone to them, but it was entertaining nonetheless.

Anyway...those are just a few highlights of my first week in second grade. It is quite different from kindergarten, of course....no snack, no calendar time, and no quiet time, but I think I will learn to love it. I do miss my kindergarteners, though....I see some of them in the hall and after school occasionally, which is nice, especially because they almost always give me a hug. :)

Tomorrow, I will only be at school for half the day....after lunch, because we have a career/interview day on campus. I will be attending a presentation at 8:45am and then I have two interviews later that morning as well. I am quite nervous about them, simply because I have had very few interviews in my life and zero teacher interviews!! I will be glad when they are over!

Last Week!

Well...it's official. This week will be my last week in Kindergarten. Friday we have class on campus and then on Monday, I will start in second grade!

This past week was spring break for the college, but I had to stay here because of student teaching. Because they closed down the Greek houses, my friends and I actually stayed at one of my friends' grandma's house in town. Other than that, it was a normal week. Oh...except for the fact that I was sick Monday and Tuesday with some sort of stomach flu or virus. I felt pretty crappy on Monday and ended up with a fever Monday night, so I ended up staying home Tuesday as well. Which was actually a good thing, because I still was not 100%. By Wednesday, I felt better and went to school, but I was still exhausted by the end of the day.

Saturday, we had to take the PRAXIS test. It is the standardized test that all pre-service teachers have to take in order to get certified to teach in Missouri. I feel pretty good about it, but I won't know if I passed or not until April 6th. At least it's not too far away!

Update!

It's been awhile since I have updated you all on student teaching, so I thought you might like to see some pictures. The quality isn't very good, and I don't know if you will be able to click on them to make them bigger, but here they are anyway. :)

This is a picture of me reading a big book to the students during reading time...

This is another picture of me reading the same book...

by the way...the kids usually only sit this well and this quietly when I am reading a book...

This is a picture of 4 of the 5 ladies who are in our classroom at one time or another...

I am on the left, obviously...then Chelsea, she is a high school senior who comes every other day for about an hour to help us out. Next, in the pink, is Mrs. Schultz, my kindergarten class's teacher....next to her is Miss Summer, our aide who is in there at all times. Not pictured is Miss Carter, a Title I teacher, who used to teach part of reading for Mrs. Schultz, but now is only in our classroom for about 20 minutes every day.

As you can see, we tend to have a lot of help in our classroom usually, which is nice, because more eyes and more hands means fewer problems!! Things are going well...I am in complete control of the class all day, every day, now. It's hard to believe it's March already! I only have 12 days left in kindergarten before I move to second grade. Wow! Feels like I just started yesterday! And, I can't believe that I will be GRADUATING in 74 days!!!!! EEEeeeekkkkkk!!!!!!!!

On a side note....I just brought back to school a box of thin mint girl scout cookies and I just received a box of tag-a-longs and thin mints that I had previously ordered. YUM!