JOYS of teaching Kindergarten :)

I have taught my sweet class of five-year-olds for twelve days now, and I love it. I cannot imagine myself teaching any other grade now.

Every day, I learn something new. I learned how to hang students' art work on bulletin boards without tearing their work when it comes down. You hang it with masking tape & put a drop of hot glue on the tape that faces the wall.

I have hundreds of stories already to share, but I have two personal favorites.

Wednesday, I decided to teach our first science lesson. We studied "Chicka Chicka Boom Boom" all week, and I brought a coconut to class. The students sat in a circle on the carpet with a crayon & a chart with the five senses on it. I had a chart enlarged on the board. I walked around the circle holding the coconut for "seeing" the coconut. We passed it around the circle for "feeling" it, and we passed it around again and shook it beside our ears to "hear" it. Of course, that leaves smelling & tasting the coconut. I have to say, I had no idea how to crack a coconut. I knew I needed a hammer, and I knew it would be a little messy. Of course, I had no idea how messy it would be.

I put the coconut down, and I took that hammer, and the first time I hit it, it just spun around on the carpet. The students thought that was hilarious. They laughed & laughed each time I hit it and it didn't crack. Finally, I decided that I would just hit it as hard as I could because if it didn't open, my lesson would be a waste. I smacked that coconut so hard, the milk shot across the carpet, and several students got wet. They LOVED it!!! I passed around one half of the coconut and let them smell it, and I went around and forced the students to taste it. Oops, all along we were documenting our observations on the charts using pictures. It intimidates them when I write words. So, the end of the experiment, each student got a brown circle and they had to draw a smiley face if they liked the coconut and a frowny face if they did not. We made a bar graph with these coconuts, and it turns out 14 students actually liked it!!

The students are still talking about that hammer & coconut days later. :) Coconut science experiment=success. Next time, we're putting a shower curtain on the carpet though. :)

The next story makes me cry every time I think about it.
I have a student who will not talk. She did name the colors, shapes, & letters she recognized during an assessment I gave her, but she will not talk in front of the students. Well, I teach Writing Workshop every afternoon before nap time. It's important for the students to put their stories (that they love to share) in "writing." A few are already getting the idea of using words they do know how to write (their names, Mama, Love, etc...), but for the most part, they are drawing illustrations and writing using squiggles & random letters. After the students write, we meet on the carpet, and I select a few students to sit in the author's chair and read their stories to the class. Friday was the first day I introduced the author's chair to the class. I had a talkative student share, a quieter student next, and finally, this little girl who just smiles and never says a word. She was SO excited about sitting in the chair. She held up her story, and I asked her to read her story to the class. She just smiled. I asked her if she drew herself in the picture, and she pointed to herself. I asked her if she had brothers, and she pointed to them in the illustration. I asked her if she'd like to tell her story using a puppet, and she nodded. I gave her an elephant puppet, and she just smiled and smiled holding that puppet. No words.

Well, after an author shares, I ask the students to raise their hands if they want to ask the author any questions or praise their stories. Usually, I have a few hands up, and I end up having to coerce a few other students to think of a compliment. After this little girl's story, every hand was in the air. This made me nervous, until I started calling on students. They all wanted to share their compliments. Their compliments were, "I love that you wrote your story about your big family!" "You used a lot of pretty colors in your picture." "I can see your writing all the way on my square. Thanks for making it big enough for me to see!" "I want to meet your brother just from "hearing" your story!" etc...

My assistant, Miss Smith, and I were absolutely floored. The students loved on sweet shy girl without coercion, and I don't think she stopped smiling the rest of the afternoon.

Teaching Kindergarten has its REALLY tough moments (watch the kids around scissors, glue, & crayons for real), but moments like those are so sweet, it makes the tough moments completely worth it. :)

Kindergarten Orientation

I absolutely adore my 21 students. I met twenty of them Orientation week. I know all of their names, I know who can write their names already, and I can already tell which three students I'm going to have to sit on this year to get them to behave. :)
I LOVE IT!!!

I would be posting pictures all over this blog and Facebook, but being a professional teacher (instead of a student teacher haha), I can't do that, but I can show you lots of pictures from Orientation if you ask me in person. I have the CUTEST picture of my class from last week in my purse right now. They are wearing HUGE pirate hats... most are making the funniest, "arrgg" faces. You will be able to tell the fun and excitement we will be having this school year from that one picture. :)

Here are a few pictures of my classroom...:)






Brittany & Blake got married last Saturday... the day after my crazy Kindergarten orientation week came to a close. It was an absolutely beautiful wedding!!! I was so proud to be a bridesmaid for my sweet friends!

when i said 4th grade teacher, i actually meant...

Kindergarten orientation is this week. Monday-Friday, I will work with my precious babies on standing in line, signing up for lunch, holding a lunch tray, and other basic school procedures. 8:30-11:30.
I am so excited because I will know how to plan for August. I will already know my babies. :)

i am a teacher (revised)!

this is the age group of kids i will be teaching in the fall:





i will be teaching....










i am a.....

Happy Graduation/Mother's Day Weekend!

This weekend has been incredible.

I graduated from Ole Miss, Magna Cum Laude (although I still crack up thinking about the speaker saying, "whether you graduate Cum Laude or Thank you, Laude!"), and it was a beautiful day I got to share with my parents, grandparents, niece (Anna Kaitlyn), and Matt Chisholm.

Although my four years at Ole Miss have been difficult, I loved the friends I met along the way, and I have been mentored and loved on by some incredible professors. I was always disconnected from my classmates and peers in Oxford. Many of my classmates hung out in the bars after observations in schools, and they knew not to bother asking me (and for right reasons). I just never could understand how they can work with children every day AND maintain that lifestyle. I hate that I wasn't able to influence my peers as I should have, but I'm thankful that my faith in Christ has grown stronger these past four years, and I haven't lost Him in the madness that can come with being a college student.

I didn't feel like many of my Oxford classmates were passionate about teaching, and this school year, I just decided to let go of constantly trying to be liked and moved to the Tupelo Center, where I was loved and encouraged every single day. My classmates became my second-mothers, and I was able to be Julie Kate, for the very first time in my years at Ole Miss. My talents and passion came alive at the Tupelo Center, and at graduation yesterday, I stuck with my group from beginning to end. We became a family during our fall action lab semester, and this semester, during student teaching, we came together once a week to debrief and encourage whoever it was that was crying on that particular day. I think someone was crying at every meeting this semester. I cried during our last meeting. I struggle with saying good-bye to people.

Graduation day was the end of that season in my life, and while I have beautiful, sweet memories from that season, I'm ready to embrace this new season. God worked in my life throughout those four years, and I praise Him everyday for constantly reminding me that He was near, no matter how exciting or difficult life was at the time. I realized how prepared I am for this next season during the last interview I had at an elementary school. I do not know whether I was hired or not, but it was a very postive experience. I was comfortable with the interview committee, I was confident about my knowledge and experiences, and I didn't let the difficult questions (and there were several) put me in a difficult place. I was able to be myself (excited and passionate) and professional all at once, and that is God living through me, at His fullest.

This morning is Mother's Day. Anna Kaitlyn (my 7 year-old niece) & I put together a basket full of bath goodies for Mama, and she had two giant vases of flowers from Don & JoHanna (in Hawaii) and from AK & me. She woke up this morning and got so tickled because Anna had taken Dixie bathroom cups and spelled out MOM on the kitchen table. It was so funny; I love that my girl can read and spell now. She wrote in her "prayer journal" during big church this morning, and I peered over to see what she was writing, and she had written, "Jesus, it is Mommy & Grammy's speshul day. Thank you for my mommies. The preechr is tellin us to thank them today but I want to thank you 1st for them. Thank you Jesus." :)

I think that says enough.

hawaii

June 7-17, 2009

I'm heading to Oahu, Hawaii, to visit my amazing sister-in-law & sweet baby nephew, Joseph (who was one today)! Brianna, my 19 year old cousin, and I are SO EXCITED. Everyone in my family has gone several times.. but Ole Miss and summer jobs just do not forgive trips to the rock. I'm going right before I start working in my classroom (still hypothetical at this point) so it'll be a nice break between student teaching/graduation stresses/festivities and teaching. :)


(Brianna's the only other girl in this picture. We're the only girls in my family!) :)

oh, the ten day.

I taught the first five days of my ten day unit this week.
What a week.


Sunday night, after church, I went by McAlister's to pick-up some neglected paychecks I forgot about in the craziness of this semester. I had been feeling different that night, but I figured it was from all of the late nights over Spring Break I spent working on my projects. While I was at McAlister's, I sorta, kinda, maybe had a seizure. It wasn't a seizure-seizure where you foam and shake like a crazy person. It was stress/blood sugar-related, and I basically passed out and when I came to, was in fear of everyone around me. I was admitted to the ER from 7:45 until 2 am Monday morning. I spent the night with the Pikes (my sweet neighbors), and I woke up for school at 5 am. It was not an ideal way to begin my week.

This week's unit was on the Food Guide Pyramid.

Monday, the students sorted and classified TONS of pictures of foods from magazines and coupons and worked in small groups to create food groups. None used the food groups in the food pyramid surprisingly, which made my lesson so relevant.

Tuesday, the students created a still-life work of art in small groups. Each small group had a set: different foods within the food groups. The students tore tissure paper and glued them in the shapes of the set. Their art turned out so well.. we talked a lot about perspective and how the same objects look different depending on where you view them.

Wednesday, the students researched healthy snacks recipes from the countries of their ancestral origin. The students asked their parents/grandparents where their ancestors came from, wrote the countries down, and returned to school. I divided the students into several countries: Germany, Ireland, Scotland, England, South Africa (I know.. not a country, BUT these students did not know where in Africa they were from), Costa Rica, Mexico, France, India, and Italy. Some students were the only ones in their group, some had six in their country's group. We went to the media center, and they searched websites (predetermined by me because I don't trust Google or... my students...) finding recipes. They wrote them down on notecards, and when we returned to class, they rewrote the recipes neatly on a recipe handout sheet. They colored these sheets, and we voted on a cookbook title for our class' cookbook. The students voted on "Over the Borders" and they worked together to create a glossary, defining the words like "tsp," "tbsp," and "a pinch." We're binding the class copy and having copies made for the students to take home with them next week.

Thursday, the students worked in cooperative groups to study and prepare a presentation on the muscular system. The students were given roles: artists & personal trainers. The artists outlined a human body (traced a student) and decorated their person. They labeled two muscle groups. While they worked on the diagram, the personal trainers used information in folder on two muscle groups and created an exercise program to stretch & strengthen these two muscle groups. They presented their programs and diagrams to the class after lunch. We had all of the desks pushed to the sides of the room, and they stayed like this the rest of the day. I had those fifth graders sitting on the floor all afternoon. It was best though because during the presentations, they had to listen to the steps of each exercise and stretch, watch the demonstrations, and practice them with their "Personal Trainers." :)

Today, we had a guest speaker come in to demonstrate how the students can exercise at home without equipment or a membership to the gym. She had handouts and everything. She explained how muscles tear when you weight train and require a day to heal, and students who lift weights grow stronger when they only lift weights three times a week. The students were really excited about the presentation. After her presentation, we went to the gym where I had fitness stations set up. One of the coaches and I had the students in groups (the same as Thursday's) and they rotated, assessing each other's physical fitness. Before we went, I had a serious discussion about how everyone is at a different fitness level. "If I were doing push-ups, the number I'd be able to do in a minute would be completely different than yours, and yours, and yours." "You will not laugh at anyone. That will not be an issue. No one will laugh at anyone. Does everyone understand?" No one made fun of anyone. The students worked really well with each other. We returned to the classroom, they read over their notes taken by their partners during the assessment, and we discussed how we should all improve in physical fitness while we are young. After our discussion, we spent the remaining hour before lunch finishing the still-life art projects from Tuesday (that were put on the back burner due to having so much planned this week). After lunch, the students took a few tests, and parents arrived at 2:30 for a "Healthy Snacks" presentation. (AKA: Party) :)
The parents brought fruits, apple cartwheels (Google it, the kids LOVED them), banana puddding, strawberry shortcake, gatorades, & lemonade. For the remaining thirty minutes, the students listened to how the parents prepared the snacks, and they enjoyed their healthy foods. We concluded the day discussing how healthy foods taste just as great (if not greater) as junk foods. We decided we would replace one junk food a day this week with something healthy, like a piece of fruit.

It was quite a week. Next week, the students will study starving countries in the world, and they will be "social workers" for the week. They will be in charge of a hungry country, and they will create a PowerPoint presentation about that hungry country. They will include info about the country, why people/children are starving, and what they could do to help. Their parents are coming Friday morning to the Media Center to watch their children present their plans to save the starving people of the world. The students are excited about dressing professionally. Several boys are wearing suits. :)

and that is my ten day lesson plan. After these two weeks, I'll be able to focus on finding a J-O-B! :)