Thursday, February 12, 2009

pictures and fourth grade

-i bought a camera yesterday. it was/is very exciting. i have never (?) spent this much money on something for myself besides rent/bills. maybe i have, but definitely not my own money. and now of course, i have less than $10 in the bank. no, mom and dad, don't worry. i get paid monday, and timed my purchase so that i can still pay bills on time. the camera is a Canon Powershot SD770IS.
i am thrilled and can't wait to receive my bundle of joy in the mail.

-i have been having a marvelous time in fourth grade. i get up early -6:30- and very reluctantly get up, i try to be eating breakfast but otherwise ready to go by 7:30, and leave home by 7:45. sometimes i am a bit late, but as long as i arrive before 8:15 i am on time. i try, however, to leave on time because i like getting there at 8:00 to have morning circle* with fifth grade, then be there for class-switching time, and have morning circle with fourth grade. then is writing workshop. then reading mini-lesson, and reading workshop. that is when i get to pull students i need to work with. yesterday i did pre-assessments of my three assigned students' reading skills. i checked fluency and comprehension, then i checked how many sight words they could instantly read from Fry's high frequency words list. they are really smart, and though one of my students is behind the other two, they are all really interesting, cool kids. i am excited to teach them, and learn from them.

-watching ms. holli (the classroom teacher) has really made me feel like i can be a teacher. i think in a year i can run a classroom of 24 ten year olds, not lose my mind, and not screw them up.

-the student teacher in our class is really nice. so is my fellow intern 1, and i have a feeling the intern 2s are too. and not dumb! oh how i love non-dumb teachers-to-be!

*morning circle is wonderful. ms. holli puts on the song "if i could teach the world to sing" and everyone sits in a circle on the rug. when everyone's sitting and quiet, she puts on james taylor's "you've got a friend" and we twist our arms and hold our own hands (crossing the midpoint of the body improves brain function), close our eyes, sit cross-legged, and listen. about 2/3 of the way through the song, ms. holli tells us to roll our necks, our shoulders, and then breathe 3 deep long breaths. she then goes around the circle one by one saying "Good Morning ___. How are you?" and if they say something like "mad," "excited," or "curious" she asks them why. she asks the student teacher and interns too, and it is really nice, and helps integrate us into the classroom. then everyone says "Good morning, Ms. Holli. How are you?" and she replies and they go about their day. morning circle is the best part of my monday through thursday.

Monday, February 2, 2009

firsts

i had my first day at internship this morning. i am in the fourth grade at SFA charter school with Ms. Holli. I'll be there during morning message, writing, and reading monday thru thursday. i'll be assigned a small group of 3 students for reading instruction and assessment, and otherwise i'll be helping, observing and learning from ms. holli. they call us "special teachers."

i was so nervous that i'd be late this morning. i set my alarm for 6:30 and woke up a few times in the night, scared that i was late. when my phone started ringing the alarm song, i jumped up, thinking i had slept in. i got up and pet molly, gave her medicine, got beautiful, ate breakfast, and successfully left at 7:50, and was early for my class meeting at 8:15! go me! hopefully i won't be late at all this semester.

big news on the kitten front!
molly has been just so scared since i've had her. (actually, she's been scared since ashley took her from where she was living.) after trying many strategies, i decided on putting her with her food, water, litter box, and little cat house in the bathroom. she stayed in that cat house if anyone was in the bathroom, and came out to eat and poop, from what i could tell.
well, yesterday i went in to pet her and give her medicine (she has worms), and she started PURRING! this is the first time i've heard her do so, and until very recently she shook whenever someone touched her. well, she went from purring to pawing at my hand, playing with me, to rolling over and nuzzling my hand, to sticking her head out the hole of her cat house, to actually coming out of the cat house and eating in front of me! then she ran back in and cleaned herself in front of me.
basically i am not sure when i have ever had my heart melt so much. i don't know if you know anything about cats, but they do NOT do those things if they are scared. this morning i went in to pet her more and she was out of her out of her house and didn't run back in. i pet her again and she showed lots of affection. i think soon she will be coming to me, and then i'll introduce her to the other animals.

i made bread last night! it was my second time to do so. i have sam's old bread maker, and it makes really delicious white bread. i'm sure it makes delicious other breads too (and apparently jam!) but i don't know for sure yet. mmm yum yum homemade bread.

that's pretty much it on the home front.