Thoughts

It has been an interesting transition going from being the full time teacher to teaching a few lessons a week. Don't get me wrong...not that I mind having my workload cut down. My teacher was really excited to get back to teaching and she started some new fun things such as "Questioning" in reading and writing. The kids are learning how wise readers ask questions before, during, and after they read. This is also carrying over into writing with question and answer non-fiction books. I have been really impressed at the questions the kids are coming up with after a read-aloud. Most of them are really understanding the concept. It has been really interesting after residency to step back and observe again. I feel like I am really still learning and now I have time to actually process and reflect on what I am seeing whereas when I was teaching full time, I would forget certain things at the end of the day.

A well deserved spring break

Never before have I looked forward to spring break so much. It is hard to believe that residency is over and I am that much closer to graduation. It is such a relief to be done with lesson plans and the daily duties of being a full-time teacher. Of course, I will still be a big part of the classroom, but I am more than happy to hand the responsibility back to my mentor. She is actually excited to get back to teaching, I think she has really missed it. I do not feel that I can really relax, however, until I finish 3rd quarter grades. It was such a relief to find out we didn't have to add comments for each child since we just had Parent/Teacher conferences. Just entering grades and having work samples to back up each grade is enough work in itself. I am so looking forward to cutting back my hours after spring break. We are definitely on the homestretch!

Are we really almost done?????

Oh my goodness, only 3 days left! After today, I could not be more ready! I don't know what was wrong with my first graders today but the day was absolutely insane. Let's just say I'm looking forward to unwinding over a glass of wine tonight :-) This week has not been much than the last few weeks so lesson planning and prep has been fairly simple. We have been revisiting how to read words with a silent e because our kiddos don't seem to be grasping the concept when we have been conferencing with them. I've been trying to find different ways to present the concept and I think some of the kids are understanding a little more. It's kind of a bummer with the English language because there are so many exceptions to a rule and of course, the kids always find those ones. I hope the rest of the week settles down a bit after today, but I am mentally preparing myself if that doesn't happen with spring break right around the corner.