First Day of Practicum!

Today was my first day of my field experience for my READ block class! I will be doing a practicum in 2nd grade at Cane Creek Elementary School, and today was my first day! I was so nervous. But. It was so great!!  First off, I'll just say there is something about having a cute outfit (more posts about practicum outfits to come in the future!), a pretty good hair day, and a cute new chevron lanyard to wear my ID in that just gives you a new level of confidence!

(It's hard to see in this picture, but I wore my brand new polka dot dress from Gap outlet!)

I absolutely love my classroom and my mentor teacher is so wonderful and sweet. She is already helping me learn so much. 

                

This is my classroom. Well the view from the back haha. And this is their behavior/classroom management chart. The students went to encore and we had some time to work on some prep work so I snapped a few pictures while I had a few spare minutes! I did so much more today than I even thought I would, being the first day and all. I had kinda thought I would just be mostly observing. But from the minute I got there, I was introducing myself (yes, that is my name on the board! Ah!) and Mrs. Metzgar even had me read a story to the students. It was a funny Halloween book and they loved it. We did unfortunately have to pause right in the middle of it so I could go to a meeting with the principal for all practicums/student teachers...we got to finish it but I'll talk about that more in a minute!!

She also let me write all the spelling and bonus words and put them up in the front.

(Oh and a bonus...she said she liked my handwriting. Hey. I'll take a sweet compliment anytime!)

She also had me stuff all the students' folders with important papers and homework assignments. This included the welcome letter I made to send out for the parents! I loved how it turned out: 

I think my favorite moment of the day was when my mentor teacher took the students to the bathroom and I stayed in the classroom to watch the ones as they came back. When the students came back into the classroom they were to get their snack and eat it at their desk. Mrs. Metzgar was talking outside with another student or teacher, and the class was beginning to get rowdy and loud. So I said to them, "Do you guys want to finish our Halloween book we started earlier?!" They immediately said "yes yes!" and got in their seats and got quiet to listen to the story. I felt like such a REAL teacher!!! That seems so silly and simple, but when Mrs. Metzgar walked in, she saw me reading to them and all the students in their seats and I felt so proud that I had taken control of the situation! She even said, "I was just going to say that this would be a perfect time to finish our story, but you are already doing that!" I'm pretty sure I beamed as much as my sweet 2nd graders do when they get praise from their teacher! I just felt so good to do something right and it came so natural. I hope the rest of the practicum goes that smoothly!!

My class is really just so sweet. There are 17 students and they all seem wonderful. Rambunctious at times? Yes. But so sweet and they just want to please their teacher (teachers now including me!) I even had one of the girls ask Mrs. Metzgar if she could nominate me for the citizenship award for the class! I had known the class less than an hour and I felt so happy that they seemed to like me. Literally, from the moment I got there, they were coming up to me just like I was their regular teacher - asking me questions, telling me stories, anything. I loved every second of it! 

These children say some of the funniest things! I will have to probably start doing some weekly posts about the funny things they say, but here is one thing today that I got tickled at...all the students in the class did a writing assignment about what they did for fall break.One of the girls wrote about her granny's house and read her story to the class. Apparently she and her granny found REAL dinosaur eggs in the back yard. She told the class, "And they are REAL. Some of them were hatched but some of them weren't. They probably never will hatch because the dinosaur is already dead inside the egg." Hahaha I was trying hard not to crack up! Their stories were priceless.

I had such a wonderful first day and first experience in a classroom today. I hope all the days go as well as today did, and hopefully this will really help me become a great teacher. I know I am already learning so much and I can't wait to soak up as much as I can! It's crazy but I am already hating the thought of having to leave my sweet class in December!

Well. I start back at Little Sprouts tomorrow now that fall break is over so I should probably get some rest...(and stop watching this football game!) I will leave you with the Cane Creak Cubs Motto!

C is for Come Ready!

U is for Use Respect!

B is for Be Responsible!

S is for Stay Safe!

Good night all and much love :)