Today I was spent.. simply spent. Kids didn't listen all day. I had 5 kids out today, so I thought things would be calmer but I was wrong.
So by the end of the day the kids are done, I'm done. We are just done. HOWEVER, we still had thirty minutes left and it was time for Social Studies. We began our social studies unit on technology.
So we are talking about technology and how technology is when science helps to make something easier or solve a problem. We talk cars, cameras, etc for a while and then I suggest a piece of technology I hope they create in the future. I told the kids that a problem I had was that my 2nd graders didn't know how to keep their mouths quiet while I was teaching, and that hopefully one day someone would create some type of technology that would fix that.
One of my sassiest girls calls out and says, "Ms. Funk we already have that.. it's called a clothespin. Open the clothespin and pin the mouth shut."
At the end of an exhausting day this just made me laugh. Thank goodness for laughter.
Tuesday, September 7, 2010
Wednesday, September 1, 2010
Teaching Update!
I knew teaching would be hard, but I'm not sure I was ready for just HOW hard it truly is. My days normally start around 5:45 am (later once I have hit snooze a couple of times) and I get home from work around 5 in the evenings. The time in between, well, that is where the craziness ensues.
I love being at the school really early in the morning before any of the students or the majority of the staff have arrived. I love the quiet, and the ability to use the copier without waiting in a line :)
Kids start entering the building at 7:45 where they sit down in the gym and wait until 8 o'clock where we have our morning assembly. There we say the pledge of allegiance, and struggle through the student pledge together. One day I WILL get it right. "We are PreEminent Students..."
I then escort my 2nd graders back to our room where we settle down and write in our journals until they rather quickly leave for their specials class. They are then gone for about 40 minutes and I spend that time either in meetings or getting things together in the classroom. Anything that needs to happen without kids better happen then because once they come back at 9:10 they are mine all mine until the end of dismissal at 4:00.
The rest of the day is a mix of whole group teaching, and workshop time (Centers). The kids eat lunch in the classroom, so we go pick up our food and then come right back and eat SILENTLY. The silence is because the 15 minute lunch period will never happen if they are allowed to talk. It already takes longer and they are silent. Everyday during lunch we listen to Canon in D which is basically for my sanity. Recess is after lunch for another 15 minutes, and then we are back in for the long haul of the rest of the afternoon.
I have 25 second graders in total and 18 of them are boys. The girls are pretty good as a whole, but the boys are crazy! I have about 6 constant trouble makers and the rest of them are just chatty little 7 year olds. Now would be an appropriate time to note that I have no assistant, so that is problematic sometimes. How I would love to have an extra set of hands in the room on occasion!
I have had my fair share of issues, "accidents" and vomiting etc, but nothing too too major. One of the funniest lines I've heard all year was when I was reading a story to my kids on the first day. It was called Don't Eat Your Teacher. So at the end I asked if they were going to eat me now that they had read the story to which one little boy replied, "nah we'll save YOU for dismissal" I clever response from a 7 year old...
Some sweet moments that truly keep me going are moments such as every morning when one little boy walks in and shakes my hand while looking at me with his sparkling eyes and bright smile. Or at the end of every day when one little girl gets called for dismissal, and runs up and gives me a huge hug and tells me she loves me before she leaves.
Let me end this post by saying today has been one of the better days I have had thus far, and there have been many days when I have not come home with quite such a positive attitude about this new journey I am on. However, I felt like I needed to record some positive things while these feelings were with me so that the next time I come home feeling like I just fought an 8 hour war I can remind myself that I DO enjoy teaching!
I love being at the school really early in the morning before any of the students or the majority of the staff have arrived. I love the quiet, and the ability to use the copier without waiting in a line :)
Kids start entering the building at 7:45 where they sit down in the gym and wait until 8 o'clock where we have our morning assembly. There we say the pledge of allegiance, and struggle through the student pledge together. One day I WILL get it right. "We are PreEminent Students..."
I then escort my 2nd graders back to our room where we settle down and write in our journals until they rather quickly leave for their specials class. They are then gone for about 40 minutes and I spend that time either in meetings or getting things together in the classroom. Anything that needs to happen without kids better happen then because once they come back at 9:10 they are mine all mine until the end of dismissal at 4:00.
The rest of the day is a mix of whole group teaching, and workshop time (Centers). The kids eat lunch in the classroom, so we go pick up our food and then come right back and eat SILENTLY. The silence is because the 15 minute lunch period will never happen if they are allowed to talk. It already takes longer and they are silent. Everyday during lunch we listen to Canon in D which is basically for my sanity. Recess is after lunch for another 15 minutes, and then we are back in for the long haul of the rest of the afternoon.
I have 25 second graders in total and 18 of them are boys. The girls are pretty good as a whole, but the boys are crazy! I have about 6 constant trouble makers and the rest of them are just chatty little 7 year olds. Now would be an appropriate time to note that I have no assistant, so that is problematic sometimes. How I would love to have an extra set of hands in the room on occasion!
I have had my fair share of issues, "accidents" and vomiting etc, but nothing too too major. One of the funniest lines I've heard all year was when I was reading a story to my kids on the first day. It was called Don't Eat Your Teacher. So at the end I asked if they were going to eat me now that they had read the story to which one little boy replied, "nah we'll save YOU for dismissal" I clever response from a 7 year old...
Some sweet moments that truly keep me going are moments such as every morning when one little boy walks in and shakes my hand while looking at me with his sparkling eyes and bright smile. Or at the end of every day when one little girl gets called for dismissal, and runs up and gives me a huge hug and tells me she loves me before she leaves.
Let me end this post by saying today has been one of the better days I have had thus far, and there have been many days when I have not come home with quite such a positive attitude about this new journey I am on. However, I felt like I needed to record some positive things while these feelings were with me so that the next time I come home feeling like I just fought an 8 hour war I can remind myself that I DO enjoy teaching!
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