Finally over!

I have not been able to post lately; things have been beyond crazy and busy. 

My student internship is officially over and it is so bittersweet. I miss my kids everyday, but I am lucky enough to go and visit whenever I want. Since my internship has ended I had been focusing on completing my final portfolio. I am so happy to report that it is all done! 
Signed, sealed, delivered - I'M DONE!  

Graduation is next week and I am thrilled. I will miss my cohort, but I know that each and every single one of them will be successful in their career. 

Just in case I can't get a job right away I have a back-up plan. I recently went and signed up through the county to be a substitute teacher. Hopefully, I'll be fortunate enough to get a job this summer for the upcoming school year. There is still much to do before I can apply for jobs, but for now it is the waiting game. I have to wait to graduate to apply for my certification, wait for my official transcripts to be sent out, and wait for my hiring phase. Until then I wish I could be out enjoying this beautiful weather, but instead I am stuck inside since I am sick with a sinus infection....

I can't wait for my immune system to be stronger! 

For my last day of my internship my amazing class gave me a special treat! They all made me this adorable book with personal letters, a treasure box filled with goodies, and this candy jar. Obviously everything was decorated with owls - they knew it was my favorite. I love, love, love my kids and I am so grateful to have been a part of their lives. They have impacted me in such a huge way. I will never forget this experience. 

Where has the time gone?!

Oh my, I can't believe that my student internship is already half over!! I haven't made any posts recently. Honestly, I haven't had the time. Between the daily grind, trying to sleep, and having the time of my life as a student teacher - it has been a balancing act and blogging is the last on the list. I have a million pictures I would love to upload, but of course there is no time for that. I will post a few and save the rest. 

My internship has been amazing! Seriously, I am learning so much from my kids. If they can take away half of what I am, I will be one happy teacher. Even though my internship is over in one month, I don't think this class is getting rid of me any time soon. I am going to be a crying mess when the day comes hat I have to leave them for good. 

But.... I'm not going to focus on that. For now it's time to get back to planning, grading, and prepping. I wouldn't change it for the world. 

Love day!

Today concludes my first full week of being the teacher full time. I am so physically drained. Still, there is so much to do for next week. I can't believe that my internship is going by so quickly. I only have 76 more days until I graduate. That's so insanely close.

After the exciting day we all had today I think a nap is in order! Then I have a ton of papers to grade, planning to do, and try to find time to enjoy this THREE day weekend! 

Here is a picture of all the valentines I got today from my wonderful kids. 

They are so awesome. I love being their teacher. 

Official takeover

Commence my official takeover! Today wasy first day of doing everything. I wasn't terribly nervous, mostly because I didn't have time to be nervous. We had a busy, busy day and I had to stay on too of everything. Well, I had to act like I was on top of everything. There is so much that goes into planning an entire week in the classroom. I can't wait to finish out this week being the full time teacher. Even more than that... I can't wait for the upcoming 3 day weekend!! Woo (:

Do a little dance

T. G. I. F 

Thank goodness it's Friday. 

Let me say... It's been a tough week. It started out strong and everything was right as rain. That was until I had my first formal observation on Thursday. Things could have gone a little better. At the time I felt so incompetent to the teaching profession. As bad as I thought it went it ended up being okay. In retrospect it was a decent observation. I got some good news and some unexpected not so good news which just made the good news seem null and void. I am feeling much more competent and confident in my teaching after today. 

This upcoming week will be my first official week of complete take over. I've been gradually taking over little by little, but starting Monday I'll be the one making the plans and implementing all of them. Obviously my awesome sponsor teacher will be there for support and guidance the entire way. It will be a challenge to take on all of the responsibility, but I think I'm ready! 

On another note: today we had an inspiring guest speaker come in today to talk about the history of music. It was a student's grandfather who came to class and brought his massive collection of antique music players. We had the honor of listening to a Thomas Edison, 1912, record on a phonograph. We also got to listen to a Victor gramophone and records from every major decade of music. We had an amazing time dancing along to the music and singing to the sounds of the 50's - 80's. The best part was when we danced to the disco music!  

After the presentation and dancing was over we all got a special treat - a Thomas Edison record from 1912! 

Today helped my ego and confidence tremendously. I can't wait to have another day like today with my kids. 

School projects

My kids have been working on their biography projects for the past two weeks and today was the day they presented the 3D image of the person they chose to do their biographies on. I am so proud of all the work they did on these projects. 

Next we will be starting our unit on Canada. I'll have my first formal observation this week and honestly I am a nervous wreck. For now I need to get some rest.... zzzzzz

Maxi dress!

I must say after this past week with freezing temperature I was so glad to finally have the weather man give me some good news. It was a high of 80 today and that meant it was time to break out the maxi dresses! I was able to wear my favorite dress to school today and be so comfortable. 

Who says that ole' groundhog knows anything about winter in Florida. I'd like to see him explain how 6 more weeks of winter is possible after the beautiful day we had today.

My first formal observation is this week and secretly I am freaking out! Okay, maybe it's not a huge secret. Especially since I bring it up every time I can. I know that this is just something that has to be done, but that doesn't mean I'll be any less stressed. Even when it's over I'll still have two more observations.... For now I will enjoy the rest of my night by writing up more lesson plans. Wait... Did I say enjoy? I meant.... I mean.... Whoops (; 

It finally happened....

I am.... sick.... 

Yes. It finally got me. This nasty sickness has been going around and I finally caught this toxic illness. I thought that by now my immune system would have been a little bit better, but apparently not. All I want to do is curl up in bed and sleep! Actually that's exactly what I'm going to do. 

ZZZZzzzZzzzZZZZ......

Quick update:

Lesson plans, planning, not sleeping, planning, small group activities, planning, formal observations, more planning, lots of not sleeping, research, teaching, buying books, making felt board pieces, and even more planning/lessons.....This is what my life has been lately.

I have so many exciting events I want to update on, but I have so much school work to do before that.

I couldn't help myself...

As I am waiting on the pizza to arrive I started making my Pete the Cat felt pieces and before I knew it I was already done! I think if turned out fantastic especially since this is the first thing I've ever made for my felt board. I can't wait to use it for my small group instruction.

My buttons, my buttons

Today was a great day! It's Friday!!! The weekend is finally here. As much as I want to say that I will spend my weekend doing nothing but relaxing I know that's not true. I have a million things I should do. We will see how many actually get done. Next week I am doing a felt board story with my small group to enhance comprehension. For that I plan on using Pete the Cat and his 4 Groovy Buttons. So I am going to make the felt pieces this weekend. Here is my inspiration...

I administered a spelling test today and the kids did wonderful! They studied and it showed. Next week we have an author coming for a visit and we all get to dress up in farm attire. It's going to be so much fun. 

Even though I have work piled up I need to take a night off. So for tonight, I plan on ordering pizza and having a movie night with my love. 

Time to enjoy my Friday!! 

Fighting the cold!

Today was absolutely freezing! It took everything out of me to get out of my warm bed this morning. I'm not going to lie, I felt very unmotivated this morning. Once I got to school I started to perk up, but with the weather being this cold it is hard to get things done. The cold really puts a damper on my productivity since all I want to do when it's this cold is stay in bed and watch movies.

The day felt long.... It was filled with paperwork, planning, and researching for upcoming lessons. Even though I am so excited to start taking over the class more, I wish I could skip the part of formatting everything how my college wants it. Teachers have it hard enough already. The amount of extra work my school is putting on me is a heavy load. The lessons we develop in the class are minimal compared to the lesson plan format I have to use for college. I suppose this is just one of those things that I have to do. Graduation is so close!

The countdown is on:
Spring break - 8 weeks
Last day of internship - 10 weeks
Graduation - 14 weeks

Now it's time to get back on Pinterest to get more ideas for my small group instruction.

When life gives you lemons...

Today was going to be like any other "normal" day... That was until my sponsor teacher called out sick. I got a text from her saying that she was ill and was not going to make it into class. Naturally I played it cool, but inside my head I was panicked! Today was only my second day of teaching a lesson by myself and this time I would literally be by myself (well and the sub). So today, for the first time ever, I had responsibility of the class for the entire day! I am pleased to say that the kids responded great to me! We were so productive and stayed on task all day. In retrospect in was much needed affirmation that I am choosing the right career.

Besides it being freezing today... It was an awesome day!

Also, I finally finished my bookshelf and it is already almost filled up. I received a ton of free books today and I am SO grateful. Now it's time to write more lesson plans and find activities for my small group instruction.

First day back

Today was the first day back from the three day weekend and my first day teaching a planned lesson! I am responsible for the spelling lesson this week. We are focusing on the suffix 'ful' right now. We had an interactive spelling lesson, which turned out phenomenal. I was pleasantly surprised with how great my kids did with the switch from me to their normal teacher. It's awesome getting more responsibility in the classroom. Tomorrow will be our spelling review where we find related words and Friday will be the test. 

Other than that I am trying to get myself organized for the rest of my semester. I am prepping for my first small group instructional assignment that will take me weeks to complete. I am busy, busy, busy writing my formal lesson plans. And.... On top of all that I need to find time to cook dinner, paint my bookcase (which I will post pictures of when it's all done!), and sleep! 

Also, this was my teacher dress for the day. I love being able to wear my professional clothes and still be comfy! Today I was rocking a magenta cardigan, a plain black tee, and gray/black patterned crop pants. Tomorrow I shall be bundled up since the temperature is going to drop significantly tonight. 

Okay. Back to work. 

MLK Day

I hope all my fellow interns and teachers are having a wonderful day off of school! I don't know about the rest of you, but I am enjoying this beautiful, chilly day by cleaning and catching up on my sleep. I suppose I can try to throw some planning/homework time into today. Tomorrow starts my first day of take over. I will be teaching the spelling lesson this week and assisting as much as I can. Hopefully I will start to remember all of their names this week!

For now I need to get back to the ole' grind.

My first desk

I haven't even taught the class yet, but I already have my first official teacher desk. It's the little things like this that make my student internship experience even more amazing.

Student internship

This semester is officially in full swing. I am starting my final student internship with an amazing 3rd grade class. Graduation countdown has commenced and my stress levels are sky high. 

I plan on making posts as much as I can to reflect on my experiences in the classroom. I also want to post pictures of my "professional dress". 

I don't plan on getting a big following from this blog, if any at all, but I want to do this for myself so I have something to look back on my first year teaching. 

Keep calm and teach on!