BrookeAnn's Blog

Monday was our last day at Glen Alpine! I was so bummed to leave but it was such a great experience! I am so happy with the teacher Patrick and I got paired with, she was excellent! The school is collecting Toys for Tots and Personal Hygeine Items to help those in need at Christmas time so I brought a bag of things to help out! It feels good to do something like that, especially around the holidays.
Our day started out the way it always does with reading time, silent reading,then language arts.  In language arts the students were learning new vocabulary about the ocean and what gravity does to it.  The lesson reminded me of class when I was younger, I loved learning about gravity! I thought it was so weird!  During writing class students were learning different descriptive writing techniques.  To do this they were looking at poems, the words they were simile, metaphor, personification, and exaggeration.  These were always hard for me to understand so I thought it was great they were going over them so detailed and finding examples in poetry.
While the students were in gym class, Patrick and I spoke with Ms. Edwards about some information about our students for the TIP assignment, and some last minute teaching advice.  I think sitting and talking with her just about students and random situations that you think will never come up was the most helpful thing I could have done.  It was a lot of insight to what goes on in the classroom besides learning. During lunch time the students and I were talking about movies and the new ones out right now.  Some of the kids got in a argument over Twilight’s Jacob vs Edward battle! I thought it was so funny!
I can’t believe my time is over here, I can’t wait until next semester when I get to go to the classroom more often!

This morning I got to Glen Alpine early because I drove from home! It was neat to see what they do before we always get there.  I was ablt to see their morning spelling work.  There was a lot of out loud spelling, recognizing different spellings of endings that sound the same.  I had never seen spelling done like that before.  After spelling was over I spoke with Mrs. Edwards about the student I was using for my TIP assignment.  I went with him to his reading and spelling class then we did the Student Interview.  He is a great kid, I am really glad I am working with him.
Then Patrick and I graded math homwork which actually took longer than we thought!  One of the questions had multiple answers so we had to work through what they had written every time.  It was fun though, I actually like grading papers.  I am sure that will change! haha! During Language Arts class students were learning how to prepare for the EOG.  Highlighting and underlining context clues and important information.  They also learned how words that are bold and in italics can help them solve problems.  Poetry was next on the list of things to do!  Mrs. Edwards read the poem out loud, then asked the questions out loud.  The students did not answer them out loud, they wrote down the answer as she spoke.  After they were done with that the class read another poem on their own and answered questions on their own.
Today, Patrick and I went to gym class which was fun because we have never been before.  We played Thanksgiving themed games and dodgeball.  During lunch today I sat with a little girl who is from France.  She is 1/4 French, 1/4 Italian, and 1/2 American.  She is a lovely little girl and I really enjoying talking with her, especially since I know a little bit of French.  We talked about how different the schools in France and America are, it is definitely different.  I would love to go over there sometime.
During read aloud we we continued Bud Not Buddy.  During math class I went to the class my student for TIP assignment is in.  It was cool seeing a different math class for the day.  I had a great time and I wish Monday wasn’t going to be our last day.  I am going to miss those kids!

Tuesday was an interesting day for me! It did not start off well at all!  I overslept not waking up until 6:30 which is usually when I leave my house in order to catch the early 7:00 bus! So I took a shower, got ready as quickly as possible and drove to Burke County for another day at Glen Alpine.
Once I arrived and calmed down from my stressful morning I began to enjoy the day.  Patrick and I talked about our last diagnostic interviews for math class and the Tip Assignment for Leaner Diversity.  A retired science teacher by the name of Mr. Hipps came to do a presentation for the Mrs. Edwards class about Simple Machines.  I thought this was interesting because I remember doing this exact lesson when I was in elementary school.  There are six simple machines: 1) pulleys, 2) levers, 3) screws, 4) inclined plane, 5) wheel and axel and 6) wedge.  He talked about each of them and then the students worked with several tools and used them as machines to solve problems Mr. Hipps asked them to do.
After the science presentation I did my low cognitive math interview which was more interesting than the other two I have done.  Then the class moved onto writing where we learned new vocabulary for our upcoming science unit.  After learning new words and putting them with new motions the students went to the gym while Patrick and I talked with Mrs. Edwards.  Lunch time rolled around quickly and students talked about how much fun they had in gym class.
After lunch we watched two science videos about simple machines, picked a new read aloud book that we would start on Thursday, and then it was time for math.  In math we did two warm up area problems and of course Mad Minute Math! Today I got 49/50! haha

Thursday morning went much better! I got up on time and arrived to school in a much better mood! As soon as we got to school we graded the math homework from Wednesday night.  That actually took a decent amount of time because it was hard to read some of their handwriting.  Soon after we broke up into reading circles, an above grade level, at grade level, and below grade level group.  I REALLY enjoyed doing the reading circles.  We listened to a Summer of Fire on cd then when we separtated my group read Praire Fire.  They were all really well behaved, stayed on task, followed along well, raised their hands to answer questions, and answered most of them correctly.  I would like to do that again.
Dr. Schram came to the school today and I spoke with her about my math assignments then Patrick and I interviewed Mrs. Edwards for our TIP assignment.  Lunch time was next, the kids got their before we did so Patrick and I did not get our usual seats with the students.  We had to sit with the teahers, it was just not as much fun. haha.
Since it was raining outside today we did not go outside for recess, we stayed inside and played interactive math games instead.  The new read aloud book is called Bud Not Buddy.  It seems cute so far, I would like to actually read it myself.  During math time the class went over their homework, had a lesson on area and perimeter and did mad Minute Math.  I got 47/50! ah! I will get all 50 done one day!

Today was another great day at Glen Alpine in Ms. Edward’s class.  When we first arrived we did our usual task of listening to students read aloud.  This is always a good way to start the day because it is not at all stressful and we can talk to the kids about their weekend and how they are doing.  Then while kids were working independently we were allowed to begin our cognitive interviews for math class.  Today I did my high level and medium level students; I am going to finish up on Monday with my low-level student.  I thought this interview was really interesting because I was actually able to watch and see how they worked the problems out.  It was watching exactly what we have been learning in class.  After interviews we graded science papers about the Everglades, then students worked on social studies.  Then students went to the gym followed by lunch then recess.  Lunch is always a fun part of the day because I really get a chance to know the students on another level than their reading and math levels.  They are really fun and told me all about their weekends.  At recess I played KnockOut with the kids, which is one of my favorite games since I love basketball.  Then we had read aloud time, Mad Minute Math (which I participated in today! Ha ha), and the class was reviewing math homework when I left.  Wish we were going back on Wednesday!