19AnnaL – CA Work Experience Program

Last Day

Today was kind of bittersweet. It was a really good day; however, I was kind of sad about having to leave. I also got to sit in on a teacher meeting and it was really interesting. They were making classes of students for next year and there more factors then I would have thought.

The kid were pretty well behaved today. There were some kids that were out sick today (cross your fingers I don’t get sick). There was also another girl that I’m pretty sure was sick today. Other than that it was a really good day.

I was super proud of this one boy for doing so good on his spelling and he wrote down five sentences and didn’t forget punctuation for any of them! There wasn’t a lot of tears today but there were a lot of hugs. Also it wasn’t EOG day so that was awesome. We got normal recess and a break for lunch and specials. So overall it was a super day.

I am going to really miss all the kids. I can’t imagine how hard it is for the teachers to leave them after being with them for a whole year. All the students are so sweet and they are all super talented. Kindergarten looks a lot different then when we were in kindergarten. It’s a lot harder and there isn’t much playtime. The kids do so good with the hard work and and even though they made mistakes they are all kind. For example when Louis lost his eraser all five girls at his table pulled out there and helped him erase his sentence. Marcus hugs everyone before they leave and always tells them they did a good job. For only being six, a lot of times they are kinder and more helpful than high school kids or even adults. I wish i could be in kindergarten for a little bit longer.

Second to Last Day :( LAST EOG DAY :)

THE LAST DAY OF EOG TESTING!!!!!! YAY YAY WOOT WOOT! The morning was a little bit rough. We had two tantrums again (by the same kids as yesterday); however, the end of the day was a lot better.

In the morning:

Let’s start this out by saying that all of this happened before 11 o’clock today. My big mistake of the day was not having another cup of coffee this morning. It started with Lincoln making a red choice and getting all up set. Well this stuck in the moment, I’m really proud of him because he turned it around and ended up having a great day. Still not how you want to start your morning. Then Victoria got upset and ended up screaming “I HATE THIS SCHOOL!”, which is a little much in the morning. She cried three more times today about different things. I did hang out with her all of recess and she was so cute. She told me about all of her dress up clothes and her favorite princesses. The icing on the cake of the morning was definitely one kid cutting another kids hair. Thank god the kid’s whose hair was cut had curly hair so you couldn’t tell. It did result in a call to a pretty angry parent, Denim being in BIG trouble and banned from scissors for the rest of the year, and a few angry teachers.

In the afternoon:

The kids were drawing some pictures and it was really cute what they were doing. One little boy even drew a picture for me, which is now on my wall. I talked to Victoria about princesses. Bailey gave me a lot of hugs. Giana had the cutest dress I’ve ever seen on. Lincoln made me laugh. Amelia did really good with her writing and countless other good things happened. So, even though the morning was rough my day definitely got better. Tomorrow should be even better since there isn’t any testing!

singing break!!!! (above)

It’s Good Their Cute

Today was a… how should we put it… long day. EOG round three. Today i endured a lot of tears, crazy children, and two tantrums. Yes not one but two!

The poor kids were super antsy today since it was the third day of them not having recess until 3 o’clock and no specials. That means that they don’t have much of a break all day, because of this the kids tend to get in trouble more. They misbehave and the kids tend to get upset easier.

Tantrum number one:

This little girl was upset most of the day. She pouted when we was told to sit in her chair the correct way. She cried when we was sent to her table more misbehaving. However, later in the day the kids had to do a short (2 problem) math test (to sent to their first grade teachers). The first problem was a subtraction and the second problem was an addition problem. Since they are only in kindergarten the teachers have to read the problems outloud to them. Victoria said the answer to the first problem outloud and she knew better (they’d been doing this all year long). So she had to move her clip down from “good effort” to “ready to learn” and man she had a tantrum. She yelled and cried. She was so loud that the special ed teacher from the opposite side of the hallway heard her and came as backup. To say the least it was rough.

Tantrum number two:

This particular boy is in the specials needs class and the poor thing has a few triggers. One of them happens to be broccoli. Since it was broccoli day in the lunchroom the girl sitting next to him got some. He screamed and cried. I feel so bad for him because he was so upset. However, you can’t isolate him from broccoli because he needs to learn to deal with these thing when he is in the regular classroom full time next year. So, we tried to see if he would calm down if he sat there for a while. He cried the whole time and I stood there saying “Lincoln you’re okay” and finally we had to move him so he would eat something.

The rest of the day:

It was a pretty normal day. We tried to keep the kids busy and not throw them off their schedule anymore then EOGs already did, but it was still long. The kids were still sweet and it wasn’t all bad. The girls were all very excited because I painted my nails rainbow. The kids also got a dance break and they got to draw some which is super fun. We also watched magic school bus, which i learned there is a new version (which was definitely worse then the old one). Can’t wait for tomorrow I just hope there are less tears tomorrow.

The new version of the magic school bus… weird

Day 5!

I’m not going to lie, Monday morning I didn’t have the same amount of energy as the kindergarteners, but I eventually woke up. After our normal morning (singing our morning song, reading books, and positivity project) we started our first worksheet of the day. Today it was matching the words with the pictures. Most of the kids did this really well; however, stall was one of the words and that threw some kids for a loop because the picture was a horse in a stall. Since the picture had a horse in it most of the kids were looking for the word horse not shall.

After they finished the worksheet we read the book “blueberries for Sal”. It was a super cute book about a mama bear and baby bear eating blueberries and also a mom and daughter picking blueberries. The book was adorable and also a little longer then picture books so it took a while to read it. Once we read the books we started a project where the kids make a pamphlet with the main idea, setting, characters, etc. Today however the kids only made the cover page. So they folded the painter and wrote the title of the book, their name, and a picture of the characters (picture of a cover below).

Then the kids had lunch at 11 o’clock (which is crazy early if you ask me). Then afterwards they had specials where they just paracted their songs for the concert on the last day of school. After specials they worked on their covers a little more and we had a brain break. The brain breaks change depending on the day but they are usually some sort of yoga or meditation. It gives the kids a break from their school work and also calms them down a little bit. Then we did a little bit of spelling where Mrs. Seyler spelled a word and the kids stood up if they knew what it spelled. Then if they got it right they got a sticker (video below).

YAY MATH! Today for math we played the game where two students go to the board and are asked a question. For example write the number 18 or a word problem that ends with 5 + 3. Today the girls won which was pretty exciting since the boys won on Friday.

All we did after math time was have recess and snack. In conclusion today was an awesome day. It was a lot of fun to hear about the kids weekends and all the fun things we did. It was also exciting because Denim (a kid in the class) ended with a four for effort today (as good as you can do)!!!! We were all super proud of him, he did so good all day today. It wa also interesting because i heard a little bit about the difference between first and kindergarten. Mrs. Seyler told be about the requirements for reading. It is interesting that the strongest teachers are moved to first grade because the students are expected to move up 7 reading levels (they only do 4 reading levels in kindergarten). It was another great day. CAN’T WAIT FOR TOMORROW!!!

The cover page for one of the kids pamphlets about the book we read.

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Day 4

Thank goodness today wasn’t an EOG day! Finally we had a normal schedule for once. We did math, writing, and reading!

We started our day off with the morning sound like normal and a few kids shared what they did after school yesterday. These consisted of “snuggling with my mommy”, “feeding my baby brother” and “I got ice cream”. Then we did positivity project (our word of the week is curiosity) and they learned about what that mean and we watched a little video. Afterwards we started our worksheets (they are attached below) starting with the “th” side and then the “ish”/ “ash” . I helped some kids that did understand and then corrected their worksheet. Then we did a worksheet where we corrected the sentences. Then lunch and specials.

Since we didn’t have EOGs the teachers got a break, which they were very excited about. After specials they finished their worksheets and we read them another book. It’s so cute how focused they get when listening to a book. Today we read “if you give a Moose a Muffin”.

It’s Math time! Today we played a game where two students went up to the whiteboard and they were given a problem. For example, write the number 13 and the first student to write it and get it right got 2 points. If the other student got it right they got 1 point and if they didn’t get it right they got 0 points. It was really fun and the kids got very excited about the game. Then we had recess and snack.

During snack time, the girl that did her student teaching in their classroom came back to visit. It was so nice to see how connected she was to the kids after almost a whole year and how excited the kids were to see her. They all made her a birthday card and lined up to hug her. The relationship between the teachers and students is so great. The kids don’t just see their teachers as a teacher but also a friend.

Can’t wait for Monday!!!!

Day 3- The Art of Wasting Time

EOG week is tough. Again the kids couldn’t go outside and they were stuck in the classroom all day. So, we had a lot of activities to waste some time. For example, we watched some “how to draw” videos. They also had some time to just play and we watched some math TV show about adding and subtracting ( while they ate snack).

It might not have been the most exciting day (as far as work goes), but it was still a really good day. The kids are so much fun and I get more hugs in just one day working at the elementary school then I got in the last month. At recess some random kids would just come up and ask for a hug. The times that they are sweet make up for the times that they cry.

This morning we reviewed the “Sh” sound and they did a worksheet. Afterwards we finally finished the sentence worksheet. After lunch we practiced their songs for the concert and did a little yoga (picture below). And I read the kids a book about counting butterflies, and their reactions to the pictures were so cute. They got so excited.

The rest of the day was pretty relaxed. I got to know the kids a lot better since it was pretty relaxed and ended up talking to a bunch of kindergarteners in other classes at recess.

YOGA BREAK!!!!!

Day 2

Today was the first day of EOGs and I learned today that EOG testing is painful for every grade, if they take it or not. Due to the EOGs the kindergarteners can’t go outside of their classroom and trust me 19 kindergarteners stuck in one room all day gets a little crazy. Also on testing days the teachers don’t get a break all day because they have to watch the kids during lunch, specials, and recess. In addition the class doesn’t get to go to recess until 3:00 today which is a little too late.

Below I attached a video of the kids practicing their songs for their upcoming concert. There is also a video of them singing the morning song.

In the morning the kids did their writing (making up sentences and fixing existing sentences). Then we did our magic E worksheet (the “I can spell version”). During this time I basically went around and made sure that they were doing their work and helping them with the worksheets. Afterwards we took a “brain break” before lunch and then following lunch they practiced their songs for the concert. Then they had rest/ nap time (switch i think we should consider bringing to CA). After they rested we did math problems like the day before. Then they had some downtown (aka craziness) before recess. After recess they had a quick snack and headed home.

Today was a little crazy because of testing but we only have 3 more days of testing. I love being with the kids and even when they get tiring towards the end of the day they always make up for it by just being so sweet.

The Adventures of One Little Spider

There once was a little spider. He wasn’t much larger than the tip of my thumb. Now this litter spider got lost one day and he found himself out of the great wild and into a kindergarten classroom.

Around ten o’clock this morning a little boys left the bathroom and announced to the whole class (19 kindergarteners) that there was a spider in the bathroom. Of course I heard him say this but my overall disgust and fear of the kindergarten classroom bathroom (trust me it’s gross) prevented me from stepping in and killing the spider on the spot. FIRST MISTAKE!! Never ever ever leave a spider alive in a room of 19 six year olds. You can thank me later.

Before I knew what was happening a mob of little kids stormed towards the bathroom. Four little girls erupted into sobs. Under the sound of tears and gasping for breath whispers about the danger of the spider began. “Is it poisonous?!?!”, “I think it’s a daddy long leg.”, “IT’S HUGE!!”. Bracing the madness I headed to the bathroom. Yes the scary, dreaded kindergarten bathroom. I went in and guess what I found. Nothing. I couldn’t find the spider. I looked and looked. It was nowhere in site. Now we were just left with crying children living in fear of the spider.

Who would have guessed one little tiny spider could cause that much drama?

2nd First Day of Kindergarten!

Some kids are recess playing on the playground.

These are the classroom rule which are hanging on the wall and the kids are reminded of when they misbehave.

Today was my second first day of kindergarten!! It was a lot of fun and the most exciting part of my day was definitely hearing all the kids call me “Ms. Lane” for the first time. Most of my day consisted of helping children with their worksheets and giving instructions. Considering it is the last few days of school, the schedule is a little different then normal. For example they aren’t pulling reading groups anymore because they don’t want to start a new book with only a few days left.

In the morning the kids gathered and sang their morning song (video attached under), after they said the pledge of allegiance. They then went into English first where they were reviewing the magic E sounds. They did a brief review with the second video attached and did the magic E worksheet above. After the magic E worksheet we moved on to some reading and we finished the morning lesson with “swiggle books”. They let the kids share their stories from Friday and they were all super cute. After one of the little boys shared his writing his best friend jumped up and gave him a hug telling him how good he did. This was one of the highlights of my day. It was so cute and really reminded me how sweet and pure all of the kids are (even if they are difficult at times). The swiggle books are basically when there is a line on the page and the kids turn it into a drawing and then write a little story about it (usually 1-3 short sentences). I really enjoyed this activity because i actually remember doing it in kindergarten, so it was a lot of fun to see the other kids do it. Plus they come up with some very creative things and it was a lot of fun to read.

After our morning activities were done, the kids had lunch. After lunch they had specials (with they actually just practiced for their choir concert). During specials, they had a grade level meeting about the supply list for next school year. It was actually really interesting because I didn’t know that teachers can’t provide the hand sanitizer and disinfectant because some of them have too much alcohol or other chemicals in them. In addition it was interesting about what supplies the teachers need and how much of their supplies come out of their pockets. Around 1:00 the kids were picked up from specials and we did math. Today we just reviewed counting, adding and subtraction. We did this for about and hour (with a fire drill break in between). Then we went outside for recess. At recess I got the chance to talk to a special ed teacher and her experience and this was very impactful because I’ve considered going into special ed. She absolutely loved her job and how she is able to bond with the kids because she only has a few and she said it is also very rewarding because it’s easy to see their progress. While I was at recess, I met a little girl (also in Kindergarten) that is afraid of the wind and the teachers say that she cries most day because she’s afraid it will blow her away. So, part of recess was trying to comfort her that she is safe and the wind won’t blow her away.

After recess we had a snack and did social studies. Social studies basically consisted of the kids cutting out a map of the United States and learning how to write “United States”. With the few minutes we had left of the day the kids practiced their songs some more before they headed home.

In conclusion, I had a lot of fun working with Mrs. Seyler in Kindergarten and so far it is a very rewarding experience. I’m excited to see what tomorrow is like (since the older kids have EOGs); however, the kids have certainly made me tired tonight and I’m pretty sure I won’t be up too late. Kindergarten is hard!

Back to Kindergarten!

I love children, and I will be helping teach kindergartners at Reedy Creek Elementary School!