An Overflowing Heart

My heart is overflowing with and an endless amount of knowledge, gratitude, and love. My 16 weeks has come to an end. 16 weeks of getting to know each student as an individual. 16 weeks of falling in love with 22 kind, smart, and knowledge thirsty kindergartners.16 weeks of teaching and working with students. 16 weeks of learning from the most amazing mentor teacher I ever could have imaged (thank you Erica!). To say I feel blessed to have had the student teaching experience that I did would be an understatement. 

I have fallen in love with these kids. Especially the ones that push your buttons and make you question your sanity for wanting to spend all of your time and energy with five and six year olds. But I do. I do want to spend all of my time with them. Although today was hard as I said goodbye to MY students, I wouldn’t of had it any other way. They have become just that - my students. The feeling I got today as I watched the tears fall down one of my students cheeks as I said goodbye, that is why I want to teach. Knowing that I was able to touch his heart so deeply and make a positive impact, that’s a pretty great feeling.

Now, on to the celebrating! Each student wrote me a thank you letter. I loved each one but thought this post would get to long if I posted all 19 of them. So, here are a few.

("Thank you for reading us books! I will miss you! I hope you have fun!")

("I am so happy you helped us because you helped us be smart kindergarteners.")

("You have need a great teacher this year! I will miss you when you are gone!")

("You are the best teacher. Your are pretty. I miss you. I like your hair.")

("You help us learn. I like you! Thank you for helping us! I am happy for you. I miss you!")

Erica and the students gave me the book “The Last Day of Kindergarten” by Nancy Loewen. Fitting right?! Here is the best part, two notes written on the inside. One from her and one from the students.   

Complete with each student's signature!

 

Nancy Loewen actually visited the school this year and Erica was able to have her sign my book!

I had the hardest time trying to figure out what present to give Erica. How could I possibly show the depth of my gratitude?   

Through words of course!

With the help of my beyond amazing mom, I gave each student a tie blanket and book. They LOVED their blankets and couldn’t wait to read their books! 

I put this little note inside each student’s book:

We made cupcakes as a class for the students to frost, decorate, and enjoy during snack. Each student was able to help with making the cupcakes!  

Needless to say, the day was filled with smiles, “I will miss you”s, a few tears, and lots of  hugs.

A week I could never be ready for

I blinked and 15 weeks of student teaching flashed before my eyes. This is the last week with my kids. Let me say that again, my LAST week with the students I have come to know so well and developed a true teacher-student relationship with. At a school I have called my own and spent so much time at. Yup, Friday will be a hard day. I have already accepted that. Tears will fall, goodbyes will be said, and hugs will be given. 

But, I still have three days so we aren’t going to talk about that final day just yet! Tuesday, Wednesday, and part of Thursday this week I am observing different classrooms. I will get to see each grade level and different subjects at each. Tuesday, I observed four classrooms - two kindergarten and two first grade. It was fun seeing different teaching styles, room set ups, and (of course) the students.

Going from teaching full days to not even being in the classroom has not only been hard on me but strange for the students! I hardly see them during the day so when I am in the classroom, they swarm me with questions, hugs, a few “I missed you Ms. U!” heart melters, or stories they didn’t get to tell me that morning. I think they miss me as much as I miss teaching them!   

I catch myself thinking something or doing something and can’t believe how much I have learned and the experience I have gained. 16 weeks isn’t long enough to learn all things kindergarten but boy have I learned a lot! I have grown, changed, and become a better “teacher”. 

One thing that has defiantly grown is my longing for a classroom of my own. Thinking about my future students in my someday classroom. Students that will come to me at the beginning of the school year at academic levels that are miles apart. Some will never have been to school before. Some may not know how to hold a pencil while others can write words. But each one eager to learn. Yes, these students will challenge me and all that I have learned about “teaching”. But oh how I can’t wait! 

The Innocence of a Kindergartener

Today we had a severe weather drill (as did all of Minnesota I believe). We talked with the students about severe weather and how to stay safe if there would ever be a tornado. I showed the class a short YouTube video of a tornado so they could visualize the severity of the wind and weather it entails. We discussed that it may look cool as a tornado spins in the sky but they are VERY dangerous and we should never go outside to watch a storm.

In the afternoon there was an actual school wide drill. The students quickly went into the hall and got down into a crouch. An all clear was given and we returned to the classroom (the students were champs through the drill!)  After, the students were returning to their work when one of our little boys grabbed my hand and we quickly walked to the window. He pointed and said “look at outside Ms. U!” I asked him what he was showing me. He told me it was sunny and there was no rain. He apparently missed the class being told this was just a practice for sever weather and thought there should actually be a storm outside. 

Needless to say it was the highlight of my day! Oh how I love these innocent kindergartners :) 

Preschool Visitors (April 17th)

Last Thursday was quite a day! It was like a Friday since the following four days (Friday through Monday) was our “Spring Break”.  

I blinked and last week ended! (Or so it seems) It was another week of great experiences (which always seems to be the case) Thanks to the four day “Spring Break”, we had a short week. 

Thursday was a learning experience from start to finish for me that I won’t soon forget! My mentor teacher was sick and the school had a difficult time finding a sub to come in for her. On top of that, it was “preschooler’s and their parents visit kindergarten day”. So, there was a lot going on! As of 8:00 they still had not found a sub so a title teacher came to our room to fill in until one could be found. I taught the entire day which included leading the preschool visit day (I had not planned to lead this so I was a bit frazzled). The preschoolers’ visit included welcoming 10 preschoolers to our classroom, as well as their parents, doing a name cheer between the kindergarteners and preschoolers, and leading an art project! (An art project for ten preschoolers plus 19 kindergartners while 20 parents are watching!) But, the kids were awesome and the visit went exceptionally well. I learned how to think on my feet and go with the flow. 

For the art, I paired two kindergartners with each preschooler. Together, the kindergartners helped their new preschool friend create a duck art project. 

A short but busy week

Kindergarten Round Up!

A new experience for me this week was kindergarten round up. I had not been a part of this before so I was glad the timing worked out and I was able to go. It did make for a long day (especially since the day started with a meeting at 7am!) but it was a wonderful experience. 

There were two sessions, 4 and 6pm. We had between 16 and 13 kids for each round which was a nice size group. Parents dropped their students off in one of the four kindergarten classrooms and then went to the gym to learn about the school’s kindergarten program and all things school. The 45ish minutes we had the kids was spent playing with toys in the classroom, listening to a story, and making an art project. While we waited for all of the kids to come in, we played with and tried to get to know them as much as possible. The two kindergarten teachers in the room were looking for signs of students being ready for kindergarten or behavior issues that may need to be noted when planning classes for next year. Then, I read “Look out Kindergarten, Here I Come” (by Nancy Carlson) to the class before starting the art project. Since our school is the Tigers, the kids made a tiger puppet.

Each student was able to take home a school readiness packet of school supplies! These bags were filled with such wonderful materials. A book, letter puzzle cards, a scissors, crayons, a mini notebook, number puzzle cards, and a packet for parents on what they can be doing at home to prepare their child for kindergarten. 

Easter Egg Activity

For reading today, the students did a magic egg activity. They first drew a picture of what they would want to find in a “magic egg”. I was excited to see how many different things the students chose! Then the students had to describe what was in their egg. They wrote what it looked, sounded, and felt like. If we had more time, I would of read these three items to the class as clues and had them try to guess what their classmates drew. 

This is a four day week and I can’t believe it is already Wednesday! Thursday will be another busy day as some of the preschool students are coming to our classroom to visit and see the school/classroom where they may go to kindergarten next year.

That “teacher” feeling

I survived! This was my second full week of full takeover and I have to say, it’s bitter sweet to see it ending (I still have 3 weeks left but will start doing less and less). There were ups and downs in the week but I wouldn’t have it any other way. I felt something these last two weeks that I can’t put into words. I got the “teacher” feeling. Don’t get me wrong, it hasn’t taken me this long to put myself and view myself in a teacher role but it just seemed so real these last few days. I look at my students (yes, they are MY students too) and I feel a connection to each one of them. I truly feel like I know them - what makes them tick, how they learn best, what they need, how I can help them. I think all of this has been building up inside of me and finally spilled out today. I have been in numerous classrooms for lab hours, pre student teaching, and to volunteer but actually getting to have a classroom that feels like mine is incredible! (Thank you Erica, I am beyond grateful!!)    

This week in reading we did an author study (loved it by the way!) On Friday we read our fifth and final book from the study. The lesson went in a completely different direction than I had planned but it was one of my favorite reading lessons yet. The class discussion we had was so unbelievably rich. The students got it! And I could not have been more proud of those almost first graders. Those students I have been blessed to call my own since January. That moment an individual student, you worry is tuning you out completely, participates in the conversation and prove they have been listening the entire time. Yup, it was pretty awesome.    

Sorry for all the mushy feelings talk but I couldn’t help but share. I am blessed to have gotten this amazing experience, students, school, and teacher to complete my student teaching.    

Assessment Day (April 10th)

On Thursday, it was our assessment day. Each kindergarten teacher gets an assessment day - one day to focus solely on assessing their students while a sub takes over their teaching duties. At first, I did not know what to expect from this day. I didn’t know what we would be assessing the students on or how difficult it would be for me to catch on to. But, our day went well and the assessments flowed smoothly. I loved getting to work one on one with the students! Seeing the students faces light up as they showed me how much they knew was a huge bonus. It was however, quite difficult to sit at a table, outside of the classroom, all day when normally it is just the opposite! On a normal day I sit to each lunch or do something on the computer quick but that’s it, the rest of the time I am teaching or running around the classroom working with/helping/behavior correcting students.  

(This is the basket of supplies we used for assessing. Got to know those materials pretty well!)

Concert Day! (April 3rd)

Thursday was a big day, the kindergarteners had their Spring music concert! The concert was amazing - the songs were adorable, the students sounded perfect, everyone did an outstanding job of remembering the words and choreography for each song, and the kids loved having their families visit them at school.  

A Spring picnic was the concert’s theme. All eight of the kindergarten classes worked together to create a mural for the wall that the students would stand by for their concert. Each classroom created/designed a different part of the mural - one class made the picnic basket and ants, another made the blanket, our students painted fruit and so on. Then, after school on Tuesday, all of the kindergarten teachers and paras came together to put the mural up on the wall. It was an amazing site to see so many people working together to put this beautiful, springy “picture” together for the kids. I love that each kindergarten student played a role in decorating the wall.