Yay, almost Friday!!

So today was OK. I didn't particularly feel like coming in this morning, but it turned out all right.

I received possibly my favorite picture ever drawn by a student... one girl took it upon herself to elaborately draw a space scene. She presented it to me and very matter-of-factly pointed to each of the three regions and said, "This is heaven [the top part of the paper, blue and cheery], this is heck [bottom third of the paper, complete with an angry devil], and this is space [black space scene with Earth and the planets perfectly lined up in front of the sun]." It was awesome. So awesome, in fact, that I should probably scan it and put it on here.

Here it is!!! >>

Anyway, my mentor is finishing up a program to become a principal. Thus, we have a symbiotic relationship in that she helps me IMMENSELY and I give her supervision/evaluation hours. One of her classes had her develop two goals with the "cooperating teacher" (me). Her two goals are 1.) to prepare student-led conferences and 2.) to develop my classroom management. Well, these conferences are NOT an easy thing to organize!! We have to invite the parents, find out what time works for everyone, have student portfolios, writing samples, etc. It's a WHOLE big production that will take the better portion of two half-days. That was a bit overwhelming, but it should be OK.

I digress... this morning was good, once I got into the groove. We got a LOT of work done, and the students were mostly cooperative. After lunch, it was time to check out the school's week-long book fair! I lined the class up and we got ready to go. We're right across the hall from the school library, so I poked my head in to see if the librarian was ready for us to come in. She wasn't; another class was in there, so we needed 5 more minutes. Since my class was already lined up, I took them around the building, outside, around the playground, and on a big tour of the school campus. They were actually awesome during the whole thing, and earned themselves a hefty amount of free time! They were also great at the book fair, so that was cool.

After book fair stuff, we began a science lesson on the water cycle (to be taught twice in succession, due to the class switching for band twice). Thanks to a recent Project WET seminar I attended, I had a great idea of how to intro the lesson. I lined the students up in one long row, standing up. I explained that they were to do as I did ONLY when I looked at them. Otherwise, they had to keep doing what they were doing. We started by rubbing our hands together (as I walked down the line, each student rubbed their hands). Then, I went back to the start of the line, and we started snapping our fingers. Then, it was clapping sporadically, then patting our thighs, then stomping, then back down to patting, clapping, snapping, and rubbing hands together. At the end, I asked the students what they heard. "A rainstorm!" some of them had exclaimed. Indeed, we had created a rainstorm. And when the groups switched, we got to do it again. Very cool. They then listened to a story about a water molecule's journey through the cycle, and created comics about where the molecules went and where they came from. All in all, a rather successful lesoon for once!

Finally, I think I'm out of the "new teachers" loop. The lower (1-3) and upper (4-6) grades are in separate buildings, so I don't see the other 3 gals for most of the day. Two are next door to each other, and the other is just down the hall from them. After school, we all used to hang out in one room. I think I've slowly been phased out, solely by locus. It's OK, though; I've been getting to know the "vets" a lot better, who have been insanely helpful.

Ok, that's it for now; time to go home!!