Happy Hump Day!

It's Wednesday!!! Which means...it's hump day!  Yay!

Anyways.. I have so much to blog about because this week has been eventful, interesting, and memory-filled!  So, let's get started! :)

Monday was the kindergartner's FIRST FULL DAY of school!  Needless to say, I'm happy that I rested up over the weekend because this girl is tired!  But, their first full day of school went really well.  They absolutely love school and they were so excited to finally get to play in centers, play with math manipulatives AND of course...they got to go to PE!!! That's exciting for anyone :)!  So, I was chatting with my sister on Monday night and I realized I never really told you what a normal day looks like in our classroom so below is our schedule so that you know exactly what I'm doing every minute of the day ;)!  Plus, it will help when I'm talking about the kindergartners and things they do throughout the day ;)!

Classroom Daily Schedule

8:30-8:50: Kids arrive at school; table activities until morning meeting

8:50-9:15: Morning meeting (calender, alphabet, attendance, lunch count, etc.)

9:15-10:30: Reading (mini lesson, reading workshops)

10:30-11:00: Lunch

11:00-11:20: Recess

11:20-12:10: Reading/Writing (teacher read-aloud, alphabet writing)

12:10-1:00: Specials (PE, Music, Library, Art)

1:00-1:25: Recess

1:25-2:40: Math (mini lesson, math workshops)

2:40-3:15: Center Time (kids favorite)

3:15-3:30: Get kids ready for home

3:35: Dismissal of students

So, as you can see from above, our daily schedule is jam packed with different things but Reading and Math, as you can see, are the main focus of our school day.  I find it interesting that Social Studies and Science have been left out of the kindergarten curriculum, but I don't make the rules...!

Let's move on to Tuesday...Tuesday was the first day I got to lead morning meeting!  Each week, I will be teaching a new area plus the area I taught the week before...so by weeks 5, 6, and 7 of student teaching I will have COMPLETE, FULL control of the classroom! Crazy...I know :)!  But anyways, morning meeting went really well!  The students actually listened to me...can you believe it?! :)  Needless to say, I felt much more relieved after it was over because I was kind of nervous, but my teacher said I did great so I was very happy to hear that and from now on, I will be doing morning meeting!  So exciting!

Wednesday = Early out day for student (YAY for them)...Professional Development for teachers (kind of boring) :).  However, I kind of like professional development as a student teacher because it's primetime for new and exciting things that are happening in schools today.  Today in Professional Development we focused on the "Workshop Model" classroom.  As you can see above in our daily schedule..we have reading, writing, and math workshops.  Workshops are supposed to provide more interaction with curriculum then teacher-directed activities.  I really like the "Workshop Model" because it lets the kids have more hands-on interaction and that is one thing students thrive off of in today's society.  Below is a picture of the "Workshop Model" and how it should look during the content-focused time of the day.

Today was a great day and it ended with even better news...

We get out EARLY Thursday AND Friday at 1:30 because of the heat.  Now, let me confirm one thing...my school is air-conditioned!  However, some of the schools in the Waterloo School District are not; therefore, we are dismissing early because of heat and they are required to dismiss all schools and not just a select few.  I was happy to hear this news ONLY because I'm going to Iowa City this weekend and I wanted to be able to get an early start...and now, I CAN!  :)

So, let me now fill you in on my upcoming weekend!  My mom and I will be leaving from home but unfortunately...not in her NEW Ford Edge.  Nope, instead we get to take Dad's OLD Ford pickup and pull the boat all the way to Iowa City.  Let me tell you, we are going to be looking like SERIOUS hicks!  Haha it should be quite memorable.  So, anyways...let's get past the transportation issue and move on to the fun and exciting things happening!  This weekend will be the last weekend we have as a family without a baby!  So, needless to say we probably won't be being too responsible (besides the pregnant sister) haha!  Oh...too funny.  Love you Brooke...but it sure is nice to have a d/d :)!  Anyways, we will be camping, boating, but most importantly...just spending some much needed quality time together as a family.  Labor Day weekend as a family has been a tradition for a very long time in our family and I'm so excited to get to spend it all with them again this year.  And next year, most likely we will be perhaps celebrating a 1st birthday or possibly taking the new little one in the boat! How exciting! :) :)!  Anyways, here's a picture from last year as a family at the Iowa game over Labor Day weekend....Next week, I will post a new photo from this coming weekend!

Hope everyone has a great rest of the week and three day weekend!  Yay! Until next time, stay safe.  Love you all! :)