Writing about my adventures so far has turned into a semimonthly thing. It's amazing how fast time has flown. The last few weeks feel like a blur! Let me fill you in on the adventures.
The third week of school we began to really start stepping out and setting up our Daily 3 program. This piece is a combination of the Daily 5 and the CAFE reading program by "the sisters." During this time students read to themselves, read to someone and write. In between each of these parts, we do a mini lesson on a CAFE reading strategy or on a writing piece. While students work independently, we spend the time doing reading and writing conferences with students to develop goals and strategies for them as readers and writers. I love the reasoning behind this program and so far I feel like it is allowing our students to begin becoming independent readers and writers. I'm very excited to see how this program keeps developing and growing throughout the year! This week I also started teaching the second group of social studies. This way I am able to observe and learn from my CT during the first group and then I take on the second group.
Wednesday of this week we took our students and the other 5th grade class on a bike trip to the zoo. 60 students, 3 teachers and several parent volunteers took on the 9 mile bike trip, an afternoon around the zoo and a 9 mile bike trip back. Wow, what an experience! The day before the trip there was a huge storm so we ended up on more of an obstacle course than a bike path. We ran into lots of debris and we even got to watch a tree be chopped apart and removed from the path. We ended the day with only a few minor crashes which for 60 kids on a bike path, it better than I would have expected. Overall it was the perfect day and a great bonding time with my students!
This past week I started taking on more subjects and responsibilities in the classroom. I fully do opening, second social studies, planner and one of our daily 3 mini lessons. I also have switched into my new math group so soon enough I will begin co-teaching math as well. It feels great to start taking over and becoming more of a leader in the classroom. This week I also had two formal observations; one from my field instruction and one from my CT. I was finally able to get some great feedback on my teaching. Thursday was my first day of full lead teaching. My morning lessons were great but when it came time to teach both sections of social studies that afternoon when we had a sub, I realized that I had left every part of the lesson at home. With 5 minutes before class started, I was able to rethink the lesson and "wing it." It turned out great (good thing I had read through everything again that morning at breakfast!). I'm starting to get into my own teaching groove and figuring out my teaching style. This upcoming week I'm starting to take on writing, so we'll see how developing my own lessons & activities turns out!
Until next time,
MSN
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