Week 3

I can't believe that I haven't had time to post about week three of student teaching! It is currently the middle of week 4 of my first placement!

The time at the elementary school is flying by! In week three I had an AMAZING time. This was the week that I really got a feel for how the classroom is run, what is expected of me, and what things work best for me. I also think that I am getting to know the students better, although getting to know over 420 names in three weeks is a little difficult, especially because I only see them once or twice a week! I hope that when I have my own classroom and I am learning names I will be able to learn them a little faster. I think it is different because I am the student teacher. Sometimes the students forget my name and get offended that I still don't know theirs. I tell them, "If you have a hard time remembering only my name, how do you think I remember all 400 students in this school? Can you imagine doing that?" They end up laughing and telling me it's okay, or reminding me to learn their name because they are important people! I've really grown to enjoy these children!

A kindergarten student stamps a design into their clay mandela

In a nutshell, this is what week three encompassed:

Grade 2 Gadget fish before and after color and ink!

• Teaching a whole day of K-5 as the head teacher. Luckily Kim stayed in the room to assist whenever needed!
• Kindergarten made clay Mandelas and learned about radial design. 
• 1st grade finger painted roosters and did a great job!
• 2nd grade colored and inked clay fish from a few weeks back
• 3rd grade explored perspective and what it means as well as basic rules in perspective
• 4th grade finished painting their clay projects and created palm trees with chalk
• 5th grade finished painting their clay animals and created collages like Guiseppe Archimboldo portraits made out of food!

Grade 1. This student was a "dotter" as they finger painted the sky

I learned so much this week regarding classroom management and time management. This was a great week for me to get the schedule of each class down. The five minutes between classes is a life saver! I was happy to take control and learn by making mistakes. Ms. R was helping me find the best system for having first graders wash their hands and finish their finger painting. I realized that I had the children wash their hands, ask me if they were done and then if I asked them to work more, they would have to wash their hands again. Realizing that this was unproductive and inefficient, that idea was quickly changed! I also learned that when teaching radial symmetry to kindergarteners with the clay Mandelas, I needed to stress to them how important the middle of the Mandela was. For some reason, it took me twice to realize!

I could improve even more on clean up tasks and delegation to students. I could also improve upon time management by keeping track of my demonstration timing and leaving ample time for students to work and clean up efficiently!


I think I did great at speaking to the children in ways they would understand and getting the project criteria to them. By the looks of the work, I think I reached most of them!