Student teaching has been going great!! This coming week I will have almost full control of the classroom. Kind of scary...but exciting at the same time. Also, this week my cooperating teacher has gone on vacation to Cancun...so I am pretty much in charge! There will be a sub, but she won't be doing anything. I'm praying I don't get sick. The flu has been spreading like wild fire, I had a small touch of it two weeks ago, but EVERYONE has been getting it, so I hope I don't get it again!

Last week in Math I played a game called "Sparkle" with the kids, and it is a good game for learning to count to 100 by 10's. They LOVED IT, but it got really out of control. It is so funny to me how some kids are so focused on winning that they forget how to actually play the game. *It amazes me how competitive they are at that age!

I love teaching first graders because they say random, funny comments all of the time! Last week a boy finished his assignment early and usually when they finish early they are to read their AR book. Well this boy (who asks to go to the bathroom ALL the time) comes up to me and says, "Miss Philippus, I was wondering if I could go to the bathroom so that I can wipe myself better." I thought that was SO funny, b/c he did not have to give me that much information!

By the way...I have a problem with the same four boys ALWAYS asking to go to the bathroom!

Here are some pictures of my math lesson. Some pictures are of them using a hundred's chart and reviewing counting to 100. The other pictures are of them putting objects in groups of ten, and see how many were left over. We used m&m's!

Student teaching-second week

Student teaching has been a blast so far! Currently I am teaching first grade at Central Lyon Elementary in Rock Rapids, IA. The kids amaze me; they are smart and funny!

Last week, which was my first week, was an interesting week. Everyday last week was either a late start or early dismissal except for Friday. The kids were crazy...bouncing off the walls because they couldn't go outside. By the end of the week I was exhausted! I have one student who I call the pokey little puppy. She is the slowest student I have ever met (not mentally). Here is an example of what happens everyday. It was the afternoon recess (which lasts 20 minutes) and all of the kids hurried out the door, put on their winter wear and went outside. Well, the pokey little puppy SLOWLY took off her shoes, then she had to go to the bathroom, then she came back to her locker put on all of her winter wear and by the time she was all ready the bell rang for the kids to come back inside. It's frustrating and I have to put my foot down in order to get her to accomplish things throughout the day. I feel bad...but my cooperating teacher says there is no other way with her.

This week has been good, tomorrow I start teaching math! I hope it goes good.