Second Field Experience: The kiddos

My third grade class is 20 kiddos, 12 boys, 8 girls, and for math we get a little guy who is supposed to be in 1st grade, is actually in 2nd, and tests at a 5th grade level. Cute kid too, cracks me up! We have two students on IEPs for math and reading. Three students have transferred to the school this year. One from a public school out of state, one from home school out of state, and one from a parochial school in a town near ours. Two of these kids are pretty behind, the third is just barely keeping up. There is a little girl who moved here from Egypt last year with her parents and twin brother. It's an interesting group.

Day one: I get all sorts of questions: "have you seen Frozen?" not yet, no spoilers! and my personal favorite, "how old are you?" I told them I finished 3rd grade in 2003...their jaws dropped!
Day two: I already have a love note when I come in! The kiddos are warming up to me, but still aren't sure what they can ask me for help on.
By the end of week 3: "I wish you could stay ALL day!" I'm just another teacher. :)
By week 5: I probably get more questions than Mrs. K or Mrs. E (the resource teacher). Mrs. K has a lot going on, I think they're trying not to bother her too much. She has some major pregnancy brain going on and her husband is in the hospital for GI issues that they can't quite figure out. Poor lady!

I think it's really weird to see the kids at my "money job." AKA my waitressing job that actually pays the bills, since I'm more or less paying to teach them. Some of them totally ignore you, some of them get really excited to see you!

Second Field Experience: Third Grade!

My second field experience is in a public school near my university, with 3rd grade. It is 11% free and reduced lunch and consistently scores above state average in, well....everything. The building is older, but not OLD, and parking is a nightmare. I mostly observe Mrs. K's class for two hours, three days a week. I am also scheduled to teach two independent lessons.

This teacher is very thorough. I met with her before my time started, and she had a welcome sheet already typed up for me, ready to go. The students are all assigned a number for easy labeling of cubbies, mailboxes, book boxes, etc. Amazing idea? uh, yeah.

I observe math and literacy blocks. We're getting these kiddos through fact families/division and fractions in the 6 weeks I'm here. I'll be teaching fractional parts of a set. When we did pre-tests, 5 of my 21 little ones tested out of this section. I have my work cut out for me!

I'll also be handling a book club (that's what she calls reading groups, how cool!) and focusing on inferencing and mysteries with the book Howie Bowles, Secret Agent by Kate Banks.