It's been a while!

HOLY MOLY it's been a while since I've posted. So sorry!

What a crazy past couple of weeks. I started my unit over measurement last Monday. So far, it has been going pretty well! I think the kiddos have learned a few things, so that's always a positive. :) My teacher has had great things to say about it so far, so that's also good! I am being formally observed tomorrow by my clinical instructor, so I have some preparation to do before that lesson.

Last week, I taught about measuring lengths to the nearest inch and half-inch. They've gotten A LOT better with this!! Makes me proud. :) I also taught about measuring weight. Since it was a teacher work day on Friday, I had different centers to review the things I taught over the week on Thursday. I had 5 stations. The first was creating a foldable about measuring lengths and weights-it also included conversions (16 oz. = 1 lb.; 12 in. = 1 ft.; etc.). The second station was learning different songs about measurement (not my favorite station, but I think the kids liked it). The third station was reading different books about measurement and identifying the main idea of those (yea...cross-curricular integration...pretty proud of myself). The fourth was by far their favorite-they got to measure Twizzler strings to the nearest inch and half-inch. Of course, the main question: "Miss Wallisch, can we eat these?!?" So I had to tell them that they didn't want to eat the ones they were measuring because everyone would be touching them and they were on my floor. But in the end, I let them eat one that they measured themselves. The fifth station was working with me-they each had a whiteboard and we did some conversions. I taught them a trick about how to remember that 3 feet are in a yard and 12 inches are in a foot. My cooperating teacher took some pictures, so I'll get those posted as soon as I edit them-gotta take the faces off the kids (that sounds creepy).

This week is a short week-just three days! Parent-teacher conferences start after school on Wednesday and then all day on Thursday. I'm excited to meet the parents, but I'm a little nervous for the actual conferences. Friday we don't have school-WOOHOO! I'm in desperate need of a break! As much as I love my kiddos, a few days away from them is always nice. :) And, I'm going home!! Can't wait!!

Entry 2 is complete, lesson plans for the week are complete, my formal lesson plan and guiding questions are done, so I'm sitting pretty right now! Feels good. Still don't feel quite caught up with everything, but I don't think I'll ever feel caught up this semester. One day at a time...

Only 60 school days of student teaching left. Crazy!

Miss Wallisch