Day 1. South Elementary. 9/28/2011.

I finally get to start observing!  When I got to the school I was starting to get nervous, more of an excited nervous.  First, I went to the office to sign-in and get a visitor lanyard.  The nice lady in the office told me my classroom was at the other end of the school.  She said you'll take a left go to the end of the hallway and turn left again..etc. until you have taken 4 left turns and your teacher's room is two doors down.  While walking to the room, I just felt like I was walking "the walk to shame".  While I was walking by classrooms, I began to realize they were all empty!  So of course,  I start freaking out.  Finally after the long hall to my classroom, there was a teacher and students!!   The teacher was explaining math to students, and these students were actively engaged.  I was not freaking out anymore and became more confident.  It was awesome to be told that when I am there the students are learning math and reading.  I got to meet all my awesome students who were filled with joy and excited to have a visitor.  As the teacher continued her lesson I took a seat next to a red head.  She was on cloud 9 because I, this visitor, was sitting next to her.  Not only was I sitting next to her, I was interested in what she had to say.  The more this girl talked, she got more comfortable, excited, and confident.  After the lesson the kids had a worksheet to do.  While the kids were working I was able to walk around the room and help kids.  After the worksheet, the kids played an adding game with cards.  It was exciting because it was a game!! AND I got to play!  Following the game was snack time.  During snack time all kids are provided with fruits and juice or milk.  They are able to provide there students with healthy snacks because of a grant they received.  Once snack was over the kids read the books for a little while.  After some reading it was time for ph. ed. and the dreaded mile.  While the kids were running the mile(thankfully I did NOT have to) I was able to go to the third grade and tutor a struggling student.  I loved being able to go from a class of 25 to working with one kid.  I feel I will benefit from this opportunity because I'm able to learn more.  When the students get back from p.e. we start going over advanced words.  When going over the words,  the students draw and explain their pictures that explain the meaning of the word.  Ex. reminiscence-a memory.  One student went to Disney World with her family, so every time she hears Disney World she thinks of her family trip.   The students go over 3-4 new words each day.  After reading the students were off to lunch.  As I was leaving the classroom, the boys told me I was stuck in their classroom forever and that I could not leave.

Overall, this experience was phenomenal.  My cooperative teacher and I just click and are so much alike.  She is young, down to earth, energetic, and fun to be around.  I would consider day 1 a success.