Blog #2

This past week has been crazy! My partner and I got the opportunity to teach the 3 hour literacy block in our class for the entire week. We spent a lot of time planning the week before and for the most part I think it turned out great. We gave 2 mini lessons on soft and hard “c” and “g” sounds and the difference between common and proper nouns. We also talked about animal habitats which lead to my second read aloud about a coral reef. I taught the students what a food chain was and what some of the fish in the sea looked like. On Thursday I got to do a fun activity where the students used shaving cream to spell out their spelling words on their desks (they did a great job on their spelling test this week). Then on Friday I came up with an art project where the students made underwater habitats out of construction paper and paper plates. It was so fun helping them with that project. One girl even told me that this was the best day of school ever and I was her favorite teacher. That was so nice to hear! I really feel like I have such a great connection with my students.

Now to talk a little more about the technology aspect of my class, this past week I got to use a few different smart board activities with the students. One activity was having the students’ sounds out words with soft and hard “c” and “g” sounds and then they got to drag a dot to each syllable while it sounded it out for them. The students really liked this activity because they got to work with the smart board and they got to hear how the word is sounded out if they could not figure it out. Another activity they did was matching their vocab words to the definitions on the smart board for a station. I like how much my CT uses her smart board to keep her students interactive with her lessons. It is also good motivation for the students to behave because then they get to use the smart board.

Overall this past week of teaching has been great and it really reassured me that I am on the right path with my career. I hope everyone else is having a great time in their classrooms! I love reading everyone’s blogs! :)