The best part about student teaching during the Valentine’s Day holiday was being able to “research” (aka Pinterest) what I wanted to make my kiddos! I had so much fun deciding what I wanted to make and pass out during our Valentine’s Day party. There are so many cute ideas on Pinterest, and my creative juices were a’flowin!
“I need s’more friends like you!”
I thought they turned out super cute, and they were so easy to throw together. I made pink ones for the girls, and blue ones for the boys. My students were ripping them open as soon as they saw them, and began making s’mores even though we couldn’t melt the marshmallows! I even had one little girl save the label because she thought it was cute! I thought that was a pretty adorable thing for a 7 year old to say
My classroom teacher and I talked about things we were going to do during the party, such as food and games, but I still wasn’t sure what to expect. 18 1st graders on a sugar buzz just sounded a little crazy to me! Especially when I saw the amount of food our wonderful parents donated! To my surprise (and relief!) the party went great, and the kids had so much fun. Soooo glad to have my first holiday party under my belt!
Here are a few pictures of our Valentine’s Day bulletin board our classroom teacher created. Our students wrote love notes to family members. They turned out so cute!
They did such a great job!
My classroom teacher also had them create some Valentine’s heart graphs. Here are some pictures of their hard work!
Below are some picture of some little heart guys we let the kiddos make to brighten up the classroom. I love their little wiggly arms and legs, and I think the kids had a blast making them!
Things in the classroom are going so well for me right now. As of this week, I have been full time teaching by myself all day for 3 weeks, and I cannot even put into words how much I love it. Like I told my classroom teacher last week, I was expecting student teaching to be really really hard. And it is really really hard, but it is the most fun I have ever had working this hard. I look forward to coming to school every single day. I am so lucky to have such an amazing classroom full of kids. They are truly making my job EASY! I feel like teaching really is my calling.
For the past 2 weeks, I have been teaching my weather unit I had to write as my final project for my degree. I have had so much fun teaching the firsties about clouds, the water cycle, wind, and rainbows. I will be posting pictures of our fun projects/craftivities as soon as we finish our last lesson on Wednesday. I am also being observed by my University Supervisor on Wednesday, which sounds scary and stressful, but he is a very nice man that always makes me feel at ease. And the kids are great at pretending that he isn’t even there. This will be his 3rd visit out of a total requirement of 5.
On a different note, here are some pictures of a project we did on Abraham Lincoln for President’s Day. We read a story about the young Abe Lincoln, and then brainstormed different things that happened in his life. I was so surprised to find out that almost half of my firsties knew who our current president is! I was so proud! After we brainstormed about Abe, I had them create this adorable Abraham Lincoln heads and write 3 facts about him inside his hat. They turned out adorable, ifidosaysomyself.
“He was a hard worker and he loved to read. Do you? And he has a big hat.” –Katelin
“He was the 16th president. He worked for farmers. He was a hard worker.” – Connor
“He worked for farmers. He moved 3 times. He loved to read and learn. He was the 16th president. He was a hard worker.” - Cheyenne
I was so thrilled with how those turned out! I feel like the kiddos really got it after I started reading what they wrote. They were so authentically interested in Abraham Lincoln’s life and I was so impressed with the 3 facts they wrote! Proud student teacher, right here!
After a looooonnng day at school (I didn’t get home until 6:30 pm. On Valentine’s Day. Yes, worst girlfriend ever award winner right here.) I came home to some surprises from Mr. Boyfriend Joe. There were flowers, velvet covered hangers (a request from myself. I am probably the only girl in the world that asks for hangers on Valentine’s Day, but hey, I needed them!), and fresh chocolate covered strawberries from Edible Arrangements. What did I have for Mr. Boyfriend? I card that I didn’t have time to sign, and $60 in cash because Wal-Mart was sold out of the Xbox game I was going to buy 30 minutes before. Yes, student teaching has forced me to move a few things to the back burner, such as my relationship. Luckily for me, Mr. Boyfriend is the sweetest human being on the planet and also very understanding. He sees the humor in his stressball of a girlfriend. What a great guy.
After opening my presents, we decided to hit up the movies sweatpants style! We both put on our best looking sweatpants and sweatshirts (haha!) and went on our Valentine’s Day date at the movies. Just what I needed…
Mr. Boyfriend and I
Well folks, that’s all I got for tonight! I am looking forward to watching the rest of this NBA All-Stars game and then hitting the sack. I am so ready for this new week to begin!
-Hannah Jackson
