Wednesday, March 30, 2011

Happy Mid-Week Everyone,
Assessments were completed once again today. I am not so sure that yesterday's went a little smoother than today. It is so frustrating that we (as teachers) cannot give any assistance to the students, let alone, remind them of quality test-taking strategies that we have been practicing for months One more day of reading assessments. Anyways, at least they are making great progress on their stories that will be sent to the publishers on Friday!  I am continuing my planning process for the next two weeks so they can be less stressful days. I counted up tonight that I have 3 more weeks of Student Teaching (because 1 week I'll be in DC for the CEC National Convention!!!)..... and two of those weeks I am teaching full days! It is going to FLY BYE. Also, I am looking forward to the Jason Derulo concert next week with some of the teachers! Ha! Front row.... it will be a blast.... and interesting.
Friday and the weekend could not come sooner!
WOo!
-Ms. Emert

Tuesday, March 30, 2011

Oh Blog, I forgot about you last night.
My day went like this:
Shower: 6:30
School: 8:00
Assessments: 9-11am! And they went VERY well (so we think)!
Taught: 12:30-4:04pm -Read-a-loud, math, recess, library, and writing....!
Organized and went home: 4:04-5:00
Dinner at Panera: 5:15-5:30
Babysat: 5:30-9:15pm--- 7 month old, 3 year old, and 5 year old.

Then, my favorite part of the day.... BED! (Unfortunately...)
Day 1 of State Assessment down, 2 more to go!
Productive day. Can't complain.

-Ms.Emert

Monday, March 28, 2011

Evening All,

Hope everyone had a good start to their weeks this Monday. Amazingly, today was not completely chaotic but, it was a little crazy getting the students back on the routine and what not. I began planning for my two weeks of full day teaching. As long as I stay ahead of the game, I'll be set to go and organized. I am looking forward to it! Tomorrow is a big day for my students because they begin their state assessments. They will the reading assessments tomorrow, Wednesday, and Thursday. And next week will be Math. The students are working extremely hard on their stories they have been writing for the past few weeks. The stories will be turned in Friday and sent to a publisher! This is a project I have been in charge of so it will be exciting to see the finished products.
Student teaching has gone by so quickly! I cannot believe I have been teaching and in the classroom for 3 full months. Time is flying and graduation is right around the corner! Yay!

Have a great week!

-Ms.Emert

Thursday, March 17, 2011

Yup, it's St. Patrick's Day. And, yup, the students totally passed me this lovely sickness. However, immediately after my Reading/History lesson, I went straight to Lafene begged for a Z Pack then went home and slept until I taught Abs (verbally) and Zumba... (non-verbally) and still got a great workout. I am currently making myself eat an orange, apple, piece of bread, and sipping on some lemon/honey tea to boost my immune system. Geeeze, could this come at a more inconvenient time? On a better note....

My lesson was awesome... I'll post a picture of the final K,W,L Chart that they made. Did you know that St. Pat's preaching robe was actually blue? And that because of Ireland's lush landscape and clovers the color green is associated with the celebration. The HistoryChannel.com has some great, short videos all about the day! So, like I said yesterday, my principal was to observe me today....well, well, well,.... a younger student ending up needing some mild-medical attention and so she was pulled out of my lesson to tend to that issue. It was a bummer because the lesson nailed lots of different objectives and integrated multiple subjects. But, that is life, and we move on. Speaking of moving on, I am hitting the sheets and sleeping in! I don't think my body could handle those kiddos again! Bummer! Have a great Spring Break everyone! I'll check back in on Monday, March 28th!

See ya!

-Ms. Emert-

Wednesday, March 16, 2011

Well... I just took my inhaler because I have had the tickle-cough all afternoon. OH NO. Please. No. I cannot go down with what is being passed around the students AND teachers! Ahh. Anyways, feeling fine other than the small cough but I'll attack it quickly with my Xopenex! Today was just another great day. The time is ticking to when I will be teaching full days for two weeks! I have a feeling those days will fly by but they are coming quick. As is Spring Break. I have begun to realize throughout this entire experience how fortunate I was growing up. Being able to participate in extra outside sports and activities that cost money, order books from Scholastic book orders, bringing snacks to school, going on all the field trips, and being excited to go somewhere fun for Spring Break. That is not the norm I have come to discover. I have only heard one student speak of going somewhere for Spring Break...and I think it was still in Kansas... I find this all interesting as I keep learning about the challenges each child may face that I did not. I walk out of the school building everyday realizing how lucky I was to have has such a relished childhood. The students are slowly finishing up their stories to be published....man, do 4th graders really have imaginations! WOW. But it is neat that they get this opportunity to show their creativity and works of art! Hopefully, I'll be able to share some of their stories on the blog!
For tomorrow the students have a fun, technology enhanced reading lesson on St. Patrick's Day and what it is all about.
Don't forget to wear green tomorrow! (And capris or shorts! :) It's going to be nice out!) Bring on SUMMER and SUNSHINE!

Ms. Emert

Tuesday, March 15, 2011

Good Evening,
Why can I not seem to get anything done regarding lessons, and my portfolio this week? I need to find the motivation! I think it is the time change honestly, because it says light out until 7:30pm and fools me into thinking I have lots of hours left in the day to work. So untrue! Because it is now 8:30pm, I have accomplished nothing pertaining to Student Teaching, and I am wanting to be in bed by 9:30.... Probably not going to happen. But I could work in bed. Did I mention that last week, I had a "true teacher moment"? I was grading a huge stack of papers in bed, with my RED grading pen, glasses on, and dozing off! I woke up in the morning with the completed graded papers next to me in a messy pile and my red grading pen still in bed. Ha! Many more nights like that to come I am sure. I am thinking I might have to do that again tonight, but this time type up my lesson plans for a St. Patrick's reading lesson Thursday! I will be observed for the second time by my principal! Very exciting, yet nerve racking at the same time.
On that note, I need to get to work!
Have a great evening,

Ms. Emert

Monday, March 14, 2011

Hola!
I can easily say that today was a great day to start off the week. Minus the 6 in. of snow that was on my blazer this morning, I still made it to the gym at 5:30am and got my day started! From there it was to the shower and then school. The students were in great moods to begin and the day just took off and flew by! I gave the students their spelling pre-tests, got lots of grades entered into the book, did Calendar Math, and worked on their story book publishing. After school we had some professional development on technology that can be integrated into the classroom and lessons. I think my goal this summer will be to work on writing a grant for a class set of  iTouch devices or iPad--- a little more ambitious.
I am looking forward to the rest of the week mainly because it results in Spring Break! I am also looking forward to the nice weather and test driving some new vehicles on Thursday!
I hope everyone has a great week!
Ms. Emert