Holidays are Ending

I hope everyone had a very MERRY CHRISTMAS and HAPPY HANUKKAH!

I will soon be finishing my Christmas holidays and begin school again in North Bay. Believe it or not, I only have 1 month a bit of school until I am all done teacher college (this doesn't include my practicum).


Just a quick update :)

Holidays :)

Three full weeks of my amazing practicum has come to an end. Friday December 16th was when I completed my first grade 2 placement. The students will be greatly missed, as well as my associate teacher who has taught be so much on how to become the best teacher I can be!

I have learned that teaching is the most rewarding job I could ever ask for. There are difficult times, but those times make up for the most amazing times you have with the students. I was grateful to have such an amazing support network at Lexington Public School.

I am looking forward to another great experience with a grade 4/5 class in February. Now, it is time to relax and enjoy the holidays! 

HAPPY HOLIDAYS!

This is a picture of what the grade two students' did for their holiday concert. 

Third Placement Block

Finally I am home and back in the grade 2 classroom! I am entering my third day of placement in my third teaching block and I am enjoying every minute of it.

I am teaching the 2D geometry shapes unit and I taught my first lesson for that unit today. It was a very interactive and fun lesson.

Fun 2D geometry game:
1. Cut out shapes (20 students, cut out 10 shapes and copy = 20 shapes with one pair)
2. Teacher will instruct students to close eyes, while teacher places a shape on each student
3. On the count of three, students will find their partner  with the same shape by asking questions about how many sides the shape has or how many vertices (using geometric properties)
4. When the students find one another, they will write down the shape and three geometric properties of that shape

The students loved this activity!

I will be on placement until December 16th and work my way to completing my career portfolio the week I have off, even though I'm still doing work, it is work I enjoy!

Who can pass down talking about yourself and fill a whole binder full of information!? I have so much more to talk about in the past two days I have been on placement, so please comment or ask questions if there is anything you would like to know.

Count down until Christmas= 26 sleeps

*Jess*

Website in Progress

In my education technology class, I have learned how to make a successful website!! Just fair warning, it will be crazyyyy!! I am so exited to start a new form of communication with friends and family :) 

I will be home in 10 days to begin placement! 

 

Teachable Moments

Here are some teachable moments I have had during placement:

" Mrs. Eichel, I know my writing is hard to read, but I am going to take my time on writing my adventure story and going to make it perfect for you. Can you take a picture after?

" I will miss you over the weekend"

" I can't do this math!!" "Yes you can! I struggled at math when I was younger and now I love it because a teacher would spend their time helping me" " Miss. Eichel, you are that teacher helping me! Now I will love math right?"

..these are just a few. Many more to come! This is why I love teaching! You have your frustrating moments but its the special moments that keep you going!

Healthy and Active Growing

Back in the kindergarten classroom :) "Today boys and girls, we are learning about  healthy and active growing". As discussed in class, a healthy growing experience begins with a healthy parent and child relationship. Another important growing experience involves NATURE. This is where they grow and learn about using their senses and motor learning.

Activity in class: Our class walked around the school finding textures and drawing the textures on a paper with a crayon (motor skills and senses). This illustrated open-minded thinking and adventure in the outside word.

A teachable moment: A student on placement was using paint to illustrate primary colours. She took the paper and said " Look Miss. Eichel, it looks just like a red leaf". This moment was crucial because this student loves the outdoors and incorporates her learning experiences in the outdoors in the classroom.

________________________________________________________________________________

What does the child need?
-Make sure parents and teachers are aware of what the CHILD needs.

I always ask myself this question " Is is okay when a student get's off topic during a lesson?"
Answer: OF COURSE!
This experience allows the child to discuss their own experiences and what they have learned. Definitely a teaching moment.

The movie- Precious minds: Nurturing Learning in the Early Years has identified the concept  of allowing the child to express their ideas of a topic or discuss "off-topics". This still incorporates learning amongst the students. It is their time to SHINE :)


Class dismissed...

First Week Teaching

LOVE, LOVE and LOVE IT! I can't stress how much rewarding teaching has been for me! All of the grade 2 students I am teaching are fantastic. There are some who struggle, some who are very intelligent at math and some who are gifted in writing. I enjoy seeing all of the different dynamics in one classroom.

The best feeling of teaching, is when the students come up to you and ask, " Miss. Eichel, are we working on adventure books again!?". This makes myself, as a teacher candidate, love the joys of teaching. I feel like I can enrich children's lives by being a mentor, a teacher and someone who they can look up to :)

Any questions? Please feel free to comment.

That's all folks!

Jess-

First Day of TEACHING!

Wow, it is already past Thanksgiving weekend and I am about to teach my first lesson in Language Arts. I am nervous, excited and anxious but these are all good emotions right?

I am teaching the students about how to become an effective author using graphic organizers illustrating the beginning, middle end, characters, setting, problem and solution. I will do a read aloud of the " Library Mouse" and relate that story to them being their own authors.

I am really excited to be introducing a new lesson to the teacher for the first time!

Well, before we know it, it will be Christmas! Can't wait to see everyone over the holidays and looking forward to sharing my stories and experiences as a student teacher :)

-Jess-

Thanksgiving is almost here!

Two more days until I will be home for 2 weeks! I have been up in North Bay for 4 weeks and enjoying every minute of it. Classes are great, class is great and "extra-curriculars" are even better!

These two weeks are going to be very hectic with tons of LESSON PLANNING, however it will be worth it having lessons already planned for when my teaching adventures begin.

I am thrilled to be home with family and friends and enjoying delicious home-cooked meals by my mommy :)

Well I am going to end this blog a little earlier than usual cause I have to get going to health class.

See everyone this weekend or in the next few weeks I am at home!

-jess-

Capable Child, Integrated Learning and Play

This is what I learned in my kindergarten class: Module 2- Capable Child, Integration and Play

It is important to always put the child first and make your lesson based on where the children are with their learning abilities. A few ways to get students to focus may involve:

- Make sure students know your expectations

- When they are ready and you are ready to start

- “eyes on me, one, two, three”

- have all of their attention before you start 

Many teachers are hesitate on the idea of "child's play", however play is crucial in children development. It allows children to explore and identify objects and situations by themselves. 

An interesting article, " It's Child's Play", outlines the importance of a play based classroom, which identifies play is the independent work of children.

The "REGGIO EMILIA APPROACH" is based on a type of learning that is hmm....elegant? This was my first reaction when watching a movie on this approach to learning (this is a good one to GOOGLE). 

During class, we also watch a video called " The Little School", this took place in a kindergarten classroom. I would reflect upon this video as being very influential. The teacher took into consideration the child as a learner. While the child did not want to participate in activities, the teacher made an effort to discuss with the boy what was wrong. Sometimes it is hard to focus on one child in a classroom, however it is important to develop rapport with each child.

One more reflection, PROMISE! When I was a marketing coordinator for the Brock University Students Union, it was my role to advertise and market events and businesses on campus. This is very similar to advertising for children in a kindergarten room. You may ask, how? 

Well, an activity that our class did was to use our senses (taste, smell, and touch) and look at a fruit tray. As a group, we all used our senses (first was taste haha) to investigate what it felt like, tasted like, and looked like. 

Our teacher than showed us pictures of fruit on a black scale, which did not make the fruit as pleasuarable then the taste. We were then asked to write down words to describe our fruit. 

The end GOAL: you need to make sure colour, shape and texture is involved in your lessons. Children like visual and tactile images. This is also used as a marketing  technique for many companies and businesses. 

Many of these "kindergarten reflections" may be a little longer than my other blogs but they are filled with useful information on effectively reaching out to kindergarten students :)

Relaxing Rainy Day

I am sitting at a small cafe in North Bay (Twiggs) and enjoying looking out the window on this rainy day.

This morning I woke up to get ready for methods class and mathamatics. As a kid growing up ( wait, my whole life haha) I have not grown a liking to math! It has been a subject that I have struggled with and did not get the proper teaching in some grades.

Knowing my "math journey" and what I have learned, I want to educate my future students that learning math is FUN! There are many ways to manipulate math into your lessons, which I think are more effective then sitting down each week and introducing math as a "unit".

When I heard the statement, " Okay class! We are now going to begin our math unit", I froze and was so nervous I would have to make plenty of washroom breaks just to avoid the math lesson (which wasn't a good idea because I was so confused when I got back).

This being said, I am starting to enjoy math! If my dad reads this he will not believe me haha.

Now, I am sitting in Twiggs drinking coffee and getting some assignments done before HOMECOMING this weekend!

Just an FYI: For my kindergarten class I am taking, I am blogging a reflection of each class, so you will see my reflection blogs when you open up to read " My Teachers College Adventures"

ps. Congratulations to Kyle for being a Toyota Employee! I am so proud of him :)

-i'm out!

Jess

Lesson Plan Complete!

FYI: I finally finished my first lesson plan! It was for a grade 2 class who are learning about geometric shapes and identifying how many faces, vertices and edges the 3D shape has.

Sitting in class now learning how to assess students (Level 1,2,3,4 or D,C,B,A or percent)..hmmm.

Need to pay attention!

Cheers,

Jess

Lesson Plan Complete!

FYI: I finally finished my first lesson plan! It was for a grade 2 class who are learning about geometric shapes and identifying how many faces and vertices.

Sitting in class now learning how to assess students (Level 1,2,3,4 or D,C,B,A or percent)..hmmm.

Need to pay attention!

Cheers,

Jess

Welcome to Kindergarten :)

As I walk into my first day of kindergarten, I see exciting books on the desks and the warm welcoming feel. That is the same feeling when I walked into my kindergarten option course at Nipissing. Presently, I am enrolled in a kindergarten class, which is going to be a fun and exciting opportunity!

At the beginning of class, the teacher wanted to identify who was a kinaesthetic, visual or oral learner. She orally read a quick survey to identify what category best fit our learning needs. We were told to go meet up with our group and complete the task at the station. The task was opposite of a kinaesthetic learner (we had to read out loud a story and summarize it). It was a lesson to ensure what type of learner we are.

This activity was very interesting because our whole group took a while to figure out the best way to approach the activity.

We also summarized the kindergarten brochure, kindergarten curriculum and Early Learning for Childhood Today (ELECT). These documents were very useful to understand the kindergarten curriculum.

An activity I enjoyed was the idea of making a circle with the class and passing around a tool box. The class (or students) are able to say one thing that might be in the box. This activity gets the students interacting and sharing their own ideas to the group. It can be used to open a lesson or a calming activity after a busy day.

Another effective game is called WORDLE. On slips of paper we had to write one word that describes teaching. Then we put all of the words together and we made a wordle. I'll put a picture up so everyone can see our class WORDLE :)

Now, I am leaving the school on my first day of kindergarten! Great class :)

Jess**

First Week of my Bachelor of Education :)

I have been off to a great start! This week has been a great week to meet new friends, get to know areas of the school and attend the most amazing classes! Currently, I am taking health and phys-ed, music, methods (resume writing and portfolio), education and schooling, psychology and special education and mathematics. Theses classes are a lot different from my undergraduate. In these classes, I am learning how to teach these subjects not necessarily learning the essentials of the subject.

In any case, this year is already off to a great start and I can't wait to go back to placement to see the grade 2 students again.

This past weekend (Sat and Sun) I spent enjoying and relaxing at Jody and Simon's Island ( Kyle's aunt and uncle). What a beautiful place to be when you need a break from school! Five assignments due in 5 days, a break is well deserved!

Speaking of work and assignments, I need to get crackin'. Looking forward to writing more posts over the course of this week!

Miss everyone and I will be home during Thanksgiving weekend for some turkey :)

xoxo Jess

First Day Jitters

Tomorrow is the big day! Placement is commencing at approximately 9:00 am when the students arrive at Lexington Public School for their first day of the school year. It's 10:20pm the night before. Can you believe it, I am nervous, excited, happy, worried, you name it! This is a new exciting adventure for me and I can't believe I am officially a student teacher TOMORROW! I remember sitting in my grade 7 class with a student teacher in the classroom. Now that's me :)

In hind sight, I hope everyone has had a wonderful summer and ready to get back into the swing of things. I sure am :)

Looking forward to keeping everyone updated on my experience as a student teacher.

Jess (Miss. Eichel)

Placement soon approaching!

What a day to drive 5 hours home to Roseville! RAIN, RAIN and more RAIN! Four ways were definitely in full effect from Huntsville through Toronto. The least I can say is I made it home safe.

As you may be wondering, how did my first two days of orientation go? Well, AWESOME! I learned sooo much in 2 jammed packed days, but so worth it! This is going to be an experience that I will never forget .Getting to know friends already who have similar interests as me is so exciting. Last night, Nipissing University held a show and dinner, which involved two comedians who are teachers. This comedy show was hilarious! I met many new students from my section (4) which are the students who are going to be with me the whole way through teachers college.

Waking up at 7:00, getting ready to pack (once again) for my trek back home was exciting, knowing placement is starting in 5 days! Those of you who don't know, I am in a grade 2 classroom in Waterloo.

Well, off to visit my other known area in St.Catharines for the weekend.

Everyone enjoy their well deserved long weekend!

Jess
Grade 2 teacher candidate :) 

MOVED IN!!!

The stress is OVA!! Finally, after staying in a motel for 3 nights and buying food everyday (not good!), I am settled in my room in North Bay. Living with a wonderful couple and their puppy :)

Evidently, I did not bring too much stuff ( as I am a girl who is always prepared haha). You must be thinking..a bed, desk, chair and all the big stuff. Well, everything came in a box. The bed is an air mattress, the chair we had to put together, thanks to Kyle and Leanne, and the desk we put together. Challenging yes, but with four people, anything is possible!

What else can I tell ya...I am now safe and sound and can't wait until school starts. Two more days until the learning begins :)

That's all for now*

Jess

Traveling to North Bay

Definitely a crazy start to travelling to North Bay. Waking up to my alarm (BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!) and finishing packing, which I should have completed the night before. This is definitely not like me haha. Getting all packed and the car started, the weather look erie, but the scenery was gorgeous driving on the 400. Tons of construction and traffic at 7:00am, but I could handle it for my first drive of many.

Well you may wonder how long it took me to get to North Bay. It took 4.5 hours, not bad for my first time. My little corolla can take a lot thats for sure (thanks Sohail Ahmed for my little guy). 

Now I am sitting in a motel with Kyle (those of you who don't know who Kyle is, he is my bf of 3 years, wow so crazy!). We are here for a few days before I can move into my house in North Bay. 

A few things we did today..we checked out the amazing waterfront, went on a tandem bike around the waterfront and hung outside enjoying the awesome weather (25 degrees). 

Well friends, its time for me to get ready for another day. Can't wait until my mom and sister make it down tomorrow! More sight seeing and adventures to come :) 

THANK YOU everyone for reading my first blog about my teachers college adventure.