First Day at "C School"

     Today marked my first day student teaching with Mr. R's Grade 5 class at "C School". This is my second of four student teaching placements that I will finish before next spring when I will officially be a certified teacher! I completed my first student teaching placement in a Grade 10-12 social studies classroom but will be teaching science this time around.

     This first week I am just observing, assisting as needed and getting to know the students before I begin teaching my lesson plans on Tuesday next week. My day started out with reading records which was an awesome opportunity to have some one-on-one time with students and begin learning all their names! Reading records are done with all the students in the class and they measure their fluency, reading accuracy and comprehension. The morning also consisted of math and science, where I observed activities and circulated around the room assisting students, and french class with the vice-principal which meant a 30min prep for my cooperating teacher and I.

     The afternoon seemed to fly by as our students went to another classroom for an optional "family life" class. During that time we had a split Grade 5/6 health class where we discussed stress and anxiety which was a continuation from a unit that they are just finishing up. We also had a double block of gym with our Grade 5s where they were solidifying their badminton skills by moving through three stations: one-on-one skill practice, practice rallying and around-the-world badminton game. I think the students definitely had some energy to burn off and they seem to really enjoy gym (which I think is true for most students).

     This week is report card week, student conferences and preparation for our spoken-word festival so to say our class is a bit chaotic is an understatement. I am a very organized person so I will admit that I had a bit of a difficult time following along in class today because we often were working on a schedule other than our timetable in order to finish everything on time. Almost all of our classes were spent independently completing major projects that had been started before my arrival so I spent my time trying to catch up to where the class was and understand what the projects consisted of. Do not get me wrong, my cooperating teacher is very organized and has a very specific set of goals he wants to complete before student conferences begin, it was just a bit confusing for me! It is only the first day, however, so I am sure that I will catch up as the week progresses.

     Overall I would say that the day was a success! Like I had mentioned in a previous post, my cooperating teacher is very supportive, the students are high energy and enthusiastic and the staff seem very accommodating. That is all for now, but I will try to update as much as possible as things progress :)