Final Week: Sara

This week was a short week but it seemed as though the opposite of what I expected to happen, happened. The students were so focused their day back it was interesting to see because I totally thought that they were going to be crazy. This week I did my final read aloud which was a book called Hot Air Balloons. It was all about the parts of the balloons, how they work, and how they're made. It went along with the theme of things that are found in the sky. The students really enjoyed all the colors and pictures that were in the book. We also did another guided reading but this time with the highest reading group. They were reading Flat Stanley books which are in the second grade range of reading. They read the first chapter to themselves and Jamie and I asked comprehension questions and then the students read the second chapter alternating every page. It was so interesting seeing the development in readers from both lowest reading group to the highest reading group. We also have been pulling students out every morning to work on the sight words they have trouble with, counting, shapes, etc. It has been amazing seeing the students go from hardly knowing any of the words and shapes on their sheets to knowing almost all of them. It shows how repetition helps the students a lot to remember things they need to. It was challenging at times with the troublesome new student I spoke of before. I noticed that he knows exactly what he's doing and that it's wrong, but he wants attention. There was another student in the classroom with Jamie and I that babied this student and let him get away with a lot. It was really annoying because Jamie and I would try and put our foot down and tell him that he needs to listen but then this other student would come in and baby him and it was frustrating to see and deal with. We also got to stay a full day our last day. It was really awesome because we got to see the second grade classroom they go to to partner read. That teacher had such an amazing room that I took pictures of it because it was so amazing and I learned a lot from how she set up her room. I can't believe that the experience is over but I learned so much and grew a lot as an educator.