It’s all about Placement!

I thought I would share with you a little about my first placement. I was in a grade 4 class with 27 children.  School started at 8:35 am and I was required by LU to be there 1/2 an hour before school started which ment that I was leaving my house at 7:30 am to be to school for 8 am. The first week wasn’t bad because the sun was just starting to come out when I left my house and it was light when I got to school. By the third week, it was dark when I left and just starting to be light when I got to school. The last week (#5) it was dark when I left and dark when I got there. Here is a picture of me arriving at school during my last week.

I prayed every morning that I wouldn’t hit a deer on my way and my prayers were answered because I made it safely every day!

While I was at placement, I was able to participate in the school’s “Harvest Meal” which happened the Friday after Thanksgiving. Community members attended and they feed us turkey, potatoes, stuffing, carrots and gravy. The meal was great! I also experienced Halloween and the challenge it is for children to contain their excitement on days leading up to celebration day.

I did an art project with the grade 4’s that took 3 art classes to get it finished. We put them up on the wall. They were learning about value in colour and how you can change it by adding white or black to make it light or dark. We made grassy fields from a birds view. They did a really good job. Unfortunately the school only had a little bit of white paint and so the light fields didn’t really work out because we didn’t have enough white paint. But I think they turned out just fine.

With the week off, I knew I needed to get a block heater installed so that when chilly January winds blow my car will start. I had asked Bishop P about a reputable mechanic to take my car to and he gave me a couple of garages he had dealt with and then like any good Bishop, he asked the High Priest group leader to follow up with me and see if I needed a ride to the garage. The High Priest group leader’s wife gave me a couple more suggestions of in town garages that are fair and honest. I got an appointment and through a ride home from the Dad of the garage guys came to find out they are related to my landlord. Then the phone call about the job being done came...with good news and great news. I already had a block heater in my car but it was all tucked away and the great news was that the mechanic saw it just before he started to drain the coolant....

it’s all in the placement.

Grade 4

I have been at my first student teaching placement for two weeks now and so I just want to share a few things that might be entertaining. First, students at my placement school are not supposed to bring snacks outside at recess time. This surprised me and so I asked why.

Response: BEARS.

The following is a conversation I had with a male student.

Student: Miss Sykes, what does your husband look like?

Miss Sykes: I’m not married.

Student: oh, well what does your boyfriend look like?

Miss Sykes: I don’t have a boyfriend right now.

Student: well I find that hard to believe.

(Walks off to get stuff out of locker and get on the bus)

That conversation happened Friday as the bell rang. Shortly after getting back to the class room to talk to my associate teacher about the upcoming week where she would be gone 3 out of the 5 days, the fire alarm goes off. We follow the fire plan that we have already practiced 4 times this week and are out in the cold rain with no coats to wave at the students on the school buses.  We then make our way to the front of the school where the substitute principal asks if we can be in and out in 30 seconds and my associate teacher replies with a yes. In we run, grab our stuff and head for home. We think that the daycare set the alarm off making snacks after school....

I would also like to know who it was that thought “open concept” schools were a good idea. It is sooooooo distracting to hear the other classes! Even when your class quiets down to do some learning all the sudden the other class is noisy and students at the back can’t hear the soft spoken answers of children at the front.  Also teachers can’t plan “noisy activities” for their class to do because they will interrupt the other classes, and sometimes you need to let children be noisy.

Overall I think I’m learning a lot, especially about being flexible!

No Pictures but WOW what a morning.

Dear Readers,

I am definitely on an adventure that I would never have thought I would be on.  After applying to Teachers College and being put on the waiting lists I was down and out until a friend told me of a school that was still looking to fill spots in June. I applied, was accepted and had basically one month to find a place to live, get police checks and the TB test. I made it except for the police check which will mean a trip home Labour Day weekend to get that.

Today just makes this experience seem not real. I never would have thought that I would live somewhere that would allow me the opportunity to cross paths with a black bear on my way to church. Yes you read that right...my first Sunday here by myself and I saw a black bear 2 blocks away from church. When I first saw it on the road I thought “man that’s a big dog...or maybe a wolf” but 2 seconds later as it realized a car was coming and started to move I noticed that it was a bear. Scared me a little bit to think that I was in immediate bear country and I wasn’t just watching a show on the discovery channel. And it probably didn’t help that just last week I saw a program about a lady who was obsessed with feeding bears and then they killed her.

After I passed the bear running through someone’s yard, I thought “what have I gotten myself into????” My car had better not break down on the way to church because I could end up being dinner! The trip home from church was uneventful and for that I am grateful. There is only so much I can handle in one day.

Love,

Katie

I Did It!!!!

I have graduated with a BA (Honours) in Child and Youth Studies. Here's proof...

That is me walking into the gym before the ceremonies (short brown hair looking forward).

Further proof, my parents came and the white thing in my hands is my program...my degree was being put into a frame at this point in the adventure.

And then there were the cheering section/adoring fans...

We didn't get to wear hats but I'm glad of that because who knows who would have had it on their head just before you...I worried about the gowns but hopefully nobody had lice...

It turned out to be a nice day. My ceremony was at 2p.m. and the weather was cloudy and around the 20 degree mark so I made no complaints. Thanks to all my supporters out there who came and those who came in spirit due to distance or work or me not letting you know that it was happening...

Now on to the next phase in life......

Oh the Weather Outside ....

Today was one WINDY day.

I heard the wind running over the roof like a freight train and then some banging.

I decided to look out the window and what did I see??

Popcorn popping on the...oh no it was shingles from the roof flooting across the road.

Aaauugh!

This is the damage the wind did (not sure how well you can see it).

strip club ha ha ha



There were a couple missing up higher but the paper managed to stay on.

When dad got home from work we put a tarp on.

Then we ran out of screws and strips of wood so we had to get off the roof for a minute and then finish it off.

We got more wood and screws and finished the job as the light faded to black.

So I took some pics of NF from up as high as the roof....

The wind was still blowing pretty good so I had a hard time keeping the camera still

and this is the best I could get. 

The roof is covered now and hopefully the rain will stay away.

Good bye wind!!!!



Love this quote!!!!

The silver lining in going to school and reading journal article after journal article after journal article is that every once and a while you come across a quote that jumps right into your lap and stays for a visit. I had one of those moments recently and so I thought I'd share the quote with you.

"The mastery of any skill - whether a routine daily task or a highly refined talent - depends on the ability to perform it unconsciously with speed and accuracy while consciously carrying on other brain functions."

Benjamin Bloom (1986)

So for all you moms who feel like a broken record in asking your kids to perform tasks you think they should be doing with out prompts just remember that you are helping them to master skill which need lots and lots of practice to make them become automatic and that doesn't happen over night. Practice isn't usually fun but it is necessary to change our "effortful" tasks into "uneffortful" automatic responses that allows us to move onto developing in other ways as well. So every time you ask one more time to pick up their toys or put something away, be glad that you have a hand in helping them to develop that skill.

Catch up

Yep. It's true what they say, when you get a little down time that's when the flu bug hits...Its soooo nice when its gone.

Really I wanted to catch you up on the results of the last entry. I did do better than the first test in that class. I raised my mark by 17% over the first one. Now the results are inconclusive as to why I did better the second time.

I have been working on a couple of projects though....

This is a book purse...Yes, once it sat on the shelves of the local public library and now it wanders the city slung over my arm. What a fun way to reuse hard covered books.

These beauties are made out of placemats... cool little totes. The green handles are made of ribbon and the brown handles are from an old belt. I love recycling....