Christmas Fun

So this has been a fun December. Christmas band concert, snow days and helping with costums for the live nativity have made the time fly. At the junior high, secretly someone was leaving little gifts for the twelve days of Christmas for me. Sometimes they were in my box and other times on my desk. Thursday I didn't see one so I wondered if it had been the librarian because she was off. Today I found it on the "work table" and just after I had remove that one, the spot was filled with a box. It had the remaining days inside with instructions to open one a day until Christmas.  So now I don't know who was being so kind...but that's what Christmas is all about!

Beautiful Moment...

I love that today I got to watch a child with autism share with classmates. It was track and field day at the school I am volunteering at, so half of the class came where I was and the other half went to track and field (because it was a 2/3 split class and only grade 3 and up do track). We watched a video about things that fly and then the students drew pictures about the video and presented them. This student made a connection with the video that he shared before going to draw and even answered questions from the other class members. I think it worked because it was a small group and because it was a topic that was of interest. I just thought it was beautiful to watch.

Snow Day...

Welcome to winter.  It really decided to snow today. When I left for church it was hardly snowing and I thought maybe the storm wouldn’t come.  I get into RS and there are only 5 sisters in there...others were on their way out. I wondered if I should be leaving too, but I stayed. The snow had picked up and but it still didn’t look toooooo bad. When I left church the snow was falling harder, the wind was blowing and I had to go slow all the way home.  After I got home I decided I should take a picture of how far up my basement window the snow was.

Then 3 and a half hours later here are the pictures I took out the living room....

and the kitchen window view....

No blinds needed in the basement when the wind blows the snow into a drift that fills the whole window. If you miss the snow, just look at these pictures and enjoy it from a distance.

Week 1...

So I have started my second placement in a grade 1/2 split class and I am already tired. This first week went by quickly (I started last Thursday so this was my 6th day in class...) and I now know what lice looks like AND kids that throw up get to go to the office but it is truely nice to have an outdoor rink a block away from your school for skating activities! (Shoulda brought my skates...what was I thinking)

So if anyone has some great poems that would be appropriate for grade 1/2 I'm looking for some. Or a story that could be read aloud, I will need those as well.

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