Fabulous in First Giveaway

Have you seen the amazing giveaway over at Fabulous in First? She is giving away everything that is in her TpT store to two lucky winners! I am really hoping that I am one of them. The giveaway will end on Friday at 8pm. Be sure and swing by to enter!

Resume Help and Center Update

I am beginning to apply for jobs, but am not too sure about my resume. What categories do administrators want to see? As tough as it is going to be to get a job here in Texas this year, I want to make sure that they are really impressed with my resume and cover letter. If anyone wants to look at mine and critique it for me I would love that or if you have a really great format for yours that you think would help me would be great too. You can e-mail me at k.e.klohn@gmail.com or if you are interested just leave me your e-mail and I will send it to you. If you are a Texas teacher, I am sure you are familiar with the Texas Association of School Administrators job search, I pretty much stalk it every day!

Monday was day one of using centers during our ELA block and it has been such a hit. The kids love it and I also think that they have been able to get more out of the content because of the small groups. I am most excited for my center tomorrow because we are going to do the conversation hearts writing activity that I posted last week. I hope they really like it and are creative with their quotations. I am ready for the writing TAKS to be over though so that we can not work so much on writing and can dedicate more time to the center activities. 

Something else that has been pretty exciting this week in 4th grade, is that our class was selected to write for the local newspaper for the upcoming Texas Public Schools Week. One 4th grade and one 5th grade class was selected. We were given 2 topics for the kids to write about that are really pretty fun. The topic we have been working on the past two days was "What do you think school will be like in the year 2050?" They were so creative and I am hoping that if they are in the paper I can share some of them with you all. They wrote about things like inventing exploding homework in science class, anti-gravity classrooms where if you get in trouble the teacher just turns on the gravity switch and you fall to the floor, and robot teachers. I am pretty sure none of that will happen, but it has been fun seeing what their imaginations think of. The topic that we are starting tomorrow is for them to plan a day at school where their parents join them. The newspaper lady is coming on Thursday to take pictures of them too. 

Hope that everyone survived Valentine's Day on Monday! I cannot wait to plan my own Valentine's party next year!

Centers in 4th Grade

My mentor teacher and I have decided to revamp the ELA block and introduce centers to the students each week. I am really excited about it because I think that it is really going to help us to differentiate our instruction more efficiently. Next week I will be responsible for the grammar center and I will be meeting with the small groups each day. We are also going to have a skill center that Mrs. I will do and it is going to be on Author's Perspective and Author's Purpose. The other two centers will be self-managed and will be spelling and independent reading. I hope the kids will be as excited about them as I am. 

In the grammar center we are going to be focusing on using quotations correctly and also punctuating them correctly too. I was having a hard time finding some worksheets that I really liked so I decided to create my own. 

Conversation Hearts Paragraph

Do I Need Quotation Marks?

Quotation Marks Practice

Quotation Marks Quiz

I am still trying to figure out Google Docs, is there a way that I can embed it in my post? If you can help me let me know! In the meantime, I hope you enjoy the free printables!

First Lesson...Success!

Today was my first official teaching day in the classroom. My first subject that I am taking over is Science and today's lesson was on shadows and what causes them to happen on earth. Since the district has C-Scope, which I am not a big fan of, for Science, the 4th grade team has pretty much dissected it and created power points for each lesson in the units that are being covered. It is really great since C-Scope does not really have any text support with it. Does your district use C-Scope? The district where I am student teaching is also adding it for math in the fall which should be interesting. We have been using Sharon Wells which I really like even though it is all worksheets. 

I started my planning for next weeks Language Arts today and I am really getting excited about doing the centers approach with the kids. I think that it is going to be helpful in meeting the educational needs of all the students in the class since they are all so different from one another. I am going to be responsible for the grammar lessons next week which are going to be on quotation marks. That has been the focus for this week, but they kids have struggled with it thus far. Do any of you all have any suggestions for teaching quotations? I have found a few really good websites, but want to find or create a game of some sort too for them to play. 

One last question, what do you give your kiddos for Valentine's day? I found a memory Valentine's game at Target over the weekend and the cards are so cute. I think I am going to just make a label and stick it on the back of the cards and they will become my cards to the kids. Do you usually give them a little treat too?

Leslie also sent me a preview of my header last night and I love it! I cannot wait to share it with all of you!

I Love My Class!

I cannot even begin to tell you all how amazing my mentor teacher is! Today we discussed the plan for me as far as teaching and she also got me started with some great resources for next week. She is even going to let me start teaching Science on Monday even though I am not supposed to do anything until Thursday of next week. We also talked about totally revamping the ELA block to incorporate centers and small group instruction since the needs of the kids are so diverse. I am really looking forward to this. Do any of you all who teach 3rd grade or up use centers/work stations in your classroom? I am trying to get some ideas of how to set it up. 

This weekend I am headed to Austin all weekend for volleyball so that means a stop at Teacher Heaven too. I am hoping to find some good resources that I can use to help plan for my work stations that the kids will enjoy too. Hopefully I can walk out of there without spending too much money, but we all know how that goes. 

Happy almost Friday, which means the weekend is almost here! :)

Day 1 Update

My first day of official student teaching was way better than I ever could have expected. The kids were so excited to see me and Mrs. I already let me even do some teaching today. I got to do part of the math lesson with the kids and I pretty much did the entire last hour of the day too which included science and also getting them packed up to go home. I also found out today that the SPED teacher is no longer going to be with us in the mornings which is going to be a good thing. Mrs. I and I were already talking this afternoon about how we can make the ELA block much more interesting and also challenging for the kids. If today is any indication of what the next 12 weeks are going to be like, I cannot wait. 

This morning I also took a note to the principal to thank him for allowing me the opportunity to student teach at FES. I think he was a little surprised by the gesture but I really hope that it was the right thing to do especially since I would love to teach there in the fall! I figured that it could not hurt anything. 

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I am also linking up today with one of my favorite teacher blogs for a Meet the Teacher blog hop.

I am currently a 22 year old senior at Schreiner University where I will graduate from in May with a degree in elementary education. I just started my 12 weeks of student teaching today in a 4th grade inclusion classroom. I cannot wait to have my own classroom in the fall hopefully in the school district where I am student teaching. I have been subbing for the past 3 years when I have not had class and have loved getting to experience every grade before having to teach full time. Reading is my favorite subject and I cannot wait to read books to my classes no matter how old they are. 

Now for the questions...

Q: What would you be doing if you were not a teacher?

A: If I was married with a family I would love to be a SAHM, but I have a feeling I would miss teaching too much. My 2nd choice though would be a professional photographer.

Q: What are your hobbies?

A: When I am not reading, I love to coach volleyball and take pictures. I am also really active as a volunteer with the youth group at my church which has been such an amazing experience. 

Q: When you were little, what did you want to be when you grew up?

A: I wanted to be a doctor or lawyer when I was younger. Teaching is about as a far as away from those two things as you can get. Maybe I will just marry a doctor or lawyer!

Q: What are your guilty pleasures?

A: Diet Coke, Teen Mom, Survivor, tote bags, Vera Bradley and 31 gifts, White Chocolate Mochas at Starbucks, my Kindle.

Q: What is your biggest fear?

A: Right now it would have to be getting a job for the fall. All of these budget cuts in Texas are really scaring me!

Q: When you're on vacation, where do you like to go?

A: I could spend all summer at the lake! I just love starting the day reading on the deck and then riding around on the jet ski.

Q: What's the best advice you have ever received?

A: Don't sweat the small stuff...but I have a hard time doing that most of the time! 

Q: What do you value most in others?

A: Trust. I have really struggled with this during my lifetime but am so glad that I have people in my life right now who I fell like I can really trust.

Q: If you could choose one of your personality traits to pass down to your kids, what would it be?

A: I am going to have to agree and say my sense of humor. Humor makes life so much more interesting and really adds some spice to it.

Q: If you could have lunch with anyone in the world...living or dead...who would it be?

A: Jesus, Princess Diana, and my kindergarten teacher because she was amazing!!!

One Random Fact...

Believe it or not, I am a 22 year old who has never been kissed. I am anxiously awaiting my HTB to be placed into my life by God. 

Head on over to The First Grade Parade and link up!

P.S. Be sure and head on over to my personal blog to check out my amazing giveaway! 

Almost Time

Tomorrow is the big day when my student teaching begins. I am nervous, but so excited all at the same time. I am lucky since I already know all of the kids and also am familiar with the classroom. I cannot imagine walking in for the first day and not knowing anything about the class, students, or mentor. I am finishing my last research paper right now for my classes and then just have to submit it through email.

I am hoping to blog at least 2 or 3 times a week about student teaching, but we will see. I have a feeling that might be a little more difficult as I get into the full teach portion of it. 

I am also having a giveaway over on my personal blog that I think a lot of my teacher friends would really enjoy!