Last Week of September! WHAT?!

Wow time has been flying! My last few blogs were not focused on student teaching as much but this one is back to school stuff!

This week I have taken on everything except reading. Next Monday I will be beginning my nonfiction unit which is the unit I am using for my building block. Over the course of the week I was gathering materials and looking at books to use. I think I have everything I need to finish up this unit this weekend or at least finish up the first week of the unit. My building block is due Oct. 18 already and my review time with two professors is Oct. 25! Very soon so it's time to crack down!

I have been teaching unit 1 for math and Tuesday was the test. It went pretty well for most of them. For students with problems it is usually on one specific topic. Place-value has been a tough area for the students moving from hundreds to thousands with addition or the opposite way with subtraction. Problems will ask students to add/subtract 10, 100, 1,000 and they are changing more than just that one place value- tens, hundreds, or thousands. Today we did some work with the unit cubes- ones, tens, and hundreds in groups after our addition timed test. All week the students are doing their own things so since Friday is a catch up day, I wanted the students to be social. Hopefully they were helping each other out and learned something/became more familiar with the place values!

We have started a writing project about the students three favorite things. The first step was working with a chart to plan out the title and 4 squares to write intro paragraph ideas and the things they would like to say about their 3 favorite things. Planning is done and the intro paragraph is done for most of the students. Next week we will continue with our paragraphs, editing, and publishing with an illustration. Yesterday I had one girl that wrote her title and in the space for her first sentence wrote; "Don't like this" in bigger letters than normal, maybe taking up two spaces. Earlier that day we had to call this girls mother because she forgot an assignment that was already late. We are continuing to monitor her because she will have bad moments where she will just start crying if something small is wrong. I'm hoping next week we can go back to the writing and I will get her started fresh.

Social studies is going well; the students are still learning about geography and now we are moving into different types of maps and landforms. I continue to call on students randomly if I feel like they aren't following along or listening so I'm hoping the kids are going to keep catching onto this tactic.

Yesterday was picture day so the kids were dressed nicely, most of them. Talking with a few of the teachers some would say that they let their own children pick out the outfit to wear on picture day. I found this interesting because it gives the kid ownership, especially in the future. When they look back on the picture they can't blame mom or dad for what they wore and they can see a true representation of what the child looked like. One of the boys in my class was wearing and Elvis shirt which I thought was pretty funny but he really liked it! A girl that was wearing a dress flat out told one of our male gym teachers that she didn't have anything else on underneath (except underwear obviously!) so she didn't do crunches that day. Before getting the pictures taken there is a volunteer combing hair. Lets just say a few of the kids or parents buying the pictures should feel very lucky to have that lady!

Other stories... a boy told me he probably wouldn't have time to do his homework that night but I assured him that he should try to get it done! I thought it was funny that he at least tried to get out of doing it. 
- Had to pick up and move a desk yesterday during writing time. My teacher has been leaving me alone in the room to really get the feel that this is my class. The kids have been good for me but I do wonder if they really should be even better. The desk I had to move was because there was a conflict between two girls. I feel like this may have happened regardless of the person teaching. The first things I tried didn't work so I stopped and said ok, this needs to change. I asked for a volunteer to move seats and chose a person from those students. Between one girl switching spots with another they went in a circle around the room. I grabbed the girls desk with the longer way to go and picked it up. I think this impressed the kids a little bit :)
Today I mentioned that I was leaving for my meet and the kids weren't happy. I got a few hugs and sad faces. They are just too funny! The third grade teachers were talking yesterday at our meeting and we wonder how they like us because it's like a lot of times we are telling them to be quiet and follow directions. Somehow we are doing something right and I think it is because the children feel safe with us and know that we respect them.

Can't believe today is the last day of September! The temps definitely remind me that it is this time of year but it feels like I was just running in the summer heat and here I am going to run in fall weather at UWEC! Including this race I have 3 cross country races left as a Green Knight! I love doing this so much that I just don't want it to end. I can't fight it though, just need to go run as hard as I can & that is the plan today! EC is a tough course from what I have heard so time won't be the biggest thing to look at, effort will be! Happy September 30!

22 years old!

Ending the week Saturday after the track team function I went to see Lion King in 3D with Kelsey, Mandy, Justin, Meghan V., and Meghan B.! Of course we knew how the movie would go but it was still great! It had been awhile since I saw the movie and it was interesting to catch new things being older. As a kid, you just don't pick up on everything and understand the jokes!

For dinner we had a crew of 15 go to Texas Roadhouse!!!! It was so much fun! The girls table all went all out and ordered fancy drinks. Since Heppe and I were celebrating birthdays we had to go on the saddle...ended up going on the saddle at the same time! Pretty funny and very nice to go out with some good friends! :)

Sunday I was able to run my whole long run (9 miles) with McShea and Steph!! I was very excited that I could do the whole thing. We ran slower this week- Coach's orders but still it was a good step to finish that whole run. Packers won again!! Rest of the day was finishing lessons! Hopefully this weekend I get an earlier start on them because I have more to do!

Team Indians!

Fall Track Team Function 2011- EPIC! Instead of the usual ropes course we had the team split into 8 scavenger hunt teams- the indians (my team!), the cowboys, 70s, 80s, power rangers, karate kid, fruit loops and the frosted flakes. The teams dressed up to follow the theme and we adventured around De Pere following clues that Coach Kris prepared. The teams had to create a team cheer, take creative pictures at each location, and buy Coach a snack that he would really like and he would choose the best one. My team purchased Doritos, yogurt, apple juice, and mixed nuts and we won that part of the challenge. We also won the best costumes. Overall for the finishing time for the scavenger hunt we were second by 3 minutes. It was a great time! Winning team went out to Gallagher's pizza for a lunch buffet which was a surprising and delicious way to end the morning!

Catch Up!

Friday is in a sense catch up day with my class and now it is catch up day for me as well with my blogs!! It's been 2 weeks and so much has happened! Sat the 17th was SNC Day and it was one of my few days of work this month. Before the admissions work started though the team had hills at Baird Creek! Everyone's favorite!! My worst part of the hill workouts is the 800m run in between then the steeper hills but I actually like the back hill we do. From middle distance hill workouts last track season I can actually whip out some speed on hills every now and then. Later that morning we had 3 girls come up for recruiting visits and I gave them their tours... which included seeing the Super Bowl rings that were on campus that day! They were very pretty! A few other girls on the team helped entertain when we went to lunch and the football game. I ran into my sophomore block teacher at the game which was a nice surprise! It has been awhile since I've visited her so it was nice to catch up! Things have really changed at Doty since I was there two years ago. It turned out to be a beautiful day even though we had been having very cool weather. That cool weather has continued; I don't see it getting very warm again now :/


Saturday night the birthday week festivities began! After some volleyball a crew of us went to dinner at Red Robin! It was delicious! Sunday- Packers won!


Monday- Back to school and this week I was reader of the week. It worked out that since my birthday was the next day that I would be reader of the week. Holding this position means that I am the line leader, pledge leader, and I dismiss the class for specials or going to the carpet. Every reader of the week has a poster to decorate with pictures and facts about themselves.
Tuesday- Birthday! I think the kids were more excited than I was! They sang to me and I got a few cards and hugs. Of course got the fbook wishes and then my roommates decorated my room with toy story balloons! They know me so well! Tuesday is workout day so after school and class I had a three mile tempo run on the trail. It went soooo much better than I thought. My time was just ok but my shins survived. I really wasn't sure if I would be able to tempo for three miles. Tuesdays I get to eat dinner with the team so birthday dinner at the caf! The team ended up singing to me too which was just wonderful of course. It was a pretty normal day with more birthday festivities to come Saturday.


Only 4 days of school this week since our meet was Friday at Augustana! We left Thursday night for our first 6k race of the season. Augustana is my favorite place to race because I have always ran a PR here. My first time running here freshman year I dropped about a minute 15 when I ran a 26:59. My junior year I ran another PR with a 26:49. Not too much of a change all that time but I was still happy. So this year comes, senior year. I am determined to dominate :) It is our saying for green knight athletes but now was the time!! I knew that this was very likely to be my last race on this course and I had to do it big. In the morning we had our team function Frisbee golf which is a good time, got ourselves ready back at the hotel then got our lunch from subway. The manager at this subway is always so wonderful giving us free cookies whenever we stop!

Head to the meet do the usual things then BOOM everyone does awesome! Of course with my excitement I knew it would be a good day but to be realistic I wasn't sure if my legs were ready to run a PR. It turned out that even though it was pretty tough at times I actually was running fast! The flat golf course is the perfect place to run a fast PR and that is what I did! I finished at 26:10 for a 39 second PR! I was ecstatic and Kelsey wasn't sure if I was upset or happy at first! Happy!

First Full (5 days in a row) Week - Check!

Took on social studies yesterday and today! I probably could have done it sooner since we are learning about the world and coloring/labeling! All things I think are fun! I'm trying to get away from the worksheets so hopefully I can at least make the lessons more exciting!

My co-op teacher left the room a few times today when I was teaching and the kids started talk more. One topic was who is the best teacher and I was happy to hear that at least of few of them like me even though I heard both :) but I assured them that we are both good! I think most liked my idea. As the kids are getting more familiar with things some of them are being little "stinkers" at times as my teacher says. I am using more classroom management and with a few I am working on stepping up my game. One boy in particular is very bright and usually finishes his work quickly but he tends to talk a lot when I am. I'm working on earning his respect but after talking to him at least three times today I think I need to step up my game! We will see how that goes next week!

Today I had my first after school parent-teacher-student meeting. It all happened this morning and I hadn't been planning on staying long today. I know it was important for me to stay which resulted in showing up late to practice. Staying shows that I am professional and I hope the student understands that I care about him and helping him by being there. On my drive back to school it came over me that I was really upset with missing our captains meeting and the beginning of practice. Friday practices are really the only ones I have the chance to make it to. I really want to do the best I can at being a captain and student teaching and today I just felt like I wasn't doing it. Nobody else probably would see it as a big deal but for some reason I was.

It's weird how certain people saying certain things in a certain way at a certain time can all seem a certain way. Yes I wanted to use certain that many times. I hope that makes sense! When you're in a period of stress it doesn't take much to get frustrated. It has been a long week and today came my first mini meltdown. Yup people have said that in their first year of teaching they cried a lot which is kind of scary but I suppose the same emotions could come to a student teacher too. I'm very thankful for the people I have that helped me keep it mini and most of them probably didn't even know. We've all been there, done that with stressful times. Most of the time it's just time to slow down! Relax! Take a deep breath :) I assure you school is going really well; I have great people around me all of the time or they are a phone call away! So glad my coaches and teammates understand me or at least they do a good job of acting like it! I even got a birthday card today from a student! Four days early but that didn't bother me! High expectations for myself and maybe wanting to do too much got me to the point I was at this afternoon. This is something I am continuing to work on!

Noodles tonight for dinner with the roomies, Megamind! Hill workout tomorrow morning with the team, tours for recruits and SNC day...another busy weekend and we don't even have a meet! Hope everyone/anyone out there has a great weekend!!

"When all is said and done, it's not the shots that won the championship that you remember, but the friendships you made along the way." -Unknown

Achievement

"The ones who want to achieve and win championships motivate themselves." -Mike Ditka
Found so many good quotes the other day with Kelsey...most of the people I have never heard of but a few are more well-known. This quote not only goes with sports but with anything! Successful people motivate themselves and have a drive to achieve great things! Running alone tonight and having a better workout than I expected was a pretty good feeling. Shin pains creeping back lately have made it easy to be negative but my time is running out so I need to take care of myself for what is left! Next meet is a week from Friday, at my favorite course Augustana!! Taking care of business until then to have a great race and really see where I'm at!


At school I have taken over the morning routines and math! The kids are starting to ask later in the day why I'm not teaching :) I am excited that they want me to teach them and I think this will make my transition to all-day great! I have done a few reading lessons but hopefully next week I will take over another reading or social studies lesson.

Friday we moved desks from groups of 4 to a U-shape with 2 rows of 3 in the middle. The room isn't big enough for a complete U but with only 19 we have a good sized one. Today we already made our first adjustment because of behavior problems. The set up shape is working well but a few pairs of students have just been talking too much. My teacher and I are both fine with some chit chatting here and there but some students have not been able to control it and change their ways after being asked to. Tomorrow it will be interesting to hear what they say about the changes.


Today I finished a write about about each of my students and it was nice to have that done. For my class I only needed 5-6 but I decided it would be nice to have something on each of them. I had something good to say about each of the students but I also found there are some students I need to get to know better.

A few stories- Yesterday in math the kids learned my name and my cooperating teacher's name. Both of us have the double letter for our initials. One of the kids said that my husband would be Mr. Menne from this conversation. Not sure how they came up with that but I kindly had to explain that normally men keep their names. I told this girl that if women choose they can hyphenate or keep their own name! Somehow this girl started talking about the age of marriage with a girl next to her I'm guessing because next she asked me if you had to be 18 to get married. Then husband/boyfriend questions for me, awesome! I told them I'm too young to get married even if I am over 18! :)
A boy in my class told me about how him and his friend caught a bee in a jar and sold it to a girl for $1. I thought this was hilarious and awesome. What a great salesman!
Yesterday one of my girls started crying and hyperventilating when she didn't have her spelling. It was so sad to see because this girl has a high motivation for achievement and is ALWAYS following directions, listening and participating in class. Any teacher with 20 of her would have their job made in the shade. I had to take this girl outside because the crying was not getting better and she could barely talk. It was difficult to see her so sad. I talked to her for a bit and she was afraid of her dad getting mad at her. Later that afternoon she found her sheet! It was great!


I'm so happy when I'm at school and when I'm there it's like I forget about everything else! Crazy? Maybe but I think it is showing me that I'm doing the right thing with my life. These kids make me very happy and I love helping them succeed! I think I have found my calling and it's a very exciting time!

Article written about me in the SNC Times!! I'm famous! :) http://www.snctimes.com/sports/athlete-spotlight-melissa-menne-1.2574646

Balancing the First Week

It has been one full week of school now and I made it! The first week of school has been pretty busy but everything is going swimmingly. I have 19 really great kids in my third grade class and a very helpful cooperating teacher. Getting started is sooo much routine, routine, routine! The kids need to get down that simple stuff right away. Unfortunately these routines that will be simple and quick, are a little lengthy in the beginning. We have a bright group and everyone seems to get along nicely.

The location of my first placement was very lucky only being about 1.5 miles away. With the nice fall weather we have been having in De Pere, I have been able to ride my bike to school a few times! Making practices and just for times sake in the morning, I haven't been able to bike everyday but I do enjoy it when I can!  My bike is almost 3 weeks old to me now and it is soooo much better than my mountain bike back home! Last night I ended up doing my mile repeat workout on this hybrid bike and I can only imagine how difficult that would have been on my mountain bike. After this bike workout I'm hoping my shins will be feeling better for the meet this weekend!

Balance-
Tonight after a delicious dinner at Phils with Emily and Kelsey for the first time in agessss, Kelsey and I decided to spruce up our locker room a bit. We found some pretty good quotes and I want to throw in this one:
"I think a lot of our team commitment is a silent understanding that each one of us has poured our life into what we're doing." -Claire Carver-Dias
Our coach has emphasized that whatever we are doing at a moment in time is our priority. This semester with student teaching and cross country, both are very important to me. This week was my first real adjusting week into how the rest of the season is going to look. With school starting at 7:30 and ending at 3:30 (at the earliest), I am not able to practice with the team very much. I am seeing that it is not the easiest but not continuing to run my senior year has never been an option. I absolutely love doing it and the people I have met so I am doing my best at managing both! This quote pinpoints my experience this season that my teammates hopefully understand that even though I am not around that I AM in fact giving this everything I have! I'm confident they have faith in me because of their captain votes and I'm also confident that they are working hard without me around. Our group this year has a special bond. Some of us have only known each other for a short time but I always feel a comfort whenever I'm with my teammates. Sometimes I have replayed my coach saying that whatever you are doing at that moment is your priority; too often in my life I have had a preoccupied mind. I have learned that I need to slow down and enjoy the moments I have at SNC and all of the little things in life! As a freshman it seems like you will be in college for a long time but here I am sitting wondering how I only have a few months left as an SNC student!!

I have been finding peace with all of the exciting things and changes happening in my life. I am very happy with how teaching is starting and the beginning of cross! This "trendy" blogging thing as my friend Kaylee Beck would say, is pretty neat! I'm kind of random but I'm hoping this will be a good way to look back and remember all of the exciting stuff happening at this busy time! 

"When all is said and done, it's not the shots that won the championship that you remember, but the friendships you made along the way." -Unknown

Yes I love quotes!!