Graduation

Well tomorrow I graduate from college with a Bachelor of Art in Elementary Education.  I am excited but nervous about what the future holds.  So far I have not had any luck about a job, but with the budget crisis going on I know that I will not know anything until July.  I wish all other graduates the best of luck and I will keep everyone posted while on the job hunt!

Sometimes I get a little creative....

My school has each grade re-do their bulletin boards outside of the classrooms every nine weeks.  Since I am finished with my full time student teaching I volunteered to re-do the 5th grade hall.  In Social Studies the students are learning American history.  This last 9 weeks they learned everything from World War II to the present day so I decided to create a timeline and each teacher have a different time era.   I took the pictures right when I finished so the student's work is not on the boards yet.  This is what it turned out looking like...

                                     World War II 1939-1945

Every Board is supposed to have something 3-D on it so on that board I took pictures of some of the students, put WWII helmets on them and put them in a "trench".  Here is a closer look:

"Do Your Part!" 1946-1960

This board is themed to be like a poodle skirt of the 1950's.  Thanks to my roommate who helped me create the poodle.

Civil Rights Movement 1955-1970.

Notice the Tie-Dyed  Paper I used!  This one was the students favorite, they said they liked the "hippie look".

The Space Movement 1970-1990

My roommate and I made a "moon" and an "USA Space Shuttle" for the 3-D on this board.  

The New Millenium 1990-2011

When putting up this board the students kept asking me what certain pictures where for.  I was shocked by how many students could not look at a picture of the Twin Towers on fire and tell me when that happened and why.

Also included past and present technology and Presidents.  

I was very happy about how the bulletin boards turned out.   Hope you liked them too!

5 Truths

1. I am currently an intern doing my full time student teaching in a 5th grade math and science classroom.  So even though I call them "my" students, they really are not.
2. I am a senior that is graduating in May from an SEC University with a degree in elementary education.
3. When I started college 4 years ago, there was a shortage of teachers. Now, we are lucky to get an interview.
4. The school that I am an intern at is one of the best elementary schools in the nation and I am proud to be learning the best teaching techniques from them!
5. I would LOVE to work at the school I am interning at now next year, but as of now there are no openings :(

"Oh wow"

So, my students have been asking to see pictures of me as a baby, when I was their age and pictures of my family.  So today I brought some in for them to see.  Well if you ever want a true opinion about anything, just ask an elementary school student.
When I showed them my baby picture, they told me I was "Bald", when I showed them a picture of me when I was a child their replies were things like "Awww", and "How Cute!".  Then I showed them pictures of my brothers and then I got the comment "Wow yall look a lot alike" and "Now I see it, you just looked like a boy when you were born, but you got cute."  I went on to show them a picture of me before prom when I was in high school with my brothers so they could see what we looked like then and what we look like now and thats when the truth came out "Miss J. How come you were so pretty then?"; "Miss J. You hair looks way better there"; "Oh wow, how come you do not look like that now?"  The best part was when I showed them a picture of me and my brothers from this year (at the beach- hair pulled back and hardly no makeup) one student replies "Yeah, Miss J. thats more like it".
In my defense that was only 4 years ago and I still look the same except for when I see them daily my hair is not curled and in an updo and my makeup in not applied by a MAC stylist.  Learn my lesson, never showing my students pictures of me unless its on the first day of school (because then they are too shy to say anything!)

Justin Beaver

My students are definitely students of the 21st century.  They are obsessed with pop culture and can probably do more things on the computer then Steve Jobs can.  They have told me multiple times that they are going to friend me on Facebook- thank goodness for security  settings!  Well a little while ago I found this note and I personally think that it is hilarious.  

Justin Beiber- you have many fans in the 5th grade, but now I will be sure to add your name to the vocabulary list, so when they make love letters they are at least spelling your name correctly.  

Are YOU Smarter than a 5th Grader?

I have always heard from other teachers the importance of working out math problems before giving them to students, and today I learned why.

This morning I gave my 5th grade students this morning math problem:  

What day of the week is tomorrow if 4 days after the day before yesterday is Tuesday?

Well after giving students time to think, I asked students what they got as the answer.  It was then that I figured out I had no idea how to solve this problem to get the answer that the math book gave.  After hearing from the students and asking the other 5th grade teachers, we were all getting a different answer (and of course no one was getting the answer that the book gave).  I knew that I could not just leave the students with an unanswered question so we ended with them having the assignment to go home and ask their family what they think. So I took this problem outside the classroom to solve.  I emailed the problem to some friends and family to ask for help.  About an hour later when I checked my email I saw that one person had sent to problem to her whole company and everyone that responded with the correct answer was put in a drawing to win a gift card.

After hearing back from a couple of people we were able to solve and explain it- sometimes it helps to think like a 5th grader and not make things so complicated.  A huge thanks to Olive, who solved it first and who was able to give me an explanation in a way that the 5th graders could understand.    

Before I knew it, friends were emailing me with their answer and if they got it right, I would just respond with: "Congrats! You are smarter than a 5th grader!"

Go ahead, give the problem above a try and see if YOU are smarter than a 5th grader!