Whew!

I am currently enjoying my Friday off from school! This week we had parent-teacher conferences after school on Tuesday and Wednesday as well as all day on Thursday. I was a little nervous to sit in on these conferences. However, they were a wonderful experience. Luckily the parents at my school are very involved and supportive. It was great to meet the parents of my students because I understand my students on a deeper level. My cooperating teacher is great at communicating with parents about students' tests scores, academic growth, and social qualities. Even when students had areas that needed improvement he did a good job of presenting the situation with a possible solution. I learned a lot on these days of conferences. Of course I will still be nervous when I am a first year teacher and conferences come around but I think this week was a good learning experience.

As well as having conferences, I was observed by my KSU supervisor for the first time. Obviously I was a little nervous waiting for that lesson to occur but everything went well! I was observed on Valentine's Day shortly before the party so I was very nervous about classroom management. However, I did a good job of being calm and consistent with my classroom management so the lesson went as well as possible. I had to say, "I will wait for everyone to be on task," a LOT so the lesson was a pretty slow pace but that is okay! We were working on translation. This was not the translation you would think of during a foreign language class but the kind that slides a shape form one place to another without changing the size, shape or orientation of the figure. We made a fold-able with the term translation, definition, and example of a shape that was translated. Then, we made a handbooklet. The students traced their hands and then traced how they would look once they were translated. Next, we practiced translating shapes on our manipulative mats. Over all I was pleased with the lesson and am looking forward to the rest of my unit that will occur next week.

Valentine's Day was very FUN once my observation was over. We had sherbert and Sprite punch, cupcakes, and candy galore. To my surprise my Valentine's Bag was very full - to the point of overflowing. I received lots of Valentine's that said "Number 1 Student Teacher." That made me very happy. I love the kids in my class so it was nice to receive such kind messages from them in my Valentine's Day bag. We watched Jumanji and we also played a game with conversation hearts. Each table group had a minute to build the tallest Conversation Heart tower they could. The kids were so intense and it was hilarious to watch them build their towers.

Next week we will be working on geometry and going on a field trip to the museum on KSU's campus. I'm excited to teach the rest of my unit and take the kids on the trip. I'm sure I will have lots to write about after next week but for now I am going back to enjoying my Friday off!

Miss Freund