"Women are stupid."

When asked to write a sentence using the plural noun "Women" one of my charming 3rd graders wrote the sentence, "Women are stupid."  Ahhh the joys of teaching 3rd grade!

All jokes aside though, what I love so much about 3rd graders is that they start to form their own opinions, some opinions better than others, but opinions none the less!  I hear little voices talking about what they like and don't like, asking big questions, offering advice, forming unique identities, the list could go on and on.  I feel so privileged to even be a small part of these students' lives!

Be the change!
Sarah

So about this blogging thing...

So about this blogging every week thing... yeah...  I do have to apologize for the never ending cliff hanger of the first day of school!  I did get to school and the first day came and went.  It was a bit of a shock, to be honest.  I think I what I learned the most on the first day of school is that every teacher teaches differently.  I was able to think of things I want to do in my own classroom on the first day of school.

I think that is what is really nice about this internship, I am seeing the ins and outs of a classroom that isn't perfect, because no classroom is!  Now that may sound like something bad, but I really think it actually is best for my learning.  I am able to see problems being addressed that can be avoided, if certain things are done differently before hand.  This brings a lot of things to my attention that I didn't think were important.  Now let me assure you, my classroomis great, not even close to as bad as some classroom across our school system, and especially across out education system.  But as they say in my favorite movie of all time Meet the Robinsons (no, but really this is actually my favorite movie ever made) "From failure you learn, from success not so much!" This is so true!  Seeing things that work and don't work in an actual classroom gives me even more ideas of what might work in my classroom.

Well that's about it for now!  I will update more often I promise!
Be sure to check back for little gems in the Quote O' Day page, those seem to be updated more regularly!

Be the Change!
Sarah

BACK TO SCHOOL, BACK TO SCHOOL!

Tomorrow is the first day of school!  I will finally meet my 28 students (35 by the end of the day)!  I am so excited to meet all of these little friends, but I don't think I can tell you how nervous I am.  I think it is setting in how incredibly difficult it is to actually be a teacher.  The hypothetical thought of teaching is great, but the actual nuts and bolts of being a good teacher are so overwhelming!  I can't wait to dive into teaching and let God do the rest!

Prayers please!!!!!

Be the Change!
Sarah

IRENE!!!!

Come on Irene is right!  Come on Irene, stop ruining the first day of school!  This is the second time the first day of school has been postponed!  I already have my outfit picked out and everything!  Stupid Irene!  Check back in, hopefully Tuesday night, for another update!

Be the Change!
Sarah

Welcome to Ms.Dennstaedt's classroom!

In about 3 hours our classroom will be buzzing with a whole lot of little people! It's meet your teacher day!!!! I'm so excited to finally meet all of the little friends attached to the names I have been writing and rewriting and typing and retyping for the past week! I think it has finally set in that this is real, yesterday my name made it on the welcome sign! Pictures coming soon!

Classroom, classroom, classroom

Day two was fairly uneventful (except for the fact that a 5.8 earthquake shook our school for roughly 30 seconds). We spent the day in the classroom, making bulletin boards, writing and rewriting and rewriting one more time all 28 names on various objects. This really felt like being a real teacher! Stay tuned for more from day 3!

Hey there's free breakfast... yeah but it's quiche!

First day of student teaching was AMAZING!  I absolutely love my mentor teacher!  We immediately bonded over the fact that quiche (weird spelling right?!?!) is awful, no matter how much bacon you put in it.  She is a no nonsense kind of person with a really funny dry sense of humor.  I can tell we're going to get along just fine.  From 9:30 AM to 12:30 PM we sat in a school wide welcome back meeting in the non air conditioned cafeteria.  It was quite long, but Jen, another teacher Cathy, and I played with the games and puzzles the administration left on tables for everyone. So thanks to Spiderman, the Disney Princesses, and Mickey Mouse we made it through the long meeting unscathed.  Later Jen and I set up her classroom.  We hung posters, arranged the desks, made name tags for said desks (28 students and counting... seriously pray for us!), and much much more!

I've never felt so alive and yet my roommates can attest to the fact that I was worn out when I got home tonight.  I can't wait to go back tomorrow and the next day and the next day and the next day!  Praise God!

Be the change!
Sarah