Halloween adventuresHalloween Adventures

October 30, 2011
I came home this weekend, because everyone else was doing something (Sara and Mike were going to Columbus to the OSU game), and I didn't want to stay in BG. My cousin picked me up on her way home, and all of us went to the football game to watch Walker play. Finally! They won!
Saturday, mom and I went to Marian to the Verison store so she could get her phone connesg, since she washed her new one four days after she got it and had a loner until now. While we were there, I wanted to look at the IPhone 4S. Mom said she had doubts about whether or not I could use it, but she would get me one, (I'm still on her plan), if I could. I can't really use the data plan I have now, because my phone doesn't work well with the internet, so its kind of a waste of money. The IPhone also has color identifiers you can get, GPS aps, OCR aps, bar code readers and more that would make life sooo much simpler for me. I wouldn't have to ask my roommates to read the direction to not a box anymore if the bar code reader does what I think it will.
Mom and I got Chipotle on the way home. Yum! When we got home I read my Bible for awhile and ended up reading the rest of 1 Samuel instead of studying for Weather and Climate like I'd planned. Oops! O well, maybe God . help me remember that information, because I did read my Bible instead of study. I have until Thursday so hopefully I'll understand it all by then. I also looked at IPhone demos and info about Voice Over.
Around 5, mom took oe and Bilko over to Grandma's, because all the little kids were getting dressed to go trick-or-treating. All but my cousin's youngest, who's only a year on Friday. One was Spider man, one a Vampire, and one a rupunsel (without the long haq because she didn't have a wig.) They were all so cute! I passed out candy and it was fun. At first not many kids came by, but we figured that that they couldn't tell the porch light was on, so I ended up having to sit outside. I brought Bilko to sit beside me and he loved all the attention. One little boy just wanted to sit and pet him.

We did have an insident when my uncle set one of my little cousins out beside me and didn't tell me. I couldn't figure out why he was still there when the kids had left. Keep in mind I don't see this kid much at all. Maybe a couple times a year since I'm never home, so I don't know his voice at all. I told him to hurry or he'd lose his friends, so he ran after them, and then my uncle came out and asked where he was. I felt so stupid and horrible, but at the same time angry when I found out that my uncle was the one who sent him and but didn't tell me he was there. Stupid, stupid, stupid idea. If I'd known he was there that wouldn't have happened! Arg! O well. The wasn't anything I could have done differently really. It was a combination of so many kids and not knowing his voice and my uncle not telling me. I'm sure it'll be funny in a few years when I'm not still so mad about it happening. I think it affected me the most because I'm going to be a teacher, so I felt respensible.
The same kid though can be a little pistil. He apparently doesn't know how to share. He even took toys from the one-year-old! I was playing with him with a race track thing, and then he ran away, and my other little cousin came up and she and I were playing. Then he came back and took one of the cars. "I want to play!" he said. I scolded him and told him he had to ask nicely, and then he did. His mom is much better than she used to be about disciplining him though. He obviously wasn't that mad at me though, because he joined the other kids in, "shooting," me while I gave the older girl, (3-years-old), a "piggy-back" and a "horsey" ride. I love little kids! :)

P-Burg Day 4

from Wednesday, October 19, 2011 (Unedited and written between students and on breaks)
Ok, so today hasn't started out so hot. I came into the school only to be told what I gave her for my fingerprints wasn't what she needed. I gave her a copy that I scanned, but she wouldn't accept it at the main office. Do they need the actual fingerprints? I'm confused. I hope they don't, because all I have is the copy. What the heck? I'm not even sure I have the regular one anymore since I made a copy. God, please let me find it to get it in or them be ok with what I have! I'm honestly praying that is what will happens. Luke came in today and his aid had given him stickers for something, so Mr. P had him read some of them aloud. Luke said, "We're not reading aloud." Then we tried to get him to say, "good morning Miss Karg," which he did after some prompting. He won't say "Bilko," he just calls him, "dog." Grace (the new girl), came in after awhile and it's really interesting to see how the Para's work with them. They had them do calendar with this fun little song and a pointer. Luke sang it, (he repeated words, but he got through it and knew what he was doing.) Grace is so cute! She kept saying "good job."

With the first group of third graders, we read there story (Goldilocks andThe Three Bears), and Mr. Pevoar had them read it like a play. One was the narrator, one was mama bear (me), one baby bear, one papa bear, and one Goldilocks. Since Still was there we had enough people to have one person per part. We did some spelling, and most of them his trouble sounding things out. They are working on 3-letter consonant blends, like the s-p-r in spread or s-t-r in string. They have trouble with them.

I worked with the first graders and decided that they would be a good group to do a lesson with on short vowel sounds. Here's my idea: Do short vowel sounds. Try to get shower curtain (literally a curtain with pockets for letters), from Patti, (my phonics teacher), and get short vowel cards. Put them on the board and pick words with short vowel sounds and have the students jump to the letter of the short vowel sound they hear. They'd love it, since they are so hyper and active. I worked with them alone today after reading through the story for a couple times. We read through it, but they were really squirmy and I kept having to stop them and make them focus.


Lukas R said today when I asked him from he was on page 10, "yes." He also said, when he first came in and I asked him how he was, "good." I've never heard him do that before, (I don't think.) I love listening to Mrs. K work with Luke S. Its really interesting. They worked on time, and he's only in first grade, but he can tell you the time when asked.
tarheelreader.org You can pick different books that are read-aloud (jaws type voice), you can put any topic you want. You have to be careful though, because anybody can upload books on to it.

Mason's schedule was changed, so I worked with Jacob on his spelling worksheet, and reading his story. I haven't really worked with him before, but he's really quiet and sweet.

Mr. Pevoar ordered us a pizza today! He left to go pick it up, which I was confused about because I thought he was having it delivered. I forgot to tell him I don't like mushrooms, but I mentioned not liking peppers, and he got cheese. I had 4 pieces, (In my defense, they were thin-crust and I hadn't eaten breakfast!)

It was freezing in that classroom today, because the furnace won't kick on yet or something. I'm not sure when it will, but I'm wearing a long-sleeved sweater and jacket for awhile. Mr. P worked with Grace for awhile on math. For some reason she has this thing with saying random stoff like, "pickle face." I randomly heard Mr. Pevoar call her "pickle toes," and I couldn't help quietly laughing. She's soooo cute! They (Mr. P and Grace's aid), were "arguing" over wether or not she knows she's cute. "Either way she's cute," I called from across the room. We were the only ones in the room at the time.

Mason worked on patterns in math. There were blanks such as --- --- 53 59 --- 71. answer: 41 47 53 59 63 71. add 6.

I read the third grade story and had them alternate reading ever coupbbe pages, then we got out the cards and did cause and effect and fact/oppinion questions. I should have gotten some wrong. I didn't though, because they always had me chose before they did for the most part. We all kept tyeing.
I love my students!

P-Burg Day 3

From Wednesday, October 12, 2011
Today Dena, (the girl I carpull with), and I got to school and were told that we had to go to her teachers room and wait, because the teachers were having a meeting in Mr. P's room. We went in and there were "benderoos," I knew them as "wikki sticks" when I was younger, out. We started making our names with them, and mine looked better than hers lol. I'd been using them for years and she'd never seen them before this year so...
A couple of her students came in and they were facinated with Bilko. The one little girl wouldn't stop staring in his eyes. It was funny, yet annoying. Technically we wern't supposed to be alone with students, but whatever. I got to Mr. P's room just as my first group of third graders came in, so we talked until Mr. P was ready. He had to put the story on the flash drive for me, and he has a new student with a para today, so it was all crazy. He ended up having the boys do a word search on the computer while he did other stuff. I just sat and monitored them to make sure they didn't fight. Then I read a story with the first graders. I then worked with a boy named Lukas, who has autism, on reading, and then he did this matching game with his sight words from the story. It was cool, because Mr. P asked him if he was done, and he said, (for the first time ever), "still playing." We were both really excited that he said that, since it had never happened before. I worked with Mason on reading a book on a park in Africa and all the animals these people saw there. It was very difficult for him, because every one word is a struggle. He has to sound out each word, and so he doesn't remember what he read at the beginning of the sentence, let alone the story. Mr. P then showed him this game from a+math.com that is a multiplication game. It was a dungeon, and you had to answer problems to get through it. It was really cool.

There was a new girl today. She has autism, and is in third grade. She liked Bilko, but when he was on his back, she kept trying to pet the wrong part of him if you get my drift. LOL It made us all laugh.
I hope you all are enjoying my teaching experiences. I know I am! :)

P-Burg Day 1

From September 28, 2011Field placement!
I got to the school and signed in, then Mr. P came down and walked with me to his room since I didn't know where it was. There was a new Para Professional for a student with Autism that was starting today too.
Dayly Schedule:
9:10-9:40: 3 third graders Cody, Jordan, Chad, come to work on spelling and reading. 2 with IEP's one struggling reader (Cody.)
9:40-10:10: 4 students LLI, first graders, Luke D, Ryan, Michael, Dylan, reading (high energy.)
10:10-10:40: (typically) Lukas R, semi-verbal autism, reading.
10:40-11:10: Break.
11:15-12-10: Mason, 4th grader, significantly below grade level (1st grade), working on reading, spelling, science social studies (when needed.) Also Jacob, third grade, reading and writing.
1:15-1:45: Mason again, math.
1:45-2:15: 3rd grade reading group: Ben, Ben K, Justin, (J-Monkey.)
Rest of day no real schedule.
I worked with Jacob and Mason, one on spelling and one Jacob read to me from a book. It was really fun. Jacob is really pretty fluent at reading, but Mason has trouble. He's at a first grade reading level in 4th grade.
I really enjoyed working of the Bens and Justin. They have comprehention problems, and Mr. P thinks they'd be a good group to work with for my lessons for Phonics and/or Content Literacy.
(P.S. I am finally giving up on not using first names. They can't be traced by that so it works)

Telling Potential Employers you are blind.

Ok, I was on this websight for blind/vi people to hang out called The Zone BBS, and i found this board post about the title of this post, here's my response, and if anybody actually reads this I'd like your thoughts on this please! :)
I agree that in most cases one would do better not telling of blindness before meeting in person, but here's something for debate: what about babysitting"I am looking for a babysitting job for the school year, and got my best friend to recomend me to one of the families she's babysat for because they needed someone for mondays and wednesdays which is when I could work. They have 3-year-old twins, one with autism, and they speak mostly duch, but are really getting good at english except when they are really upset. I went over to their house last saturday, with my friend, and was interviewed by the parents and then helped my friend babysit. They saw me interact with the kids and realized that the kids liked me a lot, and when I was leaving I was kind of hopeful that they'd hire me, even though they said they'd call me and let me know. I got called on Monday and told that they really were sorry but they were going to have to say no mostly because the girls were still young and needed someone to watch them all the time and they wanted someone who could read to them, (I told them I have braille children's books), and the one girl likes to go outside and ride her bike and doesn't always do what she's supposed to and stay where she should. I was upset, (I totally fell in love with these kids), but in a way I understand. They wanted someone who could read the books the kids got from the library and such, and they weren't there when we took the kids to the park and I helped keep track of them. I hadn't told them of my blindness beforehand, thinking that they wouldn't give me a chance, but my mom said that I should have when I told her about it because the parents are putting the safty of their children in my hands and need to know. I said that's why I had the interview! Any helpful ideas on this and how to get a babysitting job would be helpful. thanks :)

SP--East and South

I went to East Elementary yesterday, (Thuosday), for awhile and worked with a woman I'll call Mrs. Goggles. (nickna/e a girl in my class came up with when we were younger.) I had fun helping a boy with figuring out pennies and nickles. He spoke mostly Spanish, so I greeted him and he was all smiles! It was cool. I al helped a fourth grader with multiplication and devision using fake pennies as manipulative. That was cool, because that is what we were learning how to teach before break. I then went and brought the first graders in to the hall in groups of 4, (they wanted to see Bilko and were doing reading groups), and explained to them what Bilko does for me. I had the harness on and had them read his sign, "do not pet me I am working." Then I took off the harness, made hm say sitting, and let them pet him. Mrs. Gogqles was totally amazed how well I handled that with having them read it and everything. I was thinking 'duh! what else would I do? they're first graders! They need to read.' I then talked to my mom's PE class of 3rd graders, and let them hold the harness and then let them come up in 4s to pet him before getting their shoes on.
Today I went to South Elementary and observed Mrs. Kits. She had IEP's part of the day so I got to sit through 2 of them. One the parents only spoke Spanish, and I realized how inadequate my spanish-speaking skills are. I was thinking about minoring in Spanish, but I'm not sure I will. I may try to learn on my own or something. At least enough to get by in parent-teacher conferences. I want to find spanish radio or something to listen too. I'd like to go to Spain next summer, but I don't if that will happen since I kind of want a job for the summer... The resorse room at South has a lot of kids doing lots of different subjects at once. They do tests it there, like math but the teachers aren't aloud to do more than just make sure the problems are set up right. It is interesting to see how they work with several subjects at once. they mostly give one kid a question or problem then help someone ekse than go back when the other kid is done with the question...
I really want to student-teach in Texas, especially with the crappy bill being talked about passing in Ohio. I don't know much about it except its something to do with getting rid of the teacher's union and capping pay at $34,000. That really scares me. What is this country coming to if they're running teachers out of the field? It hasn't passed quite yet but it might, and it will eventually effect everywhere! I'm horrified! how the heck can they do this? Kids NEED TO LEARN! O well, guess I can't do anything about it, so why waste time worrying? (BTW East and South are 2 schools in my town.)

The Most Boring Day of Field Placement Ever.

Or so I thought. Here's what I wrote on the BN when I wasn't busy today:

So I have a feeling this day is going to last forever. I can't believe it but they have assessments all this week, and the kids need them read to them. My teacher was going to scan them and send them but she left them at school. I might be able to tach them a writing lesson though. 9:48 am Yeah, my teacher quickly read the writing worksheet, and I get to work with the kids reading that and making sure they know what to do. I'm excited because its something different and challenging! :) I guess I'll have to scan the assessments when I'm teaching Special Ed. They need to be read to them--the direcations and such. There's a little girl in this class and she's sooo cute! She was coloring something for a worksheet and said, "I take too long." "That's ok Your just being careful," I said. She said something about not wanting to mess up. :) A perfectionest 6-year-old? I never thought I'd see the day! LOL These kids are so much fun to work with, but I just don't feel like they'd listen to me if they wern't told too. Maybe, but I don't know, and don't feel like dealing with a sub that knows and does nothing to figure that out. The last time a sub was here, my fellow PCCer and ow had full control of the classroom, and we thought we were going to die! I'm sore from yesterday. Diving on a cement floor and getting hit with a basketball sized goalball being rolled hard across a gym will do that to you. LOL
No editing was done here and you get to see what comes out when you type to fast on a brailleNote haha!
TTFN (don't really have homework that's due, but I might get a headstart on some stuff due later this month. So totally unlike me!)