First Day is Over

If I had to describe today in one word, it would be "repetition". Everything had to be repeated so many times, from my name to class rules. At times I worried that the students would be bored or frustrated with so much repetition, but they didn't seem to mind. I love first graders! It seems like even the difficult students want to be good and try hard in their own ways. I did get very annoyed with the distractedness of the students and I am afraid that I showed my irritation.

Here are some photos of a project that the students worked on today. They were supposed to write and draw about four things they want to learn this year. Everyone ended up copying what I had written on the board as an example, but it was still fun to see the variations.





Now I'm off to bed. I think I only slept about 3 hours last night because I was so nervous.

Reading Area

I got a ton of books in English from Freecycle this summer, but I still only have a handful of Spanish books. I arranged these Spanish books on the cart and now it looks like I have lots more than I really do!

Calendar Math!

"A lot of math in a little time!"

Computer and Listening Station

Yeah, not much going on in these areas, but here they are.

Looking into the Classroom

Here is a view of the classroom from the entrance way. You can see how bright the room is in the afternoon. I debated a lot about whether to arrange the desks in a U-shape or in groups. The kindergarten teacher convinced me that groups are great, so I decided to try it out. I definitely like how easy it is to move around the room when the desks are in groups, but I hear that classroom management can be easier in the U-shape. The good thing is that desks are easy to move, so I can change my mind after Monday.

The Entrance

This is where the students enter from the hallway and can hang up their backpacks and check their mailbox. After I take their photos on Monday, I am going to put their pictures in these little balloon-shapes and put them in the sky part of the paper on the walls.

Scooter Ride to School

I took a photo of my ride to work (I pulled over to the side of the road). Most of it is really unpleasant and through the industrial part of Oakland, but I do pass a pretty spot where I can see the Alameda houseboats and the estuary.

First Contract Day, Kind Of

My "contract" with the Oakland Unified School District started today, kind of. I am not really an employee yet because Alliant messed up with my credential requirements, so I am technically a substitute teacher. I did, however, get my class list today and I now know all the names of my students and I was also given a packet of test scores with the academic history of each student.

After our day of professional development, I worked on a bulletin board in my room. Tomorrow I will bring my camera and take some photos of my room so far.

By the way, SFSU is going to be fine. The professors who I met yesterday were super helpful and everyone seemed to understand why I was so freaked out about getting enrolled and my credential, and they all went out of their way to assist me. I really fell in love with the campus and all of its flowers and greenery and "campus" feeling.

SFSU Here I Come!

It didn't work out to do an intern credential at Alliant University, so now I will be attending San Franscisco State University for two years. This is going to be difficult because I have to be there two nights a week and the program is two years long (versus Alliant's program which was one year and I only had to attend one night a week at a location in Oakland). I am kind of looking forward to going to San Francisco two days a week, even if it is just to attend class. I am not looking forward to doing homework on top of lesson plans and teaching.

Starting a New Life

For those of you who don't know, I am going to be teaching a first grade bilingual class this fall. The students will be coming to school in one week, on August 25. Another new teacher friend and I decided that we would blog about our experience teaching and post lesson plans and ideas for feedback. So, here is my first entry.

My classroom is huge, it has a large entry way and a door leading to the outside patio (where the school's community garden is located). Over the summer, the janitorial team had completely emptied the room and threw everything away--including books, wall hangings, maps, and rugs. All that was left were desks and chairs. The reason everything was tossed out was because there had been a horrific rat infestation in the school that originated in my classroom! It was considered a health hazard to keep any of the materials so everything is now gone. The room is very clean, though, and I'm glad I won't have to deal with rats this year.



It really did overwhelm me to see the room so bare, especially since I had been kind of counting on there being some supplies for me to work with this year. Over the summer, I managed to amass some supplies, but not nearly enough. With the help of some of the veteran teachers and the principal, the room looks a lot better, but I can tell that it is going to be a work in progress. I have to keep reminding myself that the students will supply wonderful artwork throughout the year and that the walls will only be blank for a little while.

This week is our first official week on campus and we have workshops and trainings all week.

As far as lesson plans, I will begin posting them as soon as I start working on them! We have to meet as a grade and determine our pacing and unit plans for the school year before I can begin to do in depth lesson plans.

Photos!

Ok, go to my Flickr account to see my photos:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/friedamara/

My New Apartment

My landlord found out about my illegal cat, but (amazingly) didn't give me notice to move or anything. However, I decided to move, pronto, in order to avoid any notices or evictions. I took a day off from work and in one day found an apartment in Alameda. For those who don't know, Alameda is an island and is full of tree-lined streets and Victorian houses and reminds me a lot of Walla Walla. The apartment was never on the market and I found out about it from the owner when I was looking at one of his other buildings. It is a duplex tucked behind cottages and has hardwood floors and lots of period details (built-ins, high ceilings, bay window). I really like it, but the bedroom is a little small.

Here is photo of the living room (I got the rug at IKEA for $30!):



Here are some kitchen photos.





I have a lot more of the apartment, but for some reason, none of them will rotate so they're all on their sides.

Happy New Year

Happy New Year to everyone!

I have finally finished my master's thesis and am now "free" to do fun things, like take pictures of my cat! And knit! And sew (thanks, Mom)!

I hope everyone is having a wonderful New Year's Day and that this year brings peace and happiness.