Preschool Vs. 2nd grade

So, my preschool placement for student teaching ended last Thursday...so this last Tuesday thru Friday I have been teaching 2nd grade. I was a little nervous for 2nd grade because I have had so much experience in preschool and kindergarten and even YOUNGER than preschool...how was I supposed to know what to do with kids who can actually talk to me or are almost as TALL as me! :) (haha)

But it hasn't been all that bad and in fact...there are definite pros and cons to both ages.

Differences between preschool and 2nd grade:

CONTENT
Preschoolers are only learning shapes, letters, numbers, colors---stuff I automatically know already! :)
2nd graders are learning about clouds, weather, 5 animal groups, etc. Stuff I have to do more prep for! :)

PAPERWORK
Preschool (special education in my case) has SO SO SO much paperwork outside of class.
2nd grade--I don't even have to collect all their work and grade it. I can "grade" through other ways during class. Not as much paperwork for sure! (Partly because it isn't Special Education too!)

CLASSTIME
Preschool you have to be on top of them constantly. They are not very independent. A lot of one-on-one time.
2nd graders can do SO much independently! Especially my classroom I'm in. My teacher has done an excellent job of setting up the standards and expectations in the classroom that these kids are EXCELLENT! So well-behaved! :)

CLASS SIZE
Preschool--we had 3 classes of 10-12 kids in each class. Not all that big...but seemed larger because we needed to work one on one with a bunch of them.
2nd grade--we have a surprisingly small class of 24. Not too bad and like I said, my teacher has done a GREAT job with their behaviors at the beginning of the year, that now the kids are perfect! (or close to!)

Overall....I miss preschool and that age. So fun! So entertaining!

BUT 2nd grade is TONS easier! And even though they are older, they are still easy going enough to just let you know when you make mistakes but then be easily forgiving still!
I don't know...suddenly I'm seeing the side that Special Ed. preschool isn't the only way to go! :) We'll see what happens when I teach. (hopefully not necessarily any time soon, however!) :)

Fast or Famine Blogger

So, I realized yesterday as I was making a list of all the things I wanted to blog about that I am really good at blogging tons and then not blogging for a while right now. Life is just proving to be providing only THAT much time to blog! So...make sure you read like the last 5 posts if you want to know what's going on in our lives!! :)

Happy Reading!! :)

Puppies!

Kamryn used to be so nervous around dogs, but she's really starting to like them!

This is Ryan's Aunt's dog, Gizmo! (I LOVE this dog! I want one someday! He's just so friendly and gorgeous!)

BUT ... the dog she watches ALL of the time now and will now have the courage to reach out and touch is my parents' dog, Zach. HOWEVER, I cannot find ANY pictures is all the thousands and thousands of pictures of her, I can't find ANY of her and Zach! I can't believe it! SO...my family...if you have any...email them to me! :) (Then I'll post them!) :)

And the other day at the portrait studio, they were playing 101 Dalmations on the TV in the waiting room. Kamryn kept watching and watching and watching! It surprised me because I haven't seen her watch an animated movie much longer than 5 seconds. This was different! So...I guess I need to get a hold of a copy of 101 Dalmations sometime soon! :)

Babywise

So, the last couple of weeks Ryan and I have been a little frustrated with Kamryn's sleeping patterns lately (getting up like 3 or 4 times between 2 and 5 every morning...) SO I remembered one of my friends posting about this book a couple of months ago and I asked if we could borrow it.
We read it that night and of course it talks about letting them cry and learn how to get out of the habit of waking up, but in a one-bedroom...that's just not going to happen right now. (Especially since I have to be at school at 7:30 every morning now for Student teaching!) BUT there was something else that caught my eye. It was the idea that if the baby is on a strict schedule for feeding and sleeping during the day, then they will automatically stick to a better routine at night as well. I thought, Hey! I'll try anything I can! It took a little convincing for Ryan (because I'm not really the one home during the day who could apply the routine) but he read the book that night and decided to try it! And I'm telling you...it's been less than a week and she's already had better nights! Not consistent yet, but it's getting better! We love it! :) I have high hopes it'll continue to get better and better! (And then in May we can really "enforce" the "rules" when I'm not teaching anymore and Kamryn has her own room!!) :)

Look what our little girl can do!

Kamryn is now 7 months old and already working on her talents! :)

Helping Mom Fold Laundry

Playing the Piano!

Getting into stuff!


Oops...I'm caught!

I can't get out!!

Now what am I supposed to do?!!


Eating everything!




Looking cute! (We took portraits at JC penny's last Saturday. This is one of the outfits she ended up wearing but I took a picture at home first cuz it was just so so cute! My favorite is the flower! And Grandma Seamons just let us know that she found more for Kamryn too! yay!) :)

New Highchair

About a month ago (probably more) we finally got a chair for Kamryn to eat in. Because we don't have a lot of room in our little one-bedroom apartment, we went with this....

Jungle Booster seat high chair!

She loves it....eats crackers on her own and she now eats solids (baby cereal and food) about twice a day!

AND the other day I was at the grocery store looking at baby food and saw that they have one called "Guava Dessert"!! I was SO excited! So yesterday I gave her some with her cereal and she LOVED it! :) (I did too! ha! yes...I tasted it!) :) I was afraid she wouldn't like it becuase of the texture...but no chance! She really IS our little Hawaiian baby! :)

(I should mention also though that she has not refused ANY food yet that we've offered! This would include peas, carrots, squash, turkey and rice, chicken noodle, bananas, peaches, etc.!! No wonder you weigh almost 20 lbs. now Kamryn!) :)

Last Week of Preschool

Last week was my last week in preschool...onto my next placement for student teaching! But before I move on...I just wanted to post about preshool and how wonderful it was! (Tough and energy-consuming...but preschool is just so much fun!) :)

Some of my preschoolers and me. (There are 3 different classes with about 10-13 kids in each so this is just our oldest class (4 and 5 year olds).)

Singing songs with the kids! They love Willaby Wallaby...the Elephant (puppet) goes around and sits on their heads! Kinda silly...but that's what preschool is all about!! :)

Funny Story:
During my last week I killed my leg... look!

I was moving the small preschool-sized chairs around the snack table--getting ready before all the kids came over...and I just twisted my leg the wrong way and then hit it with the chair in my hand! OUCH!! That day it was a major goose-egg! Almost looked like another knee. This picture is what it looks like now...a week later!
And funny thing was that right after I did that I shut my finger in a cupboard and then squished my hand between a chair and table later that day!! Man...preschool is brutal! :) Guess it was time to get out of there!
My last day my preschoolers gave me this card with all of their hands traced and little notes in each hand. And a bag of chocolate hugs and kisses. It was very cute!

I love you kids! I'll miss you! Thank you for teaching me and letting me try to teach you! :)