Day one in Grade three

Yep, today was my first day in Third Grade. Don't get too excited. I mostly sat in my little makeshift desk in the corner and tried to memorize names and take notes on how my cooperating teacher runs her clasroom and manages behavior. It will be quite the switch over from Resource. My biggest group for resource was four children, so 24 is going to seem like a ton. I am also used to being very in control of how each child is behaving, but with six times the number of students I am going to have to let a lot of things slip. The big unit I will be planning and teaching is on Native Americans. My cooperating teacher gave me the things she uses adn she let me look over them to see if I might want to use them. I think I will pass. Here is what the first sheet says..."Once there were many tribes of native Americans living in our country. A tribe is a group of people living together like a large family. The people all had black hair and red-brown skins." WOW! Where do I start with how horrible that is? So I will start from scratch and make it not quite so offensive of a unit. I just wish I were going home sometime soon so I could grab everything off my parents walls so show the class that Native Americans didn't just once live in our country but still do and have a beautiful culture! I am excited to teach this unit. It is jsut a shame that I will only get to teach it when math and reading don't take up ther rest of our day. I hate that science, social studies, and art are things you add to the day if time permits.
Okay, enough of my ranting, how about a story or two? My teacher introduced me to the class about 2/3 through the day and allowed them to ask me questions. One student asked me how long I had been student teaching. I told her 7 weeks. The next student asked "Do you do this often?" I had to smile as I told her I will only have to student teach once and then hopefully get a classroom of my own." At recess I went outside to watch the kids play. I made the mistake of wearing a skirt on a windy day. Not only was I feeling a little self conscience about how white my legs were in the natural light and that truth about how long it had been since I last shaved was glaringly noticable, but a big gust a wind came and blew my skirt right up. Hello Kids! Meet Miss Webb!