it's me, no really it's me!

Can you believe it's really me? Life has been..well let's just say HECTIC for the last few weeks. I've officially completed 14 days of student teaching and still am alive! It's great news for me, considering I thought I'd be dead by now. (Not literally, but I was apprehensive about beginning this new part of my life.)

The students I have are a handful to say the least. I have 17 little five and six year olds, who all seem to be in different places at once! Not really, but I don't think I've ever said "Sit down, cross your legs, hands in your lap, don't touch that, be quiet, keep your hands to yourself, don't say ugly things, don't talk, quit yelling out, and let me finish talking" so many times in my life! It's life every day is painfully the same, yet totally different. I am currently teaching calendar time, music and movement, reading time on the circle carpet (it's always fun to read new books...some of the kids are so enthralled they just stare....), and as of this week, SOCIAL STUDIES! We are learning how to be good citizens and take care of our belongings, do our chores in our classroom, be kind to others, share our toys, and take turns! IT's much fun, but a little hard to keep them listening in the afternoon when it's been raining and they haven't gotten a chance to get rid of some of that pent-up energy. But I do the best I can.
Last week I took about an hour each day and taught them their four shapes - circle, triangle, rectangle, and square. I was VERY pleased today when my mentor teacher tested all of the students individually on how well they knew their colors, shapes, numbers to 10 out of sequence, and writing 1-10 on their own along with their names. I am also VERY pleased to say that only TWO children missed any shapes, and each of them only missed ONE!!!! I guess I taught them well!!! And if they already knew them, I guess it was a good review!!!
Other than that, life is going well. I'd like to take pictures of my students, but unfortunately I really can't. So I'll try to post some pictures soon of my NEW apartment! It's old...a bit smelly sometimes, and there was a bat that flew in for a visit a few weeks ago....in the middle of the night....but good! Can't beat the rent either.
A few funny stories....

My name is "Miss Amey" if you ask most of my students. There are a few with speech problems that I grew attached to right away, so they started calling me by my name and those students without speech problems latched onto the Miss Amey and now I'm stuck! No not really. I've been slowly working on correcting them each time, and most can now call me Miss Ramey.

I read a story today that was about a little boy who never did what his parents said, and he caused problems and ruined things that didn't belong to him. (This was part of the social studies unit...we were learning about taking care of our things.) In one scene, he's making a mess with running water out of the bathtub all over the floor! The very next page is him running away from his mom, well, without any clothing. Of course the kids thought this was HILARIOUS and laughed louder than I've ever heard them laugh! "He's neck-ed" they'd say. Accents are SO thick down here it's crazy. I've actually had to change the way I say the letter "M" so they can understand me! It's more of an "eeee-m" than just a plain old m.

One more cute one

Jacob: Did you know I have a little brother?

me: no, I didn't know that. What's his name?

Jacob: Cody. He calls me "Old Man."

Me: Oh? What do you call him?

Jacob: Cody. Guess what he likes to do.

Me: I don't know, what?

Jacob: Throw up.


Stay tuned for more funny stories and hopefully some pictures! Love you all!