Top Test-Taking Tips for Elementary Students

Date: September 29th, 2022

by: Hailey Palella

Fifth Thursday!

I cannot believe that it is already the fifth week being inside my MT’s classroom. Thus far, it has been a blast and I have really gotten to know each student better each week. Next week, I will teach my first lesson and I am pretty excited about that. For me, lessons plans are always so hard to write but as of now, I am taking it day by day and I know that I will do everything in my power to be prepared for Thursday.

Today went very well as I expected it to. I have really seen some of the students come out of their shells with me. When I first started in the classroom, a lot of them were shy towards me and then there were others that we not. The ones that were shy in the beginning are not anymore, wish I am happy to see.

In the classroom, the schedule stays consistent every time that I am in there, which is good for not only the students but myself because I know exactly what we will be doing that day. In a previous blog post, I posted my MT’s schedule; that schedule is only on Thursdays but stays that same way every Thursday.

I am very excited to do my lesson next week on fire safety and my outline of my lesson looks pretty good, so I am pleased with that. I talked more with my MT about my lessons and the outline today. My MT is the most helpful person I have meet in my life. She is truly one of a kind.

In the classroom today, I read another story to students. My MT asks me to do a read aloud with the class each Thursday to get more comfortable in the classroom. Each read aloud thus far have went really well and the students are good listeners during the story. The book that I read today was, “When Autumn Falls” written by Kelli Nidey. This story introduced fall/autumn to the students, showing them the differences between the seasons. I have never read this book before and I really enjoyed it. Throughout the story, I asked more questions than the previous read aloud and I was really pleased with the responses that I got from the students. Below is an image of the book I read today.

A couple weeks ago, I mentioned in my blog post that I was taking notes of some of my MT’s classroom management strategies and certain things that she does in the classroom, so that when I have to do my lesson, then I can use the same language as her, so the students do not get confused. Today, I took more specific notes on how my MT taught Math because I a few short weeks I will have to teach Math as well. I took a picture of one of the word problems that the students and my MT went over today. Below is the picture. When I get closer to my Math lesson, I will keep this image in mind, so I remember how my MT modeled during her instruction.

Below are additional pictures that I took today!

Really good book!! My MT quickly read through it again today in order for students to remember the characters in the story.

Today was wonderful as always and I am excited to teach my lesson next week!

posted at 5:07pm- Thursday, September 29th, 2022

Date: September 22nd, 2022

by: Hailey Palella

“be kind to yourself and others!”

Terrific Thursday!

This morning, I was really excited to see the students and my MT again. Before the students get to school my MT and I will talk about the overview of our day. Last week my MT asked me if would be interested in joining an IEP meeting with her and a child’s parents. My MT mentioned that she would have to get permission from the child’s parents. Fast forward to this week, my MT got the students’ parents permission and I was able to join the meeting today, which was really awesome to be able to experience. Both of my brothers have IEPs so I know what these meetings consist of because my mom has told me but also I have learned about IEP meetings from my course work.

Just like last week I read another story with the students to get more comfortable teaching the classroom. This week’s theme was kindness and being kind to others. I read a story called “Stick and Stone” written by Beth Ferry. I have never read this story before and it was great! The author did a wonderful job appealing to students and using language that they understand. The author showed the true meaning of friendship and being there for someone through thick and thin. The student really enjoyed the story and said it was their favorite book that they read so far this year. After I read the story, my MT showed each page of the story again, reminding the students of what stick and stone did to stand up for each other if one was put down. Then my MT passed out a handout for students to complete that corresponded to the story. The handout asked students to recall a time in the story where stick and stone help each other in the story and show friendship.

I also helped my MT out with giving ESL students in her classroom a Spelling Test that they missed while they were pulled out for ESL instruction. It was really cool to administer a spelling test to them because I have never done that before.

Last week I discussed with my MT about my upcoming lesson and I feel really confident to start my lesson plan this weekend and begin to develop a great lesson for the students. I have become really comfortable inside the classroom and all of the students are wonderful and mt MT is just amazing. I couldn’t ask for a better group of students to be with!

I hope next week I can begin to teach or go over phonics and/or math problems with the students to get more experience with teaching before my first lesson day.

I look forward to another exciting Thursday next week! 🙂

Here is a picture of the story I read today:

Here is the template of the handout that the students were given to complete:

Here is a picture of a student work from the handout corresponding to the story:

posted on 9:42pm- Thursday, September 22nd, 2022

Date: September 15th, 2022

by: Hailey Palella

Second Full Day with the First Graders:

Going into today was tough, I had something personal happen right before entering the school, I am actually surprised that know one asked me why I was crying while walking into the building. I must have a good poker face. After I checked into the front desk, I decided before going into the classroom, to take a few minutes to myself in the bathroom and calm myself down. I did this because I knew that when I walked inside the classroom I needed to have a game face on. So that is what I did. I didn’t tell my MT what happened this morning because my personal issues should not be in the classroom, I had to let it go before going in the door, which was challenging, but I did it. After seeing the students this morning, it made me feel so much better. They make my life worth living for.

Last week, my MT expressed that she thought it would be a good idea for me to read a story to the class in order for me to get more comfortable being in front of the class teaching. I loved this idea! I was on board with it! She mentioned last week that the “theme” for this week was school rules. My MT showed me the books that pulled out for the theme and she told me to pick any story. The story that I read to the students today was called, “What if Everybody Did That” written by Ellen Javernick. This book was about a young boy who makes poor decisions throughout the story, for example, throwing garbage on the ground. When adults witness the young boy doing this, they ask him, “What if everybody did that?” The adults in the story are trying to push the boy to reflect on his actions and to think about if everyone was making the same decisions that he was choosing to make. The boy uses his reflections to make better choices. Throughout the story, I asked and discussed with students the importance of school rules and being respectful to others, themselves, and the world around them.

Overall, today was a great day. I have mastered all of the students names and implemented my interest inventory to all of the students’ present today. I pulled students one by one into the hallway to administer the questions to them. They were all so cooperative and did very well with going to in the classroom and tapping the next person’s shoulder to come out and see me. They are great listeners!

The same as last week, I jumped right in! My MT mentioned to me at the end of the day how comfortable I am within the classroom and I discussed back with her that I have been working in daycare and also the other field experiences that I have been in have helped me as well. She mentioned that it is a good thing that I am comfortable and that she can tell that my work experiences have really helped me.

My goal for next week is to continue to get to know each student better and jump in more during math! I would like to start teaching some practice problems in math and showing/modeling the answers for the students. The school has a strict curriculum for math and phonics, so pretty much the teaching is reading right from the curriculum book; there is no way around it, which I think is nice!

Highlight of the day: when a student says, “bye, see you next week.” Melted my whole heart.

I can’t wait for next week!

book selection from my MT:

Here is a picture of the book I read today!

“What if Everybody Did That” written by Ellen Javernick.

posted at 5:47pm- Thursday, September 15th, 2022

Date: Thursday, September 8th, 2022

By: Hailey Palella

First Day with the First Graders:

Going into today, I felt really confident because last week went so smooth, even though I was only in the classroom for two hours. Last week, I felt so welcomed by my MT and we had a productive conservation about how things will go for the next fifteen weeks about lesson plans and teaching days. This morning, I was very excited to be in the classroom before the students got there because I wanted to see the look on their faces when they saw me again in their classroom. Their reactions were priceless! I am so very lucky to have a great MT and group of students for this field experience.

As soon as the students got into the classroom, they had something to do, which was their morning journal. Morning journal is something that the students do everyday and is something that they know they need to start working on as soon as they get settled into the classroom. I liked the morning journal idea for my future classroom; I would like to incorporate this into my classroom because all the students come in at different times, so having the morning journal to start their day gives students who are there something to do. Morning journal isn’t something that if students came in late would be a big deal to miss because it does not relate to content, so it is a win-win!

As soon the students got into the classroom, I jumped in. I walked around the classroom and assisted students who were struggling, not paying attention, or just had a question. I felt very comfortable in the classroom and I think it is because of becoming more and more confident within the school setting because of prior field experiences and also being a daycare worker.

After my first day in the classroom was complete, I debriefed with my MT and I asked her if she had any feedback or if she wanted me doing more in the classroom for next week. She told me that next week she would love for me to read a story to the class and she mentioned the theme of kindness. She showed some of the books that I can choose from that she already had picked out! Last week my MT mentioned that she wanted me to see her teach on my first full day, so I can get a better understanding of her schedules, strategies/techniques, teaching style, etc. I mentioned to her that as she was teaching today, I was jotting down some of her classroom management strategies, so I can familiarize myself with them before I teach so the students aren’t thrown off if I used other ones. My MT thought that was a great idea.

My goals for next week is to have all of the students’ names down and I am pretty sure I know most of their names already, read a story and ask three- five open-ended questions, and jump in more ways!

I had such a great day with the first graders and I can’t wait for next week!

*here is a picture of what the morning journal entry was about*

Student A answering the morning journal entry question and drawing a picture that represents their sentence!

posted at 6:35pm- Thursday, September 8th, 2022

Welcome to a new school year! I hope everyone had a fun and safe summer break! I would like to take the opportunity to introduce myself to my new followers and also a warm hello to all my existing ones!

About Me!

Hello! My name is Hailey Palella and I am a student at Governors State University. I am currently enrolled in the early childhood education program. I graduated from Joliet Junior College in May of 2021, and I received my associates degree in early childhood education and I am continuing my education in order to receive my bachelor’s degree this May 2023. I cannot be more excited to see what is in store for me!

Currently, I work at a daycare called Living Waters Children’s Center in Manhattan. I have been there for three years; I am so grateful that I was given the opportunity to work at a daycare and to get a feel of what it is like to work with children. I love my job, which excites me even more for the future! I cannot wait to have a classroom of my own. I currently work with the twos, threes, and fours. I love being able to interact and form relationships with children of different ages and be able to distinguish how different the age groups are. In the future, I hope to become a kindergarten teacher! In terms of my personal life, I love spending time with my family, especially my grandparents. In the next couple of weeks, I will be moving into my first apartment with my boyfriend of seven years. I am very excited!

I look forward to an exciting year to learn new things. I am grateful for each learning opportunity. The more experience that I have in the classroom, the more opportunities I have to become the best educator that I want to be.

Have a great year! 🙂