I was responsible for teaching bell to bell again this week.

Besides planning and leading

instruction, it was my duty to greet and talk to families at arrival and pick-up. At large group
instruction, I led the read aloud fitting into our social-emotional theme, calendar/weather, and a
question of the day. After math professional development on Wednesday, I changed how I did
the question of the day. Monday and Tuesday students moved their names to yes or no on a Tchart to answer the question. Thursday and Friday students moved themselves to groups, so they
could physically see if they met a specific attribute. The training suggested we word attributes as
something and not something. For example, wearing blue and not wearing blue. One other
change I made pertained to classroom management. Instead of dancing at arrival, I played our
instrumental music and asked students to look at books. This worked well and Tracy mentioned
she wants to continue this when I leave.
The most satisfying experience of my week was being a part of Olivias disability suspect
meeting. Data will continue to be collected, but she most likely will be moving to a Waukee
preschool where her IEP goals can better be met once this is implemented. I wondered how her
mother felt about there being eight educators and support staff present. I can see how this may be
intimidating and overwhelming as a parent.
One challenging part of the week was having to focus on one child making unsafe
choices, and then not being able to give other students the attention they deserve. For example,
Donomin started eating our play foam. When I asked him to spit it out since it was not safe, his
behaviors gradually worsened. We thought he was hungry so gave him crackers, but then he
proceeded to start turning over furniture and biting. It has been hard knowing what to do with
him since we can not determine a trigger, but we will continue to collect data on him.
In the upcoming two weeks, I will start releasing responsibility back to Tracy since I will
only have seven days left with the children. I will lead parts of large group, such as read alouds.
During choice time, I will continue to practice GOLD observations. I look forward to meeting
my first-graders next Wednesday, as I set up a time with my teacher to come familiarize myself
before I start there.