First Graders

These are my first graders. My favorite little bunch of 7 year old's! For all of January and half of February this was my class. I student taught for Mrs. Sauceda's class at East Elementary. This was the biggest crash course in teaching I have ever encountered. And I would like to think that my experience with these children could rival many. I learned quickly what I needed to do to be an effective teacher-having crazy little kids to instruct puts your methods to the test immediately!
Some of these kids I fell in love with instantly, and others it took a bit longer. But in time I grew to love them all! How could you not? They say the most sincere and hilarious things. But this class was very difficult. The school I am at is Title 1, which essentially means it is extremely low income. Because of this (and it's just a fact) the learning level is lower than it should be. More than half of my class has tested at below grade level (some even below what a Kindergartner should be at). But then there are also some students who are up to a 3rd grade level in some subjects. Figuring out how to reach all of these students and get the to learn everything that they need has been one of the hardest challenges.
But let me tell you what the most difficult part of this class has been: observing. As a teacher you become aware of each student's home life. I have come to find that many of these kids face harder obstacles at home than at school. Too many of my students don't get 3 meals a day, have parents that don't speak English, have been abandoned, or come from broken or abusive homes. Each individual child is a special circumstance, and there is only so much that can be done as an educator. It is pure toture to see what goes on and be unable to do anything in most cases!
Working with these kids has reminded me why I've been spending the last five years of my life pursuing a degree in Elementary Education. Although it breaks my heart to watch them leave each day to go home to a place that holds so much negativity, I love what I get to do with them! I know that each day- regardless of what goes on at home- they get into come to my classroom and feel love. Sometimes it's difficult for me to put aside my own mood about the crazy day, but I always think about how important it is for them to see a smiling face. After seeing what these students go through on a daily basis I quickly made it a point to get to learn each of these kids individually. I tried each day to talk with as many of my kids as possible, to let them know that I cared about what was going on in their life and that I loved them, so they knew I wasn't interested solely in teaching them how to read or subtract. I have gotten to know each of them, their lives, their likes/dislikes, and dreams. I can honestly say that I love this group of kids and feel so honored to have been able to teach them. For a very small, maybe insignificant, moment in their lives I was able to see them- 8 hours a day, 5 days a week- and I hope that I was able to in some way make a positive impact because I know that I will never forget everything that they taught me. I already miss them so much!

Here is one of the projects my teacher and I came up with for our students to do. This is a bulletin board in our classroom and it was entitled "100 acts of kindness".
On Martin Luther King Jr. Day we learned all about what MLK did for this country. But first graders can't fully grasp the concept of race, hatred, and inequality. We explained Martin Luther King Jr.'s dream as being about wanting for everyone to be kind to each other regardless of what they looked like.
For this project we told the students that they had until Valentine's Day to reach 100 acts of kindness, if they did we would have a pizza party. They were to have parents, family members, and friends write down if they did a random act of kindness. They would then bring that in to class and we would read it out loud and pin it to the board. The kids surpassed their goal and loved it so much they asked if they could keep doing it even after Valentine's Day. I'm so proud of all that they did and of how aware of other people they are starting to become!