Friday I had a breakthrough moment with one of my students. It made me realize that I’m actually teaching and my students are learning! One of my students has been telling me since the first day of school that he can’t read. On Friday, during reading groups, he finished writing before the other students in his group, and I gave him the reader to preview while I helped the other students finish up. Without prompting from me, he opened his book and blended each word, said each word, and then read the entire sentence without my help! I AM SO PROUD OF HIM! It was the best moment of teaching so far. It feels like all my hard work is finally paying off and my students are beginning to “get” it! It is really exciting.
Never mind about the Stitch Fix post, haha. I was too busy this week to take pictures of the clothes I decided to keep to do a separate Stitch Fix unboxing post. I kept a grey and white Aztec printed blanket cardigan. It was pricey, but something I wanted, so I decided to splurge. Upon closer examination I realized it was 10% cashmere, which explains the cost. It was worth it though, I wore it to school and it was soft and warm. I also got a plaid button up top that I kept because it was soft. The colors on it are not ones I usually wear, but they are great colors for fall and look good on me. The last thing I kept was a pair of thick black leggings. I wear leggings a lot under dresses and tunics, and the thicker fabric these have will keep me warmer in the harsh Alaskan winter. Also, my other pair of black leggings is getting pretty shabby. I’ve had them since 8th grade! I sent back a purple tunic that was nothing special, especially for $88. The other thing was a floral scarf that Collin said reminded him of a couch. Since couches aren’t all that cute, I sent the scarf back to Stitch Fix. All in all, my first box was pretty good. Stitch Fix listened to my requests and sent great items. It was nice to get a box full of clothes sent to the village, especially since the closest mall is 400 miles away! I get lots of compliments on my outfits, so it was nice to get some new items to incorporate into my wardrobe, so I can continue to bring style to the village, haha. :) This box was full of kinda pricey items, so I adjusted my style profile, and will hopefully get more affordable items in December, when my second box comes. If you’re interested in trying Stitch Fix for yourself, click HERE!
We’ve been in school for 19 days now, and the students and I have gotten in to a nice routine. This week I tested the students to get their benchmark literacy and math skills, so now I know where they all are and can better meet their needs. I love being my 11 students’ teacher. We have our ups and downs, just like any class, but I wouldn’t have it any other way. Our district has inservice days on the next 2 Mondays, so we have 3 4 day weeks in a row, with last week being Labor Day weekend. I’m not gonna lie, inservice days are pretttty boring, but it’s also nice to get a little break from the kids and have a shorter week with them, because man, they wear me out sometimes. I even went to bed at 8 on Thursday night, so I could wake up refreshed and ready for my students!
I meant to blog earlier this week, but by the end of the school day, I’m too exhausted to do anything but relax. (It’s a good exhausted, though.) This week, I went berry picking with another teacher, or tried to at least. We went out on the tundra and ended up finding about 7 blueberries. The natives have been saying the berries haven’t been as plentiful as in the past. They are also saying that it is getting colder quicker than it usually does which makes the berries go out of season faster. That’s not the case for all of Alaska, though. The other teacher was telling me that one of her student’s mom’s got on a plane to go pick berries somewhere, and came back with bucketfulls. My meager pickings were kind of disappointing; as I was hoping to make some blueberry muffins, but it was still a neat experience, and the few, small berries we got were pretty tasty!
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Hello!My name is Jessie Jones and I am a second year first grade teacher in Akiachak, Alaska. Archives
September 2016
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