Back in the Classroom!

Well you guys, I am finally allowed back in the classroom for my student field placements! At the beginning of the year, the University was still unsure whether schools would be allowing student teacher’s in the classrooms due to COVID, but luckily they welcomed us in!

This leopard print dress is what I wore and I LOVE it! The dress is so comfortable and is on sale for $16 right now!! Go and snag it before it’s gone!

I was placed in a kindergarten classroom this semester and I am so excited! I have not been placed in a kindergarten class for a practicum yet, so this will be a great opportunity for me to compare the grade levels! This past Friday was my first day in the classroom meeting my teacher and her class! I am going to break down my day for you guys with all the COVID procedures we had to follow!

When I entered the school, I had to go through a metal detector where I held my wrist up to in order for it to take my temperature. Then I had to fill out a form that basically asked if I was experiencing any symptoms and what my temperature was that day. All faculty and students are required to wear a mask at all times unless you are eating or drinking. I thought this would be challenging for my kindergarten class, but they were SO good with keeping it on and not messing with it! The desks were set up in groups of 4, with plexiglass between each desk separating each student from each other. All of the student’s materials were separated in their own individual bags so no materials were being shared.

When it came time for lunch, we headed to the cafeteria where each student and teacher had to sit in a desk that was appropriate distance from each other. Y’all, lunch was the highlight of my day! I have the funniest story to tell. So I was sitting between two of my students in the classroom and one little boy had chosen to eat a corn dog for lunch! He unwraps his corn dog and asks me why his looked burnt. He holds it up for me to see and starts waving it around in the air. I tell him to be careful so he doesn’t drop it and what do you know. He drops it on the floor. “Uh oh…”. We both just stare at it for a minute, and then I go and tell the teacher. He then leans over and whispers to me “maybe this corn dog won’t be burnt”. The cafeteria lady was NOT happy, because she said they only have so many corn dogs and if he drops the next one he will not be getting another one. When he receives his corn dog, he is immediately disappointed because it looks “burnt” just like the last time and then it hit me. The corn dog was wrapped in whole wheat bread which made it look darker than what he might be used to. I try to explain to him what whole what bread was, and he says “I don’t like whole wheat bread”. I wanted so bad to tell him “me either buddy”, but I tried to hype up the whole what bread as much as possible. Haha.

When it came time for specials, they had to stay in the classroom and the PE teacher came to them. Trying to incorporate PE with a kindergarten class without a wide open space seems extremely difficult but the PE teacher did a great job of keeping them active. When it was time for recess, the playground was wet from the rain so the kids had to stay inside 🙁 But the teacher played some awesome videos for the children to dance to so they were about to get their energy out! Dismissal was also different due to COVID. Every class had to keep their students in the classroom until their bus was called, or their name was called over the walkie talkie for the car rider line.

Although things are A LOT different in the classroom this year, I am so thankful for the opportunity to observe and participate in this awesome kindergarten classroom! If anyone has any questions, comments or just some helpful advice on being in the classroom this semester I would LOVE to hear it 🙂