Teaching in Florida

Today was my first day at Celebration School. Hannah and I woke up bright and early and got ready. We packed our backpacks, yes backpacks, because we rode our bikes to school! Our host mom got up with us because she wanted to take first day of school picture for us! The school is only about a mile away so the ride took a little less than 5 minutes.

We walked into the school and were welcomed by the assistant principal. We met our supervisor, talked about the school and what we're going to be doing, and were off to meet our teachers and see the place! I love the school. It's divided into different buildings called "prides" that have four classrooms in them and a center open area for group work and parent help. Parental involvement is huge within this community. My classroom is so nice. I am going to have a classroom full of 17 gifted students and can't wait to meet them tomorrow! The curriculum is different in Florida. Teachers are given weekly plans to follow that are mandated by the district. I'm excited for this new experience and learning more about the state education system here!

Tomorrow is my first day with the students. I miss my kiddos from Ashland sooo much. Hopefully I get a great group again :) I'm sure I will!

The Adventure Begins

I'm in sunny Celebration, Florida! The weather today was absolutely fantastic. Super sunny and 80!

This town is beautiful. A little history...
Celebration is right by Disney World (outside of Orlando). Everyone probably has heard of the Disney park "EPCOT" or "Experimental Prototype Communityof Tomorrow." What you might not know is that Walt Disney originally planned for EPCOT to be a community where people could work, play, and live. Although this isn't how the park turned out, the Disney company decided to fulfill his orginal vision.
In 1994 the town of Celebration was established. The Disney Company used 4,900 acres of land to build Celebration. Almost every home has a porch so that its residents could sit outside and talk with neighbors. Garages have been built, but in almost every case, they are behind the homes with an entrance through a smaller alley-like street instead of through paved driveways (this is sooo confusing when trying to get around!). This was done so the fronts of houses would not look ugly. What Walt Disney wanted was a town that looked somewhat like his hometown.

I'm loving living here so far. There's so much to do and the weather is great to just go outside and relax! Our host family is amazing. Hannah and I were very nervous walking up to the door but our host mom greeted up with hugs and was more than excited to have us. We have two "siblings"...Cameron and Savannah. They are both in high school and a lot of fun to hang out with. And our host dad is so funny. Hannah and I feel very comfortable here and they really feel like family. Our apartment is so cute! We have to walk up a spiral staircase outside to get up to it. We're going to spend a lot of time in the house with the family though. And we have a pool for all this hot weather!

Today our host family treated us to some Chipotle for lunch! Later in the afternoon our host dad, Hannah, Savannah, and I went on a bike ride around town for a couple of hours. Everything was so neat to see. There are these awesome boardwalk trails through these forest jungle areas all over Celebration. We even saw an alligator! We're loving it here so far and can't wait for what the rest of this time brings to us. First day at Celebration School tomorrow. It's a teacher inservice day so no kids yet.

"Don't cry because it's over. Smile because it happened."

Today was my last day with my kiddos at Montgomery Elementary. I had such a great day filled with surprises from my amazing students! First I got two cards from my morning students. Then I went to my third grade inclusion class and they had a whole party planned for me with cookies and lovely cards from each of them. They were sooo excited to give them to me but didn't want me to go, which made me feel worse. I finally told them my first name after they have been asking for the past four weeks. I made them guess first and got some pretty funny things names like Elmo, Abstract, and Kiki (do I really look like a Kiki?!). I am really sad to leave them. They all asked to come in my suitcase to Florida but I highly doubt that would go over well with parents. I promised that I would keep in touch with them and I definitely will. We had so much fun together!

From there we went back to our room where I spent the next party with my amazing students. I actually got to surprise them with a gift! I made them cute little snacks of cinnamon toast crunch cereal, chocolate chips, and mini marshmallows and wrote them a note that said, "I hope I have S'more students like you in Florida!" They loved it and a couple of them thought it was the funniest thing they ever heard. About 5 minutes after they dug into their goodies one boy even started laughing so hard again and says "It's still funny the second time you read it!" They are so cute and I'm really going to miss them. The small gifts I gave was just a simple thank you for allowing me to be their teacher and working so hard :)

As the day went on I was feeling more down about leaving my students but keeping my head up on this awesome experience ahead of me. Saying goodbye to my second grader was the absolute hardest. I had the biggest lump in my throat and wanted to cry. She's been such a great student for me and we really worked well together. I'm pretty sure that for the next couple of weeks I'm going to be quoting her with her "WOAH!" and "Trick you!" comments. I wish I could just take her with me to my next second grade class. I think what made it even more difficult is that I don't think she really understands that I won't be there tomorrow and that just breaks my heart.

Just when I thought the surprises were over I walked into my kindergarten class to a giant swarm of students with cards and telling me good luck and that they'll miss me. My day was absolutely amazing and made me appreciate being a teacher even more. I am definitely in the right job for me and can't wait to see what my next student teaching journey will bring. I am truly blessed to have so many experiences to help me and that I have met amazing people along the way. I couldn't have asked for a better mentor teacher, school placement, or students for my first six weeks.

Tomorrow starts the next chapter :)

Is this really the last week?!

Well regardless of my thoughts that I could manage a blog while student teaching, running an organization, playing basketball, and working it definitely didn't turn out that way! I have been a busy bee over the past 5 weeks with teaching and making lessons. I haven't even had a moment to sit down and breathe!

I can't believe it's already been 5 weeks of student teaching in Ohio. I am very excited for my last week but I hope it moves really slow (I know who says that about a week haha!). My experience has been awesome and I wish it didn't have to end, but I'm excited for this new chapter in Florida!

So a little update about my time in Ashland Schools. My days in the school were the fastest thing ever. I was constantly on the move between inclusion rooms. This is one of my favorite things about being an intervention specialist. I am a person that always needs to be doing something so this occupation really fits my personality! I also love having kids that are from all different grades. This made me super nervous at first but it's a nice change of pace. If I ever misssed being in a general ed classroom I always had inclusion to fall back on. My inclusion teachers were absolutely amazing letting me jump and lead the class. My mentor teacher also was amazing about letting me do my own thing. It was really nice being trusted with lessons as a professional. She also put up with all of my moments that I spent panicking on lessons.

I am really really going to miss my kiddos though! I had 7 main kids I worked with throughout the day. What a difference than the usual 25 at once! They each have their own unique personalities and having such a small group I really got to know them. We had so much fun together. I even taught a lesson using real hamburgers (from a cow that used to live on my mentor teacher's farm -- ahh!). I am excited for what this week has to bring but I don't want to say goodbye :(

Back to the lessons and packing for me!