Testing, Testing, Testing

Hi Fellow Educators (And maybe some non-educators),

I thought these next few pictures were fitting considering the next two weeks that we are about to jump into.

We are officially in testing week people! Right now, there are two separate tests taking place at my school. MAP testing is required for all 2-5 grade students. 2nd and 4th graders are taking it this week and 3rd and 5th grade are taking it next week.

There is also a test called the COGAT going on. These are being taken by the 3rd and 5th grade students. I was feeling a bit overwhelmed while trying to schedule all these tests as well as making sure all the IEP and 504 students were taken care of. Now that testing is about to get underway, and things seem to be going smoothly this morning (fingers crossed) it should make for a easy flowing week.

I also start classroom guidance this week for the month of September. I will post about that at the end of the week since I will have given a lesson in each grade and be able to post some picture of the work that gets done! I am excited to get into all the classrooms and start learning students names. I really enjoy being in the classroom and I hope that each lesson runs as smoothly as possible.

Until then,

Jennifer

R.E.S.P.E.C.T

It's Called Respect!!

Our music teacher, who happens to coordinate all the school meetings, came across this awesome video that we used yesterday to teach the first bit of our school way. RESPECT!

I thought it was super catchy and the students LOVED it. I heard them singing it throughout the hallways as they were getting ready to head home for the day.

It's called Respect.
R.E.S.P.E.C.T
I give it to you
And you give it to me

It's called Respect.
R.E.S.P.E.C.T
You've got to treat people
Respectfully

Hope you are having a wonderful Tuesday!

Jennifer

My New Office...And New School.

Hi Everyone,

Well, I have my first week under my belt and I have to say, I am feeling way more confident! I am going to work with my first individual student this afternoon and my first classroom lessons are a week from today!

I thought I would share with you the AMAZING office that I am using while I am here. Its HUGE!! It is easily four times as big as the one that my supervisor, other intern, and I used at my elementary internship site.

This is taken from my desk looking towards the door.

This is taken from the door looking in. Look, WINDOWS!

 

 

There is room for a desk, huge table, and reading/calming area. If this was really my office, I might move around the furniture to be slightly more conducive to counseling, but in the meantime, this will have to do. The room definitely needs some color!! Its so white! Wish I could paint a wall or two!

I decided that I really needed to decorate the door. The hallway I am in is in the basement so it definitely needs some color around here!

Here is my door decoration for the month of September!

"WhOO cares about ... Your School Counselor, thats WhOO!"

I did the entire door using my Cricut machine! Which I now have officially fallen in love with. I used it not only for the door but for my "all about miss Wagner" book (Pictures of that to follow soon!) On the leaves are the many different topics that school counselors care about. Topics such as grief, friendships, bullying, careers, and many more!  I just adore the way the owls turned out! I think they are so cute and they make it easy to let students know where my office is. Its the office with the owls on the door, duh!

I also decided that it would probably be pretty important to make a place for the students to drop any 'mail' off for me. I also think it is important to make sure the students can find me when I am not in the office.

I am very much an open door counselor but I also don't want the students busting in on an important meeting.

All they have to do is fill one of these out! I have already had a few students using these. Awesome!

My "mailbox".

Where is Ms. Wagner? All over the place clearly!

I am amazed at the amount of teachers that I have had come up to me and tell me that they think this is a brilliant idea. I cant believe that no one has thought of it before. This way, if a student really needs me, they know where to find me. It says things like, here-come in, in a classroom, out in the hallways, be right back, recess duty, lunch, please do not disturb, and meeting.

The final decoration looks like this:

Ms. Wagner's office!

I think it turned out pretty good! Its cheerful and perfect for the kids for the beginning of the year! Next month I will change my door decoration to be a "bucket filling" door. I am pretty excited to use my Cricut again and make another brightly colored door. It's going to be the start of my sneaking in character education before I leave here.

So  far, the students have been awesome and the staff has been so welcoming! Its great to feel needed in a school. I only had to deal with a small number of crying young ones last week. I think that will start to dwindle this week.

Thank for reading and stay tuned for my all about me book pictures which will be posted soon!

Jennifer