The Noise of a Noisy Story

Today was another wonderful day at school. The thing I love about teaching is that everyday there is something different and you never really know what to expect. I love the challenges and the joys that this job brings. Today brought lots of learning, fun, laughter, tears, victories, and challenges. Every morning I take attendance and greet the students by saying, "good morning_____." Inserting the child's name and then the say, "Good morning, Bre." They are so cute because they are proud to learn other languages, and so they will greet me in other languages. I told them that they can teach me, and teach me the greetings in the language that they choose. They just love this.
We had a noisy story writing activity. I put the students into groups and had them finish up the noisy stories that they started last week. I had them work in teams that they do not usually work in to encourage team work and what it means to be part of a team. I realize now that I was a bit strict on them talking. I should have been a little bit leniant seeing as how the activity was called a noisy story. The groups took turns standing at the front of the class sharing their noisy stories. They were very well written and so creative. My students are so creative it amazes me. I thought that the lesson did not go so well, but my teacher thought that it went very well. I am realizing at times that I may be a bit too hard on myself, and I have to realize that eventhough I am still learning that I am doing a good job and I do know what I am doing. My teacher told me something that gave me quite a bit of confidence she told me that in her thirty years of teaching I am the best student teacher she has ever had. She told me that if she were a principal she would hire me on the spot. I was shocked to hear this, and it meant so much to me. It is nice to hear things like that when you are in a new country and being a new teacher to hear that you are doing something well. Knowing that my teacher believes in me and supports me has helped me so much throughout this experience.
After our writing activity we had morning tea, and then the children had swimming. I have the children who somewhat know how to swim but they are not confident swimmers. I work on floating skills, kicking skills, and breathing skills with them. I have the largest group and it is difficult at times but I am very pleased to say that the children listen very well while they are in the pool and do what is asked of them. My clothes always get soaking wet during swimming time becuase of all the splashing and everyone wants to show me what they can do, but I do not mind.
After swimming we had reading. I worked with our lower level readers and had them read with me (guided reading). I had the students that were not reading follow along with their fingers and point to the words. The more a child sees a word the more likely they are to know it and understand it. We also worked on reading with expression.
Then, it was time for maths. I had made up this fun game dealing with place value that the children absolutely loved. They were so well behaved and staying on task. It is interesting if you put a little bit of a spin on ordinary things how much the children will love it. We had a competition of who could work the hardest and quietest. No one got anything but children love the idea of competion and they were so quiet! I think the students are really starting to understand the concepts in maths and that is so exciting!