Goodbye Weston Prep!

Today marks the official end of my placement at Weston Preparatory Academy in Detroit because my Log Sheet has been signed!

It was a wonderful placement, but I am excited to use what I have learned this semester in my future placements!

My New Puppy!

This is my new puppy Selena, she's an 8 week old German Shepherd and oh so sweet!

Another Useful Website

Another website I'll share here is aplusmath.com.  

The students in my placement use the the "Flashcard" portion of the site for practice with adding, subtracting, clock-reading, and rounding.

More About Me

I forgot to mention a few of my other favorites! 

My favorite food are pierogies.  My family sometimes makes them for holidays, and pierogies taste best when they are homemade!

My favorite colors are purple, pink, green and blue.

My favorite book series is Harry Potter by J.K. Rowling.

My favorite television shows are: The Office, Sherlock (BBC), Grimm, and Magnum P.I. 

My Second Placement - so far

My second placement is located at Weston Preparatory Academy in Detroit, MI.

So far, I have visited three times and so far and it has been great!  I have observed a lot of MEAP test preparation.  Which helped greatly with providing the links in the previous post, and will help when I need to prepare my future students.  Hopefully, as I get further into my placement I will be able to gain even more experiences and observations.

My First Placement

Here is a brief summary of my first placement experience.

I was placed at Halfman Elementary in Madison Heights, MI.  In a second grade classroom.

While there I observed: assessments, comprehension work, grammar, reading and Everyday math.

My experiences include: reading to the class, leading oral reading activities, organized and presenting an Valentine's Day craft (which I found on Pinterest and had originally came from a craft blog) for the class to make, and teaching a lesson on Equal Groups.


 
Overall, my first placement was wonderful.  I will never forget the teacher who gave me so many opportunities to, not only help around the class, but to stand in front of the class and lead.

More about the things I love (outside of school)...

Here are a couple videos of my cute and funny cousins at our favorite place, these are from the "Sage Lake Chronicles" that can be found on YouTube.

 

Helpful Websites

Although, I am only on my second placement.  I have found and have been introduced to some excellent websites.  Here are a few:

1. Pinterest  -- This site is great for finding links to cute crafts, ideas for lessons, ideas for organization, and so much more.  It's an excellent resource!
2. Beth Newingham's website -- I always wondered why my cousin separated the books in her class library by genre, series, topic, and so forth.  After exploring Newingham's website, I learned the strategy behind the library organization.
3. Freeology.com -- This website was recommended to me by my first placement teacher after I asked where she found her Hamburger Paragraph organizer.  This site is full of free templates and graphic organizers for teachers.
4. Dollar Tree -- My first placement teacher also suggested finding less expensive teaching supplies at the dollar store (the Dollar Tree has a fairly nice teaching section).
5. Really Good Stuff -- My current placement teacher suggested this site for teaching supplies.
6. Oriental Trading  -- A family friend and my current placement teacher also suggested Oriental Trading for inexpensive teaching supplies.

Some nice educational website that I have found and/or used are:

1.  National Geographic -- When I was in Elementary school I loved reading National Geographic magazines in the school library.  Now students can go to the website and interact with the information.
2. Brittanica -- Before I had access to Kresge Library databases (in my K-12 years), the easiest way to research was to look up everything in a Encyclopedia.  This was a very useful tool to have.
3. Merriam-Webster's Dictionary -- This website is another great tool, as it always helps to have a dictionary around.  I even have the App on my phone. 
4. Citation Machine --  This site is great for helping with citing sources for a paper or project.
5. Sheppard Software -- The students at my current placement school use this site, and the educational games on it, for MEAP preparation.  It is a fun site and the students love it.
6. Reading Eggs -- This is another site that my current placement students are using for MEAP preparation.  The site is divided by age and skill level and contains many educational games that the students love.
7. Study Island -- This site is for assessing the level that students are at in a certain topic.  I used this site in Middle School for MEAP preparation (as my placement students are doing so now).  There is games, but the site is mostly assessments.
8. Career Cruising -- This site is useful for researching jobs, taking interest assessments, learning about colleges around the country and building a resume.  I first used this site in Middle School and later in High School -- I loved learning about what people do at their job.
9. Microsoft Office Templates -- I like this because I can find a template for just about anything.  If I want to make a brochure and I don't like the preloaded templates, I can go to this website and find a really good one.
10. PBS Kids -- There are many interactive games for reading or math that young students can play on this site.  My favorite part of this website is for the show Zoom -- where anyone can print out activities or experiments that can be performed at home.

About Me

So, as you already know my name is Amanda Marshalek and I am Junior at Oakland University in the Elementary Education program!  But what you may not know is:

I look like this:

I'm 21 years-old.
I went to Avondale High School and graduated in 2010.

I love reading, listening to music, taking pictures, shopping, hanging out with my friends, going to the movies, and all things Disney.

My favorite places on Earth are: Disney World, the Smoky Mountains, the Upper Peninsula, and my Aunt's cottage (where the above picture was taken).
And I LOVE teaching!

Here are some more pictures that I took of the places and things I love:

 It is hard to see, but that is Cinderella's Castle at the left side of the picture.  This was taken with our family's first digital camera in 2004.

 The Mighty Mackinac Bridge!

 View from the Sky Lift in Gatlinburg, TN.

 

The view from a scenic driving tour in the Smoky Mountains.

 

 A picture of me and my brothers at Clingman's Dome (also at the Smoky Mountains) taken in 2002.

 A lovely sunrise taken from the dock at my Aunt's cottage.

The Dam just down the street from my Aunt's cottage.

 

 A family picture taken at the Marshalek Road sign (named after my dad's family that used to live there) in Bessemer, Michigan -- which is located in the Upper Peninsula near the Michigan/Wisconsin border.

Hello!

Hey Readers!

My name is Amanda Marshalek.  I am a Junior at Oakland University in Rochester, Michigan and my major is Elementary Education!

My goal for this blog is to:
A) introduce myself; B) document some of my classroom experiences; and C) record the resources I use, have used in the past, and that have been recommended to me throughout my journey through Oakland's excellent teaching program! 

Enjoy! :)