The principal is nice and all business. Well, not all business, but the woman knows how to stick to an agenda which I can appreciate. She mentioned that one of her professional goals this year is to do more observations, but very brief visits followed by brief conversations about instruction so that she can visit each classroom more frequently. I am all for having the principal drop in because I am happy to share what I am doing and I am never afraid to get feedback on my teaching/lessons.
After we did the in-service/get reacquainted thing, we met with our teams to review reading data and then we had the rest of the day to work in our rooms. My room is looking pretty ready. I started to label a few things, but I want to at least wait until after our Back to School night this Wednesday to really put the finishing touches on because my classes may change and I may find out that certain kids have nicknames. Speaking of my classes, I now have 21 in my AM session and 22 in my PM session. The boy/girl ratios are really funky. There are 13 boys/8 girls in one group and then 14 girls/8 boys in the other group (or something close to that). I am not too sure how that is going to work out, but I know that many families request to have either the AM or PM session (whichever works best with their schedule) so they are having a tough time honoring those requests and keeping the classes even. I realize that I need to view my classes as separate entities and I may need to be more active in the afternoon versus the morning or I may need to structure activities differently when I have more boys versus more girls. It will be interesting to meet them on Wednesday and see what they are like! My teaching partner said I have some cuties and she mentioned a few "pistols."
Now, for some pictures!!
I added the color words to my rainbow train
I changed up my instructional wall a bit to include the stuff from the new math adoption. I had fish number cards 1-30 along the bottom before, but we are supposed to have the 120 chart and the "number parade" for our daily math routine. I actually really liked the daily practice routine we were taught during training and I think it will be great! The flip chart on the little table is also for the new math adoption.
The 120 chart uses a different approach than most number charts because 1) it goes to 120 so kids know how to transition beyond 100 (the trainer said kids tend to go from 100 to 200) and 2) the numbers go vertically instead of horizontally. Even though we are using this in Kinder to practice counting, it is building the foundation for place value because we make vertical tens.
I found some good things in my storage unit, like these plastic drawers, that add some extra storage. I am not using all of my teaching materials from first grade so I am trying not to unpack everything since it will just take up space. I am trying to keep my stuff really organized so I have some extra math supplies, stuffed animals, and stickers in these drawers.
I doubt my desk will ever be this clean once school starts! I set up the computer that was already in the room, but apparently we are all getting new laptops this week. Exciting, yet I wish those funds could be spent on teachers or full day Kindergarten...I know they come from different budgets, but still....
Tomorrow I am going to work on my attendance chart and my station labels. I decided to change my idea about having the kids put shells and starfish in buckets for attendance so it will look a bit different than I originally planned. Stay tuned for more pics!
4 comments:
I am glad your first day went well! Your room looks great!! I have to say you and I have very similar philosophies regarding principal visits! I know several teachers who HATE for them to stop by feeling like they are out to catch them doing something wrong rather than looking to them for instructional advice! One thing that stood out to me when doing my graduate work was that a principal is the principal TEACHER!! I think sometimes people forget that they were teachers too!!
The room is looking great :) I remember being a new teacher and it was definitely overwhelming, especially because I felt like everyone knew my name and I didn't know them haha.
In response to your thoughts on the principal dropping in- I don't mind either, I wish mine would come in more often. However, Jen mentioned principals used to be teachers...mine sort of did but not really, she was a science teacher who just popped in and did lessons occasionally. This comes out sometimes in her understanding of our jobs and responsibilities...
Your room looks fantastic! No worries about being the newbie - you've got everything so under control you're SURE to have a completely successful year! Good luck!
LOVE the color train! And I recognize the Math Expressions materials! :) We started it last year and the kids really learned from it. Beware, though: it's VERY VERY repetitive. You will get bored if you do Math Expressions all the time. I followed it strictly, but I did math stations everyday instead of whole group. I had one group on the rug (usually doing something from Math Exp. or teaching a new game. My TA had a group at a table (always doing Math Exp. - using those little tiles and purple numbers). There was also an indiv. station where they did some sort of non Math Expressions activity most of the time.....just to liven things up.
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