fast and groovy

I can't even express how fast time is going by. With the birth of my baby on the horizon (well 7 weeks away) and only 26.5 more work days before my maternity leave (yes I just counted), I feel like time is going by at warp speed. Everyday both of my classes just seem to fly by and before I know it the kids are getting on the bus. I am not complaining...you know you love what you do when the time goes by super fast, but at the same time, I am kind of sad that my time with these two groups will be coming to an end in the very near future.

Leaving before the end of the school year is so different than watching them board the buses on the last day of school. I am leaving before it's over...before they learn everything they are supposed to learn...and I feel like it will be weird when I am at home and they are at school doing their thing without me.

That being said, the kids are so in the groove of our routines and daily activities in the classroom-I know they will do great without me. I get to leave them in the very capable hands of my good friend Jill and they are just taking off in their skills.

We recently started journal writing and I am so impressed with what I am seeing. I felt like I started journals much later this year than I did last year and I was a bit worried because our post-test writing assessment showed very little improvement among my two groups. Mostly that is because the objective changes between the fall pre-test and the winter post-test so it's more difficult for kids to be considered proficient. And also because the writing assessment we are asked to give them prompts them to write  a story which is something we have never even worked on...not cool. But, since that post test, we have begun learning about writing in journals and their work is fabby.

Each time we write I model by writing in my own journal and repeat the important things I want to see:

• date at the top
• sentence starting with an uppercase letter
• spaces in between the words
• sight words spelled correctly (which they can do because of all of the Heidi's songs we sing and having the words posted on the word wall)
• period at the end of the sentence

It makes me happy to see most kids writing away-even the ones who aren't truly sounding out words phonetically quite yet. Most kids do a great job without me coaching them at all and even the kiddos who struggle can usually do a great job with some help sounding the words out of repeating the sentence they said they wanted to write. I just love seeing their kid writing and think that they are really going to be doing an impressive job by the end of the year. We are slowly getting used to writing more neatly, with spaces, and elaborating on our sentences. Last year I don't think I modeled as much and I really think that is helping a lot.

On the one hand I am really excited for these next 7 weeks to just get over and done with so I can have my baby in my arms, but on the other hand I am cherishing the time I have left with these groups. They are really great this year and I will miss them!