Kinder Assessments

Oh the joys of assessments...

It's hard enough to fit in all the instruction, but then we have to use ample amounts of time to check in with kiddos one at a time in order to assure they are mastering the skills we are teaching. I actually really enjoy those 1:1 check-ins, yet of course working with one child at a time means finding something for the rest of the kiddos to do that they can do independently and quietly...

My team uses a Kindergarten Assessment to check in with kiddos with regards to what we are teaching and we also do assessments that go along with our phonics program. 

Now, the state of OR is going to add a Kindergarten assessment to evaluate incoming Kindergarten students with the aim or improving Kindergarten readiness skills in pre-K programs. We received an email a few weeks ago about an information session that is going on this evening so Mrs. Bee and I are going to check it out. Apparently the assessment will be piloted next school year in 10 or 15 schools and then it will be state wide in 2013. 

I am not really sure what info we'll get tonight, but I really like the idea of assessing the kids prior to placing them in classes as a way to ensure that there is a mixture of academic levels in each class. I am not sure if the intention is to assess prior to placement or not, so I am really interested to listen at this session tonight and find out the plan.

I'm curious...how do you assess your incoming Kindergarten students and when? 

I can't imagine having to complete a required assessment in the fall as one of the first tasks in Kindergarten. That time should be spent teaching routines and procedures and getting into the groove with the class. I can't imagine having to pull kids one at a time and leave the others to work on something else when expectations and routines are not yet in place. I like the idea of somehow conducing the assessments prior to the start of the school year and it seems like that would be a great way to meet kids and their parents on a more individual basis. Our supply drop can be so crazy (especially with two classes) that I never feel like I get to have an actual conversation with anyone, yet that is the first time we get to meet each other.

I will be sure to fill you in on what I learn tonight!

Heidi

You all have heard of Heidi, right? As in Heidi's Songs? LOVE her. This year I purchased two more of her sight word song CD's so that we now have a song to accompany almost every sight word we cover throughout the year. I LOVE how the kids take to the songs and sing them when it's time for writing. I am by NO MEANS musical myself, but that's one of the benefits of teaching Kindergarten--they don't judge!

So last night I got an email advertising Heidi's new CD with Classroom Management Songs.

::swoon::

Just by reading the titles of the songs, I am already in love with this CD and plan to order it as soon as I finish this post.

Check out these gems...

Music titles include:
1: Back Pack Boogie
2: Follow the Rules
3: When the Bell Rings, Freeze!
4: The Tattling Song
5: No Interrupting
6: Outside Voices, Inside Voices
7: Please and Thank You
8: Is It a Question or a Story?
9: Cover Your Mouth
10: Blow Your Nose
11: The Potty Dance
12: Potty, Potty, Flush, Flush
13: Right Hand, Left Hand
14: Red, White. and Blue
15: The Days of the Week
16: Months of the Year
17: Criss Cross. Applesauce
18: The Tracing Song
19: The Cutting Song
20: The Glue Song
21: Snap That Cap
22: Just Try Your Best
23: The Smarty Pants Dance
24: Line Up
25: I Love My Lunchbox
26: Bonus Track: We Don’t Fight!


I just love the title of Track #8..."Is it a question or a story"...HAHAHAHA. That cracks me up. How many times does a Kinder kiddo raise his/her hand and tell you they have a question...then they roll into this detailed account of seeing a squirrel at their grandmother's house or something....I envision some *kind* redirection with that little ditty next year.  

But seriously, when I read through the song titles, I can just tell that I will use many of them next year (provided I am teaching Kindergarten).  When the Bell Rings, Freeze! Yes please! For some reason, if it's said in a song, it is remembered, so I am all over that one!

Speaking of next year, I just found out that we will no longer be using Fast Track Phonics next year.... I am SO sad about this and a bit annoyed too. Apparently our contract with the company is up so in order to continue using their products we need to renew with additional training which is expensive and with ensuing budget cuts we can't afford it. So, I am not sure what we will be using, but apparently we have to let go of FT. My team LOVES that program, so there may be some secret "unofficial" program usage. It is such a great program and the kids are so successful with it. It sucks that money stands in the way of our students getting educated with a great program that works!

In other news I have an official date for my dissertation proposal defense. June 8th is the big day! I am beyond excited for this presentation/defense and cannot wait to do it. My power point presentation is pretty much ready and so basically at this point I have to submit my paper to the committee two weeks prior to the defense (this Friday) and then they have a chance to read it before my presentation. Then I present a summary of the paper to them and they ask me questions about my intended research and if they like what I say, I pass!

YAY!

I found out the other day that the paperwork to appoint my dissertation committee was processed a whole lot faster than I was told it would be. Woo hoo! I was told it would take 6 weeks minimum and it only took about 1. Thank goodness because I was getting really worried about not being able to start collecting data until the fall. This way, I can utilize my free time over the summer! My proposal draft is pretty much done so all that needs to happen now is my committee needs to agree on a date and time for me to present. Hopefully everyone will be available to do it in early June. It's so weird that now I have to take childcare into consideration when planning my defense date! I am hoping that I get a 3-5 PM time slot and then Mr. Sneaker can just leave work early that day (if he is in town) and be with Grace while I get my academia on.

Baby Sneaker was a champion napper yesterday and allowed me to get a lot of work done. Mr. Sneaker has been out of town for business so I have been doing the single mom thing this week. I feel very lucky to have a great baby that is a good little sleeper, but obviously it's much harder to get stuff done when taking care of her is a priority. Her long nap in the pack and play yesterday was clutch and I feel like my proposal, my Human Subjects application, my abstract, and my power point presentation are all pretty much done. Woo hoo!

I felt so accomplished after all that work that I was motivated to go on my first post baby run. I ran 26 minutes with the BOB stroller and Baby Grace slept through it all (even after that other long nap!). I love my jogging stroller and feel like jogging with baby in tow is the only way to get in exercise these days. My goal is to work my way back up to a 10K by my birthday which is June 26th.

Incredible

Wow. That is just about all I can say...

My colleague just called me to let me know that our grant application for iPads was approved.

That means every single Kindergarten student at our school will have his/her own iPad next year to use in the classroom!!!!!

The possibilities of what we can do with this are endless :0)

In other news, I brought baby Grace to school yesterday so my students could see her. They were so excited and so cute. They loved her painted toe nails. They were so curious to see what color her eyes are because she was asleep. And, they were SO excited to tell about all of their missing teeth! It was really nice to visit with all my little friends and to see my friend Jill doing such a fabulous job with them.

Some of my favorite comments...

I wish I could pet her like a dog (and that was from a 5th grader passing by)
She has pretty blue eyes...like you!
How do you know she's a girl?
Do you have her food with you? (I am breastfeeding so that one made me chuckle as I replied that yes, I did have her food with me)
Are you going to be our teacher tomorrow?

Appreciation

Happy Teacher Appreciation Week!!

Right now Baby Sneaker is cuddled up against me in a Moby wrap. Thank goodness for baby products that allow mommies to use both hands while still getting good cuddle time with their babies. The Moby is complicated to wrap/tie, but once it's on, I get a few hours of time to get things done while Baby Sneaker sleeps. I sent this picture to my staff this morning. I miss the friends and other teachers from school, yet at the same time my life is filled with a new contentment that I never imagined having from being in my house all day. It's not like I am home all day everyday and never leave the house, but being an at home mom for the time being certainly is a lot different than being a busy working lady. But I love it. There is a fabulous sense of schedule-free happiness that doesn't exist when I am working. Teachers operate on on such a tight schedule at school and I feel like I thrive on schedules, but it's really nice to go with the flow a bit more. Baby Sneaker rules the roost and we do things according to what she wants when she wants. Eventually, when she is old enough, we will have more of a schedule, but for now, I am enjoying a bit of aimlessness. I will make a plan of a few things I want to get accomplished each day, but if they don't get done, I don't worry about it. 

I finished reading Multiplication is for White People and I really enjoyed it. I found a couple of great quotes and points to add to the literature review in my paper. Although Lisa Delpit focuses on meeting the needs of Black students, her points apply to my thoughts about culturally and linguistically diverse students as well. Now all I need is for 10 teachers from my district to be just as interested in the topic as I am so my class can run this summer!!!

I worked a bit on the abstract for my dissertation proposal last night. I have class next weekend and it's due. I have also been working on the Human Subjects application and the proposal draft here and there whenever I get time. I think I am in a good place considering I probably won't be able to defend until fall so my plan is to just continue refining it until it's time to present and defend. 

I have been hearing awesome things about the book 50 Shades of Gray. I haven't purchased it for my Kindle yet because from the sounds of it, I will get sucked in and won't do anything else until I finish reading it...Have you read it?? What did you think? Scandalous??

a month

Baby Sneaker was one month old yesterday!

Not a single person has registered for my class on culturally responsive instruction. Boo! I have sent out emails trying to get people interested, but no luck so far. Only about 17 people have registered total for all of the classes, so it's not like I am the only one who doesn't have a lot of participants so far, but I am still bummed. I tried to teach the course last summer and didn't get enough people to register ( I need a minimum of 10) and I am thinking maybe the same thing will happen this year....I have to figure out how to get people inspired to register!

In doctoral news, the paperwork has been filed to appoint my committee, but unfortunately it takes up to 6 weeks to process that within the university. My lead adviser is leaving the country June 14th so it is very likely that I won't be able to defend my proposal until fall term because not much happens over the summer since professors often take the summer off to travel  etc. I was REALLY hoping to defend before Baby Sneaker was even born, so waiting until fall is really bumming me out. I am hopeful that things will move more quickly at PSU, so I can defend before school is out and start data collection over the summer, but it really looks like that won't happen. I am really proud of myself for following through with the parts I am responsible for, so I guess I just have to go with the flow and try not to get frustrated with the university timelines that take so long....

 

In other news, I officially put in a request to go part time starting in the fall. I am very hopeful that I can just drop the PM class and continue teaching AM Kindergarten at my same school. I feel like teaching two Kinder sessions puts me in the best possible situation to go half time and continue in somewhat of the same position, but I know that it is possible I will have to switch schools or do a different position. My principal was pretty much on my same page when I spoke with her earlier in the year, so it is likely I will be able to stay at my school and teach Kinder, but it's one of those situations that may change, so I have to wait and see what will happen. Bottom line, I want to have some time with my baby so I don't want to work full time and if that means I have to make a change in my job situation then I have to be willing to do that in order to get what I want for my child. FINGERS CROSSED I can stay in the same classroom in the same school and just teach AM instead of AM and PM!!!!

Happy Teacher Appreciation Day/Week to everyone!!!

Update

The Sneaker family is all moved into our house and out of our too small apartment. We are so happy to be back in our home and life has been quite busy since moving day with unpacking, organizing, and taking care of Baby Sneaker.

 I am beyond thrilled with my new office area in our upstairs room. My old office became Baby Sneaker's nursery, so I moved upstairs and Mr. Sneaker had an entire wall of bookshelves installed for me :0)

 This photo was taken before we moved in and before the carpet was installed

 (we rented our house for two and a half years while we were in Germany, so we had a lot of work/fixing up done prior to moving back in).

I am happy to report that all of my teaching books have finally been reunited. When I moved to Germany many were left in storage. When I moved back from Germany, many went to my classroom since there was more space there than in the room I was renting from my friend. Now that we are back in the house, I have the entire collection on my lovely new shelf. And, of course, they are nicely organized by topic/theme. 

Reading and Writing on the bottom

Multicultural Education and Culturally Responsive Instruction above that

Doctoral Work and course books above that

Psychology, SPED, and general teaching books above that

and then travel guides and language books on top

I heart my shelves!

 I hope that once life settles down I will get back to posting a bit more frequently, but I've been slacking lately. This little gem takes up a lot of my time...