One last day of prepping before the kiddos come tomorrow. Everything is in its place and just waiting for the chaos of the first day of Kindergarten. My school had a meet and greet for grades 1-5 from 4:00-6:00 so there were lots of families going in and out of classrooms, dropping off supplies, and meeting teachers. Both of the other K teachers went home, but I am glad I happened to still be there working because several of my kiddos stopped in with their families and I was really happy to get a little more individual time. Since we don't have doors, they could have gone in the room even if I wasn't there, so I am glad I was there!
The kids that came enjoyed finding their seats, cubbies and mailboxes. I got to practice a little bit of Spanish and got a little taste of how some kids have no concept of what it means to be in school. A couple of the kids that came headed right for the little kitchen area and started playing so I made sure to empty it out until I actually introduce the materials and open it up for free choice time. I'm so mean!
Jill came and helped me again and I am so happy to have her help! I know I have said it before, but she rocks!
I am sure tomorrow will be a total flurry of chaos, excitement, and energy. Hopefully, no tears! I have my plans all set, but I am sure I will still wake up really early so I can have some time in the room before the kids start arriving. We are letting kids in whenever they arrive instead of holding them in the cafeteria until 8:10, so I am fairly certain that there will be some early birds who are excited to get their Kindergarten on!
Anyone else starting tomorrow? I feel like our first day is the latest!
I took Friday and Saturday off from most things teacher related. I worked out, had lunch with Jill, did some outlet shopping, and caught up on some shows that I didn't watch during the week. I also read a little bit, but not nearly as much as I hoped to. Maybe I will have a marathon reading session later and finish The Girl Who Kicked the Hornets' Nest!!!
This morning I finally started to flush out my morning and afternoon schedules (they are so different!) and plug in my activities for the first few days of school. I guess I shouldn't be too worried about getting bored by teaching the same things during both sessions because due to differences in when we have ELD and specials, the daily schedules are nothing alike! In the morning, I really like the schedule because the activities that the kids do with me are broken up by specials and ELD pullouts. I think there is a great balance between seated activities, carpet activities, and movement. During the afternoon, I have a larger block of time with my kiddos when they first come, but I also think that is good because they will get tired and worn out in the afternoon, so I would rather get all my important stuff accomplished and let them be tired for ELD and Specials (mwuahaha!).
Both schedules are very jam packed with activities and some time slots are only 10 minutes long. I am required to do 60 minutes of reading instruction which includes 30 minutes of Fast Track Phonics and 30 minutes of Treasures. Fortunately, we don't do all of the Treasures curriculum and mostly focus on a letter and word of the week, so I can incorporate those thirty minutes as my schedule allows. I just received my Heidi's Songs Sight Word Cd's which Kelly recommended (thanks Kelly!) so I am hoping to do a lot of active, fun activities that incorporate movement in order to get in some sight word practice. We have 10 minutes of push in Specials on 5 out of 6 days in our rotation, so I am going to talk with both the PE teacher and the Music teacher about incorporating content into their activities. That way we can learn and have fun (and not waste precious minutes!).
I feel like I am still going in somewhat blind, but it will take everyone a few weeks to get used to being in Kindergarten, so I am not the only one who will be experiencing some adjustments. I think that a lot of singing, an upbeat attitude, and a lot of patience (with both the kids and myself) will take me far this year.
I am organizing stories for the first week and figuring out what routines/procedures I want to embed within other activities so I can teach important stuff while still having the kids engaged in exciting, fun learning activities. My team shared a few activities that they always do during the first week, so I am working on making sure I fit them in while also structuring my sessions in a way that fits with how I want the classroom to operate. So far, I have managed to figure out schedules that include 10 minutes both at the very beginning and the very end of each session to allow time for a "morning greeting" and an afternoon wrap-up/story. I have been working my way through a few books that I purchased and definitely want to try out a morning meeting style gathering, but I have changed the name a little to morning greeting. I do not have time for all of the aspects of a traditional morning meeting, but the one part I feel strongly about including is a daily greeting. This contributes to all children being recognized and greeted each day and helps them learn each others' names. We also do a Star of the Week program which requires a time each day during which that child can share certain items with the group. I am hoping to also fit that in during that first 10 minutes each day. If kids are still trickling in, it's okay and hopefully everyone will be ready to go by the time I start Phonics. I really want to take the time to build a strong classroom community even though we are very short on time. Learning how to get along, share, cooperate, talk to one another, and be part of a team that cares for one another are all very important skills that should be developed in Kindergarten. We have become very academically focuses and there is little time left for play and "whole child" development, so I need to make sure to keep a balance and fight to keep that designated time in tact.
For anyone who is teaching Kinder and hasn't already started....these are some of the stories I am going to use during the first week. Special thanks to Roxanne from Books That Heal Kids for some great suggestions! If you haven't checked out her site, GO THERE NOW! She is stupendous!
I may also try to work in a story or two about difference or kids with special needs since I will have two students with special needs this year. I am very supportive of teaching kids to respect differences and educating kids about differences they may come across.
Today we had some more math training and at this point I am feeling like I just need to spend some time on my own digging into the lessons and figuring it out. I attended the two-day training last week and we have had an additional two sessions for staff members who did not opt to participate in that training since then. Most of what we have heard has been a repetition of what was already shared, so at this point it feels like a less than productive use of our time. I brought my manual home so I can read through the first few lessons this weekend. We also got brand new laptops today which feels extravagant considering all the budget deficits. I guess the money comes from a different budget and the district adopted a technology plan years ago that they are continuing to implement. Of course it's nice to be handed a brand new MacBook, yet I would have been fine using the other computer that was just 4 years old.
I spent most of the afternoon in my room just running around like a chicken with my head cut off. I feel like I am trying to keep track of 100 things all at once and I just hope I am doing the necessary things to be prepared on Wednesday. We did get together for some team planning, yet we just went over a few of the typical back to school activities that our kiddos will work on. I still need to flush out all of the different routines I want to teach, the stories I want to read, and what will happen when. I have a lot of work ahead of me to get all that thought out, prepared, and organized. I don't want to go in to work this weekend, but I will probably end up having to. I would much rather spend time working my way through some of the back to school books that I purchased in order to get ready that have been sitting around in my room collecting dust. Each day just seems to fly by and before I know it, it's time for bed and I haven't gotten everything done. I am so exhausted and I know that will only intensify once the kids come! Yikes!
I took a few more pictures in the room today, but nothing is looking majorly different. I am just finishing up little projects here and there and trying to make everything just right.
name tags and supplies are all set
a few more touches added to the wall (days of week & calendar)
view of our carpet area
I hung the beach ball lights above the writing table for some extra inspiration!
love them!
In other news...my niece was born this morning at 3:31 am weighing in at 8 pounds 9 ounces. She is beautiful and both she and her mama are doing well!
Whew! Our Kindergarten Back to School Night, or "Meet and Greet" was tonight and it was a blur of cute kiddos and parents. It is so hard to actually remember everyone since I have 42 students and I was trying to move them all through my line so people at the end didn't have to wait too long. The kiddos were all super adorable and I can't wait to get to know them better. I thought I would be shocked by how little they are, but they are just too cute! There are a few in particular that are just to die for! Hopefully they are all perfect angels, right?
We checked to make sure that our information on how each child will get home is correct and then we sent each family to the classroom to drop off their supplies, get a photo of the child, and pick up their information packet. Fortunately I color coded everything so I could keep my two sessions straight! After we checked everybody in, we did a presentation in the cafeteria to give the parents some more information about Kindergarten while the kids took a ride on the bus. It was a busy night and I am excited for school to start!
That wasn't the most exciting part of the day though...I got a call from my mom and my sister-in-law's water broke a few hours ago, so she is on her way to the hospital to deliver baby #2! They already have a daughter and I can't wait to see pictures of my second niece! Yay!
I know I should be tired, but I am a bit wired from all the excitement of today. I will probably stay up until I hear that the baby has been born. So exciting!
Can I just start by saying that I heart Jill!! I know I helped her out a lot last year getting her classroom and materials ready, but technically it was my job and I was getting paid (although not very much). She has been the most wonderful help to me these past few weeks. Good friends are hard to find and she is a gem! Thanks Jill!
Today was all about getting ready for Back to School Night, cleaning up the room, organizing, getting the bus lists ready, copying letters and calendars, laminating, figuring out scheduling, trying to read the specials schedule and getting to know some of my new staffers. I had a very long conversation with the music teacher and he is so nice! Overall it was quite a productive day and I think the room is ready for kids (ready for them to come for a brief visit with their parents at least...ready for me to actually teach is another story!)
I thought I would take a chance and send out an email asking if anyone had a big book stand they weren't using and one of the third grade teachers replied saying that yes, she does have one and that I can use it this year. SCORE! I was going to use my funds from the PSO to get one, but they are not cheap, so I am really thrilled at her generosity. Now, I won't have to struggle when I do read alouds with the big books and I can have a big book work station during rotation time.
Tomorrow we an all district meeting and we get to hear about the insurance options and all that good stuff and then there is a meeting with our union and contract negotiation team. It is a lot of hard work to get that done and I don't envy anyone who is on that team. Lots of long nights and head butting over wording and any/all proposed changes. We also get some more time for training with our new math curriculum and then it's time to meet my kiddos. I now have 21 in each session and I got two IEP's today for kiddos who will both be in my AM session. I am excited to have them as part of the group and eager to speak with the Learning Specialist about meeting their needs. Hopefully those numbers will stay where they are! 21 is a good number even if the boy/girl ratios are off.
My computer battery is about to die, so I am going to head upstairs to plug in and hit the sack! I deserve a good night sleep. Hubby is heading back to Germany after a week in New York for the US Open and I am crossing my fingers that maybe his boss has decided to send him here to visit the US office (and me!)
For the second year in a row, I joined the ranks of the newbies on a teaching staff. I don't consider myself super shy or anything and often I actually really like attention :0), yet being the new kid on the block is always weird. I was actually not the only new person joining the staff, but I am the only new classroom teacher. The PE teacher is new and there is a new ELL teacher in addition to some other non-teacher staff members. We did a few ice breaker activities so that the newbies could "get to know" the staff, but remembering more than 30 new names after playing a simple game is hard! I have the second grade team down, so I will consider that a victory.
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!
