Ideas

I am currently reading two "teacher books" since they have been sitting on my bookshelf in my summer reading pile for quite a few weeks now and I have been neglecting them for my fluffy romance novels. I finished up One Fifth Avenue today by Candance Bushnell (author of Sex and the City) and decided that it was time for some more intellectual reads.

Both of these are comprised of different articles on the subject matter and I am slowly making my way through each one with highlighter in hand and Post-it flags close by. I keep coming across passages to which I think, YES! when I read, so I highlight and flag away knowing that when it comes time to write my dissertation, theses meaningful words will come in handy.

As I was reading, I got to a part that discussed talking with parents about literacy and involving the entire family in the children's literacy and learning. I was thinking that it might be fun to invite families to join me at the library on a Saturday in order to sign their children up for library cards. It would be a great way to spend a little bit of time with the kids and their families and I would love to know that the families are utilizing the free resources at the local public library. Maybe I could even do this once a month to continuously encourage families to check out books so they are available at home on a regular basis. I know the library puts on some good events, so I plan to familiarize myself with the programs they have and encourage my students and their families to participate.

I was also thinking of doing a guest reader program again ( I experimented with this during my first year of teaching) and inviting older siblings, parents, and grandparents to come in and read a story to the class (maybe every Friday?). I just feel like I will be so short on time with the half day Kinder schedule. According to the schedule my team member gave me, there is about 10 minutes for a story and/or student of the week which apparently includes pack up time...that seems near impossible to me. I contemplated having an extended story time that allows kids to stay after/come early, but that would then require parents to bring them/pick them up because that activity would be before/after the bus routes. I think that some parents would be willing, yet not all parents are available to come to school so I would be afraid it would exclude the kiddos who need to take the bus to and from school.

I am trying to come up with some fun ways to buy myself more time with the kiddos because I don't think there is enough time built in the schedule for read alouds and story time. That is sad!

What kinds of creative literacy activities do you do with your students?

Do you use guest readers? Who was the most popular guest reader?

Outlaw Glitter

I have successfully shrunk the pile of the interesting tidbits I tore from Instructor Magazine that I wanted to share with you all. My goal was to post about them so I could get rid of all the torn out pages that have been hanging out on my table. I am going to start labeling these posts "Ideas" so I can search them when I am looking for these ideas in the future and that will be a tidier "for future reference" system.

This next one is called Outlaw Glitter and 21 more rules for teachers... just some silly stuff that you might relate to! (my additional comments are italicized--everything else was in the article and to be honest I had more fun writing those comments than reading the 22 rules....!!)

1. As many crayons as you think you need, double it. (agreed!)

2. Pack a lunch--school cafeterias are not created with adults' tastes or metabolisms in mind!

3. Buy plain band-aids.

4. Invest in a really good thermos--it may be possible to teach without coffee, but we don't even want to know!

5. Please do not lick the paintbrushes. (???)

6. Cherish kids' excuses.

7. Think twice before you get out the glitter. (I heart glitter and at least at school I am not responsible for vacuuming..tee hee hee)

8. Teach them to walk in a straight line--teachers judge other teachers by how their kids walk in a straight line (my Kinder kiddos will be slithering, tip toeing, penguin walking, and creeping down the hallway---we'll walk with style!)

9. Keep a change of clothes in your car. ( I will never forget the comment under the "reason for leaving" column of our sign out sheet one day--a teacher wrote, "Kid puked on me.")

10. Sit in the back of the bus on field trips.

11. The professional development you want is rarely the PD you get.

12. Don't bring in treasured photos or souvenirs (or just teach your students how to respect them so you can share with them what is important to you!)

13.You will break up a fight in the boys' bathroom. (Doubtful)

14. The teachers' lounge is better and worse than everyone says.

15. Not every child will like you. (and you won't like every child...yeah I said it....)
 
16. When your students beg and plead for a class pet, it's okay to say no. Especially if it bites.

17. Choose books you like. (read with enthusiasm, don't be afraid to cry during sad stories, and be prepared for more tears when they clap at the end of a great story!)

18. You will get lice. (yuck!)

19. Your students will be shocked if they see you at Target. (They won't see me because I will hide...j/k!)

20. Don't beat yourself up if you have to use a bribe.

21. History will repeat itself.

22. Laugh (often!)

Ok, so some of these are pretty silly/weird/stupid, but some are actually pretty good gems of wisdom. I like #22 a lot and #11 has a lot of merit. I sure hope I can avoid #18 and I would change #20 to "don't beat yourself up if you have a bad day."

Do you have a funny story of needing an extra pair of clothes while at school? 

What piece of advice would you give a new teacher?