To TEach Their Own

I’m busy again!

I haven’t had a moment to catch my breath with all the beginning of the year paperwork, trainings, paperwork, back-to-school shopping, paperwork, organizing/setting up the classroom, paperwork, open house, paperwork, meetings, paperwork, lesson plans, paperwork, emergency sub folders, paperwork, parent back to school night, oh, and did I mention paperwork?

I cannot get over how much paperwork there is at the beginning of the year. Talk about killing trees! Just when you think it’s all over… you get another whole checklist of things that need to be sent home, signed, collected, added to the folders, photocopied, put in another file. Will it ever end?!

Despite all of the hustle and bustle of the first few weeks back to school, I currently have 19 adorable 4 year olds! They are wonderful. I will say after opening countless milk cartons, ketchup packets and tying who knows how many shoes… I do miss the independence my 5th graders had. I am even missing some of the content we got to cover, but my Pre-K’s are just the sweetest!

They were so ready to start school. I could not believe how excited they all were. All but one that is. One of my babies cried the ENTIRE first week of school. He screamed from the time he was dropped off until the time he was picked up. I am happy to report that as of Friday he hardly even asks if/when his mom is coming to get him anymore.

Aside from that I haven’t had too many issues within the classroom although I know everyone is still getting adjusted. I am anticipating a few issues but nothing major from what I can see so far! I have a couple chatters who are very, VERY busy. I also have one sassy little thing who is probably going to be the most stubborn child I’ve ever had the pleasure of working with. Truth be told, God had to make them cute to make them lovable and these 3 I’m referring to are 3 of the cutest darn kiddos I’ve ever seen!

After 2 (short) weeks of getting to know you and expectations we just started in with content material yesterday. Our theme right now is “All About Me”. We’re talking about ourselves, our senses, keeping our bodies healthy, and our families. This week we’re focusing on Grandparent’s and making a cute thumbprint flower picture for Grandparent’s Day. We’re also working on the letter I, the number 1 and circles. With our “About Me” theme comes name recognition and practice. We will be working on that in depth for a few weeks. Next comes the Apple theme which I am really excited about! I miss living in New England this time of year though, because sadly there aren’t any apple orchards or anything around here! So far, so good though. I really love that even though is NOT fun to wake up at 5 AM for anything, that I do not dread going to work. When I get there I don’t watch the clock for anything other than keeping us on track! I truly love how fast paced the early childhood grades are. We switch activities so quickly it really makes the day move for all of us!

How has/have the first days/weeks been for everyone? What are your students like? Do you have a good mix? Parents who home school have you started lessons yet? Any themes lined up?

All in all it has been a whirlwind of a beginning and I am so excited for the rest of the year to unfold. I promised to bring up the good, the bad, and the ugly… and I will. Here are some major things/frustrations that have happened in just my few very SHORT weeks back to school that I will be touching on in the next couple days!

1. Paperwork
2. Principal on Maternity Leave
3. My Personal School District Frustration
4. New Schedule x’s 2
5. Bus Route/School Consolidation Disaster
6. No Student Computers/Broken Computers STILL in the Classroom Taking Up Already Limited Space
7. NO TECHNOLOGY…internet/email/server
8. NO PHONES…at all
9. No Funds/Short on supplies ALREADY?!

Anyone else having similar issues? I know I haven’t gone into detail yet but I’m sure that list sparks some stories in a few of you at least! I keep telling myself it is all about the KIDS. I’m here for my students and really nothing else. There is always going to be something and it’s always going to be hard to look past… but we’re teachers and we will, because at the end of the day, it’s all about the kids.

HOWEVER we are human and I think it is perfectly acceptable for others to know what kinds of things we have to deal with as educators. We need to be able to vent somewhere and remember everyone is entitled to his/her own opinion… we just need to express it appropriately To TEach Their Own. Right? But really, I just like to know I’m not alone in my struggles as I’m sure many new (and old) teachers alike feel the same.

Happy Back-to-School everyone!

As school is fast approaching I find my sleep is diminishing. My mind is a constant flow of thoughts and I am suffering from a bad case of the what-ifs. I am very excited for this year to start, while still trying to hold onto my last couple weeks being (somewhat) worry free! I have finally settled on a classroom theme and have spent most of my days surfing the internet, Pinterest and TpT mostly. I’m trying to make some of my own things, and also not reinventing the wheel on others. I’m going to be using a clip chart system this year. Has anyone used one before? Do you find that it is effective?

My theme is: CAMP!

I was going to do a North Woods type theme, because I wanted to infuse a little bit of home in there… so I feel like this is perfect. I’m going to have M.O.O.S.E. (Managing Our Organizational Skills Everyday) books as my home/school communication tool. I have some cute titles for display boards, as well as other areas of the room. Hopefully it will all come together the way I am envisioning. It’s a bit hard to get a good feel for it yet though because I will be in a different room this year. The layout is the opposite of what mine was last year and because I’ll be teaching a younger grade I have an outside door, a bathroom and counter space in the room.

I’ve also been doing some back to school shopping. I’m trying not to go real crazy since I haven’t gone through anything in my room yet– and I was told I shouldn’t need much, if anything, but who doesn’t like to get a few new things for a new year? Anyway, I was wandering around Wal-Mart looking for fabric (apparently my Wal-Mart doesn’t sell fabric!) and found a section of teaching supplies for 88 cents! I stocked up on first week name tags, stickers, ink pads, stamps, birthday badge stickers and certificates!

For anyone JUST starting out (with no supplies at all) or planning to HOME SCHOOL, now would be a GREAT time to stock up on a few things. For the younger kids also in the 88 cent section they had Weather/Calendar Charts like you would see at any morning meeting, Large Sentence Strips, Flash Cards for colors, shapes & letter recognition. They even had some white boards with sentence strips on them for practice with handwriting!

For the older student they had flashcards for Addition, Subtraction, Multiplication & Division. I’m sure I saw a few other things, but my main focus was on Pre-K. Not the best quality, but it’s a start and can get things going.

Anyone who is crafty… I have been religiously visiting the blog Classroom DIY. I have made personal white boards for my students with card stock, sheet covers & fun duct tape– as well a couple flip chutes! I plan to use the white boards for whole group instruction as well as small group, and the flip chutes during small group and centers times. I plan on making a few more things as well. But it’s a start for now!

I hope everyone is relaxing as much as possible. Beware, however, because the Back to School countdown is definitely underway. Who knew that I’d be as anxious for the beginning as I was for the END?

Today I made my first trip to school since the last day.  I had to reset my email password and I was interested in checking out my students scores from their end of the year tests. I’m pleased and disappointed. I expect that will always be the way. I also received some information about my evaluation process I will go through next year. Looking through the thick packet, I’m getting nervous. I hope I do well, and I really hope I pass.

I found out while at school I’ll have to go back a week earlier than I expected for a training. I’m excited to get back in the swing of things but can’t believe that my summer is almost over. I had so many things I wanted to do and I guess I’m already getting that unprepared feeling. Does anyone else get that?

Has anyone done back to school shopping yet? Any good sales coming up?

What does everyone do to get themselves ready?

Parents that home school, when do you start back in? Do some of you just keep going all year?

Any tips on preparing for the first year in Pre-K?

The other day I noticed I got extra money in my paycheck. I was really confused, because if you get extra money from a school… it’s abnormal. I checked my school email to see if anyone had caught onto this mistake. I spotted an email from my principal who was listing off some updates for us all. At the bottom of the message, she noted that a few people would see a small amount of money put into their account this pay period. She said, “If you received an extra sum of money– congratulations to you! 50% or more of your students scored on grade level or higher on their end of the year state exams in either ELA or Math!”

My students came to me at varying levels (as many students do) but only about 3 of mine were working on grade level.

As a first year teacher in a grade I was not very comfortable with, I am so excited! I hope I am able to make accomplishments like this next year in Pre-K! I’m pleased to wrap up my 2011-2012 school year with some great news. I’m so proud of my kiddos!

What are other teachers doing this summer?

Have you started getting ready for next year yet?

Are any parents planning exciting trips with their children?

What activities do you have lined up to help your child get ready for next school year?

For as long as I can remember, I have loved school. My whole life has been surrounded by it. I played school with my friends.  When they weren’t available I taught a “classroom” full of stuffed animals, barbies and cabbage patch dolls.  I broke antennas off of boom boxes so I could have my very own pointer. Now, I have several of my own pointers. Yes, that is right, I am a teacher.

This year was my very first year teaching. Even though I had experience working with children, it was very different than what I expected. I came in as a 5th grade add-on teacher and this upcoming school year I will be going to Pre-k. I’ll be starting out the year, and lucky me, it is my evaluation year as well. It will be like being a first year teacher all over again. I’ll just have a bit of a leg up.

I decided to start this blog for quite a few reasons.

1. I want to highlight everything about education. The good, the bad and the ugly. It’s not always sunshine and rainbows. But it’s also not always dark and stormy. There are beautiful things about education as well as some things that really need to be fixed. Everyone has a different view point– students, parents, teachers, administration, school board, state, government… Not all of us will ever see eye to eye. I am very objective, and even though I may be a bit biased because I am a teacher– I will always try to explain how or why each party feels the way they do so maybe you can get a better understanding. I feel like many people are misinformed about education and I’d like to have discussions about those things.
2. I think holding discussions about the benefits of home vs. school with input from parents and teacher can help parents decide what is best for their child. Homeschooling, Public School or Private School. For those parents choosing home school, I’d like to give advice about how their child can get the most out of it.
3. HOT TOPICS. I mentioned noticing a lot of people being misinformed about education (their rights, standardized testing, I.E.P’s…etc) But what about the hot topics?!  The topics that SO many people want to voice their opinion about, but never get the chance to.  Anything that is brought up in the news… or just ongoing conversations [The Pledge, Sex Ed, Bullying... etc.]  I want to hear what YOU have to say about it!
4. In this blog I’d also like to give tips about how to keep kids active during long breaks from school, how to keep them learning and engaged. What parents can do at home, to help.
5. Finally, I thought it might be nice for first year teachers to see that they’re not alone in their struggles. Questions are meant to be asked, not kept to yourself– and no question is stupid, especially if you don’t know the answer. I’m willing to lay out my struggles, frustrations, questions, and successes [looking for help or suggestions myself] as well as providing insight to others going through [or about to go through] the same process, which is absolutely a labor of love.

What can you expect to see in this blog?

Tips, Learning Activities, Lessons, Ideas, Thoughts on The Good, The Bad & The Ugly of Education, Personal Experiences, Struggles and Successes.

What do I expect from you?

Participate! Ask Questions! Get involved! Speak your mind!

Everyone has a right to their own opinion when it comes to education…
…To TEach Their Own.