back to school

It is hard to believe that summer has come to an end (at least in teacher terms). Teachers started back on Thursday and our kiddos will show up bright eyed and bushy tailed (right?) on Monday. I personally started back about a week before it was mandated in an effort to get my classroom together. It isn't finished yet, there are some things that will require student involvement in order to get our walls filled up, others that will require teaching, and others still that simply require me to have more time. Until that time comes, take a look at my classroom as the students will see it on Monday morning (minus the changes that happened this afternoon when I stopped in for about an hour with the mister in tow).

summer [the beginning]

This summer the mister and I were blessed with five weeks of travel, family, and friends. We made it to and/or through 23 states in that time and had uncountable adventures. From New Mexico to Maine and back again, the only thing that would have made it better was more time, more hours in a day, and perhaps a few more naps (so that we could have adventured harder!). 

We began our journey on June 22, leaving home a little later than usual so that we could get Blake's for breakfast on our way out of town. We drove through the panhandle of Texas, which has the best rest stops I have ever been to, and into Oklahoma. We visited the Oklahoma City National Memorial which was unlike any other memorials that we have visited in the past. The biggest difference is that this was the first memorial that we have visited that was built to remember something that has happened in our lifetime. We may have been young at the time, but we could both recall, at the very least, media coverage of the bombing. It was a rather humbling way to begin the summer. At the same time it was inspiring to see how the community responded and how they continue to respond through events such as the Memorial Marathon each year.

We come here to remember
those who were killed, those who survived
and those changed forever.
May all who leave here know the impact of violence.
May this memorial offer comfort, strength,
peace, hope and serenity.

1 of 163 in the field of chairs

gates of time

memorial fence

children's area

After our time at the memorial we went to meet up with a host through couchsurfing. Unfortunately the timing of our meet up did not work out and so we pulled up a parking space at a nearby shopping center for the night. The good thing about sleeping in the car is that you get moving rather quickly in the mornings. There is no packing to do and therefore you can simply wake up and drive.

And drive we did, on to more adventures. Stay tuned for the details!

explosion

Not to worry, there haven't been any literal explosions. But, figuratively, my life has exploded. This semester is taking over my life with the addition of 20 hours of service work added to my graduate course load. Additionally, the school district has decided that all of the teachers should take an online course in assessment. I'll mention only briefly that I took a three hour graduate course in assessment this summer. So yes, it is easy (as my principal said it should be if I have just taken a class), but it takes up that little bit of free time that was nonexistent to begin with.

While life has taken a turn for crazier, I will say that I enjoyed my first afternoon/evening of volunteering at the Boys and Girls Club on Friday. I was immediately roped into painting nails and I was able to talk to a lot of fourth and fifth grade girls about what they like to do. Surprisingly (or not), it's not that different from what my kindergarteners like to do - with the exception of liking boys. As much as I'm dreading the loss of a little bit of me time, I am looking forward to getting to know this different group of students. Life will resume again in a couple of months - but until then, blogs may come at a very limited rate.

six is six

When it all comes down to it, six year olds are simply that - six years old. It does not matter where they are from, what their background is, or what language they speak. They all want to have fun, make new friends, and explore everything in front of them. 

Today my new Nepali friend joined my classroom and my above statement fits her perfectly. The day started with two of my kinders coming in and saying "We're going to have a new student!" I had not told anyone yesterday about our incoming classmate because you just never know for sure if someone is going to show up. It turns out that my newest kinder's grandparents live next door to one of my students and they had spent some time jumping around on the trampoline together. Friends were made before my classroom even came into play.

My new kinder is simply amazing. She is a sweetheart and is excited to learn. She has lived in the United States for a whole 23 days and despite any worries about culture shock, she seems to be adapting quite well. While she has a thick accent, she has a solid base in spoken English and her written understanding of the language is quite phenomenal. While she may not be reading yet, she knows a lot of her letters and some of the sounds. She knows a lot of basic three letter words though and shocked Mrs. S today during centers by writing the entire word for each image on a worksheet when all that was needed was the first letter. I think we'll be getting along quite well.

As I mentioned earlier, friends were made rather quickly so my only real concern now is keeping the chit-chatting of new best friends to a minimum and to squelch the constant hand holding among said friends (the group reached six today) as it makes forming a line and walking through the hall rather difficult. If these are my biggest concerns right now, I'll take it.

new

Today we ended the first quarter of school! It is really hard to believe that we have been in school for nine weeks. I cannot believe how much my kinders have learned in such a short period of time. We are reading some basic sight words, students are beginning to blend sounds together to make simple words, most of the students know nearly all of their letters and numbers, we're starting to decompose numbers 4 and 5, we can identify groups of ten and count to forty by ones and tens. We are rock stars.

And then, at recess today, I received a new student. She is a sweetheart, and tries exceptionally hard, and she shows so much promise. However, I feel that her last kindergarten teacher did not fully tap into that promise. She is itching to jump into this learning game, and I am excited to take her there. She still struggles with her letters, but can write her name. She can count. She can identify the first sounds in words. We're off to a good start. I cannot wait for the new quarter to start on Monday so that we can really build onto the basic skills that she came to me with and rocket her to the level that the majority of my students are sitting at right now.

Here's to a new quarter, a new student, new materials, and new goals. Here's to fall break as well!

fabulous first day

My little learners sporting their first day hats!

Today was the day! If I was excited when I sat down to write yesterday, I am even more so today. I have a fantastic group of kinders and I cannot wait to see what this year brings us. They followed rules really well for a group of five year olds and they did a great job of explaining some of our basic classroom rules as new students trickled in throughout the day. They're a quick bunch, I'm going to need to stay on my toes this year to keep ahead of their learning curve.

I mostly went with the flow today, following my gut instead of the obligatory lesson plan that I had filled out. We learned our silent signal and bathroom signal. We learned how to line up and walk through the halls. We toured the school, we practiced coloring, gluing and writing our names. We made first day of kindergarten hats. Most of the students can count past ten and they can all sing the alphabet song. They listened well during story time and they managed to stay (mostly) focused for about three minutes of independent reading time. These kiddos are on fire!

With all of this in mind, I am trying to reflect upon how this year differed from last year. The ways are really endless. I greeted each student and parent as they entered the classroom. I had a sign-in sheet prepared so that parents could tell me how students would be leaving school. I had materials ready for them to use as they finished breakfast. I kept them busy until dismissal (and I was prepared to keep on keeping on if my assistant didn't remind me that they had to leave). In other words, this year differed mostly because I have a year of experience now. I know that things are not going to go as planned, and I have a plan for that too. Mainly, I breathe, smile, laugh with the students when it is appropriate and discipline them when necessary.

Happy first day everyone!