flow

As I approach week four of the 2013 - 2014 school year, I find myself gradually coming into a flow. The systems that I had in place last year are coming back to me, and with a year of experience behind me, I'm getting back into the teaching groove.

I typically get to school an hour before my students show up. This gives me time to make sure all of my materials are ready to go so that there are not any down moments for the little guys to go crazy. I also just like being prepared, and this time allows me the time for not only material preparation, but mental preparation. I review my lesson plans, check my materials, make any changes to account for any materials missed the day before, or to allow for review of materials that the students did not grasp the first (or second, or third) time through. And I breathe.

This morning I found that I was able to move through these typical steps much faster than I was during the first two and a half weeks. This meant that I spent nearly 45 minutes lesson planning this morning. Now that I am comfortable with the lesson planning template that I came up with, I was able to plug information in and wrap up next week's language arts plan before the day even "started."

As the day progressed, I found that my students are coming into a flow as well. They are no longer asking every five minutes if it is time to go home yet (or now, they ask if it is Smartie Pants Time, when we do our daily review and wrap up). They moved in and out of centers like pros. The lined up quickly and quietly (or at least faster and quieter than they previously did). We're onto something here.

This afternoon I was able to prepare my monthly calendar and reading log for September, along with a notice of weekly learning objectives for the month. Tomorrow morning I will be able to update my kinders' take home folders so that families know what is coming up, and what they should be reviewing with their children on a daily basis.

I'm feeling good about this whole teaching thing. I've loved it from the very beginning, but this week I am beginning to really feel like I'm finding the balance and flow to make my year a little bit smoother, and my time management a little bit easier.

And it only took three weeks. (And a year, but who's counting?)

sharp

A new favorite

Earlier this month I wrote about the little things that make a difference in the classroom. One little thing that I failed to mention, or to elaborate upon, was pencils. Pencils can be one heck of a hassle, especially when students are learning how to write and how much pressure needs to be applied to write effectively. This year I also have some kinders that would rather color with a pencil than with crayons. All of this leads to dull pencils. And broken pencils. And student complaints about someone having a sharper pencil than they do.

Enter, the pencil sharpener. I have a good old fashioned pencil sharpener attached to the wall of my classroom. It works really well, but I know from experience that sharpening all of the pencils in my classroom at the end of the day can also result in blisters when using this method. This year I put little handheld sharpeners in each of my student supply boxes, and that works pretty well. Except for the fact that they frequently get dropped and pencil shavings go everywhere.

Enter, the electric pencil sharpener. I have known for a long time that electric pencil sharpeners are a fantastic resource, but teaching kindergarten I also use a lot of beginners pencils. Electric pencil sharpeners can be expensive, especially when you need one that adapts to fit these special pencils. This brings me to my staff meeting this past Monday. All of the classroom teachers at my school were blessed by the admin fairies with electric pencil sharpeners! And ones that adapt to the big fat beginners pencils that my kinders use. I can now easily sharpen about 50 pencils in a couple of minutes and achieve the same level of sharpness on all of them. No more complaints. No more blisters. I think I'm in love.

school is a place

School is a place...

During the last year, I was asked to develop a school is a place project for my students to complete as a part of a grad school assignment. This year, at the end of the first week of school, I asked my students what they thought school was. Most of them had been to pre-school, so they had some idea, but it is always interesting to see how individuals perceive school. My students responded in a number of ways, including: to learn, to read, to have fun, to make friends, to count, to draw, and to use computers. They drew images to capture their ideas.

I took these images and held on to them. Today, I put them out for the world to see. We had open house at my school this evening, and I thought that that was a perfect time for these responses to be put out there for parents to see. I love having this student touch as individuals approach my classroom. For me, it also serves as a reminder that school is about so much more than sitting down and learning. School is a place where my students are learning social skills, are developing oral language, and are testing their limits. As a teacher, it is my job to facilitate this growth, which means that school cannot always be about learning (regardless of what officials who have never been inside of a classroom may say).

I plan on taking this project one step further. At the end of the year, I plan on repeating this activity. It is my hope that at the end of the year my students still have these same thoughts about school. I hope that they still view school as a place to make friends, a place to have fun, and a place to play. I also hope that when they say that school is a place to learn, and read, and do math, that they say so in a positive way. It is my vision that education is fun and engaging and worthwhile. Through engagement, my students should walk away ready for first grade at the end of the year, and not feeling as though they have just been set free from mundane and draining tasks.

What is school to you? What do you think of when I say "School is a place?"

freedom

Photo Courtesy of Kids 'R' Kids Waterford

Freedom. Those are precious words these days. This morning I had recess duty, and while five out of six days this is nearly 20 minutes of freedom for me, today was not one of those days. Instead it is nearly 20 minutes of watching 60 4 and 5 year olds run around on the playground and trying to maintain their safety as best as possible. This morning as I walked outside with my kinders in tow, one shouted FREEDOM as soon as the outside door was opened and ran for the playground. It is moments like this that make me appreciate my students, their wit, and the time that I have with them.

As for me, I am going to go enjoy my 15 minutes of freedom now, falling between a staff meeting and an evening of graduate school. So to you, enjoy your freedom. It's precious, even if it is only 15 minutes to yourself.

sunday

Today's pile

Last Sunday I had the pleasure of sitting down and doing some crafting. I could relax, without any worries, and just be. On Monday, the realities of being a teacher and a grad student sank in. Classes started and with them, the pile of work grew exponentially. This Sunday, I am able to go about my normal morning routine, but I know that instead of sitting and relaxing and taking some me time, I will be sitting and reading, or writing, or finishing up the last little touches on my lesson plans for the week.

This semester, the mister and I decided to take three graduate courses. This may sound slightly insane (and perhaps it is), but by doing this we will only need to take one course when next summer rolls around. It will be a month long course as opposed to one that consumes the whole summer. While we may be kicking ourselves for it now, I think that we will sit back with a sigh of relief next summer when we are able to head east and enjoy some time with friends and family that we have not seen in far too long.

On today's plate I have reading for a class appropriately called The Teaching of Reading, some more reading for Introduction to Special Education, and I will probably sit down and pound out a couple of assignments for our "bonus" class, Technology in Education. This "bonus" class is one that everyone has told us is tedious and somewhat annoying, but from what I have seen so far, this also means that it is easy. I have completed some of the assignments already, such as "Write a 5 page paper about yourself," and "Write a 5 page paper about your family." Others include, "Use Paint to create four pictures that tell a story and insert them into PowerPoint." I think I've got this.

On a positive note, it is just after 9:00 and I have worked out, cleaned the kitchen and bathroom, vacuumed, and started laundry. The mister is plugging away in the kitchen so that we have some tasty treats to eat on the run (i.e. during a 15 - 20 minute break during classes on Monday and Wednesday nights), and so our Sundays go. Welcome back to reality. 

la llorona

This year I have the pleasure of teaching some native Spanish speakers. During class I am able to clarify questions by rephrasing information in Spanish and I can facilitate the sharing of their language. These students share the Spanish translation for words that we come across in stories and we are able to do fun activities like count in Spanish as an entire class.

Yesterday afternoon I was waiting with one of my students and his sister at the end of the school day. In the time that we were sitting outside before their dad came to pick them up his sister asked me if I had heard of la llorona. Thanks to my time in Costa Rica I could honestly say that yes, I had heard of la llorona.

For those of you that do not know, la llorona is a folklore throughout Central and South America. La llorona translates to "the crying woman." La llorona wanders stream and river beds crying out for her lost children. While I was talking to these two children, the conversation evolved toward a discussion about the differences between the Mexican version of the story (their dad is from Mexico and they spend summers there) and the Costa Rican version of the story.

In Mexico, la llorona wanders the river bed crying for her two children, a boy and a girl. The woman has lost her children. My student's sister informed me that she had heard two different versions at this point. In one, the woman had murdered her children; in the other they had been kidnapped, or taken from her in some way and she wanted to find them.

In Costa Rica, la llorona also wanders river beds crying for her child. In this version there is only one child, and if my memory serves correctly she threw her child into the river rapids because they would not stop crying. In return she cannot stop crying as she searches the river banks for her missing child.

It is moments like this one that remind me how fortunate I have been to lead the life that I do and to have had the experiences that I have had. Thanks to learning about la llorona from my Language and Culture Facilitator during Peace Corps training, and having the legend reinforced through conversations with my students in Costa Rica. Yesterday I was able to bring those experiences with me into a conversation with my student and his sister here and build stronger relationships based on a mutual understanding. 

writing

I love to write. Almost as much as I love to read. I like to put my words onto paper (or the screen) and reflect on what has come out of me. Whether writing is being used as a form of entertainment and creative expression or to compose professional documents, I simply love it. I also learn best when I am able to write down how I am processing information or picking out key details in texts. Words are, therefore, pretty important in my life - whether I am writing them or reading them.

Today I finally had time to do my first unstructured writing activity with my students. A prompt was put out there ("What did you do this week?"), but I did not hold my kinders to it. What I really wanted was them to experience putting words (letters) on paper and expressing themselves through writing. Last year, this activity would have resulted in a flash flood of tears from more than half of my students. Today, I was blown away.

As I walked around the room and asked students what they were writing about I was pleasantly surprised by what I found on their papers. Every single student had written letters. Better yet, nearly a fourth of them had written actual words! They used the high frequency words from our last two weeks of school (I am), they read the room (without prompting, I might add) and wrote the words that they found on the walls, they wrote words that they have seen frequently in books (the), and one even sounded out words to the point that I could actually tell what he was trying to write. These little guys are on fire! 

I wish that I had remembered to take a picture of a couple of the samples before I left school, but I have filed them away in data folders so that I can track their growth throughout the year. I am planning on doing a monthly free write assignment where they can write about whatever they want. I will hopefully have the time to do unstructured writing more often, but I want at least one sample that I can keep each month to tuck away. 

It has been a great week and an excellent Friday. I cannot wait to see what next week brings!

the problem with planning

My planning paradise (is there a way to make a font sarcastic?)

Planning. It can take over a teacher's life sometimes. Sometimes it gets pushed to the back burner until the last minute. I like to plan in advance and allow myself free time over the weekends (or time to devote to grad school work), but this new year and these new mandates for materials to be used for instruction are killing me. I am not excited to lesson plan, because I do not have a lot of control over what I am planning, and therefore my creativity is kind of pushed to the side. Creativity makes teaching exciting. Being told to follow a teaching manual is not.

This week I have other problems interfering with lesson planning. Those problems are called graduate classes. Grad school started up this week and I have been left with afternoons cut too short, hours taken away from my evenings, and a whole pile of work added onto the already huge pile of work. Now it's Thursday afternoon and all that I have in front of me is an empty weekly planner (and a blog that is allowing me to be creative and a procrastinator). 

Granted, I haven't been procrastinating as much as it may appear on the surface, I have been putting some thought into my plans. Last weekend I was trying to figure out a new template, but stuck with the one I had initially designed. This week, I'm taking my template and trying to pare down what I need to put into it. Last week I plugged in as much of the content from my teacher's manuals as I could, this week I'm looking at what I was actually able to get to in the time that my school has allotted for me to teach different materials. This whole process is becoming one huge (and sometimes overwhelming) puzzle. But, I like puzzles, so I keep on plugging away.

This week's brainstorming has resulted in composing a lot of charts to break down my language arts time and to try and figure out how to really incorporate the daily five into my teaching. My planning is leading me toward doing a daily three so that I have enough time to cover the required content that I will be testing on each week, but so that students also have the time to explore literacy on their own and develop their skills at a pace that is appropriate for them. I have also been looking at all of the less important elements from my teacher's manual (that I plugged into last week's lesson plan, but did not use) and eliminating them from my actual plan, but having enough knowledge of them to fill in any gaps in the day should that ever happen (not likely unless a special has been cancelled). Math has gone pretty well, so I am not to concerned about making changes in that area.

The puzzle pieces are coming together in my mind, but it's time to get those ideas plugged into my template. Happy planning (and happy first week to some) to all of my teacher family and friends. We'll find a way to cram all of this information into our students' heads (hopefully)!

missing

Technology is wonderful. Except for when it is not. This afternoon I had a little case of the "is nots." Every day I am required to take class attendance in the morning and in the afternoon. This morning my kinders were all (well, except for the absent ones) checked in and we were good to go. The automated phone system would take care of notifying the absent students' families and I was all set to teach my students.

The morning went well. We read and wrote, and practiced letters, syllables, and reading comprehension strategies. When lunch time rolled around, I sat down to record my afternoon attendance and this is the message that I got:

Where did my class go?

What a surprise! I am up to 18 little learners in my class and 16 of them were present today. Technology let me down. I went to check in with the office and was told to check back in at the end of the school day. I checked in at the end of my planning period, still no class. I went and talked to our clerk and she called the tech department for the district. By the time my kiddos were being checked out to their parents I once again had a class. Phew. My 18 kinders are all mine again, which is good because one of them has a birthday tomorrow and I don't want to share her!

goals

The entry into our classroom, newly decorated with student work

Last week my kinders were hard at work learning some basic skills to help acclimate them to the classroom and our school in general. As a part of this process, they also created drawings of their biggest goal for the year. With the exception of one or two students, they all said that they wanted to learn how to read this year. Their drawings of their goals are now hanging up right inside of our door so that they can be reminded of their goals every time they enter and/or leave the classroom.

Our class work wall also includes a name list so that we can practice reading our friends' names and a poster documenting how well everyone was able to write their own names at the end of the first week of school. I love having the bright colors on the wall and displaying the work of my students. My kinders are slowly transforming the classroom and I love it!

thank you

The excitement!

What a way to start the week! This afternoon, after my kinders were all signed out for the day, I received my package from donorschoose.org. Thanks to all of you wonderful supporters of literacy in my classroom, my little learners now have access to 191 new books. Last week we learned the words I and am. Tomorrow we'll be reading the encyclopedia! (Okay, so we're actually still working on I am, but we'll keep on keeping on and who knows what these kiddos will learn!)

So, today I simply want to say THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! I love books and I cannot wait to share these new additions with my students tomorrow!

(In other news, grad school starts today. Hopefully my enthusiasm carries me over past my bedtime so that I can stay focused during class :) )

crafty

Making some tactile letters for my kinders

Sunday fun day! Or something like that. I finished all of my "need-to-dos" around the house this morning, which meant that I had an afternoon to do one of my "want-to-dos." I love to craft in my free time and have been perusing alphabet patterns on pinterest for quite a while now. Today I had a chance to try one of them out.

This afternoon I made it through a capital and lowercase a and a capital b. I've mostly followed the patterns that I chose, but make a few modifications here and there. I've been using my stashed bits and pieces of yarn from other projects and should end up with some bright colored letters for my students to use as they learn their alphabet. I'll continue working on my letters until I have a complete set of capital letters and a complete set of lowercase letters. I'm pretty excited about bringing these new tools into the classroom!

lesson plans

One of a million lesson plan templates that looks incredible, but that I don't think is quite me...

In preparation for each week of school, teachers set about the task of lesson planning. Each teacher plans in their own way. I plan very differently from my mister. And he plans differently from the next teacher. The thing with lesson planning is that there are certain components that must be included depending on the school and/or district that you work for. 

This year, our school district has given us between 15 and 20 elements that need to be included in our plans. The issue is that this list of requirements makes creating a lesson plan template that appeals to me quite difficult. I used one last week, I'm trying to create a new one this week. We'll see what I can come up with. 

On a positive note, I am oh, so close to being done with my actual planning for the week. I just need to figure out how it needs to be presented for me to follow it easily.

* And in the end I just kept my template the same. There were too many elements to change around, and in the interest of saving paper, I stuck with what I used last week. I'm sure that I'll get used to it soon enough.

i survived

the first week of school! And, it wasn't even an act of survival. My kinders are awesome this year. I ended the week with 16 on my roster, and roughly 90% of them have been through a minimum of one year of pre-school. Some of them have two to three years of pre-school experience. It is so evident in how they behave in the classroom.

My little learners can follow directions (at least as well as I expect four and five year olds to follow directions - and yes, I do have four year olds in my class). They enjoy drawing and coloring and most can even color inside of the lines. A majority of them can write their names and know a bulk of their letters. Most can count (beyond ten) and write their numbers. These kiddos are sharp. I know that I have mentioned this before, but they are just blowing me away.

Here's a glance at this week in review:

Monday

We got to know each other, practiced some procedures, read stories, jumped into reading by ourselves, reviewed letters, numbers, the calendar, and went to PE class.

Tuesday

We met a friend new to our class, did our baseline assessment for language arts, worked on writing Aa and Bb, practiced our numbers, read number stories, and went to music class.

Wednesday

We reviewed our classroom rules and procedures, practiced reading to ourselves again, listened to stories, learned about characters, drew pictures of what we think school is all about, did our baseline assessment for math,  reviewed the calendar, and went to library.

Thursday

We met another friend new to our class, reviewed characters, authors, illustrators, titles, title pages, reading to ourselves, the letters A - E, writing our names, learned the words I, am, practiced writing our numbers 1 - 5, and went to PE class.

Friday

We reviewed everything from this week. We wrote our names, reviewed the elements of stories and our sight words, drew pictures of characters, reviewed our letters, had a fire drill, prepared for next weeks math lesson by cutting out flash cards, went to music class,  practiced our silent reading, and drew pictures of our goals for the year.

I feel like I have taught more this week than I did all of last year. These kiddos are incredible. Next week we will jump into our standard schedule of 30 minutes reading intervention, 25 minutes of morning meeting, 100 minutes of core reading, 15 minutes of recess, 50 minutes of language development and sustained silent reading, 40 minutes for lunch and recess, 60 minutes of math, 30 minutes of Navajo Language & Culture (or academic enrichment for those that do not go), 40 minutes of specials, and 30 minutes of math intervention. It's going to be jam packed full of learning, but I think we'll fall into the routine pretty quickly. 

Happy Friday! The weekend is here (does that mean I need to lesson plan?)!

i am

excited! I really am. Today we learned the sight words I and am. And then, then, my kinders proceeded to read two whole books on their own! Granted, the books mainly consisted of the words I am followed by a decodable word that was accompanied by a picture, but they read! Two books! We also managed to sit and read to ourselves for ten whole minutes today. A huge jump from the two minutes that we started with on Monday. As I said, I am excited!

like christmas

Last spring the teachers at my school were told that they had less than 24 hours to spend $100 on classroom supplies. Any time a teacher is told that they have money to spend on their classroom is reason for celebration. However, with the end of school year craziness, state testing, field days, moving up ceremonies, etc. etc. etc., these supplies were ordered and then moved to a little back corner in our minds and covered with cobwebs. Today however, those cobwebs were cleared away. At the end of the day an announcement was made for us to go and pick up those magical supplies. It was really a little like Christmas. 

I went down to our secondary book storage room and was handed my materials. I now have three centers ready to go for literacy development. Two of the center kits will be used to bring my little learners that are below level up to level. One of the kits will be used to push the brighter kiddos in my class to the next level so that they are ready to blow their first grade teacher's socks of next year. I am beyond excited. I came back to my room and began cutting cellophane wrappers off, pulling cardboard protectors out of spiral bindings, and assembling pieces. Yes, I realize that it is still the first week of school and some of the materials will not be used for some time, but, as I mentioned, I am excited. I love learning tools and I cannot wait to use them in my classroom!

Also, I finished my baseline assessments today, so I have even more reason to celebrate. I can now begin to go about a normal daily routine. I also found out that I will not need to proctor some of the assessments that kindergarteners are required to complete, so I will not be pulled out of my classroom for endless hours during the coming weeks. I think that that deserves a whoop for joy!

Even with all of this excitement I will admit that this first week of school is leaving me exhausted. I was struggling well before 7PM last night and that was only after two days. I feel a little better today, but man, these kinders are zapping my energy! I am full of it when they are in the classroom, but as soon as the last one says goodbye at the end of the day it feels like my battery has suddenly died. I'll get used to it though (of course, next week grad school starts back up so I'll have a whole other kind of adjusting to do), it'll just take some time for me to reestablish that sense of balance.

baseline

The dreaded baseline assessment

Last year I did not know any better. This year I do, but wish that I did not. I spent a bulk of my day today administering baseline assessments for language arts. Having 15 kindergarten students sit through a 40 question test is not exactly fun. You get to read the same question over and over again and hope that someone circles an answer. You have students shouting out answers because they do not understand the concept of keeping their thoughts to themselves. You have to figure out how to navigate a group of different abilities so that those who need it have the extra time to process questions, and those that are quick as whips do not get bored by waiting for their peers to answer something that took them less than a second to do. It's a task, and it is exhausting.

But, this dreaded task comes with some perks. I missed out on these last year. By taking the time to assess my students' abilities during this first week of school I am prepared to begin interventions early on and I know which students I need to make sure I challenge so that they do not spend their time causing trouble. A lot of this information is evident through simple observation, but this way I know what exactly I need to work on with the students. This should help them to all learn at a rate that is applicable to them and that addresses their individual needs. Will this take a lot of time? Sure, but I teach so that the students can succeed; therefore, I'll take the time to help them in whatever way possible.

As I mentioned, I spent most of the day doing the language arts assessment. That means I still have one more to go. Tomorrow I'll address math (which is thankfully 25 questions shorter so I should be able to do some teaching that is actually engaging during the day) and then there are a myriad of other assessments that will come up over the next couple of weeks: DIBELS, PPVT, Discovery Ed. If those terms are making your head spin, consider it a good thing. Even though I know what the acronyms stand for, the tests that they represent are time consuming, tedious, and in a lot of ways annoying. However, they all have the same perks as those listed above. My head will be spinning for the next couple of weeks, but my students will benefit, so I'll deal with it.

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!

ready or not

My classroom

Tomorrow is the big day. I spent a couple of hours in my classroom today enjoying the calm before the storm and getting some little odds and ends put together that don't necessarily seem like a big deal, but can be. I double checked the class roster and found that one more kinder had been added to my class since Friday afternoon. I made sure that I had extra materials ready for others that are added tomorrow morning. I crossed my ts and dotted my is and made a couple of anchor charts in the meantime. Ready or not, here it comes. The first day of kindergarten! 

preparation

Entering a new school year means that teachers need to get back into the swing of things. There is a whole lot that goes into teaching beyond the time that is spent in the classroom. A big component of what happens outside of the classroom is preparation. Without it, a teacher is lost (at least I am).

I had spent various, random hours throughout the course of the summer preparing for my first week of school and planning out my first thematic unit. I purchased some supplemental materials to make activities more engaging for my students. I created assessments that were aligned to the unit and to Common Core. I set myself up to ease into the new school year and the first couple of weeks of school. Then I went to my professional development sessions this past Thursday and Friday.

Now, all of my prep work has been thrown out the window (at least a large chunk of it). This summer the district set up pacing guides that tell us week by week what we are supposed to be covering from the materials that have been purchased to help up deliver grade appropriate instruction to our students (based on the standards). I no longer have the freedom to work with my grade level teachers to develop units to cover these standards. I need to teach by the book.

In some ways, this can make preparation a little easier. The text books are essentially scripted to ensure that teachers can understand what the publishers are trying to convey through their texts. In a lot of ways this makes preparation harder for me. You see, I understand that I am expected to teach using the materials that the district has purchased, but I also want to go above and beyond that expectation. I want my lessons to be more engaging than the script that has been prepared for me by a British publishing company. I want to bring in elements that are culturally relevant to my students. I want to engage my students, to push them to make connections that make sense to them, and to make education enjoyable for them. This means I need to put in more hours to adapt the materials that I have so that I can rise to my vision of education.

Today I spent several hours revamping my back to school lesson plan. I cannot spend a week on getting to know my students and helping them to get to know me and my expectations. I have been told to jump in feet first and get this first unit rolling, even if I do not feel that that is what will best help my students learn. Whatever the case, I am prepared to merge my vision with that of the publisher's and I will be prepared when Monday morning rolls around to make education exciting for my kinders.

i don't want to

Sometimes we have to do things that we just do not want to. This is evident on a somewhat regular occasion in the classroom. This afternoon it was very evident in the professional development session that I had to attend. 

Yesterday I was really looking forward to the pd session that was scheduled for this afternoon. We were told that we would learn about our new math resources during this three hour session. We came prepared with our laptops so that we could be guided through the electronic resources that correspond with our new text books. 

We spent the three hour session playing on our computers, talking to our neighbors, and enduring the trainer's incompetence. We would be guided to a link on the website and told about all of the awesome things that we could do to make our instruction more engaging for our students. Then we would sit and wait while our trainer fumbled around and repeatedly apologized and/or made excuses for why he couldn't actually do what he told us about. Those of us playing around on our computers frequently figured out how to do what he was trying to do and then sat as he continued to click links and mumble about what he was sure he had known how to do a couple of hours prior. It may be difficult to believe, but I did not want to be there.

I was however obligated to sit through the session, so I chatted with one of my fellow grade level teachers about the coming year and quickly navigated the web resources that I am excited about integrating into my instruction this year. In relation to this facet of bringing technology into my classroom, today I also set up my classroom c.o.w. (computer on wheels). 

This year all of the teachers at my school have been given laptops, document cameras, projectors, and speakers. Gone are the days of trying to run around and show my kinders how to use their manipulatives, of pointing to the words in a decodable reader that is too small for my students to really see when they are huddled around me, and of wasting loads of paper that is tacked to the board so that I can write all over it in an attempt to model how to do a worksheet or activity. With these resources I hope to introduce a new dynamic into my classroom, one that is engaging and interactive in a way that resonates with my kiddos.

Sometimes we just don't want to. But, sometimes we do.

pd

Today is my first official day back to school. With the start of each new school year teachers are brought together to experience what is deceivingly called professional development. We sit through endless hours of conversation that may or may not be related to the actual teaching profession. Throughout the full day of becoming better developed for my profession, I do have the opportunity to catch up with and joke around with my fellow teachers. And for this, I am grateful. As a teacher I spend most of my time with waist high little learners, so I appreciate this time that I get to spend with my peers.

Would I appreciate exposure to some new developments in the teaching profession, or simply be introduced to old and proven practices? Sure. But since I know that that is not what I am going to get, I sit back and enjoy the company that surrounds me. I enjoy laughing as much as the next person, and I have fellow teachers that are good at making me do just that. We'll leave the actual pd for tomorrow (according the the schedule we'll actually be trained on how to use the new math resources that our district has adapted).

One weight that has been lifted off of my shoulders during today's pd is that my assistant is indeed back! As a kinder teacher I am blessed with an extra set of hands in my classroom. At the end of last year she was not sure if she was going to move on to have a classroom of her own. I was worried that I might be starting this year on my own and I am so glad to know that I will have her by my side once again.

now i know my abcs

Kindergarten has become a place where students are no longer free to spend their days engaging in constructive play, nap time, and social development. With the introduction of Common Core State Standards last year, students are now expected to leave kindergarten reading, writing, and doing basic arithmetic. Last year I was not sure how to approach this intense set of standards, but this year I feel that I am ready for them.

At the completion of last school year I invested in The Daily Five and have just been loving everything that I have read in the books and online. I feel like I am ready to dive into literacy development with my kinders, starting on day one, this year. In order to best prepare myself for this journey through the world of teaching students how to read, I also used donorschoose.org and my friends and family helped me to successfully fund over $500 worth of books. I am so excited to introduce my class to these materials and to the world of reading.

One way in which I plan on facilitating a comfortable transition into this aforementioned world is through the creation of a book nook. This nook (pictured above) has our class rainbow rug, a [currently] small classroom library (books from donorschoose should ship next week once our school year officially begins), a bookshelf that has read to self boxes (a donorschoose project from last year) for each of the students to collect books that are just right for them, a word wall, and an interactive phonics chart. All of these tools will give my kinders what they need to become successful readers. This is a space where we will all gather on the rug to read together, to develop skills, and to enjoy reading. My kiddos will be free to lay on the rug and listen to stories. We'll all sit together with pretzel legs on the floor and talk about our books. We'll read because it is fun, not because of the standards that I am being forced to teach to. 

My students may enter the classroom not knowing their letters, how to write their names, or having listened to a story being read aloud to them before, but they will learn. And they will learn because they want to, not because they are being told to. 

I will make my kinders want to read, because it is fun. It is a way to escape. It is a way to test the limits of your imagination. I love to read. So will they (right?). 

it's the little things

There are many ways that one could interpret the phrase, "it's the little things that count." In my case it could be as simple as the little people that I work with every day. But, the reality is that this little phrase means so much more. As a teacher you learn that it is the little things, the everyday mundane tasks, the routines/processes/procedures, that make the classroom become a learning environment in which you have students that feel comfortable and confident in what they are doing, how they are doing it, and why they are doing it.

Last year, as a first year teacher, these little things never crossed my mind (that is, until I was in the moment and realized that I should probably have had a plan for whatever situation occurred to make me think of said little things). This year I am trying to think of all of these little situations in advance so that they do not become big situations (or even little situations to begin with). One of the situations that I am working on right now, as I set up my classroom, are classroom supplies.

Supplies. This is a little thing that quickly becomes a big thing. Some students are possessive of their items; some will hand out all of their belongings to their friends (only to ask for them back a couple of days later when they realize that they no longer have them in their possession); some like to sneakily build up their individual crayon collection by "accidentally" placing other students' crayons in their personal box. Well, you get the point. Last year I lost so much instruction time due to dealing with school supply controversies that this year I am attempting to squelch the issue before it ever arises. I am creating table caddies that will be replenished with the supplies that students bring to school (assuming they bring supplies to school). Take a look!

My students will have access to these little caddies which should contain all of the needed materials for completing any projects that they are assigned. Within the caddy there is one section that contains a pencil cup, a pencil sharpener, and a couple of erasers. Another section contains scissors, and yet another, crayons. The glue is separate, and that is what you would find in the little storage container if you were to open it up. This little box has school glue in the bottom of it. That glue is then covered with sponges that absorb the glue so that when students are gluing all they need to do is swipe their piece of paper that is needing to be stuck to something else across the sponge. Just enough glue rubs off onto their paper for it to stick. This will hopefully eliminate one of my big little problems from last year - glue.

Glue is incredible. It sticks things together and helps you to create. It can also be spread all over your hands and dry there so that you can peel it off. It can create a pool of white liquid on a project that didn't necessarily require any glue at all. In the form of a stick it can be wound all of the way to the top and then break off of its base to become a sticky ball of goo that gets on and in everything. If lids are not closed properly the glue dries out and will not work. Glue can become disastrous in the hands of a five or six year old. Hopefully with the correct structuring this glue system will prevent a lot of headaches.

It's the little things. And glue is a little thing.

balance

Today we are having a gathering of Returned Peace Corps Volunteers (RPCVs) that are teaching in Gallup as a part of the Peace Corps Fellows (PCF) program at Western New Mexico University (WNMU). At the beginning of the school year we all come together to meet the new fellows, to talk about teaching, and to mentally prepare ourselves for the school year that is to come. This year I have volunteered to talk to my fellow teachers about balance.

Balance has been an important component of my life for as long as I can remember. I grew up as an honor's student, a student athlete, and a dancer (all of my own choosing, no helicopter parents here). All of this meant that I had to carefully budget my time. In high school this had me doing homework in the time between the end of school and the start of practice (soccer, cheerleading, tennis, swimming, and a couple of times theater). I fully utilized any study hall periods that I had and hit the books as soon as the final bell rang to ensure that I would have all of my work completed for the next day of school. Once practice started I was engaged with my friends as we ran, stretched, and completed any number of crazy drills. Once practice was over my mom picked me up and faithfully drove me to my hour and a half long dance class 30 minutes away. This was my life. As you can see, balance was key.

I may not have thought much then about how this practice was a valuable life skill to have, but now it is what keeps me sane. I have years of experience with juggling tight schedules and meeting deadlines while being pulled in a million different directions (again, all of my own choosing), and it suits me. I plan everything so that I can make it all work because I am stubborn and do not want to give any of the pieces up. So, as an adult what does this crazy schedule of mine actually look like?

My days during the school year are pretty full. Building off of yesterday's mental meanderings about teaching for time off, I do not have time off. I am a teacher. I am a grad student. I am a human that has personal interests. As I mentioned earlier, I do not want to give any of those things up. They are all a part of who I am. I wake up at 4:30 in the morning so that I can workout and still get into my classroom about an hour before it is required. I need to work out so that I have the patience and energy (yes, I am energized by working out) to keep up with my kinders all day long. I need to get to my classroom early because it gives me peace of mind to know that everything is in its place and all of the materials that I need to keep the day running smoothly are in place. I need those three hours before the school day begins to make sure that I can be ready to greet my kiddos as the enter the classroom and let them know that I am excited to see them and to learn with them.

As a kindergarten teacher I never stop moving. From 7:30AM until approximately 3:00PM I am with my students (yes, I have a couple of breaks here and there, but I am always thinking about what we have done and what we have yet to do before the final bell rings). I run around trying to meet all of their needs, I read stories in funny voices, I dance and sing with them during wiggle breaks (or just when teaching in general), I demonstrate how to write letters and/or numbers over and over again, I tie approximately a million shoes a day (something that I am hoping to eliminate this year), I hand out tissues for runny noses, I remind kiddos to flush the toilet, I pick up the random learning tools that have rolled into corners, sharpen pencils, and help students develop fine motor skills through cutting, building, and creating. Every one of those activities needs to be built into my schedule so that I can show the powers that be that I am actively engaging my students in an attempt to meet the standards and the individual needs of each student that I interact with during those seven and a half hours.

Once my students leave my time in the classroom does not come to an end. I work on lesson plans and prepare materials for the coming day. This is a huge part of how I balance my life. Last year I managed to create an after school schedule that helped me to pinpoint the important components of lesson planning (standard identification, how that standard will be assessed, how I will make sure my students learn the skills to pass the assessment of said standard, copying and/or creating resources to be used to help students develop those skills) and assigned one component to each day of the week. By scheduling these specific activities I was able to have my lesson plans done and my materials ready for the coming week by Friday afternoon at 5PM. I learned that I could walk away from my classroom on Friday and feel that I did not need to work (on teaching stuff) over the weekend. I also rarely stayed at school past 5:00 (sure that makes nearly an 11 hour day, but this is how I found my balance).

Two nights a week my day does not end when I leave my classroom. Instead I go to grad school where I sit and learn more about the components of education that can make my teaching experience better for both myself and my students. From 5PM until 9PM I sit and absorb whatever it is that I can take into my classroom and improve my practice. On the nights that I do not have class I typically have assignments to complete. This is the work that will often be carried over into the weekends because I do have a life outside of teaching and school. This is where I can nurture the parts of me that are devoted to my family and myself.

I think that the true nature of balance is finding time for yourself. I love to dive into crafting as time allows. I try to make a point of not buying gifts for my beautiful nieces and other family members, instead I try to knit or crochet most of them (this year I may try to ease myself into sewing as well). I love to eat delicious food with my mister and relax in front of the TV with something from our Netflix queue. I like to make occasional trips to the pool, to go running, and to inhale as much of nature's beauty as I can while hiking and/or climbing. I love to read, and to write. I enjoy getting together with friends for game nights and pot lucks. I like to go out and sample the fabulous restaurants in town. I love going to Gallup's monthly Arts Crawl downtown and hanging out with friends while listening to good music and seeing people's creations. These are things that make me complete as an individual and so I squeeze them in as often as possible.

My life is all about balance, about nurturing all of the unique components that come together to make me me. In order to be the teacher, student, and individual that I want to be, this is how I find balance.

And I still manage to go to bed by 8:30 most nights!

you're always on my mind

Growing up in a family that has an abundance of teachers in it, I have heard just about every possible joke and/or criticism that implies that teachers are teachers because they get summers off and only need to work nine to ten months out of the year. Now that I am a teacher myself, I know that this is not the way things actually work. You see, my students are always on my mind. Throughout the school year I am thinking about the students that I am actively teaching, and now that it is summer I am always thinking about the students that will be in my class and how I may best teach and support them on their academic journeys.

Teaching is not a job. It is a lifestyle. When you teach you are always thinking about the lives of those that enter your classroom and the impact that you will have on them. And, if you are a teacher for the same reason that I think most are - for the kids - you want that impact to be positive. To be motivational. To be nurturing. To be life changing. You want those that you work with to feel like they are doing all that they can do and to help them to understand that they can still do more. You want them to know that they can achieve their dreams if they set their minds and hearts to it. As my sixth grade teacher once told me, "Always reach for the stars, someday you just may reach them." This thought has shaped me as an individual and now as a teacher it has become a part of my philosophy. I want my students walking away at the end of the year knowing that they are incredible individuals and that they have the potential to reach the stars.

My students are always on my mind. This summer as I have walked through thrift stores and around garage/yard sales I cannot help but think about how a new-to-my-class book might impact the learning of one student, or about how a new puzzle may help my kinders learn problem-solving skills, or about how different manipulatives will fit in perfectly with a unit that I am designing or in the development of foundational skills such as letter and/or number recognition. I may have stepped away from my classroom for two months, but I never stepped away from my students.

With this in mind, if you are one of those that likes to share those aforementioned jokes and/or criticisms about why teachers teach, I would like you to think before you speak. We teach for the kids. Possibly the very same kids that you are raising in your household. We don't teach for summers off. We don't teach for built in fall/winter/spring breaks. We don't teach for the money (clearly). We teach for the kids. And because of that, they are always on our minds (or at least they are always on this teacher's mind).

the end is near

The end. 

These coming weeks will signify the end of many different things. The most obvious is the end of summer, but along with that comes the true end of my first year as a teacher, my first year as a graduate student, and my first year of living in the desert of New Mexico. This is a time of excitement, but I also find that I am just a little bit nervous. I don't think that it matters how many times you have started a new school year, the nerves are still there, and that is good (in my opinion).

With the end come new beginnings. This is what makes the end so exciting. With the end of my first year of teaching, I find that I am bursting with ideas regarding how to make this coming school year better. I want it to be better for me, but also for my students. I want us to grow together, to learn from one another, and to become the best people that we can be. The joy of teaching kindergarten is that I am in an environment where personal growth and change are daily and expected. I am as capable of making mistakes as my students and we are all capable of learning from those mistakes. In one of my grad school texts a teacher was quoted as saying, "We don't make mistakes, we make discoveries." This is what year two of teaching will be all about - my students and I will make discoveries daily.

Beginning my second year of grad school is not nearly as exciting as beginning my second year of teaching. Being a full time teacher and a full time grad student means that free time is almost non-existant. This fall will be a true test of time management as the mister and I have decided to take on three classes so that we do not have a full summer of classes next year (it was not the most enjoyable thing to have grad work lurking in the back of my mind while out adventuring this summer). With that being said, I am excited about two of the professors that I will have this fall and am always excited about learning new things that I can apply to my practice, so I say, "Bring it on!"

The end of our first year/beginning of our second year of living in the desert is also exciting. We have learned many things about being desert dwellers, have explored endless nooks and crannies in the area, and have grown to love respect the desolation that surrounds us. The cooler temperatures and occasional snowfall in the winter gives way to beautiful wildflowers along sandy trails in the spring. The end of summer monsoon season brings life back into the juniper and sagebrush. The contrast of green agains the red rocks that surrounds us is stunning. This coming year we will know what to look for, where to explore, and keep our ears open for new adventures.

Perhaps the only end that I am sad to see come (or rather, has come already) is that of summer. I was fortunate to embark on a 32-day road trip with my mister through Colorado, Nebraska, South Dakota, Wyoming, Idaho, and Utah this summer and am already missing days on the trails, adventurous pursuits through caves and up sticky granite rock faces, moonlit hikes, and nights spent in the tent. Of course, if that adventure had not come to an end, this new one would not be about to commence. 

The beginning.