on a budget

With Scout's impending arrival, we have been hard at work at creating a space just for him or her. However, we're not creating a space like most might think when it comes to having a nursery. We have a budget. Not so much a monetary one, though it is nice to be frugal and work in a cost effective manner. Our budget is a spatial budget. We long ago decided that even with a growing family we will stay in our little two bedroom apartment until we leave the Gallup area. This meant that we had to figure out how to combine our gear room (yes, we had nearly a full room of gear) with a baby friendly space.

Out project began with a lot of rearranging. We moved some items from the gear room into the living room. We sold off some items that we no longer used frequently enough to merit the space (so long wine fridge). And we created. While I have been hard at work growing Scout, the mister has been hard at work manipulating materials, organizing objects, and ultimately making Scout's room what it is.

When I say we were on a spatial budget, this means we got the most out of what we already had. We have accumulated some pretty unique items over the years and we did not see the need to spend money on items that would serve the same purpose (cost effective!).  I think that ultimately, the only objects that we spent money on were ... wait, nothing really. Sure, there are a few objects that helped to spruce up the space and some money was spent on paint, but mostly, we just worked with what we had and with items that we received as gifts.

For storage we are using the hope chest that I received for my high school graduation. As a bonus, the chest is really well built so it can double as a small seating area. We purchased a small patio chair cushion (nothing like a soft water resistant surface in a baby room) for added comfort and the transformation was complete. The horseshoe moose was a purchase that we made from a local artist, but with hooks, the nice piece of art also doubles as a place to hang fun things like Scout's sun hat and bathrobe! The bamboo lamp we found at Goodwill in Maine and it has been hanging out for the last several years inside of the hope chest. With it's soft light, it will be perfect for meeting night time needs. Throw in a couple of fun books and a stuffed animal and we're good to go!

The striped "wall" next to the hope chest is dividing our baby space from our gear space.  When pulled aside one enters a world of bikes, skis, camping gear, and hiking essentials. When our bike racks are not on the car, they can be screwed onto the top shelf of our storage racks so that our bikes take up as little room as possible. Our gear is sorted into bins that can easily be thrown into the car for adventuring and with added hooks, the shelves also store regularly used clothing. When we lower the curtain, the space looks as baby friendly as can be. All that it took was a king size sheet (found on clearance) and a metal rod (and the creativity of the mister).

Across from the hope chest is Scout's sleeping space. We received a pack and play that will grow with Scout over the next several years. It has a removable bassinet that also flips over into an inclined seat for daytime use. It has rockers on the bottom and a vibrating seat to help calm our little one down when needed as well as a mobile and a sound machine. I'd say we're pretty well set. There is also a changing table for our convenience with handy storage next to it. It is a space saver and a money saver as we shouldn't need anything else for quite some time (though I'm sure that time will come sooner than either of us expect or want). 

The art work for this space is still up in the air. Currently we have well loved maps from Baxter State Park and Acadia National Park hanging up. Which one stays will be determined once we meet our little Scout - either way, he or she will be born to a name that means peace, beauty, adventure, and love to us. Then we will have a map and a delightful piece of work made by our sister-in-law, a constant reminder that adventure awaits!

The last little space in Scout's room is mostly storage. We have a bookshelf that the mister built about a year ago that now holds a mixture of books and baby needs (like diapers and clothes). We found some great baskets at Dollar Tree (where everything is actually a dollar, not like other dollar stores) that will help us to stay organized. We covered up some of our books with fabric left over from a previous home improvement project. Our blue bookshelf was once an olive green and gold rusty planter that we salvaged from a yard sale immediately upon our return from Peace Corps (who knew we'd need it three years later?). Our artwork once again takes us to Maine, which if it has not been obvious to this point, holds a very special place in our hearts. 

And there you have it - a baby space that was created for a minimal cost that utilizes the space that we have efficiently. Some may say that it looks like a room for a boy. We think it looks like a room for an adventurer. (Plus, I don't really care for pink and purple.)

the swing of things

We're back at it here in the high desert of New Mexico! Today marked the beginning of week three of teaching and I couldn't be happier (with some things, there are still those that are in need of a good overhaul, but I'll get to that later)!

In the past two years of my teaching, one area that I really struggled with was classroom management. While I happily made my way through each day, I knew that things were not their best, but I was never 100% sure what to do, or how to articulate what was going on to get help from outsiders. Well, this year I am feeling a million times better about what is going on in my classroom procedurally.

This year my school began implementing a behavior management strategy called 1-2-3 Magic. I must say, it is kind of magical. While I am still refining some of the ins and outs of the method, I am no longer putting energy into disciplining my students and explaining to them what was going on. Let's face it, they're five and they don't care. Now I can simply look at them and say 1 (or 2, or 3) and typically they'll mutter an "okay" and stop. Magic I tell you! This past Friday I didn't need to count for anyone! At the end of the day I am not musing over what went wrong, about whether or not my students hate me, or what I could have done differently (with regards to behavior). They're misbehaving, I say "one" and they typically stop.

In addition to our management magic I have some stellar routines going on. Last year I tried using chimes in my classroom as an attention getter, but I was horrible at being consistent with them. This year I ring the chimes, everyone stops what they are doing, they put their hands in their laps, and they look at me. I start counting down from 3 and by 0 they are silent and looking at me. I say rule check and they are silent and looking at me. When we use white boards if we are moving on to something else that does not require the boards they automatically sit on them and burry their markers in their laps (today I didn't even get to tell them what to do, I turned on the projector and they started cleaning their boards and sat on them right away!). So, management is coming along quite nicely. It only took me two years of bumbling around to figure this one out (at least for the time being).

Another area of struggle for me in the past has been teaching math. While there are numerous math teachers in my family, I have always struggled with finding ways to make math exciting when all we are doing is writing numbers, counting, naming shapes, etc. I think that this is coming along pretty well this year as well. I am much more cognizant of getting manipulatives into the hands of my kinders and using rhymes and story telling to keep them engaged in lessons. I think our grasp of routines has also helped with our math lessons. They know when manipulatives are tools and not toys, and they have learned that if they are playing they need to draw circles instead of using bears, cubes, or blocks. I still have some learning to do in this area, but I think we're coming along nicely!

The one area that got me today was center time. I had planned out my centers, but I had visions of my students from last year when I was doing this. I must elaborate, I had visions of my students from the END of the year last year when I was planning. Kinders at week three of school have very different abilities when compared to kinders at week 36 of school. Lesson learned, I will need to play around and finagle some, but we'll get there eventually.

All in all, I am very happy with where we are as a class this year. I cannot wait to see my kinders grow, learn, and excel this year. It is always so exciting to watch them as they grasp new skills and have aha moments. 

In addition to my new group of kinders, I have a new group of grade level teachers. So far they have made teaching so much more enjoyable! We work together very well and get along perhaps a little too well (it takes forever to lesson plan, but we have a great time doing it!)! They truly love their students and they are invested in their classrooms. We talk every day and share ideas. We are helping one another grow and become better teachers every day.

I have heard from friends that year three of teaching is the best, and at week three, I must say that I agree.

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).

plans

Sometimes plans don't go as you would like. Some things take longer than you would expect. Sometimes there are delayed starts due to weather. Sometimes students just aren't getting the point. The whole day, as a teacher, is about adjusting your plans to meet the students' needs. And still, we make plans, over and over again, hoping that one day everything will click and we'll be able to teach everything that we actually need to.

Next week I am administering tests to determine the levels of English Language Learners in the kindergarten grade level. Thanks to the awesome budgeting of my district, a sub is not funded for the time that I am out testing, which leaves my assistant on her own for a couple of days. Granted, she has her teaching degree, but our regular schedule involves us both teaching at different points during the day through centers and small group activities. With this in mind, I have had to completely revamp several of my days next week to account for her being on her own.

In this planning, I get a little more freedom than usual. I have been able to create worksheets and have fun with my plans. The unfortunate thing about sub planning is that you don't actually get to do all of the fun things that you are leaving behind for someone else. So, as frustrating as creating sub plans can be, I relish the opportunity to be a little more creative, even if I am not the one to benefit from all of the work that goes into it.

On top of my being out for testing next week, I have other fun things to accommodate for in my planning. On Thursday the Albuquerque Zoo is coming in to do a presentation of "Zoo to You." Through this our students will be able to meet some of the cool animals at the zoo. We also have that beloved day, Valentine's Day, on Friday. Yay for hyped up kiddos. At least it falls on a Friday this year so I don't need to deal with the sugar coma following their sweet indulgences on the holiday.

Here's a peek at one of my fun creations for next week - sight word graphing!

centers

Word Work, Free Writing, Letter Focus, and Free Reading

Centers. It's just how we roll in Room 1 Kindergarten. Sometimes it is a stretch to find time to actually do our centers, but I try to make it work three days a week. As the end of the year crunch comes though, I may need to cut back to two days a week. For now though, we spend one hour rotating through four different centers to help with pre-reading and emergent reader skills. Today, my little learners worked on stamping their sight words for the week, using proper sentence structure, completing a letter Gg mini-book, and independent reading. 

Today was the first day that I broke out my letter stamp collection and the kiddos loved it. I had gotten a set at the beginning of the year, but with only two stamps for each letter, I was unsure of how to prevent arguments over different letters. A month or so ago though, my problem was solved. I found alphabet stamp sets for 97 cents a piece! With six copies of each letter the stamping was smooth sailing (with the exception of actually locating the letters that were needed in the jumble of 156 stamps).

I was impressed by my kiddos in their free writing center. Most remembered the basic sentence structures that we have been practicing all year - a capital letter first, finger space between words, and punctuation at the end. Some wrote multiple sentences and most remembered how to spell their sight words. Since we have been working on sounding out words, I was also excited to see what everyone came up with on their own in terms of letter sound recognition.

Our letter focus and independent reading centers happen almost daily. My students are getting better at remaining focused on their reading for the whole 15-minute center rotation, and most are self motivating enough to remain on task. 

I know I've said it before, but I really do have a pretty impressive group of kiddos this year. They have made a lot of progress. While I may forget it sometimes in moments of frustration, they always end up surprising me in the end.

planning

Today when my grade level came together for a planning session a wonderful thing happened. We planned out the remainder of the school year. I am in heaven. Our language arts pacing was already determined by the district, but math has kind of been moving along on a week-to-week basis. One of the other teachers was getting worried about whether or not we would be able to cover all of our required material in the remaining months of school, so we sat down and figured it out. I love, love, love the fact that I can now plan as far in advance as I can find the time to. I can sort and file worksheets accordingly. I can, in essence, be a planning nerd. There, I said it. I'm a planning nerd. And I'm okay with that!

And now I'm off to an evening of grad school. (This is partially why I am a planning nerd, so many things to do, so little time.)

get crafty

This weekend I squeezed in a lot of crafting time around the usual activities of running and cleaning. I am trying to stay on top of my crafting ideas so that I am not rushing around and stressing out when birthdays or other gift giving holidays roll around. I got started as soon as we returned from Nebraska for Christmas and have been plucking away at new projects, old projects, and for a change, me projects.

Here is a glance at what I have been working on this weekend!

One of the blogs that I follow, mooglyblog.com, is hosting an afghan-along. This is the first square of the afghan. Every two weeks a new square is revealed and at the end of the year I'll have all of the pieces needed to make a 4'x6' afghan! This is my me project, one that I'm doing just because I can.

Another project that I worked on this weekend was a baby doll for one of my nieces. Her birthday isn't for quite some time, but as I mentioned, I want to stay on top of my gift-crafting game so that I'm prepared in the event that life gets in the way when birthdays are actually here.

Here is another birthday gift for another niece. It is hard to come up with ideas for the girls as they get older, but I think that this sparkly infinity scarf is one that will please the oldest of the girls.

Last but not least, here is a project that I have been working on (verrrrry slowly) since I returned from Costa Rica. This baby blanket is for a niece that isn't a baby anymore, but she is still my baby girl. If all goes well, it will serve well for a 4th birthday present.

who was that man

First off, this is the time of year when things are in go, go, go mode. In teaching, in personal life, even in my sleep I feel like I'm making plans for the holidays. Therefore, there is not a whole lot of blogging going on. It will return on a regular basis in the new year for sure. As for now though, I am busy planning, crafting, and trying to make some sense of the little bit of free time that I happen to find (which really is practically nonexistent - therefore, life doesn't make much sense right now).

This afternoon, during our math intervention time a random man walked into my classroom and poked around a little bit and then left. We have had so many people in and out of our building lately, and it's the time of year for observations and walk throughs, so I didn't think much about it. Then, after students were dismissed, I learned that the man doing walk throughs was our new superintendent. I can say, my assistant was observed. I was not. I was overlooked as I was working with my small group (extra small today due to absences). I'm not sure what he was looking for, but I hope he found it.

While my assistant was observed, I learned from other teachers that they had interesting happenings while the superintendent was in the building as well. One, who was free from teaching duties for a couple of minutes took a dying plant out to her car so that it could be given special care at home. As she hurried to take care of her errand she ran right into him. Oops! Another asked him who he was and told him that he was there for cleanup and wasn't going to see much. Then one of her students walked up to him and said, "Who are you?" in the manner that only little kids can. Sounds like a good afternoon was had by all!

In other news, my kinders are still saying incredible cute things. Today, while waiting for parents to pick them up, one of my students and his sister were simultaneously talking about spinach and singing Christmas carols. One exciting verse, sung to the tune of Rudolf the Red-Nosed Reindeer was 

"Popeye the sailor man, had a very shiny nose."

I started laughing at that and missed the rest. Love them! 

 

everything but the kitchen sink and then some

What a busy couple of days! On Friday we were go, go, go in Room 1 Kindergarten. We had our weekly review sessions followed by our end of week assessments in reading and in math. I was observed by my principal for our lovely new state evaluation system for teachers. We had a rushed special at the computer lab and then wrapped up the day with a parade to celebrate the close of Red Ribbon Week (a week against bullying and drugs).

After school was over I squeezed in the finishing touches on prep work for the coming week as well as a little bit of grad school work, and then I was thrown back in the trenches. My school had our annual Fall Festival Friday night and I was on the face painting crew. With my iPad on hand I was able to look up whatever designs the kiddos wanted and then tried to carry them out with the horrible face paints that the school provided. Grease paints may wash off easily, but it's really hard to get any color to show up when they are dollar store grease paints. Oh well, everyone walked away happy with their transformer, vampire, zombie, and kitty cat faces. In the end it was a fantastic evening - even if I didn't get to leave my table until 15 minutes after Fall Fest ended. I was able to whisper a quick hello to the mister when he stopped by, but didn't have a break to say much more as I had a little one that just kept asking me to paint different colors on her face. She had no clue what was going on, other than the fact that people were getting their faces painted and she wanted in on the action.

Yesterday the mister and I took some time to soak up the sun and get a good hike in before our trails start to be covered by ice. He took me on some new trails and then we wrapped up the miles by coming back on an old standard. We saw tons of animal tracks and while we were hopeful to see some mountain lion tracks (there is a warning sign up that mountain lions have been seen on the trails this year), all that we got to see were those of giant rez dogs that were chasing after deer and some jack rabbit prints. The afternoon consisted of some grad school work before going out to try a new (and delicious) restaurant. When we got home we watched some Dr. Who (a new favorite for me) and I finished up a birthday present for one of my adorable nieces.

Today I've been back at the grind. I started out by getting a good workout in, but then had to go about my usual cleaning routine. After that, it was all grad school. However, I won't complain because I am now done with one of the three courses that I was taking this semester. With any luck I'll be done with the other two before Thanksgiving!

Hope you had a restful weekend and are ready for the week to come!

oh hail

Literally. This afternoon my kinders kept on telling me that it was going to rain. In the desert, you can smell it coming. Today we had a bitter chill though, so when the rain did come, at student pick-up time, it was not liquid, but solid. At first everyone was excited because it appeared to be snow. Then it came down harder. So hard, in fact, that it hurt. We rushed all of the kiddos inside to look for their rides and signed them out from the warmth of the building.

I hope that this weather doesn't continue through the evening. While I would appreciate a late start, I really don't want it to be tomorrow. With two thirty minute practice sessions a day for our trip to the nursing home tomorrow, I really want to make sure that it happens. The kiddos are so excited about performing and riding the bus. Right now the fact that they get to trick or treat while we are there hasn't even crossed their minds. They just want to meet the special grandparents. 

Fingers crossed for a whole day of Halloween havoc tomorrow.

five little jack o lantern ghost witches

Oh goodness. Next week is Halloween. The kinders are super excited. Lesson planning for next week is rough and plans this week have gone out the window. Thank goodness it is only a three day teaching week.

Next Thursday, all of the kindergarteners from my school are going to the local nursing home to provide some entertainment for the residents. That means that starting today we have roughly 7.5 hours of practice time that we were able to fit into our schedules. This means that I have crazy Halloween songs going through my head all day, we have props to make, and the kinders are going to complete some art projects to decorate the halls of the home. 

Everyone is excited about meeting the "special grandparents that live in the special home" and so in the time leading up to and immediately following our song practice sessions the kinders are amped. That means our learning takes a hit. But, they are loving it and I think that the folks that we visit will love it too. In the meantime I have jack-o-lanterns, witches, ghosts, and Frankenstein running through my head. 

As an added bonus though, this field trip will also count toward a service learning project that I need to do for grad school. Sure, it may be double dipping, but my students are being reminded of the Navajo tradition (and hopefully every other culture out there's tradition) of respecting and honoring their elders. I think that this is an important tradition to instill in our youth, and so we're talking about why we're visiting the home - it really is about more than the fact that we get to trick or treat while we're there and show off our fancy costumes.

Oh life, sometimes you work out so well!

reset

Happy fall break! I just returned from about seven hours in my classroom. Go me!

Last night I had a great discussion with a couple of my classmates about classroom resets. This idea sparked something in me. During the last couple of weeks I have noticed that my students are starting to get snarky with one another and there have been a few tearful outbursts due to comments and actions made my some of the students. When one of my classmates brought up the idea of a reset, I was hooked. What a great time - we're on a break, the first quarter just ended, and we have a new friend in our class. All of these elements seemed to come together in my mind and my reset plan evolved. 

Today, I had intended to go into my classroom to get my planning for next week wrapped up and to close out the first quarter. While I did do those things,  I also made anchor charts for listening skills and appropriate group work behaviors. I made six-inch voice ribbons to help us keep our conversations at a reasonable level when in small groups. I built rule-reset time into my lesson plans for next week. I restocked our table supply boxes and finally managed to find inexpensive dry erase markers to restock that supply (and subsequently glued pom poms on the ends to serve as individual erasers while students are working on write and wipe pockets). Our classroom is reset. 

We will start over on Monday and rebuild our positive environment. We'll refocus our attention on all of the great learning that we have been doing and stop worrying about other students' behaviors. We will worry about ourselves only. I am going to keep affirming these statements with the belief that my vision will come to fruition over the next week and that our class will reset and continue to make incredible progress.

Of course, after getting my reset planned, I had to plan all of the academic stuff. I also organized and reset student data folders for the second quarter. Busy as a bee, but it paid off. Now my plans are in order, the materials needed for next week are all laid out. My first quarter is wrapped up so I do not need to worry about grade verification because everything is entered and I just need to sign off on final grades next week when our clerk is in the office. 

Now I can enjoy fall break to the fullest.

Oh - and it snowed today! Not a lot, but I love seeing the white stuff falling from the sky.

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!

dead battery

It happens to all of us. The battery dies on something. In recent years I have heard complaints of batteries dying on Kindles before someone is able to finish a book, or the battery on their phone dies before they are able to take a quick photo of something that is priceless. Today, the battery that died was mine. Well, my computer's battery died as well, but that wasn't until after my personal one did.

It take a lot of energy to teach. Last year, I think that I lived in a little bubble of confusion that kept on bouncing me along, somewhat effortlessly. It's easy to have energy when you do not fully realize the implications of your position, how to meet the goals and objectives of your position, and when you don't really understand what you are doing wrong or how you can fix it (or at least try to fix it). 

This year I am tired. I had the summer to really evaluate what it means to be a kindergarten teacher. I have a better understanding of my goals, and as a result I am pushing my students further. To do this, I am also pushing myself further. I spend time trying to develop dynamic lesson plans that fit within the district mandated curriculum. I put myself out there to try and keep my kinders engaged in a less than exciting lesson that just needs to be taught. I spend endless hours looking for new and exciting resources. I write grants. I develop hands on materials (manipulatives). I teach.

Today, I was super excited to see my kinders after being away from them yesterday. We had a fantastic morning that was focused on oral language development (a fancy way of saying that we talked a lot). We did center work. And more center work. And we celebrated National Book-It Day. Then we did more centers in math class. Then I had a meeting. Then we did our exciting smartie pants end of day wrap up (I swear, I'll actually write about this one of these days). Then my kinders left. And with them, my energy vanished. My battery died on the spot when the last student climbed into his father's truck.

Still, I went back to my classroom and had a meeting with my mentor. As a second year teacher I am a part of a mentoring program to help me to become a more effective teacher. This means more work. And of course, on top of that I have grad school work. And lesson planning. Do you get the point? I am exhausted. 

This afternoon though, my computer's battery died. This year I have taken to leaving my charger at home. Today, I found good reason to do this. When my battery died, I had to leave (well, not really, but it seemed like a good excuse).

The good news is that we have fall break next week. Four whole days of no teaching (just planning, grad school, yada, yada, yada). I am ecstatic. 

push

Curriculum. It's kind of a bummer. Or at least when you are told to use certain materials to meet the curriculum and standards.

This afternoon I met with my fellow kinder teachers and we talked math. We started the year following the new materials that the district purchased, and now that we are almost a quarter of the way through the year things are starting to crumble. We were chasing the curriculum as opposed to nurturing our students.

In the first eight weeks of school we have pushed through numbers zero to ten. We have worked on group and number comparisons. We have worked on the concept of one more. We have worked on ordinal numbers. But what, we were wondering, do our students actually know? When we boil it down, not much. We keep on pushing and pushing, instead of building. After we wrap up chapter two next week, we're getting down and dirty. We will still use the resources that the district purchased, but we will shuffle through the chapters to find what fits the students needs. We will build on basic skills so that our kinders have a solid foundation when they move on to first grade.

The starting point: number sense. We are going to dig deep and make sure that our students understand the story of each number. We want them to know that three plus two equals five and that two plus three equals five. We want them to cut and paste and make art to demonstrate these skills. We want math to become more hands on, to be paced to fit their five and six year old minds, and we want them to feel successful.

Granted, I have a super bright bunch this year so things have been going pretty well. But when we saw that the next chapter is counting and recognizing numbers to one hundred, a red flag went up. Our students need a stronger base before we push to that level. We will compose and decompose numbers and then move on to adding and subtracting them. This may seem like a bigger push than counting to one hundred, but these are skills that are integrated and build upon one another. Our students will know (hopefully) why they are doing different things and build a conceptual understanding of numbers. We may be thinking big, but we have big dreams for our little learners.

sped on by

It all started with a speed workout this morning. Then I was engulfed in sped all day long. Special education that is. 

One of the graduate courses that I am taking this semester is an introduction to special education. I am learning about the legality of the system, the exceptionalities that students may be diagnosed with, and the implications for me, a general education teacher. As with all classes, I have assignments to complete, and today seemed to be the day when I was able to get them done - or at least started. 

This morning I was observed by my instructor during my morning meeting. I was able to share with her one of my most favorite times of the day - the time when we all say good morning, get to share a little bit about ourselves, do a group activity, and work on our literacy development. I am always excited by this time of day and it helps to get our class started on the right foot. This assignment will continue through a process of feedback from her and my reflection on that feedback.

My instructor left right as we were beginning language arts time, and from there the morning took off. We flew through different activities, focusing on high frequency words (have & is this week), the letter a and the /a/ sound. Reading and listening comprehension. Facts about flowers. Comparing and contrasting. And, before I knew it, the kinders were lining up for recess. This is how the majority of my mornings go. I become engaged with my students and before I know it, it is time for a break. I love it!

After recess the students worked with my assistant, as is usual and I worked on preparing some materials for a lesson that will be given next Monday when I am out for a training. The students worked on their letter sounds while I listened in the background and checked in on their small group projects. When lunch rolled around we were in a rush to line up and get to the cafeteria in time, because once more, we were engaged in our assignments and forgot to look at the clock.

At lunch time I was engulfed in sped work again. Another assignment for my class is to interview someone from the special education team. Today was my lucky day as our educational diagnostician was on campus. She only stops by occasionally, but I wanted her perspective since it is the one that I know the least about. We sat and talked throughout my entire lunch, meaning I only ate a few bites of my delicious salad. My kinders were great coming back into class and my assistant did her amazing thing where she got math class started so that I could at least eat my salad.

Math was a breeze, reading 1 Hunter, by Pat Hutchins and practicing numbers that are one more than the previous. The kinders were really engaged and involved in the counting of animals and figuring out what the number would be if there was one more animal. They then completed their worksheets with flying colors. Once again, time flew and before I knew it we were being called to the cafeteria for a fund raising assembly.

And, just like that the day came to a close. We had a short intervention session where I worked with some students on one to one correspondence (counting in normal people terms) and then I brought out the smarties. I'll need to share about smarties another day because for me, my day will continue with more special education. Tonight I have class to learn even more about this field of education so that I can improve my practice!

Happy (crazy) Wednesday! I hope that yours sped on by as well.

go team

As a second year teacher, I am a protege to an experienced teacher, my mentor. We meet every Tuesday afternoon to discuss the happenings in kindergarten, how things are going on my end, school goals, and any questions, concerns, or difficulties that I am having. This is a time for me to absorb all of the knowledge that she has to share, since she is retiring at the end of the school year.

Today, we began our discussion talking about assessments. We spent yesterday and today doing language arts and math assessments that will produce the data that should drive our next quarter of instruction. As we were discussing this, I mentioned that last week I took the time to copy the weekly assessments that we will need to do in language arts, the benchmark assessments for language arts and math, and a couple of other little things that we will use on a regular basis. The next step was how to get copies for our whole grade level. And my question was answered with action.

My mentor took me down to the main office and she taught me how to fill out work orders for our district print shop. Our fellow kindergarten teacher also happened to be in the office, and so we sat down and filled out all of the work orders - about 14 in all. Yay for teamwork! If I had been trying to do that on my own it would have taken a good 30 to 45 minutes. With the three of us we were done in 15! Go team!

As an added bonus, this helps us to be better organized for the rest of the school year - and if you know me, I love organization!

sometimes it is okay

Collaboration. I know that I have ranted about it in the past. But, sometimes it is okay.

On Wednesdays, during my planning period, I have a grade level meeting during which my two fellow kindergarten teachers and I plan for the coming week. We review what has worked well for us in the previous week and changes that we might like to make to have our classes run a little more smoothly and effectively. I have really grown to enjoy this time with my fellow teachers, who are, unfortunately, both planning on retiring at the end of the school year. They have taught me a lot in the past year, and these collaboration sessions have allowed me to grow as a teacher and become more effective in my practice.

Last year, I was soaking up all of the knowledge that they could throw my way. This year, the tables have turned a little. Our school has become more technologically advanced, providing each classroom with C.O.W.s (Computers On Wheels). We all have laptops, document cameras, and projectors. This allows us to access the digital resources that were developed to match our mathematics and language arts curricula. Therefore, this year I provide technical advice, and they continue to give me an abundance of ideas to help me teach a concept in a new way that may make more sense to struggling learners. This year, we collaborate, we all have different strengths to share to help one another out.

As I said, sometimes, it's okay! 

appreciation

I am fortunate in that the state of New Mexico mandates that kindergarten teachers have an assistant in their classrooms. This opens up a whole new world of opportunities for me. Last year neither my assistant nor I were really sure about what we were doing or how to really collaborate as it was the first year that either of us had been in the classroom. We meandered through the school year, figuring out what worked and what did not, and basically managed to stay afloat. This year, it is a completely different story.

We have flow. The students know what that flow is. They know that they will not get away with things like asking one of us for something and then turning to the other if the first says no. We are equally in charge of the classroom. During language arts the students work together on a whole group lesson and then break up into centers. As students rotate through the centers they work with me on one skill and with my assistant on another (and a third group works on sustained quiet reading). Six weeks into the school year we have the routine down. Students know when they are working with which teacher and what those expectations are. As I said, we have flow - not just my assistant and I, but our students as well.

That flow was put to the test this morning as my assistant had family obligations that took her out of the classroom for a couple of hours. First thing in the morning, the students asked, "Where is Mrs. S.?" I let them know that Mrs. S. had an appointment and that she would come to school later. We worked through the first part of our morning routine and then centers came. I walked the entire class through what they would be doing at Mrs. S.'s center without her. They handled it like champs. After I got my group situated, I checked in with hers and everyone was on task.

Pure magic. I couldn't help but imagine what my classroom would have looked like had this happened last year (it was not pretty by any means). Everyone had told me that the second year of teaching is so much better than the first (and each year after that even better), but today was the true test for the rules and routines that I have set up. I love feeling prepared and like I can actually do this on my own. But, even if I can do it on my own, I am so appreciative of the help and support that I receive from my assistant.

get it done

As usual, the weekend has been full of getting things done. School things, home things, life things. It's nice to have the weekends to help make the rest of the week run more smoothly.

Yesterday I had a fantastic day of food, fitness, and a little bit of fun. I took a break from my usual long run and did some walking to accommodate for a slightly sore ankle. I walked downtown to the farmer's market and co-op and came home with a couple of bags full of goodies. Our countertop filled up with fruit, veggies, homemade jam and bread. 

After dropping off those goodies I drove out to the state park and hiked my favorite local trail, Pyramid Rock. With all of the rain that we have been getting the desert is green, green, green. It's fabulous! I followed up my hike with a trip to the grocery and wrapped up shopping for the week. 

In an unusual mood for making food, I started prepping food for the week. I got fruits soaked (in water and white vinegar to help them last longer and clean off any junk that they acquired in transit) and put away. I prepped a veggie lasagna with squash, eggplant, and mushrooms. I made hummus from scratch. I made beans (also from scratch, a habit that we acquired in Peace Corps). Things are looking pretty spiffy around here considering we have two nights of grad school this week that we'll need quick food for.

We topped off the evening by going out to Gallup's monthly Arts Crawl. We saw a friend perform with the local belly dancing group and watched some other friends workout with a local fitness group called Iron Warriors. We also got rained on. After checking out our favorite art stores/galleries we decided to call it an early evening and got to the car right before a blinding downpour began.

Today has been equally productive with cleaning and laundry done before noon. Grad school has been thrown into the mix, with the mister wrapping up one of our group assignments for our technology in education course. We've had some more good food and are building up energy for a busy week to come.

Happy Sunday! Remember to rest and rejuvenate!