bummer

Well, it is looking as if our summer off from grad school will be no more. Our beloved professors are both moving on in their lives - one is retiring, the other is moving north to be closer to family. As a satellite campus for WNMU, this means that we are unsure of what classes will be available to us in person in the coming year. As a result, it looks like the mister and I are going to jump on the opportunity to take one of our three remaining classes this summer while it is being offered online. It isn't ideal, but it will get things done. That means next school year we'll be looking at two remaining classes - how we'll earn those credits is to be determined. Hopefully they won't only be available online, but if they are, at least we tripled up this year so that we don't have so many classes to worry about in the future. The good news is that the University has stated that we will be able to finish our degrees. Thank goodness for that.

explosion

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

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

one hundred

I have survived the first one hundred days of the school year! So have my kinders. We've had our highs and lows, but I like to think that we're kicking this year's behind.

Counting 100 Objects (They were a little off, but we got it sorted out in the end!)

Aside from being the hundredth day of school, we also had the pleasure of having Explora, a pretty awesome science exploration organization, come and lead some experiments in reflection and symmetry for the kindergarten and first grade students. The kiddos loved it, and I think that anyone in the hallway where they were working knew it. If you want to entertain a kindergartener for an hour or so, give them two small mirrors taped together and let them explore.

Friends Playing With Mirrors 

I See You!

How Many Do You See?

Symmetrical Wormy Reflections

I personally enjoyed closing out my hundredth day with setting a PR on the Pyramid Trail (55 minutes,woohoo). I had had to leave school early to check in at the Boys and Girls Club about volunteer opportunities (yes, volunteer opportunities...). One of our grad classes this semester requires 20 hours of community service work, so the mister and I decided that reconnecting with our After School roots would be fun. Once I got that squared away though, I went and did a little trail running. And it felt great.

A Quick View From the Top, Before Running Back Down (to beat the sunset of course)

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.)

spring

I may be jumping the gun a bit here, but it seems as if spring has come to Gallup. Last week we had afternoons in the fifties, contrasting heavily with the mornings in single digits, but that's spring in the desert. 

Spring has also come to the Hall House. With this spring semester we found ourselves exhausted by the start of a new semester of grad school and we found ourselves sifting through items that we rarely use and making trips to Goodwill to donate that which was still in good condition. (We even managed to drop off our goodies without going in to replace it all, as is our usual modus operandi.)

It has been fortunate that we had a three-day weekend following our first week back to our very busy lives. We have been allowed to mix work with fun, cleaning with relaxing, and all in all, have a pretty balanced weekend. Sure, there are chapters to read and papers to write, but we're taking things at a more relaxed pace which is nice.

For me, this is quite the change. Perhaps a good one. I generally go full force, right out of the gate. But, maybe after so many years of go, go, go, I'm figuring out how to apply my slow and steady running strategy to life. When I have a due date that is several weeks away, I don't need to be working on the assignment now. I can balance my drive to be successful in school with the joy that I find in long, lazy runs and afternoons of crafting.

Spring is here. A time of new growth, of blossoms, of sunny afternoons. For me, it may just mean a time of growth in how I approach life. Spring is good.

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.

to be seen

Today I get to fully embrace this fall break thing. By putting in my time yesterday, I can sit back and soak up the freedom of not having lesson planning to worry about. I am also fortunate in that I do not have any major grad school assignments looming over me this weekend. I can breathe. What a wonderful feeling!

This afternoon the mister and I are headed to Chinle and Canyon de Chelley. If you just tried clicking on that link, you'll understand why I titled this post "to be seen." Thanks to the government shut down it is to be seen what I will be able to experience in and around the canyon. One component of this trip that does look to be in my favor is that the canyon is technically Navajo land, the government shutdown cannot take away tribal lands, even if it can shut down the visitor's center.

The mister has a 55k race through the canyon tomorrow. He will have the opportunity to run where many gringos do not have the chance to go. He will be able to pass through native lands and run to the base of Spider Rock. I am so excited for him to have this opportunity and cannot wait to hear about his experiences.

In the meantime, I will soak up whatever components of the Navajo culture that I can. I will drive around the rim and see what there is to be seen, assuming that the government cannot shut down the roads that go to people's homes in the canyon. I will also enjoy the cultural celebrations and presentations that will take place this evening after race packet pick up. We've also decided to turn the next 36 hours into a Navajo cultural celebration by also stopping in Window Rock, the capital of Navajo country, to visit the historical museum and zoo on our way to the canyon.

I'll let you know what the government shutdown is doing on Navajo land tomorrow! Until then, here is a photo of the canyon that the mister took last May when we visited.

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.

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.

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! 

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!

breathe

And, breathe

It is before 7AM on Friday morning, and look at that. My lesson plans are done for next week. My materials are prepped and sorted. It is shaping up to be a good end to the week and I think that I will be able to sit back and breathe this weekend.

Of course, lesson planning isn't all that there is to teaching. In between the breaths that I take and the sitting back and relaxing (which, if you know me, I don't really do all that well) I will continue to work. I have programs to look into for my RtI (Response to Intervention - the time that is set aside for intensive work with struggling learners) time and there are always little odds and ends to take care of to help make the classroom run more smoothly. But, the big picture is that my planning is done. If the other things are not taken care of right away, my classroom will not fall apart. As I said, I can breathe. And that is a fantastic feeling as I wrap up this first month of school.

Happy Friday!

life

Sometimes, it happens. Life takes over no matter what your plans are. When I started this blog at the beginning of August, my plan had been to write a little something every day as a means of reflecting upon my teaching experiences and life in general. The highs, the lows, and whatever happens in between. Friday evening I decided that while this was a fantastic idea, sometimes I also just need me time. Or we time.

On Friday, after work, I ran around town trying to complete some errands - some I completed successfully, some not so much. I got home and was able to stock the fridge with hazelnut milk (my newest food addiction) and put quarters away for laundry. I had failed at getting the mister and I registered for a race at the end of September, due to the chamber closing early and then only having registration forms for the bike portion of the weekend of events, no signs of the ones for the half marathon. Life, it happens, and not always as planned.

That evening the mister and I did something unusual for the school year. We sat back, ate some delicious homemade lentil lasagna, and watched a movie. Yes, we relaxed. Knowing that we had a long weekend in front of us we didn't feel pressure to knock out just a little bit of work before hitting the sack. We looked through our Netflix queue and finally watched The King's Speech. It was well worth the time out from our busy lives. During the movie I also finally finished making a blanket for a friend of ours from Costa Rica who is due to have a little girl any day now!

Yesterday morning I went about my normal Saturday morning routine and checked off a beautiful 10 mile run through the high desert. During the last couple of weeks we have had a lot of rain for the desert and I was surprised by the abundance of green. I was also fortunate in that it was an overcast morning so I did not need to battle the heat of the sun, though I did have to deal with some stomach problems. Oh well, life happens, and you keep on keeping on. I finished up my 10 miles in just over 2 hours, which I was quite pleased with (the last mile was accompanied by the howls of coyotes in the distance). This is my longest run on record in well over a year, after battling injury after injury. 

After I left the trails the mister called and we decided to go to Albuquerque for the day. This is once again something unusual for us. I think that I went to Albuquerque "just because" once last Thanksgiving with friends, but the two of us have never done it. Sure, we've been to the city since moving here a little over a year ago, but for things like going to the airport, to run races, or for medical appointments. Yesterday, we shopped. I the past year I have lost a little over ten pounds, and therefore was in desperate need of clothes that fit me well. We also took care of some things on our list that we've been putting off, such as buying new towels and other basic household goods. We topped off the day with a delicious Japanese/Sushi dinner. It was a true treat for us.

And now, life goes back to normal. This morning I worked out and cut tags off of new items and prepared things for laundry. The mister threw together some home fries and a crustless veggie quiche. We are moving past our 36 hours of "freedom" (granted by this long weekend) and settling into work: grading papers, updating student data folders, creating newsletters for the month of September, reading for grad school, doing household chores. 

We may take a break from life on occasion, but it always finds us in the end. Enjoy your long weekend (if you are fortunate enough to have Monday off)!

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?)

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. 

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)!

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?)!