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.)

new york

Start spreading the news... I'm leaving today... I want to be a part of it... New York, New York

New York was a week full of family and fun (and a little bit of friend time too). Our time in the big city (of Canandaigua, not New York City) was spent with great food, fantastic conversation, and a bit of exploration and adventure. We hiked to waterfalls, did some trail running in the rain, stayed up late, talked about everything under the sun, soaked up family time, and even managed to relax a little bit.

On Saturday we stayed up late talking. On Sunday we climbed on waterfalls and walked through streams. On Monday we surprised my Gramma Dilli and Grandpa Bill. On Tuesday we caught up with a variety of friends. On Wednesday we went for a bike ride and made enchiladas for dinner. On Thursday we ran in the rain, went kayaking, and met up with the Hansen side of the family. On Friday we celebrated the Fourth of July at the lake. On Saturday we celebrated my grandparents' 60th anniversary and 80th birthdays. And on Sunday we were on the road again.

waterfalls!

surprise!

riding bikes in the rain

kayaking

hansen family gathering

celebrating gramma and grandpa

it's not a family get together until there are wheelbarrow races

my family!

The week flew by. There is only so much that you can squeeze into one week, but I think that we managed to get a lot done. Granted we didn't get to see everyone that we would have liked to have seen or do all that we would have liked to have done, but we had an amazing time. And, the Maine woods were calling our names.

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.

new new new new

It's a new year, with new instructional strategies, tomorrow, a new student, and at the end of the month, a new principal. Life is never boring, that is for sure.

Today we had a lot of fun with the new year during calendar time. My kinders, bright as can be began telling me what each of the following years will be. They said, "next it will be 2015!" I replied, yes, when you are in first grade, it will change to 2015 in January." I then cursed the moment that those words came out of my mouth as we spent the next several minutes with them saying, "and in second grade it will be 2016, and in third 2017, etc. etc." I've got some good ones, no questions.

We shifted our language arts centers around a little bit today, and things seemed to go well. I have moved from three centers to four. This way, groups are smaller and I have added accountability to my reading groups. Now, advanced students partner read with lower level students, assisting them with sounding out words or using context clues to determine what is happening in their stories. Their next center is reading reflection where they write in their journals about one story that they read. Right now, this consists of "I read...". As the semester progresses, I think that my more advanced students will be able to add on a little more detail.

Our anchor chart for partner reading

"I read Can Melvin Scoot. Rita Ran to Rosie" One reading reflection with a picture of happy partners reading together!

At the end of our new center rotation, we debriefed how everything went. Overall, the kinders loved it. They liked reading with partners and they really liked writing about their books and drawing pictures. As of right now, I think we have a winner. We'll see how things go when they aren't so new anymore.

Another new for today was finding out that I will have a new student starting tomorrow. From Nepal. Now, between Mrs. S and I we can take care of English, Spanish, and Navajo languages. Neither of us speak Nepali though (surprising, I know). It will be a new adventure for the new year. One that I am both excited and frightened by. I'll be challenged by the fact that this little girl does not speak English and that the traditional alphabet for Nepali is Devanagari (say what?). But, I like challenges.

Does anyone out there understand the Devanagari alphabet?

My final new for the day was my principal announcing that she will be retiring in two weeks. Between state/district shake ups and family commitments, she decided that it would be best to leave now before the district requires principals to commit to five to seven more years with the district in conjunction with a turn around plan that has been set up. For now, our head teacher will be completing an internship as our interim principal, which is great. As for next year, there is no telling who might be walking through those doors with the title of principal. But honestly, as long as I am allowed to teach my kinders, I'll be able to go with the flow pretty well - but I am hooked on my kinders and don't want to leave the grade level any time in the near (read years) future.

And so, I'm heading out from school early-ish today and soaking in the new. Tomorrow I'll tackle the endless pile of paperwork/planning/organizing that comes with teaching.

thirteenth schmirteenth

While I have never been much for superstitions, today the Friday the Thirteenth superstitions were crushed to smithereens. It all started with the mister shouting out at six this morning that we were on a two-hour delay. I had already gotten my workout in and was in the midst of getting ready for the day, so I progressed as I would on any other day.

I got to school with two and a half hours of sweet silence to myself. I finished lesson plans for next week, I prepped the classroom for next week, I made a new batch of salt dough to replace ornaments from yesterday that had been too wet and therefore broke when they were taken off of their plates, I revised our daily schedule to fit the late start, and I found time to start writing out lesson plans for the week following Christmas vacation. It was busy, I was running around like crazy, but came away feeling very accomplished.

My kinders showed up bright-eyed and bushy tailed and full of energy. After a sugary breakfast of syrup-infused waffles and saying the pledge we jumped right into learning. Our morning circle went off without a problem and the kiddos read the morning message without any help from me (they're good, I tell you)! We moved on to a quick review of the week with sounding out CVC words and going over our comprehension skill for the week - drawing conclusions. We moved right on to our weekly assessment and all of my little learners earned a 100% on their work! Yay! We cheered and everyone got a sticker for their hard work this week.

From there we moved right into a math review so that we could tackle the math assessment before lunch. We had big holiday plans for the afternoon, so we wanted to get the hard stuff done right away. We reviewed making and taking apart numbers four through ten and everyone was on their A-game. Each person was called on to give examples for different numbers and they were given guidance when needed. With all of my kinders showing off their smarts, we squeezed in the assessment right before lunch and were able to give ourselves another cheer when once again everyone passed with flying colors (there was one 94%, the rest earned 100%)! Stickers were awarded and we lined up for lunch.

When my class returned we worked on creating pony bead ornaments for them to take home. Wreaths and candy canes took up the majority of our afternoon. While the kinders were hard at work I pulled them for individual assessments in reading. Once again they did great. My lower leveled students are showing some growth and overall twelve of the sixteen that have been here this week scored 80% or better! I'm in heaven today. What can I say. To reward my kiddos they all received a roll of Smarties for being such smartie pants today.

To top things off, all of my students were picked up in a timely manner. I'm almost afraid to leave school for fear that my magical bubble of goodness will burst. But, as I mentioned, I'm not really one for superstitions. Off to my magical crafting world to knock out some of those looming Christmas gifts!

Some of today's ornaments

Our classroom tree!

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.

around the world

It is recess and I am coming off of an Around the World high. I know that I keep bragging about how awesome my kinders are, but I need to do it again (and I am sure that it is not for the last time).

This morning my kinders were a little full of Friday energy and ended up moving into the "yellow light" as a result. This meant that our class lost five minutes of recess time. To fill that time, and the fifteen minutes before, we did sight word work. First we worked on their word lists for study at home, then we did the high frequency words that we have been working on in class. The students had them down, so we extended our small group Around the World games into a whole group Around the World.

I wasn't too sure how this would work with mixed levels, but all of the students' practice has paid off. We had high levels competing against low levels, and to my surprise and delight, the high levels didn't always win. It was fantastic. The class had tons of energy, sight words were flying, the kinders were having a learning party. It was fantastic. I think that I see more around the world in the future!

crawling

I made it through all of last year without having any students get the lovely, crawling creatures that we call lice. Today, that streak ended.

I was testing one of my student on her reading level and sight word recognition and I saw a bug crawling around at her hairline. I would point to a word and then look up, it was still there. I would read another word and look up, it was still there. We had just come in from recess and I was hoping with all my might that it was just a little fly that got caught in her hair. Unfortunately it seemed right at home. I took her to the office and sure enough, that little creepy crawly was lice. And it had a big family. Her family was called and she was picked up and I let out a sigh of relief.

Then the school nurse screened the rest of my class. Six students were sent home with notes saying that their checks had shown signs of lice. One of the student's parents are not native English speakers, so I was able to use my Spanish skills to break the news. Thankfully all of the parents that I talked to said that it was just a part of being a child and going to school. 

It's true that that is the reality, but that doesn't mean that my head didn't suddenly start itching upon hearing the news (my hair is typically braided or in a bun, so hopefully I don't have anything to worry about). While I love my kinders I do not necessarily the ease with which they seem to share everything. And now I will go home and break the news to the mister that he needs to check my hair so that I don't go crazy.

progress

We have been in school for 10 weeks now and progress is being made. In preparation for parent teacher conferences I have been wrapping up quarterly progress reports on foundational skills. My students are making headway on learning their letter names and sounds. Some have made the jump from zero letters recognized in a minute to fourteen, which is really incredible when they entered school not knowing letters from numbers. Others, that entered school with basic letter knowledge are now approaching sixty letters in a minute. Progress!

While these numbers are fantastic, the thing that has really gotten me excited is seeing actual progress in my students' reading abilities. Today, I had each of my independent readers (13 of 18 in my class) read a new text to me. The story included high frequency words that we have been working on all year along with some new CVC words (words made up of consonant-vowel-consonant combinations) that were composed of letter sounds that we have been working on, such as cap. 

One of my students, one that struggled quite a bit at the beginning of the school year, blew me away today. He nailed his sight words and then successfully sounded out each of his new CVC words. He was a rock star. He read the story from beginning to end and was even able to tell me the main idea of the story. As I said, I was blown away. 

I love that progress is so noticeable in kindergarten. I love my job.

really

As a new teacher, I am a part of a mentoring program. I believe that I have talked about my mentor before and how she is a fountain of information regarding kindergarten and teaching best practices. One component of the mentoring program is actually observing your mentor in program.

I scheduled my observation to take place yesterday afternoon (note, this is a make up blog because my internet was down yesterday and I couldn't post this then). I filled out my leave request. I had it approved. I had my sub plans set and ready. The start time for my observation rolled around, my students came back from recess, and I still did not have a sub. Mrs. S got the students situated while I ran to the office to figure out what was happening. 

"You don't get a sub." That was the response that I got. I replied that I had my approved leave. The response this time was, "I know, you don't get a sub." Frustrated, I ran back to class and conferred with Mrs. S. She told me, "Just go." It's nice to know that I have a competent assistant, but I know that there are district funds that are set aside for mentoring observations. I rushed to get mine done because it was a first quarter requirement and I wanted to make sure that the funds were available. But, no dice. No sub for me.

Mrs. S did a pretty good job of keeping the kinders under control and they made it through a bulk of the work that I had left (I always over-plan for subs). I had a great observation and picked up a couple of new tricks to throw into my bag. I used some of those today in our lesson review and they worked well. We tested what Mrs. S presented to them yesterday and 94% of my students received an 80% or higher on their assessment. I'd say we tag teamed that one pretty well.

It may not have worked as planned, but it worked. And now I can relax. My first semester of mentoring activities are done and over with and my report is written (I guess that was a perk of not having internet last night, I actually did work that needed to be done). Now I can (kind of) relax until Monday when quarter two starts up, along with a new list of mentoring activities.

fall cleaning

Fall Cleaning!

Today, during morning announcements my dreams came true. I had been presented with an outlet to get rid of old teaching materials that have been sitting in my cabinets since I inherited my classroom last July. Our clerk told us that someone was coming to school to evaluate the materials that we had and they would be donated if they were in good enough condition, otherwise they would just be purged.

I did a silent cheer in my head and used the time that my students had left during breakfast to start clearing out some materials. As the day progressed, any time that my students were working on an independent task that my assistant could oversee I was lugging boxes of old books out to the hallway. Old math resources, old reading resources, and old science resources. I kept one copy of each workbook so that I have access to alternative resources if need be, but otherwise I cleaned out nearly an entire cabinet when I compiled where each item came from.

Hopefully my loss (and actual gain of storage space) will become somebody else's gain.

the things they say

Today my students began brainstorming for a week long writing project that will end in an illustrated piece that answers the question, "If you could be anything little, what would you be?"

As I sat down with my most advanced students, I happened to yawn. One of the students commented on the fact that I must be tired and I replied, "Yes, I am a little bit tired." Almost immediately after I sat down I described the prompt for the morning's center. One of my bright little kinders looked and me and said, "I am a little tired." It took me just a moment, these little guys are too fast sometimes. I had been thinking they would reply like the lower students in class, "I am a little butterfly," or "I am a little fire truck." No, this one spit my words back at me and had me laughing. I love their sense of humor and how quickly they catch onto things.

Happy Monday!

salsa anyone

When Grad School and Elementary School Collide

It was magic. Today when my kinders finished their language arts assessment I told them that I had a surprise for them. They had to clean up their table spaces and then come sit with me at my round table. When they sat down we talked about how they had homework every night to help them get smarter. Then I told them that I had homework to do to for my school. When I told them that they were going to help me with my homework I received some anxious looks. Then I told them that my homework was to have them taste different kinds of salsa. Those worried looks went away pretty quickly.

I pulled out our salsas one by one. They evaluated the appearance, the texture, the taste and the spiciness. Some students started out saying that they didn't like salsa, but when their friends kept on saying how good they were, almost everyone jumped on the salsa train. Some salsas they liked, some they did not, but whatever their response to the salsas, they loved the tortilla chips.

After they evaluated four different kinds of salsa, I set the bowls of salsa and chips on another table and let them go at it. Today marked progress reports day, so I thought it was a bit of a celebration. We're half way through the first quarter of school and they have worked extra hard. Today, we played ate hard.

Some of the best comments from my kiddos during the thirty minutes of salsa party madness:

"Ewwww! That looks like poop!" ~5 year old boy responding to the appearance of salsa verde

"Mrs. Hall! I can tell my dad that I like salsa now!" ~5 year old girl after eating chips heaping with salsas of all flavors

"Mrs. Hall, you're the best teacher ever!" ~Numerous kiddos slurring through their salsa high

Needless to say, the day was pretty rad. 100% of students scored 80% or better on their language arts assessment. More than 50% scored 80% or better on their reading assessment. Roughly 90% scored 80% or better on their math assessment. We ate chips and salsa. One student had asked his mom if he could bring a snack for all of his friends in class, so we also ate Goldfish at the end of the day. And the kiddos earned playtime at the end of the day (after eating Goldfish). Yeah, that's how every Friday should be! 

 

like a pirate

Arrrrrr. This morning I was working with my RtI (Response to Intervention) group for language arts development. We were working on letter identification for t, n, and r. When we got to the r, one of my kinders said, "Arrrrrr. Like a pirate." This made my day, and it was just after 8AM. I love how inventive some of my students are and that he was able to make this connection. It worked for him, and by sharing his thoughts with the group, they all picked up on Arrrrrr as well. 

Now, if only he didn't want to call every letter Arrrr now... But, I suppose we all have to start somewhere. It doesn't hurt that the students in this group were trying to make "pirate" faces as well when they were saying Arrrr. Love it!

money money money

As a general rule, teachers do not make a lot of money. I think it is also a general rule that teachers end up spending a lot on their classrooms and their students to make learning more engaging and enjoyable. The equation doesn't really balance out, but that's the way it goes. At least in my home.

Today, that equation was turned around a little tiny bit. I received an email from my principal saying, "Surprise, classroom teachers have XXX amount of money to spend on their classrooms!" These surprise emails make me giddy. It's kind of like being a kid in a candy store. As a result, I spent my planning period and a fair amount of time after school playing around online, trying to figure out what I wanted to bring into my classroom. Then I spent more time substituting one item for another until I came up with what I felt was the best way I could use this surprise gift.

You may be wondering, "why on earth did she spend so much time figuring this out today?" It's a good question. The reasoning behind the time that I spent sorting out which items I would like to bring into my classroom today is that these "gifts" often expire pretty quickly. Administration is told that their schools have so much money to spend within a certain period of time, otherwise those funds disappear. I do not want to be one of the teachers that misses out on the opportunity, and I also don't want to just fill my room with junk. I spent time thinking about what would help to make my instruction more meaningful, and then I played around with those ideas. What I came up with is as follows:

• Dry erase markers (I use these daily, they are expensive, and they help me save trees)
• Math manipulatives and corresponding centers that are Common Core aligned
• Language arts manipulatives and corresponding centers that are Common Core aligned
• Wikki Stix to help visualize letter and number formations (and to just have fun every once in a while)
• Letter beads for practicing putting words together and to practice blending sounds

First thing tomorrow morning I can put my order in. Then it's a waiting game. If you recall, I received the bounty from one of these money gifts early this year - the order had been filed last spring. I guess beggars cannot be choosers. Whenever it arrives, I have faith that it will arrive. And then I will celebrate - again!

half time

Today we had our first early release Monday of the school year. In my school district we have one day a month that is set aside for early release so that teachers can participate in professional development. This morning when one of my students walked in she excitedly declared, "Today we have half time! We get to go home after lunch!" This little kinder of mine started playing recreational soccer a couple of weeks ago and has clearly caught on to the lingo. As a former soccer player myself, I love that she referred to today as having half time and that she was able to connect the concept of half to something in her life outside of school.

When discussing that we had an early release/half day, later in the morning, I asked my kinders if they knew what the word half meant. The jumped on the question like the pepperoni pizza that I drew on the board to help them visualize half. One student helped to draw a line down the middle of the pizza. Other students declared that the two parts were halves. And even more impressive, they used our math vocabulary from the first couple of weeks of school and said that the halves were equal. 

Have I mentioned before how bright these little learners are? Knowing that I get to work with them every day just makes me smile. I cannot wait to see where we go as a community this year and how we are able to push one another to grow as students and teachers so that we get the most out of our kindergarten experience.

Happy Monday!

yo hablo español

One of the joys of having a couple of Spanish speakers in my classroom is that I am able to use the language that I grew to love in Costa Rica. Earlier this week, the grandmother of one of these students came into school to visit during lunch. She came up to me and immediately began a conversation in Spanish. It was fantastic. At first I had to make the connection between what she was saying and what language she was speaking, but after a brief half-second we were on our way to catching up. 

When we first found out that our placement for Peace Corps was going to be Costa Rica, I was a little hesitant. Costa Rica, the land of beautiful beaches, volcanoes, and a tourist hot spot? Did they really need Peace Corps volunteers? While I left the country still unsure of my response to that second question, I left knowing quite a few other things for sure. I knew that I wanted to begin my career as an educator (preferably in the younger grades) after endless hours spent working with the pre-K through first grade students in our community. I knew that I had met and befriended people that will always be a part of me, and that helped to change my outlook on life. I knew Spanish. 

There are a lot of people that serve in really unique places during their Peace Corps commitment. They learn unique and obscure languages. They become a part of communities where foreigners may not otherwise be accepted. And while they generally leave their communities at the end of their service with a better idea about what they want to do with their lives and having had their lives changed by the people that they came to know and love, the language skills that they acquired may never be used again. I am fortunate to say that Spanish is not a language that falls into that category.

I am so thankful to have this language skill. While I may be speaking with a Costa Rican lilt, using some of the local idioms that roll off of my tongue, and using a word that is more Tico than Mexico, I am able to communicate with these families that have come from across the border. Through language I am able to form the connections that will help the families have a positive experience within the school community, and I am able to help these students when they do not understand the common phrasing in English. 

I speak Spanish. Yo hablo español. 

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.

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!

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!