These are my last free days of "no plans" (well, not including helping at Excelebration for 0-5 year old Monroe County kids Saturday & church Sunday) until school starts back.
That makes me pretty sad. I love summer even more now that I'm an adult in the working world than I did as a child. I love sleeping late, watching my shows, & keeping my house clean. I love walking around downtown, taking pictures, hanging out with my girls, lunches at Yummy Yogurt, and dreaming of new ideas for next year.
I am going to miss Dr. Oz in August.
I love visiting with neighbors in the front yard, walking and discovering new streets (off of my own street... who knew???) with my iPod & dogs, and boot camp classes at B-Train (personal trainer's business in Amory).
I especially love shopping, jumping in my car and going to visit family, and reading in the sunshine. :) I cherish the summer days.
and guess what's coming up? I have been helping Sue Mc prepare for this for a few weeks now.....
Super Summer 2010.
This is my 5th year of Super Summer. I went two years as a student, and this year will be my 3rd year as a team leader. I love it! I don't want to ever out grow it.
I am cherishing these free days from now on this summer because it's about to start getting busy! No more using the "b word" (bored). I am resting in Him.
One week off, Vacation Bible School, Kindergarten orientation, one week off, professional development, working for MS Southern Baptist Convention (Super Summer Prep), trip to Chattanooga to see Anna, more working with the Baptists, lead SUPER SUMMER camp, one week off, and.... two weeks of professional development, and school starts.
This doesn't even include the to-do list I made of things needing to be completed before school starts, & I've only checked two things off of it.
JUNE
__ Collect environmental print for word wall
__ Write school supply lists & welcome letters to parents of incoming pre-1st graders.
__ Write scope & sequence for next year's transition to 1st grade class
__ Write curriculum map for first semester
X Set-up my annual notebook (that will contain lesson plans, ideas, evalutations, data, graphs, copies of newsletters) (DONE!!)
__ Make newsletter for first week of school
JULY
__ Mail welcome letter/school supply lists to parents of incoming pre-1st graders
__ Organize/inventory classroom library
__ Set-up Reading Wall
__ Write lesson plans for August
__ Set-up grade book
__ Organize furniture in classroom (was moved out so custodians could wax floors)
__ Buy extra school supplies
AUGUST
__ Set-up students' FISH (Family Involvement Starts Here) notebooks
__ Schedules for paraprofessional & myself
__ Make copies of August poems for notebooks; write August poems on chart paper
__ Make name tags/tags for coat hooks with students' names
__ Make desk name plates with students' names
X Make website list for computer center (DONE!!)
__ Copy first day of school book for each student's personal libraries
I deserve this extra stress for making a to-do list this early in the summer. I knew better!! :) Actually, I'm trying to avoid what I did last year. Last year, I had NO IDEA what to do to prepare for the students so I spent weeks organizing/decorating my classroom & no time on the little things that all piled on me the day before school started.
I am so blessed this year to have 16 sweet come-back kids. These are my students who have had a year of Kindergarten & need one more year to catch-up/get ahead before first grade. I am blessed to be getting a paraprofessional to help me, and I am praying for her every day because we will have quite a group on our hands. :)
Our year will be divided in half. August-December will be Kindergarten Math/Language skills; January-May will be 1st grade math/sight words/Language skills. Guided Reading will begin after we cover our 26 letters & sounds the first six weeks of school. Kindergarten is getting leveled books for the very first time this year, and we are excited!!! I am also bidding for a few sets of books to keep in my classroom for students to read independently or check-out to practice at home.
This year is very experimental. We have never had transition classes. They may work. They may not be as successful as putting these children in a regular Kindergarten classroom, BUT nonetheless, we're going to be learning in Miss Hurst's classroom and making the most of every day. My goal is to reflect more & write more down so this time next year, I'm not thinking, "What did we do last year?" I literally cannot remember the first six weeks of school last year because they were so CRAZY! Good thing I have my old lesson plan book & my e-mails to my mentor teacher to jog my memory. I'm making a lot of changes to the year, too. Obviously, something did NOT work in the way we taught Kindergarten to my students, so I'm taking more of this mentality as I teach this year....
Of course, a teacher cannot make changes to the system, but if I continue to teach these National & state standards & am preparing my students for these "standardized tests," I am "doing my job" according to everyone.
However, my students' parents want their children to not only show growth on test scores but to show growth in other areas of their lives. A child should come to me with talents, abilities, & strengths, & I, as his/her teacher, should take these areas and strengthen them further. I should also take their weaknesses & struggles and show the child how to make small goals for him/herself to work towards until weaknesses turn into areas of growth and mastery. The first project I have planned for the new year is to discuss one thing each child wants to learn this year. They will draw their dreams for our year on a star & "write a sentence" (in their sweet Kindergarten writing) & these stars will hang around the classroom. We will revisit our dreams & when a child has mastered his/her goal (ex: learning to write numbers to 100), the star gets put on a "Super Star" bulletin board & a new dream goes up. Oh, and Miss Hurst gets a star, too. I think my first goal for the year is to learn how to use a grade book properly!!! :o)
My ultimate goal for this year is not to have the highest Terra Nova scores on Kindergarten hallway, and it's not to have the perfect group of students all reading on Level J. My goal is to have students who LOVE coming to school every day because they love to learn new things. A successful year for me would be a year where every student discovers a strength & talent he/she did not know existed, and where every student experiences growth in a weak area he/she DID KNOW existed.
Bless them, many, if not all, of my students know they're in my class because "you can't read yet" or "you were bad last year." I pray every day that these labels can be torn away as we begin our school year and as my students unite together as a community of learners.
My first year of teaching is complete! I had NO IDEA what I was getting into this time last year when I signed my contract at my school.
It was a fantastic year looking back. August 5, the evening before our first day, we had open house. When the last student/parents left, I looked around my room overflowing with school supplies & broke down. I had no idea what to do with all of the school supplies before the kids came back the next morning. There was no where for the kids to sit.
Lucky...no, luck had nothing to do with it. Blessed by God was I.. because I had an incredible mentor teacher assigned to me. Kym Buskirk came in to check on me right away & called in reinforcements. In 15 minutes, Kym, my principal, 2 other Kindergarten teachers, & an assistant teacher were helping me put finishing touches on unpacking/putting away. My principal hugged me for five minutes & has continued to mother me since that day.
I've come a long way since that day. No amount of education prepared me for organizing school supplies, teaching students with 21 different levels of ability, teaching boys how to use a urinal, teaching a student with a DD ruling (developmental delay), tiering 6 students, keeping up with paperwork, using assessments/data to make instructional decisions, wiping away tears-giving away hugs-putting on band-aids-teaching character education within the same 35 seconds, & teaching 21 sweet five & six-year-olds how to read, write, & count to 100 (& beyond).
and Ole Miss School of Education was good. My student teaching experiences were realistic, but there's nothing like being on your own to teach you how to really do this job.
My first class of students will always have a special place in my heart. Always, & they will be missed.
I have begun a new journey. Instead of teaching another year of Kindergarten, I have taken on the job of transition to first grade teacher. This will be the class for students who need an additional year before moving on to 1st grade. I will be teaching Kindergarten & first grade skills to prepare them for 1st grade. I have quite a group. It is diverse... still 17 different levels, but I get to add a new challenge this year... dealing with learning disabilities, 17 tier notebooks, & a few students with severe behavior problems.
Instead of being the sweet new teacher like I was last year, I have a new persona to take on.... serious, strict, & organized. Also, I have my first Jehovah's Witness student this year. No more lunch time prayer & Bible stories. I also have to be careful around holidays; I can't teach skeletal system at Halloween, Christmas, & Easter lessons.
Even though these things may seem negative, I am THRILLED about next year. I already love my seventeen students, know about their strengths & weaknesses, & can't wait to learn even more about teaching. :) If I'm going to teach a class like this, it needs to be during the season of my life I'm currently in... when teaching can be my focus.
I'll talk more about next year's group after Monday -- their orientation is Monday morning, & I have a parent meeting at 10 am. :) I'm planning to give them a taste of what we'll be doing in my class & teach them how to help their children with homework. These are seasoned parents.... they know how to do "big school" now. I think it'll be a better use of time to work on good study habits & answer their questions about next year. :)
