So December is an important time of year. Aside from the Christmas celebrations, this month just about marks the half way point in our school year. This always puts me in a reflective state of mind, the 2 week break allows for time for reflecting but I am ahead of schedule this year.
From August to December has been measurably better than last year in many ways. As last year was my first year in a new school with a new curriculum, things were challenging and even tough at times but they were never BAD! However, this year, I am acclimated to the curriculum, we saved a lot of things from last year and we were significantly better prepared than we were last year.
So with that said, here is what we have been up to:
End of August:
#Welcome to school- The introduction of school: routines, learning areas, new friends and fun materials that we would be using in school.
September:
#Continued Welcome to school-with same idea of introducing routines, learning areas, new friends and different and fun materials while teaching the children how to behave in different school situations.
#Getting to know each other- The introduction of activities to learn about themselves and one another; learning about their families and themselves which includes family tree and parts of the body.
October:
#Fall-Activities that introduce the learning of seasons, the changes that fall brings
#Colors- The learning and exploration of colors: Primary and Secondary
November:
#Continued Fall learning-observing the changes happening outside, continued color exploration with color mixing
#Learning about the first Thanksgiving
December:
#Revisit the subject of seasons- preparing for winter
#Introduce the real story of Christmas and prep Christmas gifts
It's been a busy four months...and though we have gone over many more subjects than I have listed here there shall be many more to come. Because I am ahead of schedule with reflecting, I can spend some of my winter break planning-instead of reflecting then planning.
Work for a teacher is never done and very rarely takes a FULL vacation. I am also reflecting on my teaching skills and abilities. The main area that I want to improve on is planning- in details and executing that plan.
Will keep posting!
(Pics coming soon!)
