A Teacher's Reality...

A Teachers Reality...

Unpredictable

Unspeakable

The unthinkable...

All sometimes happens either in your classroom or a classroom nearby, to a family member of one of the children or to one of the children. This can also be said for what goes on in your classroom itself. As a Teacher, you never know what is going to come through the doors of your classroom.

Here is the reality...you are not and cannot be with the children in your classroom every moment of your life which means the children will experience many different things. The only thing that you can do is prepare yourself for the worse and pray that God gives you the strength to handle whatever it ia.

Two things that I wish to talk about:
1. I was teaching my class about our new letter of the week-F. I told the children to think of things that might start with the letter F. After 3 or 4 children went saying things like fish, feet, face...a little girl raised her hand and said "The F-bomb but you are not supposed to say that!" I couldn't control myself, I had to laugh! You never know what children are going to say!

2. The other reality is that you can't protect these children from anything that is beyond your classroom walls.
I am not a Mother, God knows I wish and want to be one, however, I feel the pain parents struggle with protecting their children form any evil that is in this world. I had a very disturbing conversation with a parent of a child who has been sexually abused. It breaks my heart to think, talk or even know about a child being sexually abused or physically harmed. I despise any person that thinks that this is ok and it is my belief that God will handle this person here on Earth and in Hell where this person will be. But the reality is...that is a Teacher's reality. You have to be aware, be able to spot and know what to do once you spot abuse or neglect in children which is great for the child-because someone is on their side but not so great for me because I have to live knowing that I cant prevent this from happening but if ever given the chance, I can certainly recognize and attempt to stop it.

So it is with a heavy heart that I admit, that this is A Teacher's Reality!
Love your children!

Proud to be a Teacher

There are many things that I am proud of being...a Wife, a Daughter, a Sister, a Friend but most importantly, a child of God. But I am equally proud to be a Teacher!

Yes...The days are long, the pay is not that great and I am physically and mentally drained by the time I get home BUT...but..but...

The pure joy in a child's eyes with the mere mention of something exciting or new, the physical and academic transformation that happens to children of any age, the friendships and confidence that develops when you, as a teacher, work towards developing them are all worth it!

Quite a start to the new school year...

The 2011-2012 school year has kicked off to a shakey start...literally! The timeline:

June-Lightening strikes the school building frying the entire computer system, computers and any sense of being prepared for the begining of the school year.

July-(late) was informed that I am switching classrooms-again!; and that I would recieve a brand new assistant.

August- School starts for teachers who already are working without computers, changing classrooms and attempting to prepare for the new children that will soon flood our classrooms when an earthquake errupts on the entire east coast! Further hindering any hopes of being up and running 100% befor the children come.

September:
Well, it is September, children have entered the classroom, which "seems" to be organized but it is NOT, back to school night comes and goes and our first field trip ends successfully. Of course there were challenges just getting through back to school night! But we made it! Things are beginning to look up and just this past week, I officially have a temparary computer! Thank you Lord! So again, things are looking up!

On to Planning:
We have covered Welcome to school, All about Me, and Intro to letters. Some activities included All about me interviews, tours of our school and classroom, painting, puzzles, Apple trees, stamping apples on the letter A.

Changes...

Are sometimes good...
Happen all the time...
Effect everyone around us...
Have to be accepted at one time or another...

Each new school year brings changes into many peoples lives and homes. Children growing up, going off to college, moving to the grade higher than the one they were in the year before, gaining new responsibilities and for the parents that I experience in my classroom, children enter into school for the first time...all of which is big change!

But you can choose to embrace it or fight it tooth and nail...but which choice brings the most pain and sorrow?

So Sugas, what changes are happening in your life or with your children that you need to accept or cope with?

Are you ready for school the new school year?

Yes...says the parents!
No...says the teacher...
Yes and no says the teacher who is a parent...

Without a shadow of doubt, there are mixed feelings about this question...
Parents are ready to get their children back on a daily schedule and out of the house.
Teachers are clinging to the last few weeks of summer like a cowboy riding s bull and the parents that are also teachers ate inbetween.

So how can we all get ready without stirring up too much fuss with 3-4 weeks of summer still left?

I am glad you asked...
Parents:
Start school shopping! For school clothes, uniforms, supplies, and essentials. Talk to your children NOW about the new school year beginning soon and the changes in the house it will bring such as earlier bed times, de-summarizing their rooms/the house (more details below) and getting up earlier in preparation for school.

Teachers, the same applies for you...start school shopping for clothes, any essentials that you will need that your school doesn't provide. Like posters and classroom decorations. I always thought it to be funny that some places like the dollar store sales better teaching materials in summer than all school year long...hummmm. Also talk to your family about the start of the new school year and how busy and crazy it makes you. Also have a list of ways they can help... Start de-summarizing your house to prepare you for the start of the school year...

Both groups should begin a 20 day count down to the beginning of school. Calendars should go up in a visible section of your home that can be seen by all members and "to do list" should begin being used in regards to school things to be done. De-summerizing your home includes putting your alarm clocks back into use, organizing all things school related so that you can find them when you need them, get back in the habit of updating the family calendar, get grocery lists back in order which include healthy breakfast items as well as healthy snack items for children and adults alike. This is my advice but it comes with a warning... WARNING...Please do not stop your summertime activities. You will find yourself and your children clinging to those fun activities during those last days before the wild rumpus starts all over again... Happy last few weeks of summer!,

30 day blog challenge

I will be blogging for the following 30 days all thing children, teaching, preparing for the new school year and parenting... I can do it!

Believe it or not but I am trying to convince myself, not you!!!

Please comment with questions you may have. I will come up with topics on my own but questions help the conversation go deeper...chat with you soon...

Summer planning, resting and safety...

"Summer summer summer-time"... the words of a well known song that expresses the anticipation of summertime and the excitement once it arrives. But what will you do with your child(ren) to give them the summertime experience that you deem appropriate?
Here are a few tips to help you decide...
1. Planning
Plan for your children to have a fun and happy environment to enjoy for the summer. Yes, having a week or so home sounds like a promising vacation or down time for you the adult but for the children, especially the younger children, they need and crave stimulation...the kind that can't always be provided at home...so plan fun activities outside the home that can be fun for the children. Parents don't feel guilty, this is recharge time for you. Yes you love your babies BUT, vacation used to be time for you to recharge and it should still be time for recharging still. Hopefully mom and dad will get some much needed down time while the children are enjoying some much needed stimulation...
Also plan for down time. If your child still naps, plan a nap time in your day or at least an hour of quiet reading just for a moment of quiet time for both parents and children...

Safety...looking at any news report, no matter where you live, you can hear reports of children and their accidents, unfortunately fatal yet preventable accidents. So here are my safety tips that can be started this summer and practiced all year long.
1. Water safety: pool and bathtub
A. Talk about water safety with your children. Sit near the bathtub or pool and tell the what your rules are and that you expect them to follow them.
B. Explain to them why your rules are so important. What could happen to them if they went intõ water unsupervised. Don't hide the truth even if its ugly or scary. Hopefully this could save their lives.
C. Talk about stranger danger...again, don't assume that your child knows these safety tips. My motto is A a parent is their child's first teacher...so teach them what you want them to know.
Have a great summer!

Lessons From the Animals!!!

January so cold and not really fun makes us be creative with everything! And what better way to be creative than to take our lessons from animals???
Starting with bears as teachers, we learned about Hibernation, animals that hibernate and the difference between Winter and Spring. We pretended to be bears by building caves inside the classroom, we searched for foods in our classroom/forest (last year this year we had a food allergy) and we pretended to hibernate...

Next ground hogs were our teachers. We learned about our shadows, the effects of light, shadow, shade and lack of light. We watched as the world watched waiting for the groundhog to come out if its hole to predict the weather.
We also explored our own shadows by shadow dancing, going out at various times of the day to find our shadow-or NOT!