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.
Tuesday, September 27, 2011
Friday, August 5, 2011
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?
Wednesday, August 3, 2011
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...
Thursday, June 23, 2011
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!
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!
Monday, February 28, 2011
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!
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!
Saturday, December 11, 2010
Almost half way through...
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!)
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!)
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