Happy First Week of School!

I know that we have already started the second week of school,but I am trying to get back into being a full time 2nd grade teacher and a mommy to 2 under the age of 2. Awesome! Is the word that I would describe my first day of school this year. My team this year at EC took a step back from all the hussle and bussle of the first day of school and had a party. The student's were greated walking into the classroom with party decorations and me(wearing a crazy party hat) taking their picture like a movie star. We continued our day with some regular first day stuff like putting away supplies, touring the school, and going over the all important recess/lunch procedures. Towards the end of the day, I shared a book with the students called Happy New School Year. We then all gathered in the cluster with all the other second graders and the principal and cheered to a new school year. The students were then all given a mini cupcake to celebrate the school year and sang a song. It was great! I was able to teach routines that were needed that day, but really concentrate on having fun and getting the students ready for a great year. 

First Week

Wow- the first week is already behind us? I can't believe how quickly it went! I am enjoying the feeling summer has given me with being refreshed to begin a new school year! I feel that I am looking at this year with new eyes. I am looping with most of my same students from last year and am looking forward to seeing where we can head this year!

For those of you who do not know, I am a 4th grade teacher at Eagle Creek. I am assuming that we all have more than one professional goal that we try to accomplish every year. I have several goals, some bigger than others. I thought I would share one with all of you and see if you have any suggestions or "tricks of the trade" that might help me accomplish my goal.

My goal in reading this year is giving students more ownership of their reading. I have created a system where students will each have their own reading binder. The binder will contain all their daily journalling, graphic organizers, strategy definitions, and goals sheets. My goal is that every student will have a "goal" each week during reading. This will abe directed to their learning styles and skills they need improvement on, as well as the daily skill we are working on. I will meet with each student once a week to develop the goal and to check on their previous goal. This will alleviate me having to carry around my "pensive" that really never worked for me. This will also help me with the fact that during conferences or parent meetings I have all the student work for that quarter in one spot and can show them what their student has been working on for the past weeks and how they are progressing. The binder will also have their AIMs and DRA information. The binder will allow me to give students documents that we can continually come back to throughout a unit or year.

A question for classroom teachers...

I am teaching general music for 17 classes of students spread out over 3 buildings this year, and I have definitely met a lot of "big personalities" in my classrooms this week.  I have IEP Adapations for some of these folks, but (sadly) not for very many just yet.  Between the usual "beginning of the year" logistics and the added bonus of so many kids switching schools, information is just flowing a little more slowly than normal.

My question for classroom teachers is this:

When a specialist needs to know more about your students, what is the best way for us to get it? As someone who isn't always available in the same building before/after school from day to day, I struggle with the best way to communicate with classroom teachers. At the same time, I recognize that the classroom teachers know way more about these students than I do.

To the special ed staff among us:  What is the best way for me to work as a team with the SpEd staff?

I'm recognizing more and more as I spend more years teaching that the kids really need to see all the adults they work with as a "team," but some days that just isn't very easy to pull off!

First Week of School

I am so excited to see all of the kids today! There is so much excitement in the building! I have decided to do things a little differently this year prior to pulling my kids for services this year. Usually, I start pulling the kids the 2nd day of school and write my lesson plans according to where we left off in June. I have decided to pull kids individually the 2nd day and assess their skills so that I can make sure that the groups that I have formed are appropriate. Some kids seemed to have improved in their skills so much over the summer - just from checking in on them in the classroom today. I realized that I might need to change groups around already. I am so thrilled at the growth I have seen for some of them.

Citizenship

In our curriculum map this year (1st grade) the citizenship unit is ongoing because some of the topics we cover the students aren't ready for in September. Does anyone have any good ideas for teaching citizenship? We have little books to read to the students but that's about it! I want to make this unit more creative and worth while for my students! I welcome any ideas!! :)

Finding a Balance

This year, I have changed grade levels from 3rd to Kindergarten.  I'm thrilled to be teaching the little ones now, and I'm blessed to be working with a team that is incredibly organized--organized to the point that I have all of my copies and projects ready from the first day of school until conferences.  I told myself that this year, I was going to follow their lead.  I figured it was best to do what they do until I get a better feel for Kindergarten.  Then next year, I could put my twist on it.  That lasted about 3 days. 

A couple of weeks ago, I had asked to see their plans for the first week of school.  I'm used to having a full day to fit everything in, and I wanted some guidance as to how I might fit it all in in only half the time.  I really like the layout of the plans I was given, but I found that I was spending an awful lot of time walking back and forth between my classroom and theirs to ask for the words to a particular song, ask to borrow a book that was listed, or to ask about their procedures for particular parts of the day.  It was exhausting (probably for them too).

Finally, I had an ah-hah moment.  I'm a competent teacher too.  I could sing a different song to start the morning--one that I already know.  I could read a different book during that time in order to teach a concept that will be important for my class to know.  I can even create my own procedures for the end of the day.

My goal now has changed a bit.  I still plan to closely follow the plans that my team has laid out.  They are both very experienced Kindergarten teachers who know their students well.  I trust their judgment and know that I can learn a great deal from each of them.  At the same time, I need to use my brain this year.  I need to use the literature that I love, introduce things in the way I believe is best, and be okay with walking into their classrooms and seeing something slightly different being done.