A quick update...

We are well into the school year (it's already November!), and I have yet to blog. So here's a quick little update, and hopefully I'll remember to post more often.

• I have a delightful class of 26 this year. They are awesome!
• My school is undergoing renovations, thanks to the bond issue that passed. We received new paint, I had a shelving unit removed to increase square footage, and as of this weekend, new carpet!
• I had my very first student teacher this year. She was UH-mazing, and I know any school will be lucky to have her on staff.
• There have been many, many changes in our district this year: report cards, teacher evaluation tool, implementation of new standards, etc. And, my school has been put on "the list." At times it can be overwhelming, but I am fortunate enough to work at a site that believes in each other, our community, and our kids. We can do better, and we will do better.

That's all for now.

I love my job!

My, How Time Flies!

My, my, my....It's October already! (and one month since my last post, but no one is counting, right?)

It's been a bit of a rough start, but we are finally settling in to our routines. Here are some highlights of the past month:

• Today we welcomed our first guest reader for DEAR time. Our principal was gracious enough to come and read to us. He read The Principal from the Black Lagoon, and much to the delight of my class, invited us back to his office for a tour. We talked about the differences between fiction and non-fiction, and what a principal does. They even got to sit in his chair ( a truly historic moment in the life of a kindergartner)!
• We've implemented a new center system. We are still working out the kinks, but both the kids and myself are much happier than with our old method.
• The bond in our district passed, so hopefully we'll be getting a SMART board again! We've had the opportunity to use the one in the classroom across the hall while that class is in the library, which led to my dear little kinders asking why we don't have one. My answer: That's a good question, we should ask (our principal) about that. A bit bratty? Maybe. But I like to think of it as teaching researching and investigation skills. Why ask me, when they can go straight to the primary source?
• We are currently reading the Black Lagoon series. It's a favorite in October, and lends itself to talking about imaginations and the difference between fiction/non fiction.

I am sure there are so many more things I could/should post about. However, it's a school night and I'm tired.

Even when exhausted....I love my job!

P.S. Unfortunately, my Amazon gadget isn't working, so I will try to post links later.

Testing

This week, and much of last week, the "big kids" in our school (and around the state) are taking The Test. This usually doesn't effect us much, other than being extra quiet in the hallways. However, this year our classroom is right next door to the SPED room. In fact, we share a door, which is awesome when I need quick coverage. Not so awesome when we have to be quiet to give the "big kids" the opportunity to do their very best.

Being kindergarteners, our natural state is loud. Very Loud. But our loudness is in direct correlation the our excitement about whatever we are learning, be it subtraction number stories or a hot debate over how many legs an octopus has. Boy, are we excitable.

So, it has been a bit of a struggle to control our volume these past few days. The introduction of silent movie voices (mouthing words with no sound at all) into our dramatic collection has been a hit, but only lasts so long. Using our break between lunch and specials (when testing kids are at lunch) to do our music and movement has also been a big help, keeping a sense of normalcy in our room. However, the reminders to use whisper voices are frequent.

Ah well, only three more days!

I love my job, loudness and all!

Update: Sold

The ongoing saga about the sale of my school has reached it's apex.

Tonight , against the wishes of many concerned parents, our BOE voted to approve the bids and finalize the sale of two schools in our district. One of those two schools is my school. It's been a long time coming, a necessary evil in the midst of the current economic situation in our state/country. In the interests of everyone involved, the students especially,   the BOE selected the bids that would give the district the option to lease our schools back for a nominal fee for the next few years, giving us all time to make the transition.

So there you have it. We will be there for a few more years, but eventually, we will close and be consolidated into another school.

However still no word on the job front.

Even in the midst of difficult circumstances...I love my Job

I've been kinda busy....Sorry!

I know I haven't posted in a while, but it has been down right hectic around here.

Between catching up from snow days, weekend professional development workshops, and meetings... meetings... MEETINGS, I've gotten a little behind. So I will catch you up:

• Thanks to the switch from a day-based school year to an hours based school year, plus the added time from the beginning of the year, our students do not have to make up any instructional time. However, teacher contracts are still day based, so we do.
• The past five weekends I've had the opportunity to attend Payne reading training, for FREE, thanks to our State DOE. It's been totally awesome (you get all the tools to implement what you learned FREE), and I'd recommend it to any person who teaches on the Elementary level. 
• One of my tiny tots had to have surgery on his leg last week, but has made such an awesome recovery! He was back in school to day, walking (but still taking it easy), and we were all glad to have him back.
• Our BOE had a specially called meeting tonight to vote on selling 3 pieces of surplus property, one of which is where I currently teach. They voted a unanimous yes, and we find out all the details tomorrow.

Now, I don't want to leave you on a downer, so here is a funny story from last week.

I get called out of my lunch by another teacher who is on lunch duty about one of my tiny tots who dumped his milk into his tray. While we had a discussion about his choice and the ramifications of such an action she brings me ANOTHER one of my tots who ATE HER PEACHES. She had set them down to come talk to me, and when she came back to them, there he was, eating her peaches. When asked about it, he knew he didn't make a good choice, but did it anyway. He apologized, and sat down to finish the rest. We couldn't do anything but laugh.

I love my job.

Recap

The end of the year is upon us, and it has gotten crazy. So here is a quick recap of the happenings of our week.

Monday was...well, a Monday. Lack of sleep over the weekend made it a hard day for many of my sprouts.

Tuesday was Transition Day. In the afternoon, all of kindergarten visited a 1st grade class, while we kindergarten teachers met with incoming Pre-K parents to introduce ourselves and give them a little preview of  what to expect in kindergarten. It was pretty cool to meet some of our "new" parents, and my kids LOVED first grade. They were captivated by Mrs. P, the 1st grade teacher they visited, and have asked me every day if they can go back to first grade.

Wednesday was the EHES Teacher Appreciation Day. Our awesome PTA put on a baked potato lunch for all teachers and staff. I received lots of "treasures" from my darling class.

Thursday we started work on our Mother's Day cards. Instead of doing the watercolor cards this year, my kids were given total creative freedom. The only rules were A) Only the outside was to be decorated today, and B) they had to sound out and spell "Happy Mother's Day." They did a fantastic job, and even wrote a few lines of poetry to their lucky mamas.

Friday(Today) we finished up our Mother's Day cards, and made our bath salts. My kids had a blast mixing everything together in the bag, and they loved the scent we used (peppermint). We also (reluctantly) released our butterfly friends into the wild.

It has been a crazy, wonderful week, and I am ready for the weekend!