Each month we complete a board outside our classroom. This is our Standards Based Bulletin Board. A standards board is where work that meets the "standard" is displayed. The teacher includes what standard the work meets, a task to explain what the work entails, work samples, and commentary. Our first standards board was a math board that included Patterns as our work sample. Here are some pictures of our board. (If you click on the individual picture it will enlarge).

Have you ever done a glog?

Last year our technology specialist at Chets introduced me to a glog. You may be asking the same thing I did at that time - What is a glog? If you haven't ever seen one - they have a wide range of uses. One of the best things I have learned is how to use it as a teaching tool. On a glog you can use pictures that you have downloaded personally, add text, link to other websites, add video, and just about any other thing you can think of. My goal this year is to create a glog for each Science Big Idea we will be studying in Kindergarten. Feel free to check out our class glogs. Once on the glog, any area that becomes circled in red is a link to another site. Each glog will be posted on our class blog so that parents will be able to access it with their children at home. Try something new and create a glog for your class - I promise the kids will love it.

Plants All Around
What is a Scientist?
5 Senses

In the Swing of Things...

Yes, the first crazy couple weeks are behind us and we are getting into a good routine. The students have learned all about the different workshops and the different parts of our day. It is always hard to come back to Kindergarten after looping a class to 1st grade. They are so grown up by the time they leave us to go to 2nd grade that we forget how young those little ones are when they began.

This last week was busy as we began Star Names, Star Book Vocabulary, and our nursery rhyme unit in our Skills Block. In Reader's Workshop we are beginning to learn how to retell stories we have been listening to. This week our focus was on Caps for Sale (one of our favorites). In Writer's Workshop we are learning how to tell stories to each other about all the great things we have done (such as going to the beach). In Math we finished our diagnostic testing and learned all about different manipulative's. Science has been great as we learned that science is the world around us. We also learned about Scientists through out What is a Scientist glog. We have been learning about each other's families in Social Studies which we have enjoyed sharing with new friends.

As you can see, our Kindergartners are busy learning every day. Day #11 - here we come!

The First Day is Here!

The summer is over and our rooms are once again transformed into a new and exciting place to learn. We had a great orientation on Friday with many parents and children showing up. The kids are excited and nervous of course. Tomorrow we will have a busy day as we get to know one another, practice all those expectations for class, work on fire/tornado drills, and are treated to a performance from a band. The first day at Chets Creek is always a great beginning for teachers and students.

Here are some pictures of our classroom this year. I hope that you stay in touch with our blog as we journey through another year.

Back to Work

The start of school is always an exciting time. This year our theme is a Orchestrating a Symphony of Success. Each grade level is a different genre of music with Kindergarten as Country Music. As I go into school this week (even though we don't officially start until the 17th) you can tell that the teachers at our school are motivated and ready to transform our school into a magical place. Some of them having been working prior to this week getting their rooms in order. Some, such as myself, have tried to squeeze every last minute of summer in with the kids.

Each year we are welcomed back from our principal with a letter. I am always excited to see what the presentation of the letter will look like and how it will be based around the direction and theme of our school for the year. Yesterday we received our welcome back in the form of an invitation to a new wiki. Our principal has set up a school based wiki that has a video clip to welcome us along with all the important paperwork that is usually given to us on the first day (this falls right into line with our school trying to decrease the amount of paper and keep as much as possible electronic). What a fabulous way to house all important information for the year. I am already excited to think about how easy it will be to find and access important links, schedules, faculty info, etc.

This year I am back to being a single teacher. Although I love co-teaching it is nice to be by myself again. I look forward to an great year with a new group of children. I hope you enjoy our new journey with us this year.

What happened to the time ???

After a month of not posting I found myself questioning what happened the last couple weeks of school that kept me too busy to be writing. I am sure your last month of school is just like ours. So much paperwork! Getting the kids every last minute of teaching time possible. Making sure cum folders are all set. Putting together portfolios. Grades, grades, and final grades. Flag retirement (check out our class blog to see our own Julia singing the National Anthem). Sometime in there we also want to find those last moments to share with them and build memories. This year, our awards ceremony was great. We sang Celene Dion's song "Because you Loved Me" in sign language to our parents. We also sang a fun song about summer. We had our great awards where everyone in our class earned their Reader's to Leaders pin for the first time this year. Our ceremony ended with a movie that highlighted our year (oh yeah...that is where a lot of my time went!) Our afternoon was filled with a great field day hosted by our PE teachers with support from many parent volunteers and other staff. It was hot but it was fun.

Now the year is complete. The room is cleaned and packed up - ready for summer school. This year our school will be hosting summer school and many classrooms throughout the building are being used. Of course, there is still always work to be done over the break. Cleaning out files, professional reading, and getting ready for the next school year.

As far as our theme next year - it is always a surprise until the last day of school. You can check it out at the Chets Creek Travel Guide.

A Time for Reflection

Every year as we approach the end of the school year, we are asked to reflect on ourselves and our teaching practices. This may not seem important to some people but for myself it is an important part of who I am. When I was a younger teacher I would try to keep a journal and write reflections in it once a week. I always tried to keep one positive and one negative about what happened. Of course my life became busier as my children became older and the journal slowly slipped away. About that time I was going through my National Board Certification. WOW - now that is really a time for reflection. Since then, I have taken on many more responsibilities through the years along with teaching full time. One of my favorite roles is coaching. I love to mentor and coach science. This time of year we are making reflections about our coaching strengths and weaknesses. Those answers don't come as easily for me as do my individual teaching reflections since coaching impacts others than myself. How have I helped teachers find effective ways to teach science? What impact am I making to each grade level I coach? What do my teammates need from me to become stronger in science content? What do I need to do to strengthen our K-5 team? What am I going to do to make the work deeper next year? Today I may not know all the answers to these questions but I know that they will be the center of my goals as we begin to think about next year. I know that being a teacher truly is about continuing to be a life long learner- isn't that is what reflections are all about!