A Christmas Story

I gave each of my students a book and a Chapstick for Christmas. I knew they would like the Chapstick, but I wasn't sure about the book. I picked out several copies of 5 titles and tried to give each student the book I thought he or she would most enjoy. One of my students is very smart and could easily do well in first grade. In fact, he's so smart that he is beginning to realize that there is a difference between what some people have and what his family doesn't have. He loves school, though, and often says so with a really big grin as he goes about his work. I couldn't wait for him to open his present because he is the one student that I had in mind specifically when I selected a certain book. He loves trains - draws them into every story, reads books about them, asks questions about them - so one of the books I got was about Thomas the train. When he opened the package, he gave me the biggest hug and it lasted a long time while he recovered his composure. "Thank you, thank you," he said, clutching the book. Waving the wrapping paper he added, "I'll never throw this away, never, never, never!" I know we joke about little ones who would rather play with the wrapping paper, but I have to wonder what this child's Christmas must be like when he is so excited to have a present that he keeps the paper for a souvenir...

Pinata Plans Agley

It turns out that if you are studying Christmas in Mexico and plan to make pinatas from balloons, newspapers, and flour paste, there are a few things you should know. First, although it does wash out, flour paste is one of the messiest substances I've ever used in a classroom, and since students don't like it on their hands, they regularly wipe their hands clean using whatever is available be it furniture or clothing. If you should decide to tackle a project of this magnitude, you should plan ahead and ask students to bring a change of clothing or else you might find yourself writing notes home to explain to parents why you are sending their children home looking like tiny mummies. Also, flour paste is quite drippy and does not vacuum out of the carpet when dry as one might expect. Second, it takes about two to three days for each layer of paper mache to dry, so please do not begin this project on the Wednesday of the last week before winter break. Third, if you plan to paint the pinatas, you must not plan to do so on the morning of the Christmas party when your students are wearing their "fancy clothes" which they gained permission to wear after writing a letter to the principal. This remains true even if the students are wearing smocks. If, however, you should begin this activity unaware of the pitfalls and realize too late that there is no way to finish in time, please note that you can always fall back on the paperbag pinata as a last-minute alternative. It is much less messy to make, although it does not have the satisfying hit-it-with-a-stick hard shell found in the paper mache version. Decorate with markers, stickers, colored paper or tissue paper, stuff and tie the top with yarn. Ta-dah!

Holiday Happenings

This week has been very interesting. I've changed the routine a bit and we are studying holidays around the world in place of our usual literacy & Social Studies. My students seem to be feeling a bit more free to express themselves, and we've had several "bad word" incidents. On the positive side, I've seen students quizzing each other and me about the ABCs, reading out loud to themselves and each other, and writing a lot more. Today we made mkekas, the woven mats used in celebrating Kwanzaa. This is probably the largest, and most individualized, project to date, and many of my more diligent students did not know what to make of it. It took quite a while and a lot of helping and fixing of mistakes, but most of them are finally finished and they are so proud of themselves. The mats look great. Now it's time to plan the holiday party - yea! My students want to write a letter to the principal asking permission to "dress up" for the party instead of wearing their regular school uniforms.

3 days!

I am a terrible blogger! Things keep happening so fast and I work too late and I can't seem to find the time to write. I can't believe it is already the end of October. I am feeling frustrated and sad because I can't seem to catch up, and I can't get all the materials I think I need. My teaching assistant comes only one or two days each week, so I never know what my day will look like. The last few days have been tough. I don't think I'm alone in this. Other teachers and staff seem pretty frustrated as well. I think much prayer is in order here.

Enough complaining. Some good things are going on. Last week I added time in the computer lab and the science lab to our classroom schedule. The kids seemed pretty excited. The computer lesson was just introductory, but the kids will have more time to explore this week. The science lab was so nice and clean when we arrived. We dissected some plants from our school garden and taped specimens of plant parts in our science journals, then labeled them. My students all wanted a bathroom break while we were there. I think this was mostly due to being near new bathrooms. However, one of my children was found crying in the bathroom after an "accident." The science lab looked like a tornado had blown through, and we have a school nurse who refuses to help with accidents. It was a crazy afternoon.

My students would happily tell you the countdown to Halloween. They have been certain that it is any day now since October began. We are having Mathoween at my school. This means that we will be doing Halloween-themed mathematics-focused activities all day long. It is also the end of red ribbon week when we emphasize the "say no to drugs" message. It is a nice change and Friday should be fun. I'll let you know.

Wow!

This has been a crazy six weeks. I think that I have now officially lost my second teaching assistant. I believe she has been let go, although I am not exactly sure of the reason. Nobody tells me anything! So, I've had some more substitutes. Also, this week we had an Instructional Planning Meeting (IPM). I'm including the acronym to emphasize it's importance. This is a meeting that low-performing schools must have to determine what interventions are being put in place to correct the previous shortfalls. It lasts for the entire school day. Many high-level school district personnel and curriculum specialists meet with teachers in various content areas - literacy, math, and science in our case. The meeting is recorded by someone sitting at a computer - kind of like a court reporter. We answered questions about our assessment data and our Campus Improvement Plan (CIP). We gave brief descriptions of what goes on in our classrooms in each of the content areas and specifically what we are doing to reach our subgroups and those students who are performing below grade level. We were all pretty nervous about it, but it actually went pretty well. The district administrative team was very helpful and concerned that we had everything necessary to perform the task at hand. At one point, a huge grasshopper-type beast flew from one of the potted plants, across the room, fluttered around the heads of squealing, squirming teachers and administrators, and landed on the science curriculum specialist. This brought much laughter and lightened the mood considerably. I left the meeting feeling empowered and encouraged.

The Parents Are Coming!

Tomorrow night is Open House. I have no student work in the hall, and I'm not sure exactly what I want to say to my students' parents. Hopefully, more will come than did on Back to School night when I had 2 families stop by to meet me. I had a great day today and my class did also. My new TA is in place and my challenge child was absent, so things went more smoothly than they have in a week or so. We actually did almost everything on my plans today and the classroom environment stayed quite positive. Tomorrow we give the Naglieri Nonverbal Ability Test followed by the TPRI the next day. I had my first somewhat Spanish conversation with a parent today. I sent home progress reports on Thursday to each child describing his or her progress in letter and sight word recognition, writing first name, counting and mathematical concepts, and classroom conduct. One mom brought it to me and asked for a translation which I was able to give to her satisfaction. I'm pretty happy about that. Also, I learned that the new Microsoft Word can translate documents into Spanish using WorldLingo, so I'm expecting better parent/teacher communications from this point forward. Now, if I can just get things ready for tomorrow night...

Setback & Highlights

This week was short, but difficult. We surplused a teacher, and my best bud, on Wednesday. She moved to another school who had too many students, because we had too few in our Kindergarten classes. This meant that we also received new students in our classes as her students were divided between the remaining classes. In some ways, it felt like starting over. My students were much closer to tears than they have been in a while, and there is much arguing over seating and other territory-type issues. I still do not have a TA. I was alone on Monday and had a sub. for Tuesday until today. It was great to have another warm body in the room when I had to chase my challenge child around the room or down the hall, but otherwise, it seems like she created more problems than she solved. She worked hard though, and did her best, and for that I am thankful. Next week, I should be getting my friend's TA as a permanent helper. However, she has been absent a lot with illness and I am wondering how this will work out. Hopefully, she will be fully recovered and ready to go by Monday. I'm looking forward to establishing a routine with someone.

Other highlights of this week and last include the Kindergarten Olympics where my friend's class and my class "competed" in an obstacle course to practice using position words such as over, under, top, middle, bottom, above & below. This week, we had three community helpers come to our classes - a doctor, a police officer (female), and a bank representative. The latter was a young man who had attended our school as a boy. That was cool! Next week, we will write our Thank You letters.

Finally, to end the day, I opened the boys' bathroom to find a huge puddle of water which had begun to run over into the classroom next door. There was no sign of where the water was coming from, so the custodian wetvacced the water and all seems to be well. Tomorrow is Professional Development Waiver Day - many meetings and no students. I'm hoping to retool, refocus, and re-energize. Also, I found Psalm 35:1-10, perfect!

Growth!!

Since my teaching assistant resigned last week, things went from bad to worse. I was looking forward to having some days with the classroom to myself. I thought I would be able to put some things in place so that when my new teaching assistant came on board I would have a better idea of what I needed from her. Instead, I discovered just how much help my last TA was. You never know what you have until it's gone. So I spent Monday and Tuesday just trying to hold things together as my one wild child ran around the room, destroyed classroom materials, pinched her classmates, and ran down the hall whenever we traveled. To make matters worse, our upper grades had benchmark testing this week and we were not allowed to leave the room for specials or go to outdoor recess Tues. - Thur. Also, it rained...a lot. So you can see how this created a recipe for disaster.

I prayed a lot, and God sent me Ms. Reed - a wonderful 76-year-old retired teacher who had no problem telling my students how important it was for them to sit still and pay attention so that they could learn. Also, I spoke with the counselor, assistant principal (who is in charge of discipline), principal, and the last year's PreK teacher about my challenging student. On Wednesday, I hit a wall and could not even begin to think about what I should do next even thought my lesson plans were on my desk. Everything started falling into place that day, and I am happy to report that we began to have productive afternoons on Wednesday. We have now had three good days. One of my students who could not even hold a pencil is now writing his name and other words. I have forged what I think will be a good relationship with a parent who called my principal early in the week with some concerns. I was able to step somewhat into my role of department chair, which I had no idea how to do just last week. I have no idea what next week will bring since Ms. Reed will not return, but I have hope!

Stormy Seas

My second week was somewhat eventful, mostly because my teaching assistant resigned. One of my students sprained her ankle and came to school hopping on one foot. We borrowed the wheelchair from the nurses office to get around school. She went back to the doctor today, so we may be back to normal tomorrow. I'm feeling discouraged because I don't feel like we are where I'd like to be after 2 weeks. I'm not getting everything done that I need to accomplish each day, our afternoons are still really rough, and I have one student who refuses to stay with us. This was a particular problem today when I was without a second grownup and had to be sure we all arrived safely at our various destinations. I asked my daughter's Kindergarten teacher, who is quite experienced and very wonderful, when my class would start to listen to me. She answered that it would be six weeks, and she was very serious. So, maybe we aren't so far behind after all. The next few days should be interesting as our classes will be restricted to our own classrooms for specials and recess. The older grades are taking benchmarks under simulated TAKS test conditions. If it continues to rain, we may have some mutiny among the Kindergarten classrooms. I'd better plan some art activities and such to help relieve the cabin fever.

Minor Episode

Well, we're coming to the end of our second week. I'm trying to decide if my kiddos have come along two weeks worth or if I'm already behind. I think I'm too tired to figure it out right now. I have a lot of stories already, but I only have time for one. Last week, I sent my first child down to the office one morning (with a friend) because she was overly tardy and this is our procedure in such cases. The girls returned seemingly without incident, official paper in hand. During lunch, the office assistant came in to tell me that the two had come into the office asking about a "heart attack." We had one staff member fall victim to stroke while at school, so the assistant was understandably alarmed and continued to ask for details as she followed the girls back to my class. About half-way down the main hall, she discovered that one of the girls had come to school late and that I had sent them to the office for a paper - a tardy pass.

Payday, Friday, Crushing Blow, and Tea Time!

Yesterday was our first department chair meeting. For some reason, I was asked to fill that position for Kindergarten. It's kind of funny to me because I'm not the most experienced or the most motherly or the best organized or the most inspiring or the best yes-man, but my principal assures me that she chose me purposefully. I kind of think she got me confused with someone else. However, my point was about the meeting. I found out that our team should be meeting pretty regularly, maybe everyday, at least until things settle into a bit more of a routine. So, we met today. It was a good meeting and we covered much ground. Yesterday was also payday. Everyone was pretty excited about that. It felt really good to have worked so hard and made it through the first week of school and see that nice amount go into the bank. Someone said, "That check looked good!" That about covers it.

I was so excited about today being a great day. Not just because it was Friday, but because it was the first Friday, and because I had a kind of laid-back day planned with a few special events included. It started with a wonderful breakfast courtesy of the admin. team. (At my school, a different team provides breakfast on the Friday following payday each month.) Then class started with a new plan because there were several different instances of crying in my room yesterday. I was frustrated, the kids were not having enough controlled fun, and I did not enjoy the climate in my classroom. I was determined to end the week well so that the students would be able to spend the long weekend decompressing on a positive note. I thought I was pretty successful. I had several more "I love you"s and hugs and even a few "I love Kindergarten!"s, so I was pretty excited. That is, until I asked for my T.A.'s opinion of the day. She felt that it was not a good day, and that it was far too chaotic. Now I can't decide if she is correct, or overly tired, or just lacking in vision for the big picture. After all, it is only the first week of school. It made me wish I hadn't asked. I don't know if I will ask again. I do need to implement a few more things in the classroom. For example, I haven't opened any play centers, and I think we need to have those to look forward to at the end of the day. We will start Writer's Workshop next week as well. I have the long weekend to make plans, so enough of that for now.

The day ended pretty well. Our staff celebrates the Friday after pay day together with tea time (read happy hour). I don't go to bars and rarely even drink, but it sounded like fun so I went. It was. I learned a few interesting, personal-type stories about my principal which is good because she seems more human now and maybe I will be less nervous. Then, I spent a half-hour discussing Fort Worth food and restaurants. This sounds pretty boring, but I'm old and not that exciting, so it was a good time. I would have liked to have stayed longer, but I've barely seen my family this week. Yea for Labor Day!

Labor Day is Coming!

Tomorrow is Friday and my feet are so happy that we have a long weekend. This has been an amazing, but exhausting week. I sat in a meeting today and heard stories from teachers in other grade levels about how they had been collaborating and implementing strategies to improve the learning climate after a pretty crazy first day. The transformation from Monday to today is hard to believe. We've each had some frazzled moments, or days, but we keep moving forward. As for me, I keep adding layers of structure as I discover more about my students. I feel so bad for them because they are very young and they are completely out of the habit of going to school. So after about noon they are hungry and tired and have lost their focus. I keep adjusting my activities to suit their level of endurance, but I haven't found the right mix yet and that is frustrating for me (and for them). We did make our literacy boxes yesterday. Right now, they have self-selected books in them for independent reading. My class loves books! Monday we will add writer's journals. We started Student of the Day and they love that, too! Tomorrow we visit the library and the guidance counselor is coming. That should break up our day quite nicely. Next week, I think we will move recess to the afternoon.

Day Two - Monitor and Adjust

Yesterday, I was nervous. I really did not know what to expect. What would my students be like? Would their parents look me over and be satisfied? Would I connect with anyone? It turned out that every child in my class except one attended PreK at our school and were already well-versed in school procedures and there were no tears about saying goodbye. This was a great relief and the day went smoothly. Today, however, my students felt much more comfortable, and I struggled to keep their attention. I guess the drawback to experienced students is that the new wears off quickly. We have a strange schedule that gives us a huge block of time from 11:30 to 3:00, and this is a long time to be in one room with a group of young children whose attention span is about 15 minutes. I think these students are ready for more challenging projects than what I gave them today. Tomorrow I'm adding centers and some think-pair-share discussion, and we will take a learning walk through our school's amazing garden. Also, I will need to work out a bathroom plan. We share restrooms with the class next door, and my students are visiting the restroom in a continuous stream. Some just like to wash their hands...a lot. So far we've had 2 accidents, 3 crying episodes, 1 lost child (who followed another class from recess), 0 fights, 0 upset parents, 1 "you're a nice teacher!" and many, many hugs and smiles. I did make many more connections with the students and their families. I guess, all in all, it's been a good 2 days!

Aaahhhhh!

I spent just about every minute at school that the doors were open. Somehow, I think I've made some sense out of an overwhelming pile of curriculum, materials, furniture, and expectations. At least, I hope so, because tomorrow is the first day of school. Now, if I can just get to sleep...

Time to Cut Bait! & Yesterday

This last week has been a whirlwind. Trainings and meetings and planning and shopping and sorting and cleaning and hanging paper. I've been too busy to sit down and write so this post covers two topics. Tomorrow night is Meet the Teacher night on our campus. So I expect to spend tomorrow finding hiding places for things which do not yet have a home, then putting the final touches on making the room look presentable. I really don't know what to expect for tomorrow night. We may have many visitors because the community is curious about what we have done to restructure the school, or we may have just a few.

Yesterday, I saw my couch friend walking along the road - we waved. Yesterday was also our district convocation. We heard inspiring messages from the newly elected School Board President, the Superintendent, and our keynote speaker, Dr. Adolph Brown. I had Googled Dr. Brown, and I have to say that he was much more down-to-earth than I expected. It seems like every event that I attend brings on a deeper conversation with myself about what I want my classroom culture to look like and what I need to convey to my students. I've begun taking notes. Here are a few:

• If my students watched any of the Olympics, I want to talk about focus, purpose, training, and the amazing fact that new world records are continually being set, and how this applies to our learning community.
• I want the students to look around them and notice the faces of their teammates and realize that each one of us is responsible for our learning.
• One of the teachers we saw in a video was an absolute cheerleader for her students. She said things like, "I am so proud of you and so happy that you are in my class," and "Aren't they wonderful!" I have to remember to cheer for my students with lots of enthusiasm and to teach them to cheer for each other.
• I hope to help them envision what it would be like to be the most impressive class in the school with regards to the way they approach their own learning and behavior, and then help them to become that - quiet when necessary, sharp like a military patrol, caring and serious about learning. (Without feeling competitive with other classes.)
• I want them to know that they can expect to leave Kindergarten reading & writing. They will become authors, illustrators, scientists, mathematicians, community members.
• I want to encourage them to love being challenged and to let me know when they are not.
• I want to ask them, "Is this your personal best?" I want them to know that if they are trying to do their best, I will never be angry with them. They should keep trying. Just because you mess up doesn't mean you have to give up. (I borrowed this one from Dr. Brown)
• We are also a family. Ohana means nobody gets left behind. (I borrowed that from Lilo & Stitch.)
• Here are some other things Dr. Brown said - The tree is in the seed. Be fair. Make room for everyone, all the time. Be firm with consistency, structure, and limits. Set boundaries. Be fun.
• Everyone gets a do over.
• When things go wrong you don't have to go with them.
• A setback is just an opportunity for a comeback.

And then we danced!

On Mission

Today our faculty received inservice from Coach 4 Success. We did a lot of team-building activities and talked about making connections with each other and our students, and about helping our students make connections with each other. We also learned many different structures for managing cooperative learning and sharing. Our mission statement has been finalized. In case you are wondering, our mission is to empower all students to achieve high levels of academic achievement and to participate successfully in campus life, to provide academic rigor in an authentic and relevant context, and to build a supportive community of lifelong learners who value and show respect for themselves and each other. I learned a lot about a lot of folks today. This faculty is amazing - we all want so much to make a difference in the lives of our children.

Go Team!

Today the school faculty met together for a planning retreat. I have not attended one of these before, and this one was phenomenal. I can't believe I get to be part of this group of 60 or so teachers who share such strong passion for giving our best to our students for the purpose of empowering them to achieve their best. I should explain that almost everyone on this faculty is new to the building and we have been charged with eliminating the achievement gap for students in a low-performing school. Today, we began to craft our mission statement for the school. I can't wait to see what the next week will bring as we continue to consolidate our team vision and purpose.

The Fab Four

Today was our first day of inservice for new teachers and new-to-the-district teachers. It's overwhelming to hear about all of the resources available in the different content areas. The best thing about today was meeting more coworkers and team members. All four of the Kindergarten teachers were together in one room - well, several rooms actually, before the day was over. We are a pretty cool team!

Craig's List & the Kindness of Strangers

I am still chuckling quietly to myself over some of the items people give away on Craig's List. If you have never looked at this, I recommend it. Over the past few days, I have been checking the "free" classification for a couch for my classroom. Today, someone posted an ad for five free frisbees, the kind you get at a trade show or public event, along with the suggestion that they would make good dog toys. Someone else was giving away free cookies and candy that they found when cleaning out their pantry, presumably in preparation for a new diet, because neither she nor her husband intended to eat them.

I did find a couch. It's red and only moderately worn, but I plan to vacuum and sanitize it, then slipcover it before school starts. The man who gave it to me was really nice - works in oil & gas, transferring to Pittsburgh because things are slowing down here in Fort Worth. He lived in a third floor apartment - I hadn't considered this possibility... Luckily, his friend (whose wife also teaches and who was also transferring to Pittsburgh) had just arrived to bring him a big box and was willing to help bring the couch down to my minivan. Since I had a red couch hanging out the back, I drove more slowly and carefully than I ever do. When I arrived at school, the building engineers measured the couch and discovered that it would not fit through the hallway door - it is one small door! I don't give up easily, so I began to look for another way and soon found it. The door at the other end of the hall leads outside and down 2 flights of stairs, hmmm... I grabbed a handtruck and as I was unloading the couch, all by myself, a gentleman walking along the street noticed and offered to lend a hand. We carried it to the bottom of the stairs and left it until my husband could come by at lunch and help me move it. Thankfully it wasn't that heavy & the door was quite near my classroom, so now I have a lovely couch in my room on which my little ones can read wonderful books and share amazing stories they have written.

Miles to Go Before I Teach

I guess I'm finished for the week. I'm not allowed to bring in any personal property until next week. I measured everything and mapped out my classroom on 3D Home Architect. It worked pretty well and makes a good planning tool. Now, I just need to purchase some inexpensive shelving and some plastic totes, make some curtains, and decorate. Here are the photos from yesterday.

These are my brand new computers with Internet access!

Two of my boys reading in the literacy instruction/group meeting area. The light blue chairs on the right represent a couch to be named later.

Mystery Spot

When I arrived at school today, I noticed more cars in the parking lot than there have been. I wondered about this, but decided they must belong to the crew installing the new computers and maybe some teachers. I had yet to tour the building, so my 4 children and I went exploring. My husband called as I was walking down one hall, and we were having quite the conversation about bookcases and the day's schedule. When I passed one of the classrooms, I looked up and found an entire room full of grownups (including my principal) staring at me and probably wondering who was this loud woman roaming the halls. (I think my principal probably knew it was me, which makes it all the more embarrassing!) Anyway, I am really overwhelmed by trying to arrange my classroom. For now, I've tried creating large group and centers. I measured everything and am mapping it out at home. I unrolled my second rug to find a large brown spot near the middle. I'm afraid to know what it might be, but naturally my children walked and rolled through it in their playtime today despite my somewhat hysterical warnings about its probable origin. I guess it's old enough to not be dangerous, but I'm putting rug cleaner on the shopping list.

Space & Time

I finally finished sorting and storing classroom materials. I unrolled my big group meeting space rug, and my children commented that it's finally starting to look like a real classroom. I have a lot of cabinet space left over, but most of it is in the row of cabinets near the ceiling. I had to stand on a chair and use a broom handle to get things out of it. I'm not sure what I can put up there... Also, I discovered that I don't have any movable bookcases in my room. There is one row fixed to the wall, but that's it. I did get 4 new computers today! This is great news, because the others were older than some of my children. I worked until they kicked me out today, and I'm exhausted.

28 Days & Counting: Mrs. Lisa Gets Ready for Kindergarten

Well, if you have been teaching for awhile, you might think I'm crazy to start working in my classroom with so much summer left. But I've been home with my own children for 10 years now, and am worried about how long it might take me to get up to speed. So, I packed up my four beautiful children and headed to my new classroom on the first day they would let me into the building. I'm glad I'm starting early. The room is full of all kinds of leftovers and needs a lot of straightening. Today, I sorted materials and scrubbed the closet. My students deserve a nice place to learn. Here are some "before" photos of my first day.

Here's what two of my children were doing while I was working.