The small things

I have come to realize that it is the small things that matter in teaching. This past Friday was the Christmas of small things for me. First my biggest trouble maker was out. You may think I'm being mean, but y'all know what a big difference that makes. Second, one of my struggling readers made a 93 on his reading test. We really celebrated this. Third, one of my special needs students who struggles with communicating his feelings had two huge breakthroughs. Twice during the day things happened that upset him and would normally send him over the edge. He was able to communicate his feelings and work through the issue. These three things truly made my day. When my kiddos succeed I succeed.

Cyber Monday Sale

10% off all itmes through tomorrow. HAPPY CYBER MONDAY!!!!!!!!!!!! http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Georgia-Peach-Teacher

A teacher's dream

This past Saturday I had the pleasure of attending a job fair for a charter school that will be opening in my county next year. What kind of school will this be you ask? A teacher's dream school! The founders of this school believe that it should be a place where teachers teach and students learn. There will be no tolerance for behavior issues. It is basically the 3 strikes and you're out principle. Reading will be taught in grades K-8. Memorization of basic facts, rules, and principles will be necessary in the lower grades. I am so excited that I may be chosen to be a part of this amazing venture. The beauty of it is that because it is a charter school and not a private school children of all income levels will be able to attend.

Noun Projects

My students have been working on nouns for over a month now. I got an idea from a co-worker to do the ABCs of nouns. I am lucky enough to have exactly 26 students. First I have each student a piece of construction paper with a letter of the alphabet. Next, I told each student to list 5 nouns on their sheet. They had to write the plural of each noun. They then had to tell if their noun was common or proper. Here is an example of one: M milk - milks - common mom - moms - common Mike - Mikes - proper moose - moose - common man - men - common I displayed their projects on the wall outside our classroom. I decided that we are going to make a wall full of projects. I am calling it the ABCs of Parts of Speech. Once we cover verbs we will make pages of verbs. I plan to include adjectives also. Then, as a culminating project I will have my students take their papers down. They will then make as many sentences as possible from their parts of speech. I can't wait to see the final finished project.

Breast Cancer Research

I am helping my friend Lisa Stephens Rahn raise money for Breast Cancer Research. She is participating in the Susan G. Komen 3-Day For the Cure. Every dollar spent in my teachers pay teachers store for the entire month of October will be donated to this worthy cause. Please visit my store and share this with all of your teacher friends! http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Georgia-Peach-Teacher

Co-Teaching

In my district Special Education students are in the regular education classroom as much as possible. I have had the inclusion class room for six of the seven years I have been teaching. This year is the first year that I have had a full day co-teacher. My co-teacher is certified in special education and she handles all of the accommodations for our special education students. Over the six years I have had special ed students I have learned so much about the special education world. I have had one course in special education. I feel that one course is not sufficient. I think that teachers who have the inclusion classroom need to have more instruction in the area of special education. In my opinion, the best way to do this is through professional learning in my district. As I say all the time I'm just a teacher so what do I know. The big question in my mind is Why in the world have the administrators in my district not thought of this yet? Being the inclusion teacher I am with special education students all day long. Doesn't it just make sense for me to have extra training in this area? Please tell me if I am in left field here. This year I have 3 autistic students, a student who was diagnosed developmentally delayed (I suspect she is actually MOID) and a student with a specific learning disability in reading. How do I know and understand each of their diagnoses and how to properly accommodate them? I have taken it upon myself to learn. I ask lots of questions and do research on my own time. I imagine that not all inclusion teachers do this so how do they serve these students effectively? I'm sure that the answer is that they don't. It is time for school districts to wake up and provide, even require this training of its co-teachers. Comments/Questions? Please let me know :)

Staying current

As I'm sure most of you do I have been working in my classroom this week. As I begin to set up the furniture and organize my materials I realized that I am such a dork! I just love having the opportunity to start fresh each year. A new set of students, a new classroom set up, new lessons, etc. As I thought back I realized that this is my 3rd year in this classroom. I have rearranged my classroom every year. I started to wonder if I am the only one who does this. I know teachers at my school who keep their room exactly the same every year. There is nothing wrong with this. If you find something that works for you don't change it! For me it is not just about the way the room looks it is also about how you prepare for the school year. I truly examine everything from the previous year. Some things I keep and do exactly the same. Others I don't reuse EVER. Most of my lessons and ideas are tweaked from year to year after careful reflection. It is my hope that all teachers, whether they keep their room the same year to year, or never have it the same way twice, are always updating and tweaking their lessons and activities. This is truly the only way to stay current and reach the needs of our students. I hope all of you have a stress free time setting up your classrooms, and enjoy the last little sliver of summer!