Check out this wordle I made about this blog!
Saturday 18 February 2012
Wednesday 8 February 2012
A Gathering of Minds!
I was thrilled to get to take part in a workshop yesterday where teachers trying new ideas were allowed to get together and talk about them. The best part was hearing what other people were doing.
I met one teacher D who is doing amazing imaginative role play in his class. We had time to share and talk and I'm hoping that he can help me with my issue for next year. The issue currently is if I have 28 kids in the fall how do I fit them all in the classroom? Putting another table in would make the space smaller. After talking to D I've decided to talk with the kids about how that can happen. Perhaps bleachers in one corner, some stand up places to work and a lot of floor space. I may move tables OUT of the room.
We'll talk about it before the end of February. D and I also discussed planners and their purpose. I'm realizing they are JUST to provide parents with info, which I do on my website and through email...so do I need to set aside 15 minutes JUST to do them? I'm thinking that may need to change too.
I also met G who introduced me to edumodo which is like a facebook site for a classroom. I'm going to check it out over the summer and try to integrate it for September.
A friend of mine emailed me about the gallery of teachers being shown on the district website and whether that might make some teachers feel bad. I am still mulling this over. Yes, it's true not all teachers would be featured...cause that's not possible. However, I think that if people have ideas they are willing to share, they could call up G (who runs it) and invite him in! After all, it's by word of mouth that these things get discovered. I was talking to E who told G...and that is where it went. So if you are a teacher and you feel you have an idea you'd like to share, call G up! If you want to know how, contact me personally. I'll help you.
Tell me how you feel about this! My true belief is that G is trying to share ideas and link teachers up to each other to learn from each other. Join us!
I met one teacher D who is doing amazing imaginative role play in his class. We had time to share and talk and I'm hoping that he can help me with my issue for next year. The issue currently is if I have 28 kids in the fall how do I fit them all in the classroom? Putting another table in would make the space smaller. After talking to D I've decided to talk with the kids about how that can happen. Perhaps bleachers in one corner, some stand up places to work and a lot of floor space. I may move tables OUT of the room.
We'll talk about it before the end of February. D and I also discussed planners and their purpose. I'm realizing they are JUST to provide parents with info, which I do on my website and through email...so do I need to set aside 15 minutes JUST to do them? I'm thinking that may need to change too.
I also met G who introduced me to edumodo which is like a facebook site for a classroom. I'm going to check it out over the summer and try to integrate it for September.
A friend of mine emailed me about the gallery of teachers being shown on the district website and whether that might make some teachers feel bad. I am still mulling this over. Yes, it's true not all teachers would be featured...cause that's not possible. However, I think that if people have ideas they are willing to share, they could call up G (who runs it) and invite him in! After all, it's by word of mouth that these things get discovered. I was talking to E who told G...and that is where it went. So if you are a teacher and you feel you have an idea you'd like to share, call G up! If you want to know how, contact me personally. I'll help you.
Tell me how you feel about this! My true belief is that G is trying to share ideas and link teachers up to each other to learn from each other. Join us!
Friday 3 February 2012
28 kids and counting
I found out that next year I will have 28 grade 4/5s in my room! I've never had more than 24 so this will be interesting. I will need a whole new table, and 8 more tubs! I may even need to reorganize my Ikea shelves to fit more tubs. How will we do with 8 more bodies? Not sure...stay tuned.
However, the best part is that the Montessori program is going strong at Seaview and that is all I care about! Keep it up!
However, the best part is that the Montessori program is going strong at Seaview and that is all I care about! Keep it up!
Approvals!
Research is getting up and moving! I have approval from SFU, the School District, my principal, almost all my students and most parents. I'm just awaiting a few more parents and I can start filming! I've very excited. There are now 24 teaching days until I go on Ed Leave to work on my Masters full time.
Thought for today: During gym on Fridays I have the kids roam free. They have split the gym into two sections, one side is for floor hockey and the other for scooter madness. They love to tie ropes to their scooters and just drag each other around. Today they added a new element. Some kids started piling mats on the stage and laying on them. Then some boys started wrestling. Not in a mean way but in an old fashion kind of rough and tumble way. I kept my eye on it, but chose NOT to stop it. They were smiling and laughing and having a great time. Then a few other boys joined in. And then to my surprise the girls came and piled on. No one got hurt the entire time, they were very careful. I was shocked. I hadn't seen this kind of wrestling action ever in school because this kind of play has been banned for years.
After seeing and hearing how much they loved the chance to just wrestle, I decided they can. I will keep my eyes on them on Fridays and if anyone gets hurt it's DONE. But after today my eyes were opened. Why can't kids have fun and play? In today's society it's like they all are in bubble wrap. At the end of gym they were all red faced, sweaty and had huge smiles on. They declared it to be the best gym block ever in their lives. Hilarious...Just mats, and kids, and old fashioned fun.
Thought for today: During gym on Fridays I have the kids roam free. They have split the gym into two sections, one side is for floor hockey and the other for scooter madness. They love to tie ropes to their scooters and just drag each other around. Today they added a new element. Some kids started piling mats on the stage and laying on them. Then some boys started wrestling. Not in a mean way but in an old fashion kind of rough and tumble way. I kept my eye on it, but chose NOT to stop it. They were smiling and laughing and having a great time. Then a few other boys joined in. And then to my surprise the girls came and piled on. No one got hurt the entire time, they were very careful. I was shocked. I hadn't seen this kind of wrestling action ever in school because this kind of play has been banned for years.
After seeing and hearing how much they loved the chance to just wrestle, I decided they can. I will keep my eyes on them on Fridays and if anyone gets hurt it's DONE. But after today my eyes were opened. Why can't kids have fun and play? In today's society it's like they all are in bubble wrap. At the end of gym they were all red faced, sweaty and had huge smiles on. They declared it to be the best gym block ever in their lives. Hilarious...Just mats, and kids, and old fashioned fun.
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