Let the planning begin...

So... after I have been advised of my imminent move from 6th grade to 4th grade, I decided to tighten by belt and dive in whole heartedly.  Our school district is offering a summer math academy, and since I have not taught all subjects to just one class...EVER ... I thought I would take advantage of this opportunity.  Even though school just ended - yesterday - I am already planning to take PD classes for my upcoming adventure.  Thus on Wednesday and Thursday of this upcoming week, I will be in a room will other 3rd and 4th grade teachers in my district to get a leg up on the math curriculum I will be expected to teach.  At least I will get PD hours for this and it will also go towards my 301 hours which will help supplement my pay next summer... a small savings account.

On another note, I am filling up my Pinterest boards.  Feel free to mosey on over to my Pinterest board and steal away!!  I have boards for each content area, as well as reading suggestions so I know what books to purchase to create a classroom library.  I am a big advocate of reading, because of this I will always try to have a vast classroom library available to my students.  At least it gives me an excuse to do what I love to do... buy books!!

One of the hurdles I need to wrap my head around is the limited technology available to me in my new school.  In my 6th grade classroom, I had a laptop cart available to me every day - because it was housed in my room.  All Jr. High classes had a laptop cart.  I am a very technology-based teacher, so now I have to plan ahead so I can request the laptop cart when I need it.  I had my 6th graders with an email account through tocomail, which is a teacher-moderated email service.  Also, they built their own web page which included a blog page.  So, I am not sure how much technology I can integrate into my lessons, but rest assured I will do as much as possible.

I did receive awesome news, though.  One of my classmates from my Master's cohort is moving from 1st grade to 4th grade... so we have already discussed planning together and doing some collaboration to help one another gear up for this change.  She is an amazing teacher and I cannot wait to work with her to make this the best year yet.

Stay tuned to see how the 2016-2017 school year turns out.  It seems like fate is directing me to teach 4th grade so I am going to heed this calling and enjoy this challenge and welcome the adventure!!

My Deepest Apologies!!!!

    My wonderful friends, first off I need to ask your forgiveness for my lack of posting over the past school year.  But, as you can tell by the title of my blog I WAS a first year teacher.  I rationally thought I would be able to keep on top of everything and be able to regularly keep you all up to date, but alas I was not.
So, to aprise you of my status thus far.  I did end the school year wonderfully with signing a new contract for the 2014-2015 school year.     There is one great change, I was fortunate to stay on in the 6th grade, but I will be teaching Math & Science next year.  I really enjoyed teaching Language Arts and Social Studies (especially since I am a book hound and I adore teaching about Ancient Civilizations) -- I am ready for the challenge.  So, with my eyes and mouse constantly on Pinterest I think I am beginning to feel that I am ready to meet the task before me.  I also am going to be working with a new teammate.  One of our 4th grade teachers moved up to 6th grade and I am excited.  We have already begun collaborating and getting things planned for the insuing school year.
Along with having to recreate my curriculum from last year I have also been asked to be the advisor for the Student Council.  So, I have to get things ready to help ensure success for our future government leaders and help raise money to better our school community.

    Now on my enourmously growing to do list...

• Paint my classroom (it is 1/3 of the way done - I am painting it a calming and delightful color called "Sea Glass"
• Finish printing the the rest of EngageNY 6th grade Math Modules...our district has recommended them for a resource and has incorporated it into our Curriculum Maps
• Finalize my Math syllabus (I luckily have finished my Science one)
• Finish completing my bulletin boards for Meet the Teacher night.
• Get volunteers for our Scholastic Book Fairs (we scheduled it for Meet the Teacher night to boost sales and encourage parents to buy their students books to start the year off).
• Finish my schedule for the Student Council workshop that I will be advising the week before school.
• and there is so, so, sooooo much more!!!

So, my friends again I apologize for not making a better presence on my first attempts of blogging.  But, now I kind of know what to expect I will make a better effort on entering my adventures for these first few years of teaching.

Overload!!

Overload, that is all it is called.  In the attempt to get ready for my new classroom for my first teaching job, I like many others, have been pounding the internet on Pinterest.  I joke that is teaching doesn't work out I am going to open a rehab center for Pinterest addicts like myself.  There are soooo many great and amazing ideas that I don't even know where to start.  I am trying to limit my focus on Lang. Arts & Social Studies, because that is what my teaching focus will be on.  But, also to have some sort of idea how and what to start off with at the beginning weeks of the school year.  There are so many great examples of procedures and methods that would be beneficial for a classroom of 6th graders, but also lesson ideas which I want to implement.  Almost too many, I don't have a clue where to start.  What topic should I start off with in Language Arts - narrative stories to get a sense of my students' imagination or autobiographies to help get to know my students better?  When should I start setting up the expectations of the spelling list/test?  I really want to have my students practice penmanship - because I am really irritated in the lazy and illegible handwriting and having to decode what they are passing off as homework.  There are a few things I do know:

1. I want a lesson plan book from the Erin Condrin website.  These planning books are amazing & I so want one especially for my first year teaching.  To check these out go to the following website - http://www.erincondren.com/store/
2. I want to upgrade the reading material for literature in the classroom.  I am trying to get a class set of "Bud, Not Buddy" - if interested in contributing to my project go to http://www.donorschoose.org/project/wanting-to-read-the-adventures-in-bud-n/992980/
3. I want to learn and grow with my students.  There is nothing like seeing the aha moment come upon your student's face - better yet is when you student helps create an aha moment for yourself.

I cannot wait for my new career to take off - July 12th cannot come soon enough.  This is the first activity I have on my calendar as a elementary school teacher - the first of many.  I CANNOT WAIT!!!