A New School Year

Happily (I think) I have figured out how to get pictures from my new iphone 6 Plus, to my computer, to Flickr, to this blog. But everything in doing that is different than it used to be over a year ago. I haven't blogged in that long. It's been two years since my Mother died as of August 23rd and I'm still beginning to come out of the haze of that terrible time. So for those rejoining me -I'm in TK now-Transitional Kindergarten, at a new school I find incredibly positive, learning about working with 4 year olds. In CA this program is new and growing. It addresses children that used to start Kinder at 4 years old but now wait another year. (just like all three of my own children)

This is a slideshow of my classroom set up so far, below. I had to pack and unpack my room because it was re-carpeted over the summer-looks lovely I might add-a real gift from the District. I'm grateful for the re-carpeting and I suppose it was also good for me to reorganize and clean. Shocking, but good in the end. Some jobs remain-I have a week until school starts. And I am liking going in my last days of summer to make things better.
I went to visit next door, new happenings going on there, which is now a classroom converted into a new office from the DO, and they lovingly shared these cupboards painted with chalkboard paint. I looked up ideas settling on putting chalkboard contact paper on my cupboard and door and on one door spray painting it with chalkboard paint (it only had primer on it and was an eyesore). I was such a copy cat! I ordered more contact paper for the bottom of my cupboards and after awhile I'll make that a center-chalkboards for the children. I think it'll be cuter to put that in after awhile when I see what they are like and they see me using the chalkboards.

I'm looking over class materials, organizing the things I grabbed from Teachers Pay Teachers (a wonderful resource) and getting my year in place for TK. So far some changes I made opened up the space and I looked hard at making journals, ABC books, and doing work in something I'm calling "collections" which simply means organizing their work into book and booklets on a monthly entry basis to document growth. We do a little of that paper stuff daily, but mainly we play.

This year I'm going to work on monthly fairy tales-starting with The Three Bears, so I have gotten a puppet theater and several versions of the book, and puppets. At first we'll listen, then act out, watch, then move to puppet theater presentations, then try in a center. It is difficult to frame how until I meet this year's children, but at least I'm ready to place more energy on this theater piece. Someone (a lovely someone) yesterday suggested to me that puppets allowed her children to learn and talk about rules free of "taking it personally." I need to get a hold of two puppets to talk about the rules for things. I'm looking for my Bono. He's learning to be nice.

New years' usher in opportunities to demonstrate you set different goals, learned from the prior year, look forward to doing something new-that pretty much describes where I'm at. While retaining SOME of the things that worked last year I do need to make significant changes-I have a much better schedule for the day, far more realistic knowledge of time.
My goals for the year include journaling, better letter instruction, using the newly aquired program "Number and Math by Handwriting Without Tears. I asked for this and they got it!
I'm looking at monthly themes, and thinking in terms of what kids "do."
Today when I work at school I'll be loading center boxes with pencils, fixing cubbies with crayons, and putting small books for small hands to read when other work is done during table-time. I have a hello poem and a goodbye poem that I'm putting on charts or on the chalkboards because I like to start and end with hello and goodbye poems. I've got MatMan activities to get ready for (a way to drawing selves) and lots of lovely elements to think about.

When reality hits on Aug 25th I'll see whether I was doing good work or spinning imaginary wheels.