GushFest!

Hello there, dear readers! It's been a long time since I've updated and for that, I apologize.  Lately, I've been very lax with writing Website Review Wednesday posts and Teacher Insight Thursday posts.  But, it's been a busy month for me. Let's see:

School has been tremendously busy.  I work for a head start program, so licensing comes in to make sure everything is in order in our classrooms.  Therefore, I have been hard at work getting the classroom prepared for their visit.  Much of my time has been focused on that.  Once licensing comes, I hope to have more time to spend writing for my blog.  So please, bear with me.

My boyfriend and I visited his family in Michigan.  Then we went and spent Christmas with my family.  The week we spent in my hometown was actually a lot of fun! My boyfriend accompanied me to the usual family Christmas gatherings.  However, we also explored the Cleveland area a bit.  We went to the West Side Market, which I sincerely recommend if you are ever in Cleveland.  Here is a link to there website.  I got some pretzel bread (my favorite), delicious cupcake truffles in hot chocolate, chocolate lover, and red velvet, and some American cheese for my grilled cheeses.  After the market, we went to the Great Lake's Brewing Company for lunch.  I had a bacon and chicken sandwich marinated with their Dortmunder Gold beer, served on a pretzel bun.  It was delicious to say the least.  

We returned to our apartment only to stay one day before heading out again.  My boyfriend and I accompanied one of my best friends and the guy she is dating to Nashville, Tennessee to celebrate New Years.  It was a blast!  In the past, I've celebrated the New Year by visiting family, family friends, or staying in and watching the ball drop with my parents and siblings.  It was amazing to try something new and to bring in the new year Country Style.  Every bar we went to, a live band was playing.  It was amazing! Funny story too (well, at the time it wasn't very funny).  It was around two in the morning when my boyfriend and I headed back to the hotel.  We had been separated from our group and were feeling pretty tired.  About 5 or more cabs drove past us without a second glance before we realized we weren't going to catch one.  Unfortunately, our only option was to walk back to the hotel.  I wouldn't have minded so much if I weren't wearing a dress and high heeled shoes and if it wasn't pouring rain.  We walked 2 and a half miles in the rain to our hotel.  That was probably one of the worst experiences of my life.  But now that experience is behind me and I am still glad we went to Nashville.  

Today, I saw Les Miserables with my boyfriend.  To say it was amazing would be an understatement.  I have never seen the musical live as there weren't any opportunities for me to.  So you can imagine my excitement when I finally got to see it, even if it was in cinematic form.  Anyways, I don't think I've ever cried that many times during a movie.  The songs were emotional, beautiful and moving.  I was pleasantly surprised by Anne Hathaway's singing.  Her rendition of I Dreamed a Dream was flawless and full of raw pain.  I cried the first time during this song.  The film had a wonderful cast as well.  Russel Crowe played the villain very well, Hugh Jackman was amazing as always, and I've always been a big fan of Amanda Seyfried.  Eddie Redmayner was a force to be reckoned with when he sang Empty Chairs at Empty Tables.   He was a very beautiful singer.  Finally, Sacha Baron Cohen and Helena Bonham Carter provided much needed comic relief.  Helena Bonham Carter happens to be one of my favorite actresses, so I was extremely happy to see her in this film.  If you haven't seen Les Miserables yet, I highly recommend it.  I definitely plan on purchasing the film once it comes out on DVD.

I return to work on Monday, which is a very good thing.  Why do you ask? Well, let me put it this way.  This afternoon, I watched Days of Our Lives and an America's Next Top Model Marathon on the Style network all day.  Not exactly the best way to spend my time.

Well, that's all for now! I hope you all had a wonderful holiday!

Happy New Years!

"There's no tragedy in life like the death of a child. Things never get back to the way they were."

Quote by President Dwight D. Eisenhower

I am the teacher of 30 preschoolers.  The thought that someone could hurt any of them makes me sick to my stomach.  On Monday, when I pick up my students at the door, I intend to hug every one of them.

What happened on Friday in Newtown, Connecticut is an unfathomnable tragedy.  I can only imagine the pain the parents of these children are experiencing right now.  So, I would like to dedicate this blog post to the 20 children and 6 adults that lost their lives.  I wish to extend my deepest sympathies to these families and offer my thoughts and prayers to them during this terrible time.

One of my former classmates shared this link with me and I would like to share it with others.  If you are a teacher, you might be asked about what happened on Friday by your students.  The link below offers up advice on how to address this tragedy with your students.

Helping Children Cope

To the children and adults that lost their lives in this senseless tragedy, may you rest in peace.

Teacher Insight Thursday: Technology in the Classroom

In a society where technology has become an integral part of many people's lives, it has become increasingly important, in my opinion, for teachers to integrate technology into the classroom.  It is our responsibility, as teachers, to prepare our children for the future and technology is ever changing.  Our students will encounter technology almost every day.  

I have developed a list of 10 different ways we can integrate technology into the classroom using ideas from various websites: 

1.     Go on an internet scavenger hunt or create a web quest for your students to complete

2.     Free Rice.com: not only will your students learn vocabulary, they will be helping others as well.  Free rice is a website in which you are asked to give the definition for a word.  Each correct answer means 10 grains of rice will be donated to those who are hungry.  Let's look at a chart: 

One Day 10 vocabulary words         100 grains of rice

One  Week 50 vocabulary words         500 grains of rice

One Month 280 vocabulary words 2800 grains of rice

One Year 1800 vocabulary words 18000 grains of rice!

(Note: The chart above is based on a 180 day school year)

Almost 20,000 grains of rice per student for a year! Think about this! If you have 25 students, thats almost 500,000 grains of rice donated by your class!

3.     Video Conferencing: Maybe you are learning about someone in politics and want to ask them questions? Or maybe your students are reading books by a certain author? Then skype or video chat with them! Contact the person of choice and find out how you can set up a video conference with them. Then have your students come up with a list of questions to ask

4.     Design a class website

5.     Apply for a Smart board grant

6.     In my pre school class, we use i pads.  You can find many free educational games for your students to play! I set a 15 minute time limit for each student.

7.     Have your students record themselves

8.     Encourage older students to use Prezi for their class presentations.  You can sign up for a prezi account here

9.      Spellingcity or BigIQkids: these websites allow you to create your own spelling list or vocabulary list.  Then your students can play games with the words or take online spelling/vocabulary tests.  I used it in tutoring and my tutees loved it!

10.     Jeopardy on Powerpoint.  Directions for this can be found here

Many ideas from the list above were found here: 50 Ways to Use Technology in the Classroom

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Quote From: Matheson, Pine Apple Express

Website Review Wednesdays: Introduction

Hello dear readers! I have decided to start a new segment called Website Review Wednesdays.  Here, I will review websites that relate to education.  I am going to use the following format: 

Post Title: Website Review Wednesdays: [Insert website here]

Website Title

http://www.websiteurl.com

My Rating: A+, A-, A, B+, B- et cetera

Highlights:

• Cool features of the website
• Basic overview of site

Cool Links Found on Site:

• link 1
• link 2
• link 3

Additional Comments

If you have a website that you want me to review, follow this procedure:

1. Click 'Contact Me' under the website banner at the top
2. Leave your first name and email address
3. For the subject line, use the following subject: Website Review Request
4. Under 'Message' give me a reason why you want me to review the website and provide the URL

Teacher Insight Thursday: First Year Teaching

If you have been following my blog, you will know that I am a pre school teacher.  This year happens to be my first year teaching and let me tell you, it is stressful! If you are a first year teacher like I am, then you are probably stressed as well.  Therefore, I would like to share with you some things I have learned already in my 2 months of teaching:

1. Lean on your principal, teaching assistant if you have one, and fellow teachers.  In my experience, these people are great resources for when you don't know what to teach or you find yourself in a stressful situation.  I am fortunate enough to have extremely supportive coworkers. For example, I had a conflict I needed to resolve the other day with a parent and I found myself feeling extremely stressed out about the situation. For confidentiality reasons, I will not go into specifics about the conflict. I will say this, however, after talking to my assistant principal, I felt much better. She gave me advice on how to handle the situation and I was able to alleviate the parent's concerns
2. Don't wait until the last minute to get things done. I have never been an organized person and I am learning that this really holds me back.  There have been times where it seems everything is piling up on me. So here's a tip: don't wait until the last minute to do things because you will find you have too much on your plate
3. Get to bed early. Being exhausted while teaching children is not a good combination. There have been days where I have to consume copious amounts of caffeine to stay awake
4. Establish routines quickly and have an effective behavior plan in place. If your students can fall into a routine, the day will run much more smoothly. I am learning this the hard way.  Even in student teaching, my classroom management skills were lacking
5. Be ready to make changes. This goes for lesson planning, behavior, and routines. Sometimes, my students will want to explore something else. I have found myself changing what we do during the day in order to promote student interest. I have also had to find alternative behavior plans for students so that they can be more successful in the classroom.  Finally, my classroom routine went through many changes before it got to where it is today. It's still changing to make up for disruptions in the day such as bad weather or an unexpected guest
6. If you are fortunate enough to have a curriculum coach, use them. My curriculum coach is always giving me great constructive criticism about my teaching and ideas for lessons, routines, or behavior plans in my classroom
7. Read books written for first year teachers. I recommend the following:

The First-Year Teacher's Survival Guide by Julia G. Thompson, $19.28 on Amazon

The First Days of School by Harry K. Wong, $18.51 on Amazon

Good Luck!

Teacher Insight Thursday: Handwriting Without Tears

I have recently began working with my intervention specialist to teach my students Handwriting Without Tears. So far, the children have really responded to it. Since I am not trained in HWT, Erin has leant me the book and CD.  She comes in once a week and does an activity with the children in the morning class.  Then I implement it in the afternoon.

The program combines letter play, body movements, music and more to teach students there letters. The way it works is you have a different letter each week and center activities around that letter. However, instead of teaching the letters in alphabetical order, you teach them in a developmentally appropriate order. For example, we started with L and just finished up with the letter F. This week, we are focusing on the letter E.

One of the activities my students really enjoy is making Mat Man.  A song is played and we use various shapes to create him.

The creators of Handwriting Without Tears also have a program for Math. For more information about training, the program, or anything else, visit: http://www.hwtears.com/hwt