What happened to my good intentions?

They went out the window, to allow for planning, instructing, and enjoying my three-grade classroom experience! Yes, this year has been very busy. Last year I felt like I was getting into a groove with my two grades...grades one and two...despite all of the behaviour problems that were going on. The kids were learning, some were excelling, and I was hitting all of the necessary learning outcomes. Woohoo!

Then came this year. Welcome to the classroom, Kindergarteners! The groove is still forming. Sure, I am very blessed to have only grades one and two in the morning, for our serious academic time. This is a very small class (isolated community, small private school)...and the potential for learning is great. Most days, the actual learning is great too! I love my students dearly, and the day just gets more exciting when the kindergarteners arrive at lunch time.

What does Miss G. do? I boot the older kids to the lunch room, have approximately 20 minutes to eat, use the washroom (on a good day!), clean up the class room, photocopy, set up for kindergarten, and BOOM! There they are! I have 25 minutes with just kindergarten. On a good day we can accomplish calendar time, worship, and some sort of math lesson. On a bad day we can barely check the weather before the grade one and two students return.

I whole-heartedly advocate for a multi-grade classroom. The benefits for socialization are huge. The opportunities for learning are incredible. It's awesome! Most weeks I am sufficiently planned to have all three grades working and learning the correct material for their class, and I have (if I can toot my own horn for a moment) become pretty darn good at creating group activities which are differentiated enough for all of the students.

But every once in a while I would love to teach one grade. Just one. It really doesn't matter WHICH one. One set of Ministry of Education requirements. One set of learning outcomes. One set of lesson plans. One set of everything!

Why am I feeling this way today? Could it be the fact that I have 6 distinct reading groups (out of 10 students)? Could it be that I am in desperate need of a holiday?

Could it be that it is report card time and I have three distinct report cards to create, with a reporting requirement which nearly doubles my workload?

...I think that I have found my answer.

First Day of School!

Enter Kindergarten student who turns five next month (end of October), literally bouncing into the room today.
"Teacher! Teacher! Teacher! It's my first day of school!"
"Yes, A, it is! I'm glad you are here!"
"And, TEACHER! Tomorrow will be my SECOND day of school!"
"That's right, what a smart boy!"
"Then, after THAT, is my THIRD day of school!"
(By now I am trying desperately to keep from laughing, which means not making eye contact with any of the adults who are within earshot!)
"You are right, A. The next day will be your third day."
"TEACHER! Then comes my school day four! FOUR! Like ME! I'm FOUR!"

*sigh*
What a great way to start the year!

Ode to Comsifter

To my dear friend, Comsifter,

*ahem*

You might be useful, you might make sense.
Protecting students, a virtual fence.

You block out the bad stuff, so children can't see,
and once in a blue moon you do protect me.

HOWEVER...

You screw up the sites that I need every day,
the info for work, and Facebook for play!

Your classification of what is outlawed
makes so little sense, it's intrinsically flawed.

AND...

While students may know just how to bypass,
I can never remember what I've heard in the past.

SO...

If you want to be useful, just let me have fun.
Block out the evil, for all and for one.

If you can't manage to decipher my meaning,
then I will write something which might not get past screening.

You. Suck.

Trip to Albuquerque and Florida...Part One

Well, it has been too long since I posted, and I hope to make up for it with some pictures!
My Mom and I are currently travelling in the southern part of the United States, on holiday before our teachers' convention cruise (yes, that's right...they're sending us on a cruise!).
We started with a couple of days in Albuquerque, New Mexico, where we visited with my grandparents, shopped at a teacher supply store (my own personal mecca, perhaps?),



and just enjoyed some time off.

Then, we traveled to Miami, stayed overnight in Ft. Lauderdale, and toured for a bit before continuing on. Wouldn't you know, we found another teacher supply store in the Ft. Lauderdale area! No pictures of that one, as we were too busy drinking
coffee and driving to get a picture.

In Ft. Lauderdale we spent some time at Flamingo Gardens, a wildlife refuge (for permanently injured creatures) and botanical garden. The following friend greeted us as we arrived!



Our next two friends were hanging out in the water...and I was glad that there was a fence between us.







Here are a couple more friends...and the only "Florida Panther" we saw in the refuge. The two real cats were hiding, and we didn't see the skating Panthers either!







As we drove further north, we approached this storm...



...which turned into this...



...and then this! I was glad that Mom was driving.



We subsequently saw this sign, which made me laugh. Torrential rain, and
less watering.




Our trip today also included quick trips to the United Kingdom and Australia. Just in case you wanted to feel jealous! :)





To cap it off for today, this is for Caitlin! We were listening to "Welcome to the Future" as we drove past this sign. It made us laugh. History, the Future, it's all there!




Oh, and this is for Auntie Karen! I was devastated to miss the opportunity to take a picture of the "Modern Mushroom Farms" truck. I know that this will be tragic for you too!

Coming tomorrow...pictures of St. Augustine, Florida. Watch for the Fountain of Youth, the Oldest School in the US, and the Showboat Carwash.

Good Grief!

Could it really be that in 5 weeks I will be counting down the hours until school begins? Where has the summer gone?

I begin to scare myself when I realize that I have the following to accomplish/complete before September 8 (which seems incredibly late for a first day, but that's when Labour Day is!):

1. Course outlines for Math, Science, Socials, Bible, PE, Music, and Art...for K, Grade 1, and Grade 2. Only a few of those can overlap!
2. Thematic units for the whole school year.
3. Teacher's convention (leave next Monday, spend a few days with my grandparents in Albuquerque, a couple of fun days in Florida, then attend meetings until Friday August 21).
4. Buy school supplies for all of my students.
5. Travel back to Port Hardy on Monday and Tuesday (August 24-25). With summer ferry traffic.
6. Report to school on Wednesday August 26.
7. Finish setting up my classroom.
8. Registration night on August 27.
9. Photocopy and prepare workbooks.
10. Actually make lesson plans.
11........and so it goes.

Yikes!

Oops!

Well, I haven't posted in a little over two weeks...but I have a good reason!
Part One Of The Excuse: My computer was dead, so my time was more limited (though Mom and Caitlin were very willing to let me borrow their computers whenever I needed to do so).
Part Two of The Excuse: I was busy! Camping (in a tent), taking online courses, and leading a group of 3&4 year olds for 8 days causes exhaustion (and the setting up for 4 days prior to that doesn't help).

Now, however, I have my computer back and am in the process of trying to replace all that was lost. I am finished my courses, and only have 18 course outlines to create. I'll post more often!

The Frustrations Abound...

So here I am, already breaking a resolution. I don't know if I'll be able to find enough positives to discuss in order to sandwich each negative today! So, this will be a Dagwood sandwich.

Positive: I got to spend some time at the beach today! Warm weather, a bit of a breeze...it was lovely.

Negatives:
Oh man! This is just not my evening!
First, I'm taking two online courses this summer. Woo-freaking-hoo. Neither course is one that I particularly want to take, but I am because I have to do so! Now, the one course requires a book of which I cannot get a copy (and was informed of the need for said book two days before the course start date). The other course was to have ended today (with assignment submission permitted for another week), and the last three assignments haven't even been posted!

Second: Curriculum overviews for next year. OK, I see the need. Yes, I even see value. However, the BC curriculum guidelines are NOT designed for classrooms with three grades. It's tough enough to get through every required learning outcome for one grade in a single grade classroom. To get through the curriculum for three grades at once? Very difficult. There are no considerations for multi-grade classrooms, no suggestions for which things to skip/combine/over-lap/etc, and a whole lot of nothing for ideas to combine the curricula. Therefore, I have to start pretty much entirely working from scratch. That's fine, but it also means that I have to be able to justify the reason for not using more than about 20% of the recommended resources for the grades...and this year is a government audit year.

Perfect.

I'll get over the aggravation. I'll make it work. It will be a fabulous year. But right now? In July? I could just throw it all out the window.

Third: I am missing the funeral for a friend's father, because it would have required nearly 14 hours of travel each way. That sucks.

Fourth: That computer of mine is on it's way to Vancouver for repairs. Just perfect.


Positive: I have plenty of computers to borrow and use in order to express my frustrations.