Charting a course. . .

Armed with my newly gained knowledge of SMART Notebook, I am using all of the pieces relected upon in my last post to plan and create SMART Board activities. For example, our book this week is Mouse Paint. We are working on colors, color mixing, concept words like hide, stir, three and positional concepts such as under/over, in/out. With my many English Learners, it is also important that an activity include opportunities for the students to use oral language with vocabulary words and comparisons. The social goals we have for our students include turn taking, waiting, and learning friends names. I designed a game where 3 mice are hiding under different color "puddles" of paint. In a small group, each child takes a turn to move a puddle and see if there is a mouse under it. I model the game and the oral language I want them to use by naming the color of the puddle I choose, and say "yes, there is a mouse under the green puddle" or "no, there is not a mouse under the green puddle". I ask the first child to play the game, helping them with the oral language if needed. Then the child is asked to pass the pointer to another specific child (recognizing friends names, turn taking and waiting). Structuring activities in this way will benefit all my students, cueing into the areas of need indicated through our assessments and data collection.

Moving Right Along. . .

October has been a great time for reflection about my classroom and my 4 classes. As a program, Stepping Stones/ECSE have been working on data collection and assessment, building on the Work Sampling assessment to ensure consistency among the early childhood programs here at Central Family Center (Stepping Stones, School Readiness, Family Literacy, and ECFE) Although it can be time consuming, I see the value in using the same tools across programs to assure that all of our children are having their academic needs met. During our workshops on October 20th, we were able to work with data collected on our students. I know a large number of my students are English Learners or come from dual language households, and when looking more closely, this fits 19 of my 42 students - almost 50%! (for 4 of them, this is their first English experience) This has made me more aware of the importance of using more visuals with everything we do. Adding more visuals with songs and rhymes, using props and demonstrating directions instead of just giving verbal reminders. I have also started focusing more on the vocabulary for each unit, including nouns but also action words and descriptors. The other main focus for literacy and language this fall is on alphabet recognition and sounds, and our classroom is using the Zoophonics program this year, so that is another learning curve for me to implement more fully throughout our class day.

I was able to attend a SMART board training on October 27, and created a couple new activities for the SMART board and my classroom touchscreen computer. It helped me become more familiar with the software, and I was able to reflect on the types of activities that will build the skills my students are focusing on. Letter activities, positional words (over, under, behind, around), colors, shapes, vocabulary, and number concepts are my starting points!

With students at age 3 and just turning 4, our team has seen a real need to concentrate on social and emotional development to help build postive interactions between our students. Central Family Center is implementing PBIS (positive behavioral intervention strategies), which focuses on direct teaching and modeling of expected behaviors within the classroom and throughout the building and playground. This year we added a Feelings and Friendship unit using a book with photographs of real children that our students really identified with. It has made a common foundation to talk about feelings and how to talk to our classmates. To build on this foundation of recognizing and naming emotions, I am adding social lessons from the Second Step curriculum, which also uses photographs of real children with stories about feelings and interactions - with a discussion component of real life situations.

Tardy. . .

And here it is, the 13th of October while I am pulling together my September post. At this point, I'm not sure if I'm tardy, or just plain delinquent. All of this to say that my technology goals sat pretty much untouched for September. Working on back to school paperwork and files, hands on with the students, getting to know them, building relationships, working to build a comfort level for each of them and a consistent classroom routine left my aspirations to incorporate new media in the background. I can report that my touchscreen computer now has SMART Notebook capabilities, so I can use more activities with the children individually and in large group. I registered for a TIES SMART Board class and have some new resources of existing online learning games to begin using. I would have to say that most of the time I have been able to devot to the new technology is checking out new resources to evaluate the appropriateness for use with my 3 and 4 year olds, which becomes more time consuming than I expected. On the digital music front, I will be uploading my music this weekend.

One Month Down...

The first month of school is almost complete and I feel just as busy now as I was when I wrote my last blog. Previously I mentioned time management. . .

Well, let's just say I'm still working on that. I have come up with many ways to assist myself in being successful with my time management. I have a page that has my "prep" time for the week so that I can give myself specific things to do during these times. I fill out my form every week, and am barely able to accomplish any of it.

Let me list the reasons why:
1. Co-Workers. We all have the same prep times. This means that we all ask questions of each other and vent during these times. I know some will say, "tell them you don't have time." Well, it's difficult to turn someone away when the things are work related.
2. New Items Arise. I find new things to add to my To Do List hourly. (I'll tell you about my to do list later). Some of those things may be more important than what I wanted to do during my prep tomorrow, so things things once again get pushed aside.
3. Avoidance. I will admit to "finding" other things to do when one of the things on my list is not a desired task:)

Then I have my To Do List. This is a small notebook that I try to have with me all of the time throughout the school day. I add things in whenever I come up with a new item or a new item is given to me. Then I try to complete things when there is TIME. On problem with this: there is no level of importance to the list. When you continue to add to the list, it becomes just a list. And I then find myself doing the things that I like to do first:)

And I of course use my calendar in Outlook. You would think this would be great because it gives you reminders right? Ha! Not when you keep clicking on Snooze because you are unable to complete the item at that time:) I find myself laughing every time a reminder bell dings as I know that I will yet again be snoozing it again.

I write all of this from a light place as I am making fun of my shortfalls when it comes to time management. Especially since my father gives seminars on great time management skills and what to do to improve your own!!!

Off and Running

Here we are, August 31, getting ready for the craziness and fun of Open House night!
Welcoming excited and nervous children (and parents) into our classrooms for the first time this year to introduce them to our team and our preschool program is such a fun time. With this new beginning, our team has taken on the new professional development goal of implementing our new technologies into our classroom. Our programs added the Smartboard last year, so there is a beginning level of proficiency with that technology. Building on that, there is a large touchscreen computer in my classroom this year, that we can use more readily with similar programs and games, and incorporate into circle and story time as well. We are also moving to digital music - I-pod Touch with speakers for circle time and exploring other possibilities of using this awesome resource within the classroom. We will also have Flip and digital cameras available this year. After Open House, I will be able to commit some time to researching and creating some activities utilizing the new technologies for our first few weeks of class. I am also looking for upcoming training opportunities on these new technologies.

Making Plans with the best of intentions...

What was it that Kara said about making plans with the best intentions? Let's just say students haven't started yet and I'm already thinking I've been quite lofty in my plans and goals for using ALL of our NEW technology at least once weekly. (Colleen... any of the same feelings?) Don't get me wrong... I'm completely on board and very excited about all of the new "toys" we have. I'm just not sure I know where to start with some of it. I also think I'm a little apprehensive about being considered "an in-house expert" since I've gone to a few trainings... ahhh:) One thing I think this will force me to do is strengthen my time management skills. I'm thinking I will have to make a schedule for my week (including time for making Smart Board activities, finding iTouch apps, parent videos with the Flip, documentation, due process, meetings, and random things that come up) and make myself stick to it. I am lucky enough to have two completely capable paras who enjoy giving me new ideas on what they think would benefit the students and be fun for the classroom. I need to become better at asking for their input and letting them take the lead on some things if they'd like to. Then I have times where I'm not sure what I'm so worried about... the 3, 4, and 5 year olds will catch on faster and be supplying the ideas!