Literacy Bags

One of the things that I wanted to do for this school year was to make activities to go along with Literacy bags that the early intervention team had gotten last year. We have received great feedback on the literacy bags from the families that currently use them. I wanted to add to them by giving families other activities to do with their child. My goal is to give ideas for activities to help promote each area of development. I want to give families way to easily incorproate these fun activities into their daily routines. The task is taken longer than I had anitcipated, but once it is complete it will be a wonderful resource to use with the families that we work with. I am very excited to share these with our families when they are complete!

Time to Reboot

With spring on the horizon (yes I know I'm optimistic) I think it's time for me to reboot my goal for technology use. So many things have come up in my work life and personal life that it is easy to get side tracked. In looking at my goal my new focus for the remaining of the year is to really utilize the iTouch I have in my classroom for use with students and not just for the music use. Part of the delay with this is that we have yet to be directed on how to purchase apps through school. I wouldn't mind buying apps on my own, except if my position changes at all and I have to give up the iTouch, I'm essentially giving up that money. Sounds petty I'm sure, but it's not something I can take with my like books, toys, or other materials. There are a lot of free apps, but sometimes they lead you to apps that are more expensive, but look completely worth it for the things our students could do. This leads me to the iPad. I desperately wish that we had a few of these in Early Education. I have a couple of students whose parents have purchased them and I've seen the students demonstrate skills on the iPad that we aren't seeing at school. I also have a student from the high school that comes to consult with my on one of my students. He has downloaded apps onto his iPad for my student to use... and where she can't use the iTouch due to her motor control and the screen being so small, she IS able to use the iPad. One can dream:)

Reconnecting

In January I came back to work after a thirteen week maternity leave. Since coming back to work, I feel that I am constantly playing catch up and trying to reconnect with my families. In Early Intervention, one of the most important pieces to providing our services is making the strong connections with families, and I have to say that is one of my favorite parts about my job. It is amazing to see how each of the kiddos have changed and grown in the last few months. For the first couple weeks, I couldn't stop gushing over how much they had changed and all the new things they were doing. The parent's glowed with excitement and pride! It has been a busy couple months, but I am glad to be back and working with my families.