New Toy!

I have a new toy at school.  It's a SmartBoard  --I think it's that one-- and it is THE BOMB.  I admit it definitely has the novelty factor - hey a little novelty never hurt anyone!  And at times it is a bit consuming switching my plans to the smartboard software (Notebook).  Oh, and there are the technological glitches.  Thank goodness for Mr. G who is our guru of technology even though he's not the tech guy.  BUT for the most part it's a great addition to my room.  One of my kiddos hardly ever wants to write anything, but if I say, "Well, you need to write it on your paper first and then you can write something on the board." -- that is all it takes to get him to write a notebook page full!  I'm hoping it actually is teaching kids something and enhances their learning...  I've done almost all of my math lessons on the smartboard since I've gotten it.  Just even having the whole space blank to work out work makes it seem that much more fantastic!  It's even turned into a social skills lesson - "We can only use it if we are kind to each other and help each other out.  I need help sometimes.  Your classmates will need help sometimes.  We have to be patient or we will go back to the white board."  My kids were like cheering each other on - clapping when they did the work right, being gracious about taking turns, etc.  YAY Smartboard!

Techno-queen!

I mentioned before that we would be getting a smartboard for our room, but I neglected to mention that we are ALSO getting Ipod touches!  I'm already feeling behind the times, because I'm feeling a little overwhelmed at all of the capabilities of these two technologies.  I'm glad to be getting training so I can actually use all this great stuff!  I am also thinking about having a classroom blog.  Our tech partner thought it would be easier and more effective and appropriate than a wiki for what we wanted to do.  I keep using "we" because my specialist co-worker and Resident Teacher all work closely together in projects.  Being honest, they have all the good ideas and I just go along with them!  I'm also going to be keeping a grade in my tutorial starting the second semester (Tuesday!).  I'm thinking this will help with classroom management and reduce the amount of times I'm asked, "Why are we doing this?" and "Is this even for a grade??"

Another COOL piece of technology in my classroom is the new book I'm reading aloud to my kiddos.  Book, you ask puzzled what that has to do with technology.  WELL, this particular book combines reading with watching movies!  It's great!  Have you heard of Skeleton Creek?  It's a "journal" by character Ryan.  He writes everything down while his bf Sarah takes different videos to go along with the story.  Every so often there will be a password.  You go to a website (sarahfincher.com) or iTunes to watch the videos and then Ryan continues on with the story in the book.  This first book was super spooky at parts but also left off with a MAJOR cliffhanger!  I'm hoping it's enough to spark my boys to read the second one ON THEIR OWN!  Novel idea, right?  A teacher can only hope...

Trip to B-Town

I had a conference in my hometown this week (Wed-Fri) and it worked p-e-r-f-e-c-t-l-y. It was great to spend some extra time with my family and MVJ really warmed up to Gma and Gpa K, which was so great to see! They have a little chair that has tons of little learning things around it, which sing and make noise. MVJ was in heaven and it was just the cutest thing! She'd sit there hitting buttons, moving gears, and turning pages while DANCING to the music. It was the cutest thing seeing her little tush bopping around. The conference was awesome, by the way, and now I have to process all the info. that was thrown at me via presenters, speakers, books, and even the vendors. I did come away with tons of ideas... and even some math tricks! I can tell you which day any date falls on in the past and future. I was amazing my family with which day of the week they were born on. It's all supposed to be done mentally, of course, but I still have to use pen and paper -- BUT I can do it! : )

JJ had a YUCKY cold and Uncle WK had to babysit one morning. MVJ, just being herself, made sure that he did his calestethics that morning. She just worries so much about her family's fitness. JJ, after sleeping extra Thursday evening and Saturday morning (thank you Gma and Gpa, we LOVE YOU! Being able to sleep in is truly a GIFT!), started feeling much better.

MVJ got to meet Great-Great-Aunt HW, my Gpa's sister. She LOVES MVJ and sends nice notes often! We got pictures of her by the quilt she made MVJ (she does her quilting by hand... it's gorgeous work!). She ALSO got a new tooth! Ugh.. no wonder she woke up FIVE times Wed. night, FOUR times Thurs. night, TWO times Fri. night (much better), but then again FOUR times Sat. night. When this Mommy is used to getting a full night's sleep, it makes it that much harder to be thrown into no sleep - especially when listening to a dry speaker here and there at the conference. Thank goodness most sessions were an hour long, so I could get up and walk around in between!

Hi-ho, hi-ho it's off to work I go...

Sorry it's been a while. I've been enjoying my ... sniff... sniff... last week of summer. I can't hardly believe that I'll be going back to work on Monday. I'm having trouble coming to grips with the fact that I won't be home with Choochies every day. I mean, I feel like I'm ready for school and it seems like for the most part I have a great group of kiddos, but it's just that every single day all day. Like, I think I'll be fine the first day. Maybe even the first week, but I think then I'll be like, that's enough. I want my old routine back. I want to hold my baby all day if I want to. I want to sit in my pajamas until at least 11:00 (after The Price Is Right). I want to eat when I want and for as long as I want (none of that scarf it down in 15 mins. crap). But most of all Choochies. I know that she'll have so much fun staying home with Daddy. I love that they'll have that opportunity. I love that he's excited about it. I love that they'll develop that bond. But, I want to be there too! I know that she'll be fine, he'll be fine and I'll be fine. I've just got to take it one day at a time I guess.

To work again, work again, jiggity jig

It's started. Duh duh duuuuuuh. I had a meeting today that lasted about two hours debating which teams would get which paras. I have to say, we are kind of stacked. We have some good ones that will really be great for the kiddos. I also got to meet the Resident Teacher (RT) who will be working with us. Awwww, for cute, I remember when I was an RT three years ago. She is a second year RT and is so with it. She will be an amazing help to me -- and actually she is case managing six of my kiddos. I went through all of my students' files (except my new student who just moved to town last week), wrote down IEP and 3-yr eval dates, and wrote down area of disability, goal categories, and modifications (for classroom teachers). I have 23 (I think at last count) students on my caseload. They are mostly students with LD, but I do have a few students with ED as well. There are no kids with autism or MR on my caseload this year, which is pretty unique I think. My first IEP is due 9-19 --- yipes! Teachers better get to know that kid right away so we can write about his present level of performance and set new goals... in September!