In a nutshell

The last three months, in a nutshell.

Well, it's the end of November… hmm. I have started about ten of these blogs and then held the backspace button down. We have been sooo busy! I have an AMAZING group of kids this year! Nine grade 1s, 4Ks, and 7 K4's (Ontario lingo - JK). K4 is INCREDIBLE, everything they do is adorable and they are such a bright group. We have a wonderful TA who has taken on the K4s, with the assistance of another fabulous TA, and together they are rocking the pants off these kids! So long "free play centre time", hello academics, printing and math! I must say, they LOVE IT! It is completely hands on (see below), while learning how to hold a pencil and are starting to print. They use play dough to make letters, turn letters into animals, and so much more. I cannot wait to see the data next year when I get to Benchmark them! I must say we have had the "UH-HU" moment.  If we give these kids the foundations for their reading - AND WE DO IT WELL - there is no excuse why all of our students can't be green… it all starts at the age of four (or younger at home!). All of our kids are working hard, and it is so exciting to think our K4s will be starting K with a solid foundation and understanding of letter names, sounds. If you want success, you work for it. We have high expectations for our kids, and in return they continue to surprise us.

Rooster on a Roof and rabbits! 

Halloween Season! From our own pumpkin carving, to decorating, to feeling the creepy crawly surprise bins, to Cosmic Bowling with "the best behaved group in Port Hardy" (thank you North Island Lanes!) - we have had a fantastic fall/autumn season! Between the Read Well, the DIBELS, the SAXON we made time for some good old fashion haunted fun! 

Ghost Bowling on top of the Cosmic Bowling! Instead of balls we used pumpkins :)

More Halloween pics to come when I upload the school camera! On another note, we have started getting ready for our Christmas Play - A Christmas Carol, K School Style. This will include some different songs (including One Direction, BSpears) and a little old fashion Let it Snow Let it Snow with some pretty cute, unique snowflakes! :) I have been working with the older class on their lines… I love drama! I love acting (GREASE 2006… ahhh I still miss it!), and I love getting to work with kids who enjoy it too. Its nice change of pace working with the older ones too. BIG NEWS. Dazzle is back!!! So many Christmas things I could post on… but another time, it's time for Criminal Minds/Report Car….d…s… eeew. I can't even say it. HA.

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas… Pinky promise to post again soon! 

All my love, 

Miss C

Oh blog, how I have neglected thee...

I haven't written since MAY. If anyone is reading this, I am sorry!  So many things to say I don't even know where to begin... I guess we should start at the end? ;)

Let me take you back to June 2013....

Last year ended with a bang for us in PreK- 1. Our whale watching trip was a tremendous success, filling an entire boat with family, friends, community members and a whole lot of fun! We saw porpoises, humpback whales, eagles, and to top it off we had a beautiful day to do it! Our kids amaze me every day; being on the water was no exception. We witnessed a lot of really great things that day: community involvement, leaders stepping up, adults demonstrating pure joy as if it was their first grade trip, and so much more. The energy on that boat was indescribable. This was by far one of my favourite days.

To continue the end of our year we had our first Kindergarten Graduation. Now, I may be a bit bias but they were hands down the cutest graduating class! I couldn't have been more proud giving out their awards. Giving out awards at our end of the year assembly was actually a lot harder than I was prepared for. Although we work in a small school, and my Grade 1's were moving across the hall to Grade 2, I was loosing a big part of me. I'm not sure if its because my family is in Ontario, but these kids became my family (as well as they staff). I wasn't ready to give them up. They are a large part of why I offered to teach the 1s and 2s in a new ReadWell Spelling and Composition program our school is starting this year! I can't wait to work with them again! I also had a very proud moment yesterday when the "grade 2s" (our old 1's) were being discussed in the staff room. They have been doing extremely well, keeping up with the grade 4's AND being the only ones to use their manners! GOOD JOB GUYS! I am SO proud of you all!! I'm really happy to hear that some have really come into their own over this summer, really pushing themselves this first week of school. Now for some pictures... 

 
Left: WE ARE THE FUTURE. LOVE IT. Our class and their wonderful, fabulous parents with Miss D's sign that was made by her class for Idle No More!

Bottom Left: Some highlights from K Graduation/End of the Year Assembly! I am a lucky teacher to have such thoughtful parents!

Bottom Right: Besties on their K Grad!

OUR K GRADUATING CLASS OF 2013 <3

Speaking of summer... I might get some heat for this but... IT WAS SO LONG. I missed the kids! I was bored! I was stuck in my parents house in Ontario without a car (haha)! Don't get me wrong... I had a fantastic time visiting my friends and family, laying by the pool, reading for fun, going to the beach,  all the weddings, wedding showers, baby showers, etc.... but two months of no routine is a long time. Note to self: Next summer - ENGLAND or a MASSIVE TRIP! Kenya? 

Highlight of my summer: Witnessing my two best friends promise to spend the rest of their lives together. It was a fantastic day and I was honoured to be a part of it.

Needless to say I am happy to be back at work! Before summer was even over we were fortunate enough to participate in ReadWell training by none other than the guru herself, Marilyn Sprick! She is FANTASTIC! There were SO MANY "uh-hu" moments where everything just clicked and finally made sense! I understand the program fully now and feel confident that I can do this program with fidelity. I actually feel guilty because, if I'm being honest here, there were so many things I wasn't fully doing last year, I feel the kids missed out a lot. Luckily for me, I get those kids for another year ;)  I LOVE conferences! I love networking with new teachers, and hearing from experienced pro's. Its so powerful to have a room full of the same vision, passion and drive.

Anyway, back to the kiddos! This year our classroom is VERY different! We have 10 Grade 1's, 3 K's and 7 PRE-K's starting next week. Our classroom theme is PASSPORT TO LEARNING: Around the World or "The Ultimate Class Field-trip"  :) So far we have taken a trip in a hot air balloon (see pics), had a Welcome Back BBQ, and been working VERY hard on rules and routines. This year we also started ReadWell on Wednesday, September 4, 2013. THE SECOND DAY OF SCHOOL. This year is already looking so much better than last!

Back to school! Our bulletin board outside our room! 

Our FLOWER POWER clock :) 

Two MUST HAVES! Self-control MAGIC bubbles (Watch this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XCe4AJmKE40 - its AMAZING) and Magic Healing Lotion Potion (AKA - cucumber hand lotion from the Dollar store) -  If a student has an "owie" they can go to my desk and put a little bit of the lotion potion on and it magically heals them. The best part, you ask? They do it quietly without telling a teacher. :)

My new "chair" - a stability ball... the kids love it, I love it... its a win-win! 

Our "hot air balloon" - Note to self: Helium balloons DO NOT LAST. Get them at the very last moment possible! 

Cute :)

Our little explorers! 

The Dollar Store didn't have enough explorer hats, so the PREKs got Cowboy Hats that say "EXPLORER" on them ... worked like a charm! 

Miss C ready to fly away! 

On a personal note, I've decided its time to put myself first (or at least tied with my job). I've always worried about other things (i.e. school, school, school, work), people or silly non-important things and made that a priority. Well, no more my friend! Don't get me wrong, I still love everyone very much I just want to focus on me. I've been eating better, working out a lot and I must say I have a LOT more energy, and I've been sleeping better. Its a new me, and I'm loving it :) It makes handling the kids easier too. Working on myself also means writing in this blog more often - another goal of the year. Its therapeutic for me to write it down, plus it will help me in the long run I'm sure (i.e. remembering good ideas, what worked, what didn't). 

That all said, it's bed time for this tired teacher... is it just me or is the first week of school a long one? Even on a revised schedule I'm ready for the weekend! Who's with me? 

All my Love, 

Miss C

Getting sentimental...

I started making scrapbooks for each student and started off with a picture of their first day and then a letter to each student. I wrote to them from the heart and told them goals I had for them, and I realized how much I expect of these kids. Call me naive, call me sentimental, call me insane, call me a first year teacher but I truly believe that these kids are going to do something great, something that will change the world for the better. At the very least they will continue to smile, laugh, love and learn and pass these traits on to the next generation, and those four things are what make the world go round, right? 

As the year is coming to an end we have been extremely busy! CAT Testing was last week, Progress Monitoring, Benchmarking coming up, pushing to get through Read Well and Saxon and not to mention all the fun that comes with it being June... 

We rented out a boat in Telegraph Cove for a PreK-1/Community Event. We are going to continue strengthening our relationship with parents and community members while learning about our culture, and finish off our Living Things - Mammals Unit all at sea. I am not sure who is more excited, the kids or me! We have a Sports Day, Beach Day, Graduation, and about a million other things to do in our 13 teaching days left... oh and report cards! 

On a final note, I am writing a Do and Don't list for next year as reminders, I'll make sure to share. Until then, remember to breathe in between it all. Remember to stop and appreciate the small moments, the "I love you Miss C's", the "...he was being mean to you, so I got some help...", the unconditional smiles and laughter, the songs (Cups), the supportive staff, and the success no matter what size. Sometimes we get too caught up in the curriculum and the testing we forget that those small reasons make the biggest difference, and to most of us - the reason we got into teaching to begin with. 

All my love,

Miss Sea

May... where'd you come from?

May?! I cannot believe my first year in a classroom is winding down already! Where did the time go? I have learned many things during this first year that I'll start sharing periodically when I think of them. A few from this week? April is a LONGGG month - plan for it. Our behaviour chart worked well for the first part of the year, midway we switched to http://teach.classdojo.com Class DoJo (the kids LOVE it), and recently to a Smiley Review. What else did I learn? Hairspray is a teachers best friend, also Coconut Oil and Tea-tree oil. 

These kids have tested me, taught me, and enlightened me. They exhausted me, physically, mentally and emotionally. But the biggest lesson this year? Education is COMPLETELY different from when we were kids (which wasn't too long ago), but one thing has stayed the same. The innocence of a child is a delicate thing, one that I am happy to enrich as long as possible. The smiles, the tears, the head lice, the ups, the downs, the flips and turns, and I wouldn't change a thing about it.

My first year...and what a year it was. 8 weeks and 2 days to go... but who's counting? ;) 

Three of our 15 little fishies at the Carnival! Miss C got pulled in lots of different directions that day!