Here are some images of a completed poster that my sixth grade small math group did as part of a culminating project for a decimal rules unit. The pictures don't do it justice! The students had a lot of fun working on this, and it had some really cool interactive components to it.

I am currently enrolled in the Post Baccaleaureate dual certification program, which will allow me to obtain certification in both General Special Education and Elementary Education once I have completed the program (my estimated date of completion will be Spring of 2009). The program is very flexible, as it is field-based, which is nice because it allows me to work while completing the coursework. I am working with a small group of students right now with math skills, and have had the opportunity to teach a unit to these sixth graders on place value and word problem solving. Most of the first few lessons were a review, but as we delve deeper into the content, the lessons are frequently more and more challenging for the students. I am looking forward to finally completing certification next year, and hopefully everything falls into place so that I can find a "home" right away with a grade I love, and a school I love! I am hoping also to find a "home" for my daughter, Kaitlyn, as she'll begin kindergarten next year, and it would be nice if we could find a school where we could enroll her in the program as well. We'll see, but I'm sure all of this hard work is going to pay off in the long run!

I've been taking the time over the past couple of weeks to organize some of the clutter in our house, and have come to the realization that I could open up a mini resource library with all of the planning books I have. I must admit, I spent more time looking at my resources than organizing, as my daughter loves all of my planning books, too. I just can't help myself when it comes to instructional literature...especially for the younger children. Some of the fabulous recipes for homemade arts and crafts mediums have really come in handy right here at home. My friend Jenn is always calling me with thoughts about different things to do at home with her two year old, and when brainstorming, she's always asking "where do you get these ideas from?!" Some of it comes from all of my beloved books, but it is also what comes to me naturally. Sometimes my cousin teases me about the fact that I am now and adult, and yet still migrate toward the younger years. I can't walk past an educational toy shop without at least looking...and usually buying the newest, coolest things I can find. My parents tease me that we should put a sign up in the front of our house that advertises admission for "Kaitlynland", but the truth is, I have as much fun playing with her toys as she does. I am going to greatly miss the times I have with her as she ages, but have thouroughly lived in the moments we've had together at this marvelous, fabulous, wonderful time in her life called childhood.

On Literacy...
I have had experience with Rigby Literacy, and have had some limited exposure to the Wilson Reading program. I have used running records, and have taken a collegiate course on assessment on reading. I believe that reading and writing are intertwined from the earliest years. Children explore their environment, and often imitate. Creative drawing, exposure to different literary mediums, and practice with the ABC's are all essential during the preschool years. I also believe that heavy phonics instruction is an essential first step to becoming an efficient reader. A child simply cannot comprehend what he/she cannot decode, and so, I believe that phonics is an extremely important first step in the development of a strong reader. However, phonics should be balanced with taught strategies that help aid in comprehension, and becoming "one" with a literary piece is equally important.

As a teacher, there are many effective teaching strategies that I have used to help with the comprehension aspect of literacy. Open ended questions, text with in depth illustrations that help key-in on tricky words, and discussion of stories from the beginning to the end are all essential for children to become engaged, interested, and excited about literacy, and should be used while working on the phonetical components so essential for decoding. I love to read, share my passion for literature, and model my own thinking processes while teaching students. Without language, we simply cannot get anything accomplished. Literature is our source for information, for enjoyment, for inspiration, and for learning so many things~ whether those things are fiction or non-fiction, and students should from an early age understand that reading is a hands-on practical way that will help them further their education, while nourishing their curiosity.

Here are some of the projects that our class has been working on. The students needed a lot more help with the reindeer project than I had thought they would, but their snowmen are coming out beautifully (I thought they'd need a lot of help with this one, and they didn't...go figure)! They are also working on I like books that are also counting books for presents for their families and they are all doing awesome on this project! Time has been flying by in our classroom!
The show must go on, but I have to say that some of the fine motor craft projects that I have started with the students have been a little stressful to get through without Bev's help. If you didn't know, Bev has been out this week. She was in a terrible accident over the weekend (she hit a moose on route 10 that totaled her van). She's okay, but in a lot of pain. She'll be back, but under the pressure of the upcoming holiday, I've been taking on some of the projects I want the students to get done, even though they're a little challenging to do without the extra help. The major problem with the arts and crafts projects is that I really never know what the students are going to work on independently, and what they're going to need extra help with. They always surprise me in this category. I guess it's just one of those things that make being flexible a necessity in this profession! We're getting things done, though, but it will certainly be nice to have Bev back!

Okay, I know it's been awhile since I've entered anything on this blog. My excuses include forgetting to take pictures while in the midst of our classroom days and the holidays. Never fear, though, I've been using the time I'd use to create new blogs to create fun things for the students to do for the holiday season that are educational as well. I can't imagine what this year would look like without the help of our paraeducator, Bev, and the support and help of my husband who cuts, pastes, and traces for me...bless his heart!
I'm hoping that you do look on this site, especially since I am trying to remember to start posting audiobloggers as well. For those of you who do, you'll find an audioblogger of the song the students will be singing for the holiday pageant.
The students have been working so hard on this project along with their normally scheduled projects, and I'm so very proud of them all! It's amazing how much we get done in a day!
Thank you all for remembering those very important outdoor clothes for your students as the days grow colder! The fresh air does them a world of good, and the warm clothes makes their outdoor time all that more enjoyable. I'll have pictures posted on here shortly. Take care of yourselves and each other!

Here are some of the cool activities that we did the week of October 31, 2005. The students matched numbers to sets of candy corn, and then as a class, we figured out how many candy corns each student had (55 each)!
The skeletons came out fabulous and I was truly amazed that the students were able to complete these skeletons in one sitting. In order to do this project, they had to cut out bones from two different pieces of paper. Each bone had atleast one number on it (most had two). The students then had to find other bones with the same numbers in order to piece their skeletons together (for example, one bone had the number 4, and so did another bone, so these two bones went together). There were some numbers (past the tens) that proved tricky, and the students needed some guidance and direction during this activity, but for the most part, students did this activity by themselves and it only took them about 45 minutes. Cutting alone often takes 20-30 minutes with pieces as small as the bones were, never mind having to match up numbers. Obviously, the project was a big hit with the kids, or they wouldn't have completed it!
I am amazed at what these kids are doing on a daily basis. They are learning things that I've only informally been teaching them as well as grasping some very difficult concepts, such as problem solving and graphing. We did our first Venn Diagram this week using apples, and the students loved the activity!
Our classroom Paraprofessional, Bev, surprised the class and I by cleaning out desks that were in storage and bringing them in. Now each student has their own desk and own place for their things. It's wonderful, and I'm really hoping to find the right seating arrangement for each student, for now that they're all friends, it is sometimes challenging to get them to listen to what I'm teaching (they'd much rather socialize sometimes, of course)! It's also really nice to have the desks because some of the students are accumulating a lot of papers since they often choose to use stencils and/or write during free choice time. It looks as though we will now be cleaning out desks during quiet times on Fridays (?)!