PD...

After PD days my brain feels like mush... felt like crying for no apparent reason randomly later on in the day... Is there such a thing as too much PD? I feel just a little bit panicky every time I sit and learn something new... there is only so much NEW you can incorporate in a year with out losing your sanity. I will share some links a little bit later on in this post that I either learned about today or was reminded about... 

I was teacher watching today as I walked around... you know... people watching but they were all teachers ... I got to thinking... wow if I ever have children I would not want some of these teachers teaching my child. Or any child I know... they way some people were talking... scared me a bit... 

My PD was part of a city wide PD with a bunch of different sessions. I was at the Math PD. I had a session on Problem Solving in the am and Place Value in the pm. I just gotta say I love having an ipod because I could look up things and find things that fit with what the presenter was talking about on Pinterest or just online. Some of the Links I discovered today... I havent pursued them futher yet but have them all book marked:) Some are math links and others are just the rabbit trails I tend to go down:P

http://www.teachersnotebook.com/product/MoffattGirls/base-ten-blocks-1-20#

http://www.pepnonprofit.org/uploads/2/7/7/2/2772238/five_finger_phonics_block_letters.pdf

http://zeekszoo.blogspot.ca/ This blog looks great! Just downloaded some tags for Daily 5 Word Work that I just started this week!

I also heard the name Debbie Diller. Never heard of her before... but her book that was passed around during our session looked interesting. Will be looking more into her stuff in the near future:)

http://kindergartenrhode.blogspot.ca/search/label/Math Haven't explored this blog to much but looks interesting...

http://www.schoolgirlstyle.com/category/classroom-themes/ I could get some ideas from this site :)

http://resources.sparkleboxres.co.uk/sb3036.pdf these are adorable! I completely forgot about Sparkle Box!

Hopefully some of these links can be helpful for you! Have a fabulous weekend!

Have you ever grieved for a fictional character?

Today was a day of many emotions. My sister wedding shower was this afternoon. I was all in a state of nervous panic before hand... it went very well. To a state of relief that everything went well and that the shower was now over... to coming home exhausted... looking forward to watching the latest episode of my favourite tv show... so sobbing... literally shaking with sobs over the death of one of my new favourite fictional characters... now this may seem petty or down right stupid to you reading this... but my heart feels deeply... I am all heart... I get attached...I love... I've only cried a few time over fictional characters... the authors should congratulate themselves on excellent writing... the first I can remember was Matthew Cuthbert from Anne of Green Gables... the 2nd or most recent that I can remember is Dumbledore from the Harry Potter series... and now Lady Sybil from Downton Abbey... and I'm technically not even supposed to have seen this season yet in Canada. But with the wonders of the internet... so right now I am grieving... I feel a loss... and honestly I don't know what to do now... ha Of course I don't mean I will cry all day or actually mourn like I would if someone dear to my heart past away but I do feel pain... how so very strange to me that is... the power of words... If these words I have read or the words that actors portray on tv can effect me so deeply... then how deeply do my words affect the lives, hearts, and minds of my dear little students I have the privilege of teaching each year. I am trying to be very careful with my voice and volume control this year. I have learned over the course of my teaching career that a soft spoken rebuke or reminder to follow the rules etc is met with much better results than a harsh tone or yelling...

Pinterest links:)

I thought I would throw up my Pinterest link for all my teacher finds:)

http://pinterest.com/hockeybabe3/teaching-ideas/

I found some really cute Fall freebies today:) Enjoy!

New Pictures

I'm just realizing I NEED to upload some new pictures of my classroom and bulletin boards... I shall try and get to that this weekend. I need to go in and spend some time there on Monday... Get my head on straight for the week so I don't feel so Scrambled...

Being away 3/5 days this week... I feel all scrambled up inside...

So I have been away 3 days this week at various PD workshops. My kids had 2 different subs but seemed to manage quite well. I however missed them TERRIBLY!!! I was there on Wednesday which felt like just a check in and then today... Today my amazing friend Kelly came and volunteered this morn and I had an EA of and on all day. There was so much house keeping stuff to do and clean up and out... it was amazing to actually be able to sit at my desk for more than a min to tackle some of that stuff. I am so thankful!!!

So now where do I go from here? I had a child that doesn't normally talk to me ask me if I was going to be there tomorrow. Meaning that she was asking if I was going away again... my heart broke a little. I spent today just doing little things with kids. Like letting them help me decorate one on one and spending the time individually with them helping them shop for books. That means the world to me that I am able to do that with my kids. Spend the little moments with them. They were SOOO excited that I was spending time with just them. I'm very excited to start meeting with them one on one during our Read to Self time every day. We are up to 17 mins and I am very proud of them! I had no idea how Daily 5 was going to work with Grade 1 but I am really enjoying the way that it is set up and the modelling really does help them. I'm concerned about getting them writing without have mini lessons on things like punctuation and knowing exactly what a sentence is... some of them have no clue. Others are so ready:)

I have all my students using RAZ kids as our home reading program and wow its so good for them. I have some students already on level F on the program. But I have yet to check that they can actually read at an F level. Once I start reading with them I will have a better idea of where we are and who my strugglers are. I know a few already but I want to know about all my 19. I don't know how some teachers can teach without really getting to know their students. I want to do everything and anything possibly to help my kids learn as much as they can. I was looking at books at VV tonight and found 2 books that I know specific kids will go crazy for. One of my kinders from last year reminded me of a book I had found specifically for him about Motorcycles last year. He's obsessed with them and the colour orange. He can't get enough of it. I have really enjoyed keeping my 6 k's from last year and seeing them bloom as a grade 1 student:) Warms my heart! They remember the little things:)

I can't wait to get going on October things. I am obsessed with all things FALL! I love Halloween (Although we can't do anything with the holiday at my religious school) so I find my way around it by doing lots of things with pumpkins and owls and all kinds of wonderful Fallness things:) I can't wait to see them get excited when I start bringing pumpkins in!

I hope you have all had a magical week:) Oh has anyone out there heard of the PAX training system? I had a 2 day PD on in this week and not sure what I make of it yet.

Have a very blessed and happy Thanksgiving long weekend:)

Ciao