During my last student teaching placement I began completing a “2 Stars & A Wish” posts every week where I would reflect on the events of the week, mention two things that I was proud of, and identify one area to work on in the following week. As my my Professional Growth Plan, this is a practice that I want to maintain throughout the school year as well. If you aren’t a teacher, it could seem silly to be writing a reflection for the first “week” when we only actually had students for two days. Those… Read More
First Day of School
After all of the thought and planning that I put into my classroom, this is definitely how I felt when I woke up this morning! Our first bell rings at 8:50 a.m so I was at school at approximately 7:50 a.m. The reason for this is that I wanted to be in my room and relaxed when students first started arriving. It was a good thing too, because in the middle of the night the heater turned on in my room and it was SO hot when I got there. Furthermore, because of the heat, some of my… Read More
I Promise…
Students, tomorrow is not only your first day back to school but it is also my first day as a full-time teacher. I’ve spent hours over the summer accumulating resources, preparing lessons, differentiating plans, and attending PD… I’ve organized our classroom and tried to put my personal flare into the room while leaving space for you to make it your own… I’ve attending our back-to-school meetings and checked (and double-checked) to make sure I have everything ready for our first days together. As we enter this new, exciting, overwhelming, awesome experience, here is what I promise you: – I… Read More
Barbara Coloroso: Kids Are Worth It
Today was our first day back at school full-time for teachers! Although students don’t officially start until Thursday, teachers are back attending meetings for today and tomorrow. Today all of the teachers and support staff in “T-Division” had the opportunity to attend an PD session with Barbara Coloroso, an educator, mother, and author. To be honest, I was a little apprehensive about this session going into it because I couldn’t find a very strong online presence for Barbara and I wasn’t exactly sure what specific topics our session was going to address. I must admit, however, that I was pleasantly… Read More
Classroom Reveal & Freebies!!
With school right around the corner, my classroom is officially ready and awaiting students! I am so excited for my students to see my first classroom and start using all of the resources that I’ve put together. In case you don’t remember, here is what my classroom looked like before: Panoramic ViewThere wasn’t a whole lot of anything in the classroom when I got there, the furniture in the middle of the room wasn’t mine. Everything that was in the classroom was pretty much focused in this one cornerbecause it held all the storage for the room. … Read More
September Currently
If you haven’t encountered a “Currently” post before, it is just a fun post at the beginning of each month that serves as a way to share what is Currently going on in your life! You can link up and share your own “Currently” post by visiting the wonderful Farley over at Oh’ Boy 4th Grade. I am so excited for it to be September as I am definitely a fall-time kind of person! September is also back-to-school for us in Canada and I can’t wait to be in my classroom with my students. As a new teacher, it seems like… Read More
Professional Growth Plan
During our New Teacher Orientation we were asked to start thinking about our Professional Growth Plans as we will be meeting with our individual principal’s this week. As part of this, we were provided with forms to help us guide our goals (both personal and divisional). As a new teacher, most of the times when I think of the school year my hopes are to simply survive through it! Student teaching is just a taste of what full-time teaching is like and I hope to just make it through the year while trying to balance lessons, differentiating instruction,… Read More
New Teacher Orientation
Yesterday was New Teacher Orientation in “T-Division”! My husband, myself, and four other new teachers met at our Division Office to get prepared for the new year and learn the ropes of the division. As you can probably tell from the fact that there are only 6 new employees, our division is quite small and our orientation was very laid back and welcoming. In general, the information was a little bland but necessary. We discussed:– Our provincial union, Manitoba Teachers’ Society (MTS)– Salaries– Life Insurance– Health Insurance– Divisional Calendar– Divisional Policies– Professional Development & Growth, etc A… Read More
Scientific Method Bulletin Board
My classroom isn’t ready for a full reveal quite yet, but I have finished up all of my bulletin boards (you know, the ones that were hiding behind the monster bookcase). My favourite one, by far, is my Scientific Method bulletin board that is going to remain permanent through the school year. I modeled it after the amazing one that Emily created over at The Science Life! *BEFORE*The bulletin board I’m showing is the one on the North wall beneath the black star. *AFTER*The Scientific Method!Starting from the red rectangle: “Ask a Question”, “Form A Hypothesis”, “Create and Conduct an Experiment”,… Read More
Resources To Start Off Your Week 76
It is here; my first week “working” as a teacher! Now, I put “working” in quotations because the teachers in our division aren’t actually back until next Tuesday, but any new teaching staff starts their orientation this week (including both me and my fiance!). While I have been in my classroom sporadically over the past two weeks, I will now be there full-time when I am not in meetings with our divisional staff. I am very excited to get the final touches complete so that I can do a big reveal and be ready for students. As of… Read More